I’ve spent 2 weeks in London already and I know if you’ve been following along, you’re excited to hear about week 3 in London! It was definitely a bittersweet week because I hit my half way mark for this trip, and to be completely honest, I wasn’t quite ready to leave the city. I know I’ll be back soon though!

If you’re just joining, I’ve been staying in Clapham, a neighborhood on the Southwest side of the city. I love it! Here are some great hotels in the area.

Note: *This post may have affiliate links!*

Day 15

If you’ve read my week 2 in London post, you know that I spent the last day of week 2 in Windsor. I walked about 20,000 steps that day. And then, on day 15, I ran a 5k. I ambitiously signed up for this 5k about 2 months in advance, planning to meet a couple of other Americans at the race.

Despite not training properly, I didn’t do terribly. I managed to run the whole 3.1 miles and under 30 minutes, which was my goal. I left quickly after because I had originally planned to meet John in Portsmouth. It didn’t work out, which was sad, but to be honest I was really tired after the race.

I spent the afternoon resting and staying out of the cold and rain. Then, in the evening, I met up with some girls for a couple of drinks. I was excited to go out for the first time in the city! We ended up meeting at The Sun, a pub in Clapham. It was a really cool environment with an outdoor garden, but it was so crowded! Everywhere was packed, of course, it being a Saturday night, but we had fun anyway!

Day 16

Another ambitious morning; I went to yoga to start the day. After drinking the night before, I was pretty proud that I got up and did it.

I met up with some girls for lunch in Putney at a pub called The Half Moon. We all ordered a drink and got roasts. This roast was so freaking delicious! I already want to go back there just to have it again. I think after the roast we had the weekend before, this one was extra great because it was so much better. The walk from the bus stop was really nice too! The weather got nicer again this week, which I appreciated.

From lunch, I had booked a time slot for the Natural History Museum. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was pretty underwhelmed here. There is a lot to see, but I have been to similar museums in the US, and not much in there is real. A lot of the exhibits are castings of the real thing, which makes it less exciting for me. This is definitely a good place to take kids or to do a field trip for school. There is a lot to learn, it just wasn’t for me.

Day 17

I had to be up a bit early again Monday because I booked a Harry Potter studio tour for 10.30. The issue is, the studio isn’t really that close in London. It’s very far north and a bit west, so it took me an hour to get up there on the train. It was really nice though, they have a shuttle at the train station that takes you straight to the studio, so I didn’t also have to wait for a bus like I thought I was going to.

If you don’t want to worry about taking public transportation, you can purchase a tour here that includes a coach pickup and drop off at Victoria station. You can also add an audio tour, which cost £5 online, or you can also get it at the studio. It isn’t necessary, but it was nice at parts to have some more information.

I wasn’t expecting it to take as much time as it did, but I spent about 4 hours in there. Some of that time was waiting in line for something to eat, but overall I probably walked around and looked at different things for 3.5 hours. (Side note: try the butter beer ice cream!) It is insane the amount of props, sets, etc. they used for those movies. Of course, it was 10 years worth of films, so it makes sense.

I’d say my favorite part was walking into the Great Hall. It is one of the first things on the tour, and there are some extra features that I won’t disclose. It was an amazing start to the magic!

I came back a different way because the trains were having signaling issues, which is always annoying. Another reason to consider a tour with transportation included. When I got home, John and I went to the gym. That was much needed because I haven’t been consistent in there at all while I’ve been here. After, we just grabbed a pizza at Domino’s and came back to the flat. John watched the football game and I read a book before we crashed.

Day 18

After a chill morning blogging and annoying John while he worked, I decided to make use of the day and went to Islington. I went to a coffee shop called Your Coffee Hub that has created one of the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten. To get there, I walked along Regents canal, which was beautiful. If you’re in that area, I’d recommend a little detour to enjoy it.

The conut. The donut doesn’t have a hole, but is scooped out to make a sort-of cup. Then, I got to decide to put biscoff cookie butter, Nutella, or a pistachio spread inside the “cup” before they put coffee into it. They give you a straw so you can both eat and drink this wonderful creation. Anyways, do yourself a favor and just go get one. Nutella is the way to go in my very biased opinion.

The British Library

From there, I walked to the British Library. It’s about a mile away, and the bus takes about the same amount of time as it does to walk because of the traffic in this area. The library is humongous. Every single book ever written (in English I believe) is inside this library. There are areas in the basement that are just books. Many books are now digitalized, so that helps, but can you imagine?!

Much of the library is dedicated to different reading rooms, which I needed a membership for. I decided to just do some blogging here, which was more difficult than I thought it would be because there were so many people inside taking up the tables and work spaces. I found myself sitting on a comfy bench until someone got up from one of the tables.

When I was leaving, I found an exhibit that visitors are allowed to enter. It holds documents like the Magna Carta (crazy after my visit to Windsor the previous week), notebooks from Michelangelo, and some of the oldest surviving documents. Many of the works were some sort of religious manuscript. It was incredible to see.

Camden Market (again)

After the library I walked up to Camden, where I was meeting John for dinner. We had plans to get another Yorkshire Burrito, to share of course, and try some of the other yummy looking creations in the market. Unfortunately, Camden Market is quite far from Clapham, and many of the stalls were closed by the time we got there.

We ended up getting Chinese food at a stall, which I did not like. After walking around desperately trying to find something else better, we went to a pub down the street and I just got some chips (fries) and we each had a beer. Last minute I remembered there is a comedy club nearby that I had on my list of things to do.

Comedy

The Top Secret Comedy Club has a couple of locations, is free to students, and charged us 1 quid each to get in. It was one of the best shows I’ve seen. John and I have gone to a few, but this by far was the best one. Upon leaving, they ask for donations for what you thought the show was worth. The beers and drinks are quite cheap for being in Central London as well. I would 100% recommend doing this if you are around-just make sure you book it online or you won’t get a seat. The club was completely sold out on a Tuesday evening.

Day 19

I legitimately did nothing on day 19 besides lay around and relax while John worked. I knew I’d regret it, but in the moment I didn’t really care. Sometimes you just need a day of nothing!

We did grab dinner that night at The Falcon again. We both ordered their delicious fish and chips because we knew it was good there. After that, John went home, and I packed some of my bags up in preparation to move on Saturday.

Day 20

Thursday I went to Oxford. You can read a more detailed post here. It was an interesting trip getting there and back, so if taking public transportation from London, I wouldn’t recommend this trip so much. I did enjoy seeing the city, though. I took a walking tour with a student guide, which helped me learn more about Oxford.

The city is home to 39 different colleges. There is a dispute as to which was there first, but now, together, they all comprise of Oxford. They each have different rules and expectations, different programs, and different admissions processes. Oxford also used to be home to some of the greatest minds in history- Tolkien, Carroll, Golding. Not to mention, home to the filming sites for some very well known movies.

Before the walking tour, I had a little while to stop in the Asholean museum. It is a free museum that houses many artifacts from Egypt, to Britain. It was a really cool place to see, although I definitely didn’t have enough time inside. I would recommend stopping by if you have time while in Oxford.

If it wasn’t past closing time by the end of the tour, I would have also gone into some of the libraries at Oxford. They are open to the public and are extensive, much like the British Library. Along with the libraries, the colleges are often open to the public to allow people to visit. This depends if there are exams happening, holidays, etc. During the tour, we did go inside some colleges where you normally would have to pay, so that again, made it worth doing.

The trip home was worse than the one to Oxford because the bus was extremely crowded and noisy. I’m not sure if this is typical on a Thursday evening, but it felt like hours on that bus to get back to London, and then I had to also go on the tube and take a bus back to the flat. As I said before, not an ideal day of travel.

Day 21

Since the weather was expected to be pretty rainy, I started my day at the British Museum. I booked a time for 1pm, so I wasn’t having to rush in the morning, which was nice. I spent about 3 hours inside, there was so much to see! Although I thought it would be a lot more actual British history, it was still incredible to see some of the things on display that are so ancient.

One of my favorite areas in the museum was on the beginning of written language. It is crazy how people started using clay and sticks to create pictures and symbols to indicate numbers, days, weeks, months, years, etc. It’s crazy to think how many languages there are today and how all things have stemmed from these symbols.

After seeing most of the museum, I went back to my flat to pack some more and get ready for the night. I planned a dinner with a few girls that I’ve met with before. We went to an Italian restaurant called Eco. I got a raspberry Bellini, and we ordered garlic bread to share. Funnily, the garlic bread was just like a pizza with some garlic and cheese on it. I also had a Margherita pizza, which was good, but ended up being a lot of cheese and bread after having some garlic bread. Weird!

After we ate, we walked back towards our flats, and decided to stop for a beer at The Goat. This was actually really cool pub! They had live music going on, which was great. He played a lot of well-known hits (many of them American artists), and the whole pub was singing along. We just had one drink and then we all went out separate ways.

Leaving London

I had to finish packing that night, and prepare for the journey the next day. But overall, I felt I spent my 3 weeks in London to the fullest. There are still things on my list that I would like to do next time, plus I keep adding to it. If there are things you think I have to do the next time I am in London, comment below or send me an email!