London, Day 1: Off With Your Head! The Tower of London & Game of Thrones
Though I knew that the Heathrow Express would have been cheaper, I was stubborn and decided to cab from LHR to the hotel... Over an $80 and an hour later, we arrived at about 9:00 AM to our hotel in the West End. Unfortunately, the room wasn't ready for us, but there's a large bathroom on the lobby level accessible to all where you can change and freshen up.
Though we BYO-KSML, we were pretty hungry. Not wanting to waste our precious time heading to Golder's Green, we walked over to Selfridges to see what Kitchen 1071 had to offer.
Now I did my research before hand and I assumed I'd find a pop-up type venue or a small stand. I was disappointed to see that Kitchen 1071 a little section of the cooler. The kind staff at Selfridges was able to point out the section. As is typical, nothing was really breakfast food but we managed with some Cliff bars and bagels/salmon. In short, the site is nice, but a bit misleading!
From there we started our day and headed over to the nearest Underground Station - the Bond Street station. We purchased two Oyster cards with 20 Euro each. (As an aside, boy do I wish the Subway in NYC was contactless - those cards are amazing. And so is the Tube).
Our first stop was Trafalgar Square. Though we had no intention of checking out the various free museums located near the Square, we though it would give us a good place to start - and it was close to us.
Some cool looking mermaid.From there we hopped on the Tube again and took it a few stops to Westminster to see the Big Ben. Though it was beyond freezing near Westminster and the bridge, we got some cool pictures and. And of course, we saw the famous phone booth. Be warned: There is a line. A long one. And people take 100s of pictures and don't care. But hey - at least there's a line!
Winston looking at Ben.It was already about 12:00 PM and we were ready for some of the other sights... First on our list was the Tower of London which showcases the Crown Jewels. Admission is 23 pounds per person, which is a lot. Usually I'd be satisfied with taking pictures outside of it, but I know a bit of the history... And wanted to see the Crown Jewels. We paid for admission and waited over at the nearby Starbucks to snag some free wifi and a break from the cold.
At around 1:00 PM the tour - which is included in the price of admission - was set to begin. Our tour guide - Marc/k - was incredible. These tours can be pretty boring and long winded, but this was excellent. I think British people would call him "cheeky". He made the tour and the history fun and come alive.
Marc/k, our 'cheeky' Beefeater (excuse the Snapchat filter).
The tour ends off in the cathedral within the fortress, so feel free to walk away as they end there.
From that we headed into the Crown Jewels (self-guided) which were really unbelievable. And immense. (And make Kim Kardashian's diamonds look small.)
Finally, we concluded the Tower of London tour by heading to the cafe to warm up and find some kosher food! (There are kosher chocolate bars. That is all
).
Now, this was the best part of my day and perhaps the whole trip. Because in walks none other than Charles Dance - wait who's that?! TYWIN LANNISTER FROM GAME OF THRONES.
'Off with your head' never rung more true 
!!I fanboy'ed for a few minutes and then let him go... but it was pretty cool and he was a nice guy!
After warming up (and freaking out), we walked over to the Tower (London) Bridge. I found the self-guided tour interesting. As we were there around sunset we got some good views. These didn't capture so well on an iPhone 6s or 7, but I think it's worth going up for the view. Do keep in mind that they're doing construction on the bridge (the part where people drive, I guess?) so you have to walk up and around a roundabout way.
The Tower Bridge is definitely worth a stop.
From there we went back to the hotel (via Tube, of course), and unfortunately, fell asleep for 30 minutes. Not because we missed much time from activities but it only makes you feel worse when you're
that tired.
We took the Tube to Golder's Green and went to La Fiesta.
While I don't have pictures, I wasn't very impressed. I ordered the beef skewers, my wife ordered the small steak. I found mine to be very meaty - like almost too meaty. I think the restaurant is over priced, the portions are tiny and the service was just eh... It also bothered me that they charge 12% gratuity regardless. (I thought this was the norm in London until we went to Isola Bella the next day where it wasn't. Hey - at least I didn't pay gratuity twice!).
The highlights? Excellent chicken empanadas and creme brule.
Day 1 was excellent, only giving us a small taste of London and wanting much more...
Total steps taken: 20,662
