London Day Four: Afternoon Tea, Free Breakfast, Cookie Stops and The British Museum

Dulles Lounges and United Washington Dulles - London Heathrow
London Day One
London Day Two
London Day Three
London Day Four
Overnight Ferry London - Amsterdam
Amsterdam Day One
Amsterdam Day Two
Lufthansa Amsterdam-Frankfurt/Senator's Lounge Frankfurt/Lufthansa Frankfurt - Dulles


To start out our last day in London we took advantage of one of the best features of Hilton Gold Status, a free continental breakfast. At the Hilton London Tower Bridge the breakfast was offered in the Executive Club which was located on the 9th floor of the hotel. The breakfast turned out to be a continental breakfast plus a little more. They had an assortment of pastries, cold cuts, cheese as well as bacon and eggs. For drinks there was an espresso machine along with tea and juice. The breakfast was very good for a free breakfast and saved us spending some money that we could use for something else later in the day.

As I mentioned in the last post the Executive Lounge in the Hilton London Tower Bridge is open from 7 am - 11 pm every day and offers internet acces and computers if you didn't bring along your internet connected device. The concierge in the lounge will also help you with basic needs like reservations and directions. The best part about the lounge is the afternoon tea and snacks in the afternoon/evening. Hotels and restaurants around London offer "afternoon teas" where you can take part in traditional English eat, but also pay out the ears for it. The afternoon tea in the executive lounge had loose leaf tea (of course) along with an assortment of sandwiches and pastries. The best kind of pastry to try is a scone along with clotted cream and jam. The scones are delicious biscuit like pastries with red currents baked in. The clotted cream is a buttery cream and it is best to pair it with raspberry jam. The real question is...what do you put on first...cream or jam. There is a great debate about the order that you put cream and jam on your scone so I hope you will try them and let me know your preference. But, save your money and take advantage of the free afternoon tea in the Executive Lounge if you can.

If the weather is nice the Executive Lounge is nice there is a patio to enjoy with bar tables. The weather was a little cold when we were there, but we stepped out on the patio to enjoy the beautiful views of London.

Patio for the Executive Lounge

"The Shard" a new building near London Bridge 

The "Gherkin" building 

 After checking out of our hotel and storing our bags with the concierge we headed out for our last day in London. Kelsey really wanted to get on a London Double-Decker Bus and take a long ride to enjoy the view from the top level. So we headed to the Tube and took it to the Gloucester Road Tube Stop and then walked up to Kensington High Street to wait for the number 9 bus which goes from Hammersmith to Aldwich in central London. But, before we got on the bus we had to make a detour for one reason....cookies.

When I was studying in London I lived near Kensington High Street and in the shopping center next to the Tube stop there is an amazing cookie shop called Ben's Cookies. These cookies are the freshest cookies you can find. The chocolate chunk, their specialty, is cooked in an oven on-site with huge chunks of chocolate in the middle. The best part is that they undercook the cookies and then warm them up when you order them which means that they are always just warm out of the oven and a little underdone in the middle which makes them nice and chewy. My mouth is watering just thinking about them...

Mmmmm cookies 

 After dropping into a cookie stupor we hopped on the number 9 bus and enjoyed the ride on the top level of the second deck. The bus heads from High Street Kensington past Hyde Park through Hyde Park Corner and Green Park. Then it curves down to Trafalgar Square and ends at Aldwich. We got off the bus at Trafalgar Square and walked to the Piccadilly Circus Tube stop and took the Piccadilly line to Holborn and walked to the British Museum.

The British Museum is a free museum with over eight MILLION separate artifacts from human history and culture. If you are a history buff...plan to spend a whole day here. The museum is massive and you can spend hours just wandering from room to room. The most famous artifacts in the museum include the Rosetta Stone, sculptures from the Parthenon and a really interesting exhibit on the evolution of coins and money through history. The museum also features a beautiful atrium lobby with cafes to grab a quick bite to eat or a coffee to rest for a bit after spending hours wandering through the building. It is a must visit for your trip to London.

British Museum Atrium 

Beautiful Ceiling in the Atrium 

 After visitin the British Museum we headed back to the hotel and picked up our luggage to head to Liverpool Street Station to pick up our train to Harwich, England and the overnight ferry to Holland....or so we thought...