London Day One: London Eye and Brick Lane

On Thursday morning, Ryan and I were up before dawn to catch an early flight from Dublin to London. Our flight ended up being delayed by more than an hour due to weather and by the time we landed in London, we were ready to get the day going!

After navigating the London Underground, we arrived at our hotel, checked in and made a game plan for the day. Ryan really wanted to ride the London Eye, a gigantic Ferris wheel located on the River Thames.

The :London Eye didn’t really intrigue me too much, but once we hopped aboard, I changed my tune. It was a great thing to do as our first main activity in London because it really helped us get a lay of the land since we could see the whole city and locate the famous sights, including Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and more.

The views were quite spectacular and riding the London Eye right away made us feel all the more excited about the next couple days ahead of us!

We spent the next several hours walking around the city, exploring the usual hot spots including Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and more.

During our time in Trafalgar Square, we bought half-price tickets to a show the next day which was great! (Thanks so much to those of you who suggested this!)

When Ryan and I started to get hungry for dinner, I suggested buying something sweet to tide us over at Harrod’s since I really wanted Ryan to see the incredible food hall located at the bottom of this giant store. It blew me away the last time I was in London and knew he’d think it was pretty cool, too!

We ended up buying some macaroons to eat on the Ungerground on the way to dinner. We were pretty psyched about our dinner plans since a bunch of you recommended checking out Brick Lane and popping into one of the many authentic Indian restaurants for dinner one night. Such a fabulous recommendation!!!

We walked along Brick Lane until one restaurant stuck out to us.

Though it was quite crowded, we were able to be seated immediately and quickly ordered papadam to start.

I think this was my favorite part of the meal! We ended up ordering more and more papadam whenever our supply started to deminish! Topping the thin, crispy bread with the various sauces and toppings was a lot of fun and everything tasted delicious. We had a great time trying out various flavor combinations.

For our entrée, Ryan and I decided to share two main dishes between the two of us. I selected the tandoori prawns and Ryan ordered the chicken biryani and we didn’t leave a single morsel of food behind.

It was all incredible!!! Easily one of the best meals we had during our entire vacation.

And of course we also ordered Naan with our meal. This was the Peshwari Naan (coconut almond) and it was so incredible. YUM.

You better believe I will find my way back to Brick Lane for more Indian food if I am ever in London again!