8 Hours in London (and the Elvis Exhibition)

We had a recent stopover in London, so decided to make the most of our time, and do some exploring! Here’s how we spent our eight hours in London.

Arriving at the O2

9:00am

Hopped onto the Stansted Express which takes 50 minutes to get into the centre of London. If you book more than a month in advance you get your ticket for half price. Book here.

10:00am

First stop, the Railway Tavern outside Liverpool Street Station. Just a typical London pub – there wasn’t much happening at 10am, as expected, but we’d definitely pop back for another drink!

TUBE: Central Line – Liverpool Street to Stratford. Change. Jubilee Line – Stratford to North Grenwich.

11:30am 

Elvis at the O2 – This was the first time either of us had visited the O2 arena. (Since its transformation from the dreadful Millennium Dome, which I visited as an unenthusiastic 14-year-old.) We were both well impressed – it was like a mini city, with shops, bars, restaurants. If only we’d had the time!

Getting a bit carried away!

The King is alive!

The exhibition itself was a dream come true for Elvis fans. It’s running until the end of August, so I’d urge everyone to go and see it. Well worth every penny! (£24 a ticket, plus transport to London)

I don’t want to give too much away, for those who haven’t been yet, but the exhibition far surpassed anything I’d been expecting. The display contained a range of personal items belonging to Elvis, including childhood toys, clothes, and household items from Graceland. These were shown alongside video footage of Elvis, and soundtracks of his music.

I couldn’t believe they’d even managed to transport the red car that Elvis drove in the movie Blue Hawaii.

I almost burst into tears when I saw the white jumpsuits actually worn by Elvis on stage, but the piece de resistance for me was the black leather jumpsuit from the ’68 comeback special. I can’t put into words how exciting it was to see this. Obviously I’ll never ever get to see a live performance by Elvis, but seeing the black jumpsuit felt like the next best thing!

TUBE: Jubilee Line – North Grenwich to Waterloo. Change. Bakerloo Line – Waterloo to Piccadilly Circus

The car from Blue Hawaii

If I can dream…

1:30pm

Piccadilly Circus – We had a quick look at the video billboards, and the Shaftesbury memorial fountain and statue of Eros. However, this was just a five-minute photo opportunity, nothing more.

1:45pm

Carnaby Street – Once the heart of swinging London in the 1960s. This was where all the trendiest fashion boutiques set up shop, but now the street just contains regular chain stores. Not worth a visit unless you’re into GAP and G-STAR. I’m not.

No longer swinging 😦

2:00pm

Lunch and drinks in Soho. Probably overpriced, but then the prices everywhere in London are scary to me! You’re on holiday so you have to just go for it, and splash out for once. Plus it was a beautiful day, we were sitting outside a bar and it was a great spot to people-watch.

TUBE: Central Line – Oxford Circus to Liverpool Street

4:30pm – Stansted Express back to the airport for our connecting flight.

Drinks in Soho

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Tags: elvis, london, london underground, sightseeing, Travel