As I'm working on some posts for Barcelona, I thought I would share our travel itinerary from our trip to London, which includes aggressively nerdy notes from Rick Steves as well as our dinner plans for the day. I love a jam-packed schedule, and Nick loves whiling his afternoons away in a museum for hours on end, so we were out-and-about for most hours of the day.

Saturday 06:05 PM Depart ORD

Sunday

7:55 AM Arrive LHR

Lunch: Dominique Ansel bakery PM: Portobello Road Market Dinner: Lamb & Flag

Stay: Georgian House Hotel

Monday

AM: Churchill War Rooms

Underground WWII headquarters of Churchill’s war effortDaily 9:30 to 18:00Horse Guards change daily at 11:00£19 includes audioguideTube: WestminsterCan buy ticket online in advancePeople usually spend 2.5 hours here

PM: National Gallery

Remarkable collection of European paintings (1250 to 1900) including Leonardo, Botticelli, Velazquez, Rembrandt, Turner, Van Gogh, and the ImpressionistsFree, £20 suggested donation, £4 audioguide (worthwhile), £1 floorplanDaily 10:00 to 18:00Tube: Charing Cross or Leicester SquarePeople usually spend 2 hours here

PM: National portrait gallery

Free, £20 suggested donation, £4 audioguide (worthwhile), £1 floorplanDaily 10:00 to 18:00

Dinner: Dishoom

Tuesday

AM: Tower of London

Historic castle, palace, and prison housing the crown jewels and a witty band of BeefeatersTue-Sat 9:00-17:30; Sun-Mon 10:00-18:30, Nov-Feb closes 1 hour earlier£25Crown Jewels first: arrive before 10:00Beefeater Tour & White Tower: One hour long & leave from just inside the entranceTube: Tower HillPeople usually spend 3 hours here

PM: Westminster Abbey

Britain’s finest church and the site of royal coronations and burials since 1066Mon-Fri 9:30 to 15:30; Wed until 19:00; Saturday 9:30 to 14:30; Closed Sunday£20, £40 for family ticket (2 adults + 1 child)Ticket includes cloister and AudioguideEvensong performances daily except Wednesday at 17:00Most crowded every day at midmorning and all day Saturdays and Mondays. Visit early, during lunch, or late to avoid tourist hordes.Can buy tickets online (no line-skipping October through March)Tube: Westminster or St James Park

PM: Followed by Westminster Walk

Free Westminster Walk Audio Tour DownloadAllow one hour

Dinner: Shoryu Ramen

Post-Dinner: Milroy’s for Whisky

Wednesday

AM: The City Walk

Allow 1 to 3 hoursFree audio tour download

AM: St. Paul’s Cathedral

The main cathedral of the Anglican Church, designed by Christopher Wren, with a climbable dome and daily evensong servicesMon-Sat 8:30-16:30£18, £16 if purchased in advance on the websiteTicket includes church entry, dome climb, crypt, tour, audioguideRick has a free audio tourTube: St Paul’s

PM: Bankside Walk; then walk the Jubilee Walkway from the Millennium Bridge to the London Eye

Along the South Bank of the ThamesAllow one hourTube: London Bridge

Dinner: Churchill Arms

Thursday

AM: British Library

Fascinating collection of important literary treasures of the Western worldMon-Fri 9:30 to 18:00, Tue-Thu until 20:00, Sat 9:30-17:00, Sun 11:00-17:00People usually spend 3.5 hours herePM: British MuseumThe world’s greatest collection of artifacts of western civilization, including the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon’s Elgin MarblesDaily 10:00 to 17:30, Friday until 20:30 (selected galleries only)Free, but a £5 donation suggestedLeast crowded late and on weekday afternoonsRick has a free audio tourTube: Tottenham CourtPeople usually spend 2.5 hours here

PM: West End Walk to see Covent Garden and Soho

From Leicester Square to Piccadilly CircusAllow 2 hoursTube stop Leicester Square

Dinner: Burger & Lobster

Friday

AM: Changing of the Guards

AM: Victoria & Albert Museum

The best collection of decorative arts anywhereFree, £5 donation requestedDaily 10:00-17:00, Fri until 22:00 (selected galleries only)Tube: South KensingtonPeople usually spend 2.5 hours here

PM: Regent Street Shopping Walk

Mile-long walk from Regent Street to Piccadilly Circus, then up the street called Piccadilly and down the street called JermynIncludes Oxford Street, Regent Street, Jermyn StreetConsider teatime during / after

Dinner: The Victoria

Saturday

12:05 PM Depart LHR 03:20 PM Arrive ORD

Getting Around

We did the 7 day zone 1 to 2 travel card £33 with 2 for 1 deal

For more posts on London:

Let's talk about hot food spots in Madrid, since we've already hit the highlights of the sightseeing.

I previously mentioned the Mercado de San Miguel in the sightseeing spot, but it is first and foremost a spot for wonderful eats. From sangria to oysters to baked goods, it hits all the hot spots of Spanish cuisine and beyond. Highly recommended for lunch, when its less busy, or tapas, if you don't mind a bit of a crowd.

La Mallorquina, one of the oldest bakeries in Madrid right on Puerta del Sol, has a number of delectable pastries, and it always seems to be jam-packed (pun intended). The pastries in the window are gorgeous, but the napolitana con chocolate typically comes as the highest recommended item (so we obviously tried it--it was excellent!).

We stopped off at Ruda Café for un flat white while we were wandering around El Rastro. Third wave coffee in Madrid happening here. Insert perfect emoji here. (My love for Spaniards Anglicizing certain words "el wifi", "un flat white" lives here, too).

Of course, churros con chocolate are one of Spain's practically eponymous dishes, and Chocolatería San Ginés has been serving them up since 1894. Their thick, rich, and dark chocolate is perfect for dunking those crispy, golden churros, and it is a must-eat in Spain. We were, of course, lead to this chic spot by one of those epic Rick Steves Walks.

El Pimiento Verde, which is located directly across from the Mercado de San Miguel, offered up some amazing chuletón de vaca maduro a la parrilla (basically: grilled steak) that I will never forget. Tapas aren't the only thing you need to eat in Spain!

In our second AirBnb in Madrid, there was a list of local restaurants, and it suggested Maceiras; of course, we promptly headed there for some excellent pulpo (octopus) that we (ahem: that I) got bullied into ordering. We came at an off time, when they were closing one half of the restaurant, and we got scurried over to the other half of the restaurant, where we got some amazing seafood paella as our main dish (of course, all without Nick understanding a word of what was being said).

We ended up eating at El Brillante for some bocadillos de calamares (squid sandwiches) because we got stuck in the rain near La Reina Sofia: even though it was Rick-recommended (the man is more trustworthy for sightseeing than for off-the-beaten path foodie experiences), it was just a fun atmosphere. We ate at the bar, and we did indeed see some little, old señoras enjoying their sandwiches along with us (though, food-wise, the sandwich is a little bland).

With Nick always on the hunt for third wave coffe, we also stopped at Bianchi Kiosko Caffé. A cute little place, with a lot of atmosphere.

One of the other places we did end up eating as at a burger bar named Goiko Grill, which was probably one of the more authentic places at which we ate, since nobody else there was speaking any English (and to flatter myself, I'd like to point out that the server wanted to know where I was from in Spain). To be honest: the burgers were amazing, although definitely not authentically American.

Though it has been a long-time-coming, I thought it would be better to share about our trip to Spain now instead of never. We went nearly a year ago, but it still gives me heart eyes to look at these pictures and scroll through last year's itinerary.

I haven't traveled extensively, but I've been enough places to say that Madrid is tops. I would say that it certainly rivals Paris in terms of culture and food. Though my American self would easily go for the early bird / retiree dinner schedule, I love the romantically long evenings that Madrid (and Barcelona) offer

Overall, I feel like it's easiest to travel through Madrid with some knowledge of the Spanish language. A little less touristy than the ever popular Barcelona, there are overall fewer English speakers (or at least they don't let on that they speak English).

On our first day in Madrid, we stopped through El Rastro, one of Europe's largest flea markets. While most of the flea market leaves much to be desired (you won't often find me buying clothes/bags/shoes in general), the intriguing part of El Rastro is actually in Plaza Mayor, where collectable coins and vintage knickknacks are for sale.

On our second day, we followed one of the Rick Steves walks and then toured the Royal Palace & the Catedral de la Almuneda (these two are neighbors). The palacio is essentially the equivalent of France's Versailles, and it was incredible.

We also spent some time at the Museo Nacional del Prado later on the second day, where we got our fix of art (specifically: paintings). Having our handy dandy Rick Steves guidebook was essential because the place is huge, but we also picked up the audio tour here to help guide us through the specific art we had set out to see (and then some). We spent a good part of the day here.

Upon our return from Madrid, we spent a lazy, gorgeous Fall afternoon wandering around Retiro Park; we took a row boat expedition around the small pound, which was glorious. While the row boat tour is not listed as an essential in Rick's guidebook, I highly recommend it as a wonderful way to experience the glory of the parque.

On our final day, we tackled some modern art, including Picasso's famous Guernia, at the Reina Sofia. Yet another massive art museum, it was incredibly helpful to have a guidebook to make sure that we hit the highlights of the museum. While this lacks some of the more traditional artwork of the Prado (many works studied by Picasso himself), the art is interesting, and the size and anguish of Guernica certainly make the museum worthwhile.

Apart from art, we had plenty of time to wander, which meant several trips to the Mercado de San Miguel. We stopped off there for snacks and even tapas and sangria one night before dinner; needless to say, the food was excellent, and the market selection was beautiful.

As with any trip, we did a number Rick Steves's Walks: the key one for Madrid is his Puerta del Sol walk. The best part of this walk was getting to learn a little bit about the history of the city and getting to see hidden gems within the city, like this ancient door (shown below) or the small little revolving door out of which cloistered nuns sell sweets.

grossed out by the fish and chips we had (with the scales on! ew!). The highlight of our trip was the fruit basket that was left for us every night by the manager of the Cherry Court Hotel: we would stay up seemingly all night awaiting the delivery of the fruit basket, spending the majority of our awake time probably keeping everyone else in the tiny hotel awake thanks to our giggling.

Fortunately, the internet guided Nick and I to all the good foodie things in London this trip, and we ate like the Queen (well, almost).

Dominique Ansel Bakery. This was our first stop on the rainy afternoon on which we arrived, and we were stunned by the beautiful pastries. We tried a lemon curd cronut, which was amazing, and we made a lunch of out the croque monsieur. We got hot drinks, and I couldn't resist the blossoming hot chocolate. Had we had the time and belly space, you can bet we would have been back for more of the sweet treats.

Dishoom. To preface this commentary, I am generally not a fan of Indian food; however, clearly that is simply because I haven't had good Indian food previously. I loved this place! The naan and the black daal were the must-eats, but the cocktails we ordered were also good. And that butter buttah corn that they served could only be described with some heart-eyed emojis. Also, I accidentally lit my menu on fire here (because: why not?).

Shoryu Ramen. Ramen was on our list of big city must-eats because we definitely do not have availability of asian food here in MIlwuakee (at the very least, there is a paucity of ramen). We picked Shoryu after perusing the yelp reviews for the main ramen joints in London, and I loved it (Nick thought that it was not quite salty enough, though).

Churchill Arms. This place was AMAZING. I wish I had a photo of the floral wall cover because it is incredible. We had amazing Thai food, and then we walked out of the restaurant and into the pub, where we had a more traditional London public house experience.

Burger & Lobster. This had a little bit more of a chain restaurant feel (although I will say that both Dishoom and Shoryu ramen also have multiple locations in London, and Dominique Ansel has another spot in NY). Despite the TGI Friday's feel, the food was super good. Nick and I both got the lobster rolls, which hit the spot after a long day of walking. They may not have been quite as good as our Milwaukee favorites at the St Paul Fish Company, but they came pretty close.

The Victoria. We ended up at this busy pub after we decided to forgo early reservations at one of the Ottolenghi restuarants in favor of more touring on our last day. I love food, but seeing the sights always trumps a fancy dinner. This turned out to be perfect. We cozied into a corner table by sheer luck, and enjoyed good old-fashioned British food nestled in between the locals. Also, we finally ate a traditionally British confection--sticky toffee pudding.

Lamb & Flag. This little spot was our first pub experience. Rather unexciting British fare as compared with one of its sister pubs, the Victoria, but it was a quaint atmosphere, and the food was palatable.

Bottom line: we would come back for the food for sure.

For more posts on London:

I wanted to share some of our adventures abroad over the past year, and I thought I would start with London since it was our most recent trip. We managed to snag some very affordable (and direct) flights to London Heathrow out of Chicago O'Hare, which sealed the deal on making this trip happen. The tickets most likely came at a discounted rate given that our trip was during the middle to the end of January, which is not exactly the warm season for the UK. Still, the temperatures were mostly in the 40Fs, which was tolerable by comparison to the frigidity of Milwaukee in January. We bundled up everyday and, per my garmin, walked a total of about 15 miles per day, which kept us warm. Sight-seeing was overall easy given the low numbers of tourists, and it was super affordable given the number of free sites that we visited and given our 2-for-1 tube passes.

As you will see when you compare my itinerary with your most up-to-date Rick Steves London, we essentially visited all the sites that he recommended with three triangles (if you are unfamiliar, the three triangles is Rick's way of rating the top notch sightseeing). We spent quite a bit of time on the guided walks, which we had done in Spain as well. The guided walks are one of the single best ways of to make sure you see all the highlights of the city, especially because many of them incorporate the major sites (check his website if you want to listen to some of them via podcast).

Churchill War Rooms. Below Whitehall, the Churchill War Rooms were our first scheduled stop, which was fortunate given that our first day was cold and rainy and that the War Rooms are relatively well-insulated. They are remarkably well-preserved, and the detailed Winston Churchill within the War Rooms provides such great insight into Churchill himself.

National Gallery + National Portrait Gallery. We did the guided tour provided by Rick Steves for the National Gallery (no podcast available for this one), and it was wonderful; importantly, Rick's guide through the National Gallery was fairly concise, which is necessary given the size of the gallery. Like the Prado and the Louvre, you can spend all day in this place. We spent far more time here than Rick allotted, but we still had a minute to pop over to the National Portrait Gallery immediately afterwards, which was not on the original schedule; however, I highly recommend it as a supplement to the National Gallery because you are able to see many of the well-known portraits that litter your old history textbooks in the Portrait Gallery.

Tower of London. The Tower of London is a London essential. We toured the Crown Jewels first per Rick's recommendations (everything in here is replicated nearly perfectly in The Crown, Young Victoria, Victoria), and then we took the Beefeater tour, which was highly entertaining and earned us a twitter shout-out. We then wandered around for quite a while, and it was quite easy to spend half the day, as here is quite a bit of history there in which to lose yourself.

Westminster Abbey. As the site of every coronation since 1066 (be sure to check out the coronation chair) and sixteen royal weddings, Westminster Abbey is also one of London's must-see sights. We started off on Rick's Westminster Walk immediately after finishing the tour here. There are famous people buried all over Westminster Abbey, so be careful not to step on them.

Saint Paul's Cathedral. While there are so many Christopher Wren churches spread across London, this particular church is certainly the main one that you should see. If you are going to visit the Cathedral, it is definitely worth your while to a climb to the very top (All the way! I mean it!) for some spectacular views of the city. We toured it towards the end of the Rick Steves City Walk, which in and of itself gave us a good sense of the old city of London.

British Library. While Nick's favorite stop was the Churchill War Rooms, the British Library was my personal favorite. Rick has a podcast audiotour that is brief (you only need about an hour-and-a-half max for here), the whole experience is amazing. You get to see bits of the Magna Carta, Shakespeare's First Folio, old bibles, and Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks. While we were there, there was a whole section devoted to Jane Austen, which gave me all kinds of heart eyes.

British Museum. Not to mention Rick Steves again, but thank goodness we had his podcast here. The British Museum has a wealth of history and exhibits. We spent far more than our allotted time here studying the rise and fall of Egypt, Assyria (Iraq), and Greece. The Parthenon Galleries are breathtaking (both the sculpture and the magnanimity of the room itself).

Changing of the Guards. The changing of the guard was a last-minute addition to our itinerary. I had originally not scheduled it given how busy we were over five-and-a-half days, but then I felt like I was shorting Nick out of a classic London experience. We did not stay for the whole thing (standing around for that long was too cold), but we got to see some of the fuss and fanfare. The Queen's guard, as you can see below, was in their winter dress (grey coats).

Victoria & Albert Museum. I had done most of the things on this list once or twice before, but I had not done the V&A museum. My first impression: wow. The V&A museum has such a variety: from British history to fashion through the ages to Iranian rugs to the Cast Courts, they have a little bit of history, a little bit of art, and a little bit of everything in between.

Rick Steve's Walks: The Westminster Walk, The City Walk, Bankside Walk, West End Walk, Regent Street Shopping Walk. The walks. I am obsessed with them. I will listen to them on a podcast or read them from the book, but they got us to see everything. From Twinings to the Liberty of London store, we got to see all the little bits and pieces of London that are so important, but that are not necessarily on your sight-seeing list. Put the walks on your list, and you will see it all (and learn about it, too).

Next time... On our next trip, I would love to travel throughout the UK as well. I have been to Hampton Court and Greenwich, but I would love to go again as an adult. In London proper, we left so much undone, including the Tate Modern and the Tate Britain. Cheers to next time!

For more posts on London:

For 2017, I have been using the Inkwell Press Planner, and I have very much enjoyed the section that it houses on goal-planning, which is something I have not really used before in terms of writing personal goals. For the past several years I have used one of the Moleskine planners because of their small size and simplicity; however, since residency frequently gets the better of me and drains me of energy, I thought I needed a little extra help this year planning out my life.

Personal. One of my goals for this year has been to read more for pleasure. I do reading here-and-there at work for topics in medicine, but I have always enjoyed fiction, which is something that I particularly have neglected in medical school and residency. I have always put off starting a book because I am a binge-reader: I start something, and I read straight through until the end. My goal this year is to read a minimum of one book per month, and I am so far above goal (but taking vacation with minimal electronic devices made reading an easy choice).

Health. Fitness is something that has definitely been neglected over the past year, though less so in recent months. I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis at the end of September 2016, and I had spent at least two months before then doing nothing besides walking down the stairs a la Maggie Smith in the Lady and the Van ("don't rush me!"). I started to get back to running a couple of months ago, and I have been slowly working my way up since then. My goal is to steadily increase my mileage throughout this spring.

Home. We have a horrible greyish-purple color in our living room with a darker version of it running above the picture molding. I have been meaning to paint the living room since we moved in, but I have yet had the motivation to fix it; however, my goal for this year is to finally paint it. AND, I would finally like to frame the prints we have recently acquired from our travels and hang them on the wall.

Clothing. I am admittedly a terrible shopper. I will wear the same thing repeatedly, and I frequently then end up buying clothing out of desperation. My goal for 2017 is to find at least one new item a month while continuing to prune out my defeated items of clothing. In the same vein, I would like to make at least one item per month. This month, I have knitted up a Wool and the Gang snood dog, and I made another beanie for my husband Nick (like the one seen above, but in their tweed gray).

I 100% started slacking on working on my food blog words&whisks when I started residency. Number One: I was busy. Needless to say, those 80 hour work weeks are EXHAUSTING. Number Two: I just got bored with posting exclusively recipes. And, I was a little fed up with my old camera.

Still, I love documenting things (see my instagram or facebook account if you have any doubts), so I thought it would be fun to keep a personal blog. I have millions of plans for 2017, including several trips (as of now, one with a detailed itinerary and one that better involve some sweet powder), a baking bucket list, and some Wool & The Gang goodies that are on their way to me as we speak.

If I am feeling up for it, I might even travel back in time to give a recap of our trip to Madrid and Barcelona in April and to write a guide to the Bourbon Trail now that we have completed it in its entirety. Look out for some 2017 goals headed to this blog soon.