Day IV- Monday, May 18th

We’ve made it to our final day in London! As I mentioned in my entire trip overview post, I actually had two itineraries planned for our final day- one if we got tickets to Arsenal’s last home game of the season, and one if we didn’t end up getting the tickets. I’m happy to say, 24 hours before game time, we were notified that we got the tickets!! My husband was through the roof happy, the game was at night so this is how we spent our last day in London!

We woke up and walked over to Blank Street Coffee, a coffee shop that was recommended by about everyone who’s ever been to London apparently (lol), I’m glad to say it was super good and I’m so glad we went! Then we walked across the street to a place called The Breakfast Club for breakfast, which was such a cool little spot! As we waited for our table, the hostesses turned on bubble wands to keep the kids happy and entertained, which they really loved!

Getting to Notting Hill was only one transition from train to city sooooo we ended up taking the tube just one more time, despite my hesitation- but really only because it was a direct ride and did not require us to get off the train and get on another one (the way our first experience did), so the tube it was direct to Notting Hill!

We got into town around 1 pm and went straight to the beautiful pastel colored houses! It was such a pretty neighborhood to walk through. One of my friends actually lived close to this neighborhood when she lived in London so we ended up walking by her apartment afterwards!

My daughter loved seeing all the different colored houses and really had a blast telling us which ones were her favorites- basically every pink and purple house. It was really cute. Afterwards, we walked about a block or two away to the famous Portobello Road Market.

The market is like one big Farmer’s Market where vendors sell just about everything- food, clothing, bags, vintage pins, watches, decor, fresh fruit and veggies, and of course the famous Notting Hill bookstore from the movie!! We ended up getting some strawberries for the kids as we walked through and then I got a baguette from Fabrique . I ended up buying the cutest little duffel bag from a street vendor and then some toy cars for my son!

After walking up and down the road, we grabbed a taxi to head back to SoHo. My daughter wanted to go back to Hamley’s toy shop. I’m telling you, this place had her hooked. We went back, grabbed another toy she said she had to have and then got some ice cream from their gelato shop! By this time it was 3:40 pm.

We decided to walk back to the hotel and then spent an hour packing all of our stuff up. I knew it was going to be a late night, the Arsenal game started at 8 pm and we had a 6:30 am train ride to Paris the next morning, so packing when we got back to the hotel didn’t seem like a smart idea to me. So we let the kids rest while we packed and loaded everything up so that when we got back from the game, we could shower and go straight to bed and not have to worry about packing in a rush/panic.

After packing everything up, which was very bittersweet by the way, we started to get ready for the game! This little room had been our first home of the trip and was just so perfect in every way, I was sad to be leaving it!

We grabbed a taxi to Emirates Stadium and ended up getting there about 6:45 pm. We walked to the merch store (duh) and bought some goodies for us and the kids and then headed inside to our seats! Our seats were club level which allowed us to eat and drink in the food hall for free prior to the game start. The kids were also given little kids club activity kits which were SO cool! They came with a little Emirates Stadium puzzle, Arsenal playing cards, a coloring book with colored pencils, and stickers.

The game was SO good, Arsenal won 1-0 and we were right behind the goal when they scored! It was truly incredible and just the atmosphere seeing a football match in Europe was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. The energy was electric and everyone chants and sings and just has the greatest time ever, it was so amazing to be there and experience it all. It was also extra special because we happened to be at their last game of the season and a win basically cemented them winning the league!!! Afterwards, the team did a thank you lap around the field and the coach got on the mic and thanked their supporters and fans for everything. It was a little emotional to be honest LOL. They had one more game of the season- which was an away game and the outcome of that game actually didn’t even matter because of their record. So we were basically there for their home field celebration of winning the Premiere League!! It was amazing and my husband’s favorite thing of the entire trip! Had to make some of his dreams come true during the trip too you know?

It was 10:30 pm while we were leaving the stadium, we walked out to towards the main street outside the stadium to hail a taxi. It was 11: 20 pm by the time we were back in the elevator at our hotel. We showered and immediately went to bed! That 5 am alarm clock was looming over my head the entire time and I couldn’t wait to get to bed.

If you’re ever in London (or probably anywhere in Europe), I definitely recommend seeing a football match if you can! Even if you’re not a fan of the sport, I promise just feeling the energy in the stadium will be worth it! And you never know, you might end up being a fan afterwards!

Going to bed that night was very bittersweet, our time in London had come to an end. I absolutely loved London and we are definitely coming back! It’s funny, as I’m typing this, we’ve been home for about 6 weeks now and my husband just yesterday said he wants to start planning another trip overseas and he wants to hit London again for a few days in between wherever else we go (LOL). So London, we will definitely be back!!

Up next: trip diary of our time in Paris!!!!