The Cross Keys

Discover travel destinations of travelers writing a travel journal on FindPenguins.

Travelers at this place

4y

Traveler Europe 2019
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Sep 5, 2019, 9:00am
- ⛅ 13 °C
- Altitude: 43 m
- England Greater London Covent Garden The Cross Keys 51.514416, -0.12441451°30’52” N 0°7’28” W
Day 2
Our London Digs
September 5, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C
We have settled into our London apartment “Tutti Fruitti”which is ideally situated. It is quite compact - but spacious enough for the two of us. Our host Lou met us at the apartment early which allowed us to unpack and shower before we headed out for the day. We spent the day out and about and clocked up over 23,000 steps.Read more
Traveler That’s a plenty of steps, hope you slept well! Have a great time.
9/7/19Reply
Traveler Yes we were a bit tired by the end of the day
9/7/19Reply
1 like
Traveler Europe 2019
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Sep 7, 2019, 8:06pm
- ⛅ 14 °C
- Altitude: 43 m
- England Greater London Covent Garden The Cross Keys 51.514378, -0.12447551°30’52” N 0°7’28” W
Day 4
Wandering Around London
September 7, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
I have included some snaps of our day as we wandered around London today. In addition to the Galleries and Theatre, we passed a few interesting sites. We walked through Covent Garden and Jubilee markets, we visited Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square. For dinner we just grabbed a nice bottle of Tempranillo, and bought fish and chips from a place up the road, and had a quiet night in.Read more
Traveler Looks fabulous Danielle. One of my favorite dinner places in London is a restaurant called Ping Pong, there is a number across London. Check it out if you have the time!
9/8/19Reply
Traveler We have a free night tomorrow and there is one close to where we are staying so we will try and check it out
9/9/19Reply
1 like
Traveler Europe 2019
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Sep 8, 2019, 12:30pm
- ⛅ 15 °C
- Altitude: 43 m
- England Greater London Covent Garden The Cross Keys 51.514394, -0.12432451°30’52” N 0°7’28” W
Day 5
Lunch at the Swan
September 8, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C
This restaurant, which is part of the Globe Theatre complex, had been recommended to me by a colleague (thanks Carrie). She particularly raved about the view across the Thames, and it was lovely, as it was a nice sunny day. Being a Sunday, we had a choice of roast (beef, pork or chicken) with all the trimmings. We had some starters of pickled vegetables, marinated olives and pork crackling. I chose the pork and Ian had the beef, and it was very good. For dessert we shared a Chocolate Pear tart and Eaton Mess.Read more
0 likes
Traveler Europe 2019
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Sep 9, 2019, 10:00am
- 🌧 13 °C
- Altitude: 43 m
- England Greater London Covent Garden The Cross Keys 51.514473, -0.12438551°30’52” N 0°7’28” W
Day 6
Victoria and Albert Museuem
September 9, 2019 in England ⋅ 🌧 13 °C
Made our way to South Kensington to visit this magnificent museum. There is so much to see in this museum - something for everyone. There is an exhibition on Mary Quant and how she revolutionised fashion by appealing to young women, introducing “street style” and worked towards mass production of fashion to create a new look that was accessible to the masses.

Mary challenged conventions - she popularised tights, the mini skirt and trousers. The exhibition explores the evolution of her style from 1955 to 1975. She had a great approach to marketing her products and created a global lifestyle brand.

We also saw a number of lovely sculptures by Rodin and visited the Middle Eastern art, Medieval and Renaissance exhibits and Buddhism and Japanese art. We briefly ventured out into the lovely John Madejski Garden but light rain forced us to retreat indoors. This museum was recommended to us by many and now I know why as it has a wonderful eclectic collection.Read more
0 likes
Traveler Europe 2019
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Sep 9, 2019, 12:30pm
- 🌧 13 °C
- Altitude: 43 m
- England Greater London Covent Garden The Cross Keys 51.514463, -0.12440151°30’52” N 0°7’28” W
Day 6
Lunching at Ottolenghi's
September 9, 2019 in England ⋅ 🌧 13 °C
We made our way to Spittlefields to have lunch at one of the many Ottolenghi restaurants in London, and were not disappointed. We started with a selection of breads with olive oil - delicious.

Ian chose the lamb dish with the basmati rice, wild rice, fennel, pickled apricot and crispy shallots, and the green beans, grilled courgette, cherry tomatoes and basil dressing salad. I chose the sweet potato, roasted shallots and goats cheese tart, which I combined with two salads - aubergine, tahini, spicy chickpeas, pomegranate molasses and mint, and the other char-grilled broccoli, chilli and garlic. We were very full at the conclusion of the meal, so couldn’t squeeze in desert. Luckily, we were able to arrange to take away some cakes from the deli to have for afternoon tea later in the day.Read more
1 like
Traveler Europe 2019
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Sep 9, 2019, 2:30pm
- 🌧 14 °C
- Altitude: 43 m
- England Greater London Covent Garden The Cross Keys 51.514467, -0.12439451°30’52” N 0°7’28” W
Day 6
Wandering around Spitalfields
September 9, 2019 in England ⋅ 🌧 14 °C
After lunch, we decided to wander around Spitalfields, which is a lovely part of London. We walked through the art market and the old market - lots of lovely stores and wonderful buildings. A very different area to Camden Town - restrained and refined, as opposed to crowded, grungy and noisey.Read more
0 likes
Traveler Europe 2019
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Sep 9, 2019, 7:30pm
- ⛅ 14 °C
- Altitude: 43 m
- England Greater London Covent Garden The Cross Keys 51.514444, -0.12439651°30’52” N 0°7’28” W
Day 6
Hamilton
September 9, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
Saw the West End production of the American musical Hamilton tonight, and we were not disappointed - the show was as good, if not better, than the first time we saw it New York. We had fabulous seats in the stalls - seven rows from the front, and centre stage. Jamael Westman was wonderful as Alexander Hamilton. I also loved Jason Pennycooke, who played Lafayette and Jefferson, and Jon Robyn as King George was fantastic - his comedic timing was spot on.Read more
1 like
Traveler Europe 2019
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Sep 10, 2019, 7:02am
- ⛅ 10 °C
- Altitude: 43 m
- England Greater London Covent Garden The Cross Keys 51.514469, -0.12438951°30’52” N 0°7’28” W
Day 7
Harry Potter Studio Tour
September 10, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C
We are off to the HP studios today, as we had booked bus tickets to get to the Warner Bros Studio in Leavesden, about an hours drive from central London. This is the studio where all the Harry Potter films were made over a 10-year period, and which still contains many of the sets, props and costumes. We were on a self-guided tour around the studio, which was great, because you get to move through the two studios at your own pace. My favourite displays were Gringotts, the Great Hall and Diagon Alley. Seeing how they turned Robbie Coltrane into the giant Hagrid was also interesting.

I also enjoyed learning about the behind the scenes work that went in to each movie - the talented artists and craftsmen that built all the sets, costumes, props and accessories, and who created the special effects, did a phenomenal job. The work that went into building the sets, the engineering and mechatronics used to build the beasts, and the work that went into creating the goblin masks was amazing.

They built a model of 1/25 scale model of Hogwarts that is huge - it took about 7 months for the model to be built. This was used in a lot of the external shots in the movies.

On the way back to London we passed by the Abbey Road Music Studio and the pedestrian crossing made famous by the lads. There were so many tourists there trying to get “that shot” risking life and limb which must annoy the drivers (like our bus driver) using the road to get somewhere.Read more
0 likes
Traveler Europe 2019
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Sep 11, 2019, 8:00am
- ⛅ 14 °C
- Altitude: 43 m
- England Greater London Covent Garden The Cross Keys 51.51441, -0.12432651°30’52” N 0°7’28” W
Day 8
Covent Gardens - the place to be
September 11, 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
We have loved having our base here in Covent Gardens. I am sure there are lots of other wonderful areas of London to stay in but we have thoroughly enjoyed our week here. There is so much to see and do and we have barely scratched the surface. It is lively but not too touristy and I love walking past all the theatres and checking out what is playing. We also have the Covent Garden Markets and the options for eating and drinking is huge and diverse.Read more
0 likes
Traveler Europe 2019
- Show trip
- Add to bucket listRemove from bucket list
- Share
- Sep 11, 2019, 9:00am
- ☁️ 14 °C
- Altitude: 43 m
- England Greater London Covent Garden The Cross Keys 51.514445, -0.12440351°30’52” N 0°7’28” W
Day 8
Breakfast at Cafe Balthazar
September 11, 2019 in England ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C
This morning as we had run out of breakfast supplies we had breakfast at this iconic restaurant. They have a sister restaurant in NYC that we have been to. When you walk in you are taken to a bistro in Paris. The food is great and the service top notch. Ian had quinoa bowl with spinach, avocado, crispy bacon, tomato and a poached egg. I decided on a basket of bread and pastries which was lovely but I couldn’t get through it all as it was very generous. Following breakfast we headed off for Paddington Station where we were meeting our guide Fabian for the Hidden London tour. We have become very adept at navigating the Underground this week.Read more
0 likes

You might also know this place by the following names:

The Cross Keys

Join us: