Learn how to handle “Gluten Free” dining in London on day 1 of your vacation from Boston. Tips for marathon runners included.
Navigating Gluten-Free Options on our London Marathon Vacation
Traveling to London and eating gluten free can be a challenge, but there are ways to navigate it successfully. One tip is to use Google maps for the trains, as it can be the most reliable way to get around the city. Keep in mind that you may lose cell service when on the train, so following the description on Google maps can still be helpful.
During a trip to London for the London Marathon, the author and their wife found gluten free options at an Italian restaurant called Zizzi. They also enjoyed pancakes at a popular pancake place. Visiting iconic landmarks like the Tower of London and finding accommodations at a comfortable hotel were also highlights of their trip.
Gluten-Free Gastronomy: Navigating London’s Culinary Scene on Day 1 of Our Marathon Vacation from Boston
So this is day one heading to London we’re leaving Boston at about 6:00 at night on JetBlue direct flight it did leave on time and wasn’t a bad flight we had a little turbulence didn’t get to sleep at all but we did make it to London and here we are in London going through customs Customs was very easy.
Actually the line moved right along they had face recognition you showed your passport um to the machine looked into the camera and you were in that was it very easy very simple then we took the train from the airport to our hotel there’s a robot cleaning up and it was very well marked easy to find very clean so we left the terminal.
Had to do a little bit of walking to get to the train we chose to do the Elizabeth line because you can use Google Maps to figure out what the quickest way to go is so sometimes it’s the Picadilly and sometimes it’s the Elizabeth line so we took the Elizabeth line and again signage was great we kept walking until we found the train got on.
The train it was very clean very easy here we are getting off at farington station this train is now ready to the car so please find the closing doors sign clear of the closing doors mind the gap so then we switched trains so it was.
Just one change of trains to get to our hotel like I said it was very easy to use there was always somebody around to help you made it very simple service so we just took the train from the airport to our hotel relatively easy everything was marked.
Well and uh took us about an hour and 10 minutes and here we are so we stayed at the Leonardo Royal Hotel very well situated in the city walking distance to quite a few things that we wanted to see um the the tower bridge Tower of London I walked over to uh the garden Sky Garden so we dropped our bags at the.
Hotel and now we’re on foot trying to find a place to eat and as always a little hard trying to find gluten-free but we found a place that does pancakes that we’re going to walk to so this is the London Bridge not very.
Amazing The Original London Bridge is in Lake Havasu City Arizona so these stairs are pretty unique looking take these from the level that we’re at to get up to to the bridge.
Glen free not Glen free so I just finished and it was just okay eting free pancakes however buckwheat made with buckwheat flour they were very good actually I tried them and I actually just like that dish better uh that came with pinea poached pineapple.
And a cream and uh cinnamon on it mine was just buttermilk supposedly buttermilk pancakes I thought they were kind of weird tasting bacon maple syrup butter and blueberries it was just okay the lattes were very good and then this is your bib number so that um I’ve put some safety pins in there to help you do that with um a so.
I’m at What’s called the Expo uh for the marathon with my wife of course I’m not running the marathon and uh they have these at all the marathons they’re really just vendors uh selling stuff but there’s also giveaways and different.
Things I don’t get it but my wife likes to come to all of these she usually buys something a shirt or something from that Marathon um but it’s really just a big show with vendors and so on but the one cool thing is there’s a a wall called the Abbott wall and uh my finished all of the uh.
Marathons all six of the world marathons so her name is on the wall and I’m going to find it somewhere in here let me go I will find it so here it is this is the World Marathon wall of Fame so let’s see if I can find my.
Daughter’s name Caitlyn Fitzgerald here she is here she is after she completed Tokyo her final of the six World marathons so these are all the names of the people that have completed all six World marathons and this is my wife Janet as she embarks on her fifth World.
Marathon stay tuned so it’s still day one we still have not slept and uh we did get into the room a little early he was able to take a shower and now we’re out wandering the streets and we’re going to go do a little walking tour the Tower of London the Tower of London so I’ll do a little video of that.
But from our hotel we were able to walk over to the tower bridge which is right there and we can walk we walked right over to the uh Tower of London so we’re situated in a pretty good spot in the city and so far so good we’ll get some sleep uh some other time these are just some pictures that I.
Took in the Tower of London some archers up there keeping lookout for any bad people they had these sculptures throughout they were made of some sort of wire mesh the buildings are just phenomenal to see how old they are this is a uh one.
Of those stretchers where they stretch you out on but to see the work manip and how old these buildings are is just incredible the collection of things that they have throughout this is just mindboggling.
now we’re heading into The Arms Room which has all sorts of items they have armor and w weapons all dating back to the 1600s in pristine shape it’s just so unbelievable to see this turning right so I am just in awe with it this.
Display I find it hard to believe that this all survived from the 1600s unbelievable craftsmanship just look at the workmanship on this it’s impeccable so we just went through the.
Armory which I must say was overwhelming with the amount of the collection of arms that they had now we’re going to head into see the crown view I think here we go crown.
so no cameras were allowed in the crown jewels they’re in there but they’re in there and they’re pretty spectacular so we’re not ashamed to say it but we are tired and uh if you come here you’re going to want to spend more time than we.
Did but we are hungry and we are tired so so we did a good amount of it but there’s so much more to do uh we’re skipping a lot of the areas but we feel like we saw quite a bit and now we’re going to go find something to eat I think we’re going to go find Italian in London gluten-free.
so this is where we’re going individually ZZ Italian find out make sure we got so this thing here it will show you everything but just to C over so.
Everything on the left here we can do gluten free all these ones at the top we can do gluten free awesome uh pieces we can do apart from the Cal okay awesome great yeah great two of us so here we are at ZZ and as you saw there was quite a few options gluten-free options almost all of the.
Pasta dishes and pizza so that’s quite a bit Cheers Cheers Cheers I’m so tired it’s an American IPA.
4.7 all right so this is housemade pasta this is a um brisket and Janet’s is is not housemade but gluten-free pasta with Panetta it’s a cavanaro and then I asked for a couple pieces of side bread not a huge.
Portion but hopefully it’s good let’s check the bread out first it’s hot thank you Bread’s not bad there goes nothing Italian in London check it out not bad kind of a different type of pasta anyway with the brisket on it not.
Bad the brisket is good pasta is pasta is pretty good tell it’s homemade or housemade the gluten- free is good is that mozzarella in the uh middle no sour cream or something I forget what it was oh they call it Crea cheese or something like that masap I don’t so this brings our day one to an.
End the beer is good is the Italian the best Italian I’ve ever had no but the gluten- free sounds like it’s really good this isn’t bad unless you’re looking for gluten-free I wouldn’t really recommend that you come here but hey it’s been a long day and it’s not terrible the bread is.
Pretty good the beer is where it’s at though hey that pretty much is going to bring our day first day in London to an end we’re going to try to get some sleep and try to fit in quite a bit more tomorrow so get out there try some new stuff you make it to London tell them I.
Sent you so I decided I can’t end the day without going to a pub and I found a pub that’s virtually a 2minute walk from here go check it out try a local beer pretty good yeah it’s an ESB by Fullers.
y executive sweet
