After an exhausting day of travel I made it to London. The best way to sum up the trip is to put it in the captains own words “ there seems to be a bit of traffic on the runway… we’re ttttth-irtyith…” So while we are all waiting for him to say third. He gently breaks it to us that it will be another 45+ minutes on the runway. Needless to say I slept well after arriving in London.
Today we did quite the tour of London. I think it was an attempt to make up for the fact that I was in London for at least 6 days last December and I didn’t see any ‘touristy’ things except for a few monuments at night…and nighttime photography leaves a bit to be desired.
We started the day with a trip to the Tower of London. Saw St. Katherine’s docks; lots of flowers, made me think about mom… and then crossed the Tower Bridge.
There was an interesting exhibit by city hall; guitars designed by artists and signed by various music artists that were on display that will later be sold to benefit a charity of some sort.
In the music mood we took the underground to see Abbey Road. I could have spent a good part of the afternoon watching all the idiots, like myself, dash in front of cars in a vain attempt to get the perfect shot. A few of the passing cars didn’t take too kindly to the tourists and let it be known by an angry horn blast, but for the most part the locals seemed to humor us.
Then we took the underground to Kings Cross to see Platform 9 æ. Yes, James humored me enough to take me to a random metro station to see a sign on a wall erected for a fictional child’s book. What a sport.
Next on the list was a walk to Camden Market. After a bit of construction and detours we made it to the Camden High Street. What an interesting place. We had a bit of dinner and enjoyed the atmosphere along the canal.
As if we hadn’t done enough already, we headed back towards the river to see Covent Garden and find a friend of ours that is working in London. Met up with a few of James’ friends and then walked to see where he works, at the Savoy, a swank hotel downtown. Lured by the lights of Big Ben we walked down to the river to see Parliament and passed 10 Downing Street. For all of you out there that don’t know what that is, like I didn’t, I will save you the embarrassment of asking someone; 10 Downing Street is the UK equivalent of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, and to spare my mother from having to ask her children: Its where their Prime Minister lives.
Quite an exhausting day altogether. Enjoy the photos, I may post more later. Tomorrow we have a ride on the London Eye and dinner at little Italian place. Yes mom, James made plans. No, I can’t believe it either.
