Photos from London

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DH had more work today, so I set out with my iPod to do a walking tour of Campden Hill, Notting Hill and Portabello Rd. Market. I ended up walking for about 3 hours straight.

I came back to the room, starting packing, and waited for DH. He showed up, but then left for another 90 minutes for a final meeting. Finally we left to get some dinner and do some final shopping. We finally made it to Hamley’s but didn’t buy anything. We did stop at the cheesy, cheap gift shop to buy a toy bus, toy taxi, and plastic policeman’s hats for the boys. Italian food for dinner and then our last Underground ride.

DH was back to work today. He left the hotel at 9 AM and is still not back at 8:40 PM. I’m waiting for him and watching the Nelson Mandela 90th Birthday concert on BBC. It in Hyde Park, which is just a 10 minute walk from here. Will & Jada Smith just introduced Mandela.

Can anyone explain the appeal of Amy Winehouse to me? I don’t get it.

Anyway. I went out for a quick walk up Primrose Hill and around Regent’s Park this morning before meeting my friend C. She probably won’t see this until tomorrow, but I had a great time with her. We toured Kensington Palace then had lunch. We took a quick look around the Natural History Museum before parting ways. It seemed like a place Things One and Two would like, but today it was hot and crowded and we were more interested in talking to each other than looking around anyway. Thanks, C! It was great to have your company.

I took a little walk north of our hotel and came home with some take-away sushi and a bottle of wine. Maybe DH will want to get dessert when he gets back?

We had a little slower start and had breakfast at McDonald’s (double bleh…) We were on the tube by 9:30 and at the London Museum when it opened. The first part about prehistoric London was a bit like the military museum in Paris. We describe that one as “suit of armor, suit of armor, suit of armor, sword, sword, sword, suit of armor.” This was more like “arrowhead, arrowhead, arrowhead…” It did get better as we move onto Roman London. Unfortunately, everything after the great fire was closed for renovation.

We had lunch at Pizza Express, which was very good, and then booked a guided tour of St. Paul’s. We enjoyed the tour very much and then decided to climb the dome. Now, I have a pretty strong fear of heights and a near irrational phobia about spiral staircases, especially those that are open under the stair where I can see down. So, what did I do? Climbed all 500+ stairs to the top of the thing! Google tells me there are 259 steps to the Whispering Gallery, then 271 more to the Golden Gallery with a stop at the Stone Gallery in between. The Stone Gallery has a wide walkway, but the Golden Gallery is a tiny little thing, with barely room for two people across between wall & rail. I still can’t believe I was up that high and went up tiny iron spiral staircases to do it.

After St. Paul’s, we took the long way home via King’s Cross station just to see the Harry Potter luggage trolley stuck in the wall. We quickly changed and headed to the Apollo Victoria Theater to see Wicked. We had a nice dinner before and both enjoyed the show. Why didn’t anyone tell me that no one dresses up for theater? We were WAY over dressed – I wore my new little black dress and DH wore a sport coat. Oh, well, we looked good.

DH was off today, so we had a whirlwind sightseeing tour.

Up at 6:30, out for breakfast at Starbucks (bleh…) and to the Tower of London to be there when it opened. We headed straight for the jewels and were thrilled we didn’t have to wait in all the queue that we saw set up for busier times. We did take the Yeoman’s tour and explore some of the towers and grounds before moving on to the Tower Bridge Experience. It was interesting and I got some nice pictures.

We walked the south bank of the river for quite a while. We passed London Bridge, the Globe replica, Southwark Church, the Tate Modern and more. We ate lunch at the Anchor Pub and walked more. We decided pass on a trip on the London Eye. It’s expensive and the lines were long. We walked past Parliment but didn’t go in. We did go in Westminster Abbey. We’ve toured several churches, cathedrals, and chapels over the years, but Westminster has the most haphazard placement of memorials and crypts that I’ve ever seen. It seemed like they ran out of room and just started sticking up markers where ever they fit on the wall.

By the time we left Westminster Abbey, we were pretty tired. We did have time for the Cabinet War Rooms & Churchill Museum, which was interesting and well done. We came back to the hotel, changed to something warmer, and got Thai food in a place near Covent Garden before collapsing.

DH had an early start, 8 AM. We got up around 6:30 and had breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Around 9 I set off for the day.

I went back to Hyde Park Corner and walked the Diana Memorial Walk through Green Park & St. James Park. By 10:30, I was at the Wellington Barracks. I paid to check out the museum there, which I wouldn’t recommend unless one is a huge fan of the guard and wants to know all the history. Around 11 I got a spot to watch the inspection and giggled when the band played “My Heart Will Go On” and the Star Wars theme. I did walk with them back over to Buckingham Palace but did not see the actual “changing” since it was PACKED with people.

From there I walked up to Piccadilly and found myself in Leicester Square. My plan for the day included the British Museum but my feet were worn out from yesterday and the morning, so I got on the tube to get the rest of the way there. I wanted to like the British Museum, really I did. Maybe it would have been better if I’d bought the audiotour? I just couldn’t get into it and eventually came back to the hotel for a rest around 3:30. I’ve gone back out shopping (Mothercare, Primark – I had to see, it was a mob scene, plenty of people don’t care who makes the clothes, and M & S). I actually tried on a few things at M & S but didn’t buy anything since it is the same stuff I can get at home cheaper.

Now I’m just waiting for DH. I’d like sushi for dinner and think I found a place in Soho. Tomorrow he is not working and I’m going drag him out to the Tower of London early in the morning.

I left the hotel a little after 9 with a vague plan in mind. DH left at 10 and still hasn’t returned at 7:15 PM, which is why I’m online. Yea for free wi-fi.

I walked back down Oxford to Hyde Park. I have a bunch of London Walks podcasts on my iPod. I listened to the one that goes from Hyde Park Corner to Kensington, although I abandoned that one at the Albert Memorial and switched to the one that covers the Albert Memorial to the V & A Museum.

While walking near the Serpentine, I saw a “riding school” practicing maneuvers on Rotten Row and shot some video. I continued on to the Albert Memorial, then switched over to a different podcast and headed for the museums.

I gave the Science museum about an hour. Things One and Two would love that when they get a little older. I skipped the natural history museum and spent nearly 3 hours in the V & A museum. After leaving there I walked up to Harrods and Harvey Nichols to look around.

Once DH and crew finally got back, eight of us had dinner at an Italian restaurant in St. Christopher’s Place. We’re going somewhere else tonight… two nights on the same street is enough!

Arrived about 9 AM to Gatwick with a small group of people from DHl’s work, but they are all marketing people. Only one other person here is a developer, everyone else is marketing and travels frequently.

We did not sleep much on the plane since we were in the middle of a group of about 50 high school kids from Colorado traveling to Europe for some sort of elite choir. They were loud

One guy booked a car to take us to the hotel. On my own, I’d have taken the Gatwick Express train. It took about 90 minutes to get to our hotel, which is essentially at the corner of Oxford and Bond Streets. Our rooms were not ready, so we left our bags. DH and I set out to get cash, get lunch, and get on one of the hop on, hop off bus tours. My original plan was to walk to Hyde Park, see the crowd at Speaker’s Corner, get on the bus there, get off near the Thames and take the included boat ride all the way to Greenwich.

DH gets very grumpy when tired. I felt pretty good and just wanted to get on with the day. We fought about finding a ATM (I love the term “hole in the wall”!). We fought about getting lunch. We fought about sitting down to eat lunch. We fought about getting on the bus. Anyway.

Lunch was triangle sandwiches from the food hall at Selfridges eaten while watching soccer football players in Hyde Park.

We did get on the guided tour at Hyde Park and rode all the way to the aquarium/London Eye stop. We switched to the boat and realized there was a bit of bait-and-switch going on. Although the map and the girl when we bought our tickets described a hop on, hop off boat tour, it turns out we had a one way to Greenwich and no return ticket. Since it was already close to 4 PM, we didn’t want to get to Greenwich at 5 PM, see it for an hour, then have to pay more for a return trip on a boat or the tube. We got off the boat at the Tower of London and took the tour back to Hyde Park.

We finally got into our hotel room, changed, and got a quick dinner before collapsing into bed at 9:15 PM.