London

So we didn't blog yesterday...we have been having too much fun in London. Oh yeah and the internet at our hotel is not so great. Sunday, we left from Bath in the morning to head to London. Our trip took a bit longer than expected because of train delays, but we finally made it into Paddington Station by the afternoon.

We checked into our hotel, which was minimum accommodations in our basement room with a shower made to only stand. (It was a impossible to lean over, but somehow I managed to shave my legs with some stealth moves.)

After we got into town, we decided to just walk around London for a bit. We bought our Oyster passes so that we could ride the tube multiple times, and headed for Piccadilly Circus. We found our train, I got on, and the doors closed, but Will was on the other side of the doors. Needless to say I had a bit of an anxiety attack, but sent some telepathic waves his way in hopes that we would both in fact get off at the Piccadilly stop. I got off and luckily he was on the next train. Will, never letting much bother him promptly told me that he wasn’t concerned, we both knew where we were going.

We walked around for awhile inhaling the lovely London sewer smell that occasionally catches you off guard. In the Soho area, we found a Soba noodle house and had a great dinner, only realizing after we sat down that all main courses were only 5 pounds on Saturday and Sunday. We then headed back to our area of town and went to the pub down the street from our hotel. We met two Irishmen, Patrick and Andy, who were both a bit rough around the edges, but very entertaining! After chatting with them for awhile we headed back to our room so we could get up early the next morning.

We picked up some breakfast the next morning and walked down to Hyde Park, which was just a few blocks from our hotel, ate, and people watched.

Breakfast in Hyde Park

After that we met at the location for our free walking tour on the other side of Hyde Park. On our way, we came upon the Princess Diana memorial gardens walk, which was really stunning.

Ball Dahlia in Garden

Our tour covered a large majority of the sites in London, starting with the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. I never imagined there would be so many people there. It was absolutely insane, and all I was able to really see was the backs of heads in front of me.

Previous Royal Home

After, that we continued to see the previous royal palace (not that nice) and Trafalgar square.Then on to Big Ben, Parliament and Westminster Abbey, which were all stunning.


Big Ben

Parliament

At the end of the tour we went with our guide and some other people to eat lunch. The tour company has a deal worked out with a restaurant that the tourists get 25% off and the guide eats for free if they bring people.

Our guide

After that we headed to the National Gallery for a bit to hit the highlights. There were amazing paintings…Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir…all amazing, but our trip was short because we were headed to Evensong at Westminster Abbey.

National Gallery

If you are going to the church for a program, you don’t have to pay the high admission fee. It was absolutely amazing listening to a choir sing while sitting in such an enormous and historic cathedral. Such a wonderful experience!



Westminster Abbey

We then went to eat dinner at a great little Italian restaurant…one can only eat so much fish and chips! Such a long and great day, though very tiring. Will and I assumed that we walked 10-12 miles, so by the time we got back home, our feet were about to fall off.

Carrie