London | Day 1

We made it! Three in-flight meals, one viewing of Toy Story 3, eight uncomfortable sleeping positions, two hours of sleep, one layover in Frankfurt, and here we are!

Upon landing, we got our transit cards and hopped on a long Underground ride to our Airbnb which is … small (photo later), but works great for us! We unpacked a bit and then took the Underground to Leicester Square, where we stopped at a pub named Salisbury to grab a dinner of Sunday Roast, Pot Pie, and two pints.

Ended up sitting next to a gentleman who, after multiple approaches from strangers, we realized must be a politician of some kind. Listened in on his conversations with constituents as we finished our food.

Ray took me on a cursory tour of the Westminster area – saw Trafalgar Square, the Clock Tower, the gates to Westminster, the Horse Guards Parade …

Being beyond exhausted, we embarked for home, intending to do some planning for day two while waiting to Skype with my parents, but ended up falling asleep. A half-hour late for our call (sorry, mom!) we made a quick check in with the folks before crashing for the night.

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London | Day 2

This morning it was pouring rain. Stepping out the door we got soaked, RomCom-style by a passing car whizzing through a puddle. Ray graciously let me use the umbrella our Airbnb host provided us, but we decided it’d be a good investment to get another one just in case.

We took the Underground to our 10AM tour (that’s 4AM at home so we needed to grab a coffee …) which met outside of the Apple Store – handy since we didn’t bring UK power adapters!

Our tour was focused, we found out, on the “royal” parts of the city, so we saw the Covent Garden market (formerly Convent Garden – where the nuns grew food for the royal court … later home of the prostitution capital of the world), the monument to Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson (one-armed, one-eyed, war-fighting, Napoleon-defeating wunderkind), the Mall (rhymes with “pal” – gates to the royal compound), Prince Charles’ home, Buckingham Palace, Parliament, and Westminster Abby. We even got to see some of the royal guard exercising their horses.

 

 

 

 

The sun finally came out as we made our way to nearby pub “Slug & Lettuce” with some other folks on our tour (including a couple from Melbourne, a couple from Connecticut, and a woman from Minneapolis!). Fish & Chips, Bangers & Mash, and 2 Pints later we made our way past the Tower of London and over Tower Bridge to take a walk along the South Bank.

We stumbled (literally) onto a cobblestone pedestrian street, walked along the wharf, checked out the old Operating Theater, and accidentally found this tiny display of ancient ruins in the back of Southwark Cathedral (we may or may not have gone through the back door).

Stopped off at The Anchor, a pub with a sordid history including, so they say, being home to plague pits back in the day.

I then fulfilled my theater-kid duty by peeking inside Shakespeare’s The Globe. We were going to try to get “groundling” seats but everything was sold out.

We then crossed the Millennium Bridge back to the north bank and walked around St. Paul’s Cathedral to our Underground stop which we took to Hyde park. Most of the park was closed as they are constructing a venue of some kind for a summer concert series, but we were able to catch a quick nap in the Rose Garden.

Grabbed some sandwiches and beer (Summit?!) from a deli and came back to our (tiny) space for dinner and Game of Thrones.