London 2015 – Day 3

We started off the day by picking up our friends at their hotel, and visiting the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum.

Very interesting exhibits, but you could spend DAYS in the Museum; it’s so packed with information that it’s overwhelming. We spend about an hour an a half, which was a bit of a compromise because Mr Chicago could have spend double, even triple, the time in there at the expense of the rest of the day.  He said he plans to come back one day on a trip with his son and they will plan a full day for this activity.

 

After this he wanted to go to the British Museum, but I suggested we put that off to tomorrow since it’s supposed to rain and take advantage of the nice weather to do outdoor things instead. (My husband and I are not interested in revisiting that museum anyway; we have our own plans for when they go.)

He agreed, and we spend almost all day outdoors.

We strolled through St James Park, then down The Mall to Buckingham Palace – too late to see the changing of the guard (fine by me, I find that boring as Hell!!) but we heard the band from a distance and saw them coming back.

 

Then of course, we had to brag about Canada Gate!

 

From there, we kept walking to Hyde Park Corner where we got on the tube heading west to Tower Bridge.

We had lunch in a nearby pub, then they inquired about tickets to the Tower of London (another activity my husband and I will pass on re-doing). Not sure when they plan to go.

After that we crossed the Tower Bridge to get to our ultimate destination: The Shard.

In 2013 there were no bars or restos up there, and I did not want to pay the money just to see the view. Now that there is something to do up there, we went for a drink and relaxed while admiring the scene.  The best tables for this activity were the tables for 2 around the edge of the floor, and they were all taken. Still, we had a nice time and it felt good to rest our feet!

Here I am showing Mr Chicago where we were on the map:

The plan after this was supposed to be St Paul’s.  We took the tube over, but it was closed by the time we got there so we just got some pictures of the facade and walked back down Fleet Street and The Strand to Trafalgar Square.

Supper was casual Italian, followed by a night cap at the Sherlock Holmes pub:

We parted ways around 9:45 and got ‘home’ just after 10:30.  Now it’s midnight, so I have to hit the sack!

Good night!

London 2015 – Day 2 / Windsor

We started the day with a mission to get a shot of the media scrum outside the hospital where Kate will give birth any day now.

Turns out, they aren’t allowed to actually camp out until The Event is underway – but the barricades are up and ready.

This rule has not stopped the die-hards fans from squatting…  and decorating!

Now when we see the iconic shots of them standing in the doorway for The Reveal, I’ll have some context.

After that mission accomplished, it was off to Windsor. In 2005 we did a tour of Windsor, Stonehenge and Bath all in one day, and found we didn’t have enough time to explore the little town of Windsor – we just focused on the Castle. Ever since then we’ve wanted to go back on our own and spend more time seeing the things we feel we missed.

At the Castle this time, The State Apartments and Chapel were closed (don’t know why, didn’t ask) so we could only explore the grounds at a discounted price. Fine by us, we’ve see the interior already and I am staring to feel a little “seen one, seem ‘em all” when it comes to Royal Palaces!

We caught a glimpse of The Changing of The Guard…  which in all honesty didn’t really interest us that much:

Took a little stroll in the Great Park – I was tempted to walk The Long Walk, but it was almost lunch time so we didn’t linger.  I sort of regret it now.

 

Lunch was fish & chips in a pub, and then it was off back to London to meet up with our Chicago friends who arrived this morning.

It was so nice to see them again, it’s been 2 years since the last time we crossed paths in Germany but it was like no time passed at all.  They are hoping to come to Montreal in June for a few days – hope it works out!

We spent the afternoon and evening with them retracing a lot of what we saw yesterday: Big Ben & Parliament, Trafalgar Square, Leister Square, Piccadilly Circus etc.

Their hotel is so close to the London Eye that when you look out their window, you can see the faces of the people in the capsules! (Their room is in the scaffolded section of the building)

We had dinner with them and parted company around 8:45.  Getting ‘home’ tonight was breezy compared to yesterday! It takes about 45 minutes to get back to the room at the end of the day, including the walk from the Tube station to the hotel…  Not horrible, I compare that to the time it takes me to get home when I am out to dinner with friends in Montreal and that also usually takes about 45 minutes to an hour.

Still, if I am honest, I’m a little envious of our friend’s proximity!!

London 2015 – Day 1

Man do we ever love London! We had such a full first day I swear I feel like I am already on Day 3!

The flight was uneventful, and getting to the hotel was easy - albeit a long trek.  The room wasn’t ready for us when we got there (around 10AM) so we just left the bags and went off to start our London Adventures.

First on the list was to do the O2 Climb.  It was fun, but I didn’t realize that you can’t see downtown London from up there!!  That aspect was a little disappointing, and so was the weather – I think this activity is more enjoyable when the skies are blue – but no regrets.

Getting strapped into the climbing/safety harness was good for a laugh too!!! The way our coats got bunched up in front, we looked pregnant!

After this, we:

• Watched the marathon runners near the Parliament buildings and Big Ben (ironically, we also arrived in London on marathon day in 2006)
• Walked through Whitehall Gardens

 

• Went for coffee in Leister Square

• Hung out in Trafalgar Square for a while

 

• Wandered around Soho and went for supper at the Indian Resto I fell in love with in 2012… Fell out of love with it tonight – we both have heartburn!

• Meandered around Covent Garden

• Explored Piccadilly Circus and Regent Street

• Had a final drink and called it quits around 7:30

It took us about an hour and a half to get to the hotel because of work on the Bakerloo line.  We got about half way with the Tube, then had to take a shuttle bus, then a light rail to get to our stop.  We were exhausted by the time we got ‘home’.

Then as I was unpacking, I realized I forgot my IPhone plug!!! I purposely did not bring the European one, but how could I have not realized I would need at least the North American one to charge it up??? So stupid. Luckily, I can charge it via my laptop if that is plugged in – thank God for that! It saved my bacon because I was down to about 30% power and need it to be especially ready tomorrow since we are meeting up with our friends from Chicago in the afternoon and plan to email each other to fix a time & place.

Because I had to turn on the laptop to charge my IPhone, I decided I might as well write up my blog post.  I was not going to bother tonight since I really should be getting to sleep – but since I have to wait for the IPhone, I might as well (it’s at 77% now).

As you can probably guess from the pictures, the weather is cold and grey – but we came prepared.  Hats, scarves, mitts…  my husband even brought his parka just in case!