London 2016 – Day 9

Steps today: 20 840

It was kind of a strange day. Because it was raining, we slept in until 9:30 and didn’t have any solid plans for the day. In a way, I felt like we therefore didn’t do anything, but looking back on the pictures (and my filled-to-the-brim belly) I see we really did cover a lot of ground!

Our new morning routine is: I get up, shower, get dressed and split! I can’t stay in this hot room longer than necessary!!! I just walk up and down the street enjoying the outside, getting my steps in while I wait for Vesna. 

As is our routine, we started the day with a walk in the park. After 3 days of heat, was I ever thankfull for cooler temps! I have to admit that I was not well dressed for it AT ALL: I was missing a layer so I was a little chilly and my socks and shoes were SOAKED all day thanks to the rain – but I wasn’t complaining one bit!

We started with breakfast (coffee and croissants) at the Italian Gardens Café in Hyde Park.

The idea was the to walk from there to Leister Square to check out if there were any deals to be had on a matinee show since it was going to rain all day and an indoor activity would have been fun. Turns out: no, no matinees on Fridays.

On the way to Leister Square, we covered some familiar ground:

Wellington Arch:

Buckingham Palace:

Along The Mall some interesting bronzes of the Queen Mother caught my eye that I never noticed before because I was too busy staring at her statue. They are snapshots of her life, very well done!

Trafalgar Square:

Around 12:30 we stopped for a drink, but not hungry enough to eat. After a short pub rest, we took the tube to Borough Market; Vesna LOVED IT!

We had lunch at the OXO Tower Bar. I went in 2012 and really enjoyed the relaxy atmosphere with the view of St Paul’s across the Thames and so I wanted to experience it again; we stayed about 3 hours while waiting for the rain to stop. Great way to kill time in my opinion!

From there, we headed directly to ANOTHER restaurant with view of Tower Bridge this time. Nothing like using a great view as an excuse to eat some more!

My Night-Shots-With-The-Phone goal for tonight was City Hall and Tower Bridge… It was SO WINDY that it was hard not to shake so some came out blurry, still overall I like the results! I still say it’s not bad for a phone.

This one with a view of the Walkie-Talkie, Cheesegrater, Gherkin and HMS Belfast is my favourite!

Something has most definitely improved regarding the heat in the room. I wouldn’t go all out and say it’s actually comfortable, it’s still way above normal room temperature, but we both agree that we aren’t baking anymore. Thank God!