HOT DAY! 21°C which is great in the shade but it’s too hot for me in the sun. Tomorrow, temps might get up to 25°C. This is so far the only down-side of my carryon only trip: not being able to pack my big bottle of 60SPF sunscreen…. Of course I could have bought a bottle here but I am to lazy to do it so now I am paying the price with a sunburn.
We started the day with a walk over to where Lady Diana (at the time) lived before she married Prince Charles.
Next on the list was to stroll through Belgravia so we bussed it to the neighbourhood in order for my mother to ride on a Double Decker bus for the first time in her life. She was lucky for a first timer, we rode 2 busses and both times she got a front row seat on the top deck.
After, we tubed it over to the river to get on the London Eye.
The ticket line up went on forever! Over an hour easily. It was to the point that we considered ditching the activity all together; it felt like we were wasting too much time. As we pondered what to do, I wondered why they did not have any “do it yourself” automated kiosks. As soon as I thought it, my mother spotted where they were and we got our tickets and were on the wheel in under 30 minutes.
The wheel was great; perfect weather for it. The only bad thing was the marred view of Big Ben under construction. What a HORRIBLE façade!!! Why could they not erect a tarp with the image of the clock on it?? I have seen that sort of construction-camouflage all over Europe, what’s the reason for not doing it here??
After the ride, we had a light lunch in a pub near Parliament Square. We then loitered around and snapped pictures of Westminster Palace and Abbey.
On the move again, we walked by 10 Downing Street which was extra barricaded so we saw nothing, through Trafalgar Square, over to Leister Square ….
….and then it was time for a cool down again so we stopped for a drink.
Newly fortified, it was on to Piccadilly Circus, Regent Street, and Covent Garden. You can’t imagine all the people!! You sitting there reading my blog are the only people NOT in London. It’s over the top crowded! Why? I wonder if more out-of-towners are in London for the Royal Birth?? Easter?? No clue but the crowds today really wore us out.
We then visited the Transportation Museum which I have been wanting to re-visit since the first time I went in 2005 but never did because I always found it too pricy (18£). Thankfully, my mom was interested in visiting so that swung the balance in favour, we went. I loved it… but we only skimmed the surface. I would love to go back and read more of the information to go along with the exhibits – we were just too burnt to apply ourselves. Still, we had fun.
We were running on fumes after this and agreed to make it an early night so we decided to have an early supper (it was 4PM) and then head home. We started off looking for a pub in Soho but they were all full (no surprise given the hordes of people looking for a cold beer on a warm day) so we went to the Café Rouge next to St Paul’s to have dinner with a view. It was just right!
After supper, we had a smidge of energy left for a short stroll, just enough to get this interesting shot of St Paul's:
We were back in the room by 7:30, and I don’t think we’ll have a hard time falling asleep tonight!
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