We have been BLESSED with great weather so far; we had wall to wall blue skies today. On the flip side, I am burnt to a crisp but I finaly bought some sunscreen so let’s hope this is as bad as it will get. According to my phone, the temps went up to 23°C today but I suspect it was actually more than that.
The first stop on our agenda today was to visit Westminster Cathedral. It’s one of my favourite churches anywhere because of the amazing mosaics. I just can’t get enough! It was my third time seeing this church and I was just as blown away as ever.
Next was the Tower of London. The lineups to get a ticket and go through security were not that bad at all, only about 30 minutes. We stayed about 2 hours or so which is usually just enough for me. I enjoyed it, but the buildings and the grounds held my interest MUCH more than the museum exhibits inside.
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I did like these cannon fails!
We missed visiting the Crown Jewels because the line up was HOURS long; total insanity. My mom said that unless the Queen herself was there to greet us it was not worth the wait and I agreed, our time is too precious!
Lunch was fish & chips (finally) at pub nearby...
…. then it was on to visit the Tower Bridge which we missed by minutes last time showing up just after closing. Since the last time I visited, they installed a glass floor which was a lot of fun. We both layed ourselves own on it to get images of ourselves floating over the roadway with various levels of success…. it was not easy!
After this since the weather was so nice and clear with a beautiful blue sky, we decided to go for a drink at the Sky Garden but we could not get in without a reservation before 9PM! (It was about 3:30 by then) so forget that idea! We moved on to Leadenhall Market but it was deserted and partially under renovation so it was not conducive to a relaxing break.
We gawked at all the huge glass office tower-edifices nearby like The Machine, The Gherkin, The Cheese Grater, The Scalpel and other newer ones I had never seen, and then tried hard to find a place for a drink but EVERYTHING was closed.
I remembered from previous trips that this area was a ghost town on weekends since the offices are empty but after the insane crowds we’ve been enduring over the past few days, despite the lack of pub options, it was a nice contrast… albeit kinda spooky!
We kept searching high and low for somewhere to relax and when we consulted our map we realized we were not all that far out from the Ten Bells pub which I have been wanted to revisit ever since I first saw it on a Jack the Ripper tour I took in 2005. We made our way all the way over but it was not as nice as cracked up to be. I read that the walls were all decorated with Victorian tiles… well, ok, the walls were tiled but it was really nothing special. It was hot and SO SO SO SO loud that we risked permanent deafness by staying for a drink but it was 4:30 by then and we were desparate!
We tubed it back to the hotel after that with the idea to have dinner at an Italian restaurant a few doors down from the hotel. It was 6:30 by the time we ate and it was great. The place was very small, few seats, but DELICIOUS!
In this picture, you see the resto on the left (Orsini) and the hotel entrance on the right
Following that, we had a nightcap at the hotel bar and called it day.
Good night!
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