London 2016 – Day 6

Steps today: 21 240

Room status: STILL INSANELY HOT! we keep saying we’re above the pizza ovens. This morning we asked at the front desk if there is anything we’re missing. Is there a secret switch somewhere?? The bathroom has a heated floor which is nice, but it seems to be stuck on high! It does not help!! We’ve worked out a routine: clothes down to the bare minimum that decency allows, windows open, fan on full blast, sleeping on the covers – I even sleep the other way around on my bed with my feet at the head in order to feel more of the fan. I also take a cold shower just before getting into (onto) bed, and in the morning I am out the door the second I am dressed.

Bug bites: They don’t hurt at all anymore. They are MUCH MUCH MUCH darker, like two lipstick dots – but I think they are healing. The larger one looks like a nipple! ha!

It wasn’t really the bites that were hurting, it was the swelling and the vibrations up my legs from all the walking that made me feel like I had been kicked in the shins. We started the day with a trip to the pharmacy so I could get some advice from the pharmacist; she sold me this. I think it’s working very well – I would say the swelling is almost completely gone.

Then instead of a walk through the park like we’ve done on most mornings, we headed north to Little Venice and had breakfast at a canal café.  We haven’t really been eating breakfast at all, neither one of us really feels like we need a meal first thing in the morning so we’ll have a yoghurt or croissant and a coffee-to-go, but this morning it was eggs!

From there, we tubed it to the financial district to knock a few things off my list: Gherkin, Leaden Hall, Sky Garden and The Machine. Then I wanted to go to White Chapel to the Ten Bells Pub.

Gherkin:

We didn’t make it to the pub because it we kept making wrong turns, if the weather had not been so hot I may have wanted to keep trying but it wasn’t fun anymore so we gave up on that one.

The Sky Garden (top floor of the Walkie-Talkie) was FANTASTIC! I loved it! These people do not mess around. You have to show your I.D. and go through airport-like security, and technically you’re supposed to book ahead because they have a crowd control system.  Luckily, we got in without an appointment.

It’s amazing up there! I felt like a kid, so excited with the views; this activity was a definite vacation-highlight for me. Vesna was a little more leery of the heights at first so she wasn’t as giddy as I was, but after she warmed up to the feeling she agreed that it was terrific.

There are a few restos up there, but we just relaxed with a drink – we were still full from breakfast. Vesna’s drink was so pretty! They even put flowers in it!

After this, we took a few shots of The Machine; I asked if we could take pictures inside, the answer was no.

We swung through Leadenhall Market:

Then back on the Tube across town again to the Tate Britain Museum – Vesna wanted to see the Turner Collection.

We then went to Westminster Cathedral which I remembered as being mind-blowing.  It still was. I could not stop taking pictures!! So gorgeous I couldn’t get enough! (These pictures don’t do them justice, they really need to be seen in person!)

This peacock is particularly impressive because it was in a round niche and the tail feathers looked 3-dimensional. You can’t quite see the effect in the picture, but it’s still stunning.

Dinner was Café Rouge again, I really like this chain but since I have a no resto repeat rule we couldn’t go to the same one we went to on the weekend. This one was a little hard to find and it started feeling like a repeat of the trek from this morning looking for the Ten Bells Pub. Treks are really no fun when the weather is this hot!!!  Happily, we eventually found it and settled in for a feast!

Have a look at this boutique I saw on the way home. Have you ever wondered where you can go to customize your personal jet?

The weather tomorrow is supposed to be MARGINALLY cooler… pray for me!

London 2016 – Day 5

Steps today: 21 231

First thing’s first: The New Room. (It’s not really this pink! I was just too lazy to adjust the camera for indoor lighting)

We were told this morning that our new room would not be ready before 3PM, so we vacated the old one in the morning and left our bags in the luggage room for the day.

The staff was VERY unorganized and unhelpful. Shit happens, I get it – it’s not their fault an emergency repair needed to be carried out… but they seemed not to care and unwilling to help make the transition any easier.  One of these days I may go into more detail, but I prefer to just put it all behind me now and move on.

The new room is AT LEAST twice the size of the old one; it’s an upgrade. Unfortunately despite being bigger, it’s much stuffier – however that may be due to the spike in temperature. Figures I’d be here when London sees it’s hottest September day in over 40 years!!!

Due to all these room-shenanigans, we didn’t start our sightseeing day until around 10AM this morning. Needing to go to another room to shower last night meant a late night so we slept in a little this morning, plus packing our luggage this morning ate up a lot of time.

We started with a walk in the park again, which is turning into our favourite activity.

We checked out the rental prices for paddle boats on the lake, but the weather was not conducive for this activity today. It rained for about 15 minutes, but it just happened to be the 15 minutes when we were at the Sepentine; bad timing.  Instead, we sat for a drink and admired the ducks on the pond.

After this, we meandered down Oxford Street for a while, and had lunch at a pub.

After lunch, we strolled through Mayfair and Green Park:

And then the main goal for the day: The Buckingham Palace tour!! I was so excited about it!

No pictures allowed, but I snuck this one in.

It was fun, I’m not disappointed at all, but (and I don’t want this to sound like a complaint) it was like all the other Royal Palaces I have ever visited – which is MANY. I think the draw here it that it’s Buckingham Palace specifically.

There was a very good exposition of the Queen’s Gowns and Dresses, but it was EXTREEMLY poorly organized. I think the organizers completely underestimated (or knew nothing about) the crowds that would show up to see them. It did not flow nicely, there were gluts of people trying to read little sign boards that were low down to the ground… her wedding dress was in a little niche that was just chaotic!

After the tour, the exit is at the back of the gardens, but you could not wander around. It was just Café, Gift Shop, Exit. Still, I was able to get a nice shot – and best of all: I can now say I have had tea at Buckingham Palace!

This was the best shot of the back of the palace that I could get:

I love this one of the lake:

The tour took 3 hours because of the calamitous dress expo, so we were too tired afterwards to do much more than have dinner and call it a night. We walked to South Kensington, explored the area a bit, ate and hiked home. I say hike because I wanted to walk through the park home, but I didn’t realise it was not lit. It looked like a walk into a black hole and there was no way I was going to venture deep into the nothingness!!  So we walked around it instead.

I did get to practice more Night Shot Taking on the way home…

And…. here we go again: a few days ago, I got bit by something, I don’t know what. I have 2 huge welts on my leg now, I think I am just in the stage were it gets worse before it gets better… but I have to admit that it’s starting to hurt so I will go see a pharmacist tomorrow and see what they tell me. I’m not that concerned because as we all know this happens to me A LOT, but better safe than sorry I guess.

I put my ring next to them to help give an idea of the scale… (yes, I know I need a shave)

London 2016 – Day 4

Steps today: 25 061

We had blue skies today and nice temps and we took full advantage!

We started with a walk through Kensington Park to see Kensington Palace and the Albert Memorial.

Then through Knightsbridge again, along with Belgravia.

Over to the ticket office near Victoria Station to pick up our tickets for the Buckingham Palace Tour tomorrow (SOOOO excited about that!) and then a stroll along Pimlico Road.

After all that walking, we were ready to kick back and relax over a long loungy lunch so we took the tube to “Yo Sushi” near St Paul’s - a restaurant chain that serves what I refer to as Conveyor Belt Sushi. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! we had a ball.

Watching all the dishes go by we felt like cats stalking our prey!! I can’t insert the videos into my blog for some reason, I’ll try again later when I have more time.

After lunch, we came across a wreath laying ceremony near St Paul’s. No idea what it was all about…  could it be for 9/11?

We crossed Millennium Bridge to the South Side:

Had a cocktail break at a pub near City Hall – gorgeous effect! Look like Opal Juice! ha!

Admired Tower Bridge:

Crossed Tower Bridge and had an ice cream (I can’t remember the last time I had ice cream in a CONE!)

Walked around the Tower of London:

Then along the River Path until we got fed up with the heat and took the tube back to Westminster.

The plan was to have dinner while waiting for the sun to set so I could get some Night Shots of the Eye and Big Ben after I discovered my phone takes pretty decent pictures at night! They came out alright I think, but not as nice as the other ones.

We got back to the room by about 9:30, which ironically was the earliest night so far… and found a surprise waiting for us: a notice that they have to vacate our room by tomorrow in order to carry out emergency repairs. There was no mention of what they would do with us – I went straight to the reception expecting to be informed that we’d be moved (as opposed to kicked out) and yes, we’re getting a new room tomorrow.  I didn’t ask why, I don’t really care, but I’m sure it’s the shower – it’s barely draining at all tonight, and neither is the sink. Vesna took her shower and brushed her teeth, but I can’t do either unless they start draining! After waiting for an hour, I went to complain and ask for another room tonight.  They replied that they have no twin rooms available right now. I explained that the sink and shower are unusable so to please at the very least give me access to a room where I can take a shower and brush my teeth!!! They did… It’s almost midnight now… what time will I be in bed?

Dear God I hope this will be resolved by tomorrow morning… I’m going to the Queen’s place for tea! I don’t want to stink!!!

In addition to this, the temps tomorrow are expect to rise to over 30C.  The hottest September Day in the UK in over 40 years!!!!!!!!!!!  Despite the fact that we had a great day, right now, I just want to throw myself in the Thames.

Let’s hope for a quick and easy resolution tomorrow morning.

Ah well. Shit happens. One must roll with the punches.