July 28, 2015—Day 3, London
Although I slept well, I found myself awake much earlier
than I had hoped (3:00am—yikes, it’s becoming trend). I tried to go back to sleep, but no luck, so
I finally got up and got dressed, then since there was really nothing to do
that early in the morning and no where to go, I read for a while until my dad
knocked on my door at a little before 7:00am.
After a continental breakfast at the hotel, we took a taxi to Buckingham Palace
Since it was early, it wasn’t crowded. We didn’t really want to hang around in the
cold wind to see the Changing of the Guard, so we just took some pictures (to
prove we were there and can mark it off our list), then caught another taxi to
the Tower of London
I had been to the Tower
of London several times, although it
was way back in the early 80s when I had lived in England . I knew the wind would be blocked somewhat
from the tower walls, so it was a good place to visit and since it was still
early, it wasn’t crowded. In fact, we
only waited about 5 minutes to get inside the building with the crown
jewels (later, the line was really long). The displays prior to entering
the vault with the crown jewels wasn’t that impressive, although the short film
of the Queen’s coronation was interesting.
The crown jewels themselves, which were in the vault, were pretty incredible and I
couldn’t begin to imagine how heavy wearing it all would feel. I also didn’t realize that there were so many
different crowns for the different monarchs, although they all seemed similar. We took several pictures of the
Beefeaters (the Tower guards) and the tower itself, then sat at the café and had hot tea—it hit
the spot on a cold windy day. After we
had walked around, we found the exit which led us along the Thames River
with a wonderful view of the Tower
Bridge
We had a late lunch at KFC. (For my friends who remember England back in
the 80s, I can tell you that the chicken actually tasted like chicken. For those who don’t know what I’m talking
about, back in the early 80s, the British chickens had a slightly fishy taste due to
their diet which included fish meal, versus corn meal. We didn’t eat much chicken at all when we
lived here and instead we ate a lot of beef—unfortunately, that was when the “mad-cow”
disease was prevalent although we didn’t know that for a few more years yet.) I know people may wonder why we aren’t
eating “British food” while in England, but other than a pub, most of the
restaurants we’ve seen aren’t necessarily British, and instead are Middle
Eastern, Mediterranean, Indian, Chinese, and Italian, so after having the “fish
and chips,” we decided there was nothing wrong with eating good ol’ American
fast food (and something we won’t be getting on the ship once we board).
After lunch, we wandered around some more, then decided to
take a taxi back to the hotel since we were getting tired after having been on
the go since very early in the morning.
We had a great taxi driver who took us to see all the places
we would have seen on a city tour, and he provided a terrific commentary along
the way. He drove along the Thames and
pointed out the London Eye (a huge ferris wheel similar to the ones in
Singapore and Las Vegas); then drove passed the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben,
and Westminster Abbey; pointed out the way to Knightsbridge where Harrods is
located (I remember Harrods as a good place to look around, but don’t plan to
actually shop there—unless you’re a lottery winner); he drove passed Buckingham
Palace; pointed out the way to Covent Garden, which he recommended for shopping
at places like Selfridges, and Marks and Spencer (I used to love to go shopping
at both those places years ago—much better prices than at Harrods!); we passed Marble
Arch, and drove along Hyde Park. Our
driver not only pointed out all the places, but told us a little about each place
as we passed by, even telling us when we would be coming up to a good place for
a picture. I had heard that the famous
London Black Taxi drivers were also qualified tour guides, and ours certainly
fit that bill.
We got back to the hotel around 3:00pm having spent the day
seeing all the sights that were on our list.
With the cloudy day and the possibility of rain in the forecast, I’m
glad we managed to see so much today.
Between the jet lag, the early morning start, and all the walking we
did, we needed some relaxing down time (and possibly a short nap, although that
might interfere with sleeping tonight).
We agreed to meet up again at 5:00pm to head out somewhere for dinner,
but we ended up just talking since none of us was hungry.
Finally we decided that even if we weren’t that hungry, we
should probably get going. We left the
hotel and headed for the nearby Hilton certain that we could order a pina
colada to start the evening. Alas, the
bartender said he didn’t have the ingredients to make it (gasp!!). Disappointed, we resigned ourselves to
waiting until sailaway on board the ship.
Trying to work up an appetite, we crossed the street and wandered around
Hyde Park (as if we hadn’t already walked most
of the day), and finally headed to Burger King since it was quick, close by,
and we were tired. It looks like we’ll
be having a lot of fast food over the next few days until we get on board
(where the first night will be the usual prime rib, and the second night will
be formal).
It was another early night for all of us, and hoping to
sleep a little longer tomorrow morning, we made plans to meet at 8 for
breakfast. With all the “must see/do”
items on the list accomplished, we aren’t sure what we’ll do tomorrow, but I’m
sure we’ll figure it out.
Good night all.
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