And I Say Its All Right...

Well, we’re in London. Our hotel wifi hasn’t been working well so we’ve found a café close by with free wifi.

Yesterday, my mom and I hopped a train to London. We arrived at London Paddington station and jumped on the tube to take us to our next hotel. We’re staying at Thistle Euston. It’s a great hotel and it’s just across the street from the Euston train station and tube stop.

After we got checked in, we decided to hit the town. But only after having lunch at Nando’s! I’ve only eaten at Nando’s once before, in Australia, and I didn’t even know they were here in the UK. I was really excited to eat there. And it was just a great as I remembered. And the “creamy salad dressing” tastes just like Alabama white sauce! If you know me very well, you know how indescribably happy this made me. Needless to say, I will be eating there again.

After lunch, we took the tube to Westmintser. We walked around the area for a bit, just to see the sights, before hopping onto a river cruise tour. We got to see all the bridges and fancy buildings along the River Thames. We got to the Tower Bridge just in time to see the Olympic rings being put up on the bridge.

We got off the cruise and went into the Tower of London. We wandered through the Tower for a while and, of course, saw the Crown Jewels. They wouldn’t let me try on Queen Elizabeth’s crown. I don’t know why…

We took the cruise back to Westminster and then took the tube to Harrod’s. Neither of us actually knew much about Harrod’s, but we’d both been told to go there. Now, let’s have an honest moment: I’m not much of a shopper. And I don’t give a rip about name brands. I think paying over $25 dollars for a purse is ridiculous and the only thing worth paying $100 for is a pair of Chacos. (By the way, if you need to be convinced to buy a pair of Chacos, give me ten minutes of your time. Honestly, the best $100 I’ve ever spent. Anyway…) So we walked into Harrod’s and back out in approximately 7.4 minutes. We did walk through the food section, which seemed like a place I’d enjoy if there weren’t a gazillion people there.

So, we decided to just take the tube back to the hotel. We’d been going all day and we’re pretty tired.

I slept so nicely last night. Besides the fact that I was exhausted last night, we also have air conditioning in this hotel, which helped a great deal.

This morning we went to Westmintser Abbey for the tour. Did you know the place is massive? And its been there forever. And about a thousand people are buried there. I mean, I knew there were kings and queens buried there, but I didn’t realize how many writers were buried there or had some sort of memorial there. Also, I kind of think stained glass is fascinating. And honestly, my brain can’t comprehend how someone can create sculptures so real. Those statues and whatnot are unbelievable.

After Westminster Abbey, we went to lunch at Earl of Sandwich. Yes, the same Earl of Sandwich that can be found at Downtown Disney in Florida. Who knew there would be one here! Certainly not me. I was pretty excited to eat one of my favorite sandwiches in the world for lunch today.

We wanted to tour St. Paul’s Cathedral today, but there was apparently some ordination going on and it wasn’t open to the public. Boo. We took a few pictures and then decided to hop on a bus for Trafalgar Square. We walked through for a bit and the hopped another bus for Hyde Park and Kensington Garden. Hyde Park and Kensington Garden are much bigger than we realized so we took an hour or so and just walked through. We saw the Diana memorial fountain, where apparently its acceptable for children as old as 11ish to strip to their underwear and run around in the water… If only it were just as acceptable for grown ups… We saw the Peter Pan statue, of course, before hopping on another bus to get back to the hotel.

Now we’re just hanging out at a coffee shop for a little wifi. Next stop: dinner at Nando’s, of course!