Catching Up

Our flight to London was very smooth and event free. A snack and a hot breakfast helped kill some time. Neither of us slept but we might have if it had not been for the noise coming from the seat behind. The man snorted his nose every few minutes (very loudly) and then he fell asleep and snored (very loudly). This is the second time I have had a noisy person behind me on an overnight flight to London (and it only my second flight to London).

Having arrived with no sleep, we were both very tired. We did a little shopping at the airport and then went to our hotel hoping to check in early. We were in luck and our room was ready. We had a quiet day napping and trying to adjust to the time change. Pizza from the hotel restaurant for dinner and we called it a night.

We woke up refreshed and ready to go.

We took the shuttle back to the airport (which didn't charge for Carleigh because under 15 is free – she is almost 21!) and then the tube into London – first stop Harrods! What a store!

We picked up a store guide with map. We went to see the Diana & Dodi memorial. Then went window shopping to see what we will buy on our return in 2 weeks.

Then we got back on the tube and went to Covent Gardens. While riding the tube it says that Covent Garden's tube stop can be busy especially on the weekend. Not paying attention we got off at that stop. Big mistake! VERY busy with a huge line for the lift so we decided to take the stairs. I really need to pay attention to what I read since as we started up the steps it clearly said “these stairs have 193 steps”. This did not sink in until we were up a few steps and the crowd behind was growing so no turning back. The higher we climbed the more people were stopped taking a breath. We made it without stopping but needed a rest at the top.

Covent Gardens has a huge market there on Saturdays. We wandered around but it was really really busy and hard to look at anything so we went looking for a map. Finally found one of the area and started walking. We walked to the Strand and then went on to Waterloo bridge. Walked along the Thames until we got to Big Ben. At this point we had walked off the map I had so I went looking for a bigger one with no luck. I stopped and asked a Bobbie and Bobbiette how to get to Buckingham Palace (BP) and they directed us in that direction. We walked past Westminster Abbey and there was a sign with directions to BP. Once at BP we tried to get back on our map to get to Piccadilly Circus. We headed in that direction but missed a little and ended up at Trafalgar Square. I had been here last time and remember how to get to Piccadilly from there. We walked 2 blocks and we were back on the map. Ending at Piccadilly we wanted to get a bite to eat at a pub – no such luck. We walked and walked all the side streets but couldn't find one. Finally came to one – the Red Lion and it was lined up out the door! We went back to Piccadilly and got pizza at a Pizza Hut! (this was our second meal of pizza and we hadn't even reached Italy yet!)

We headed for the tube to go back to the hotel but the tube was not running from that station so we walked to the next station but not running from there either. We ended up taking a different tube line in the wrong direct to another tube line and then finally getting on our tube which was standing room. Finally made it back to the hotel after a very full day of sightseeing!