So, to begin the promised details of London. On our first full day in the city (Wednesday), it was cloudy starting out but beautifully blue the rest of the day. We followed a walking route we've taken before and like very much, and we had such a great time looking around and taking pictures. The only downside is that we couldn't feel our feet at the end of the day.
From our hotel in Kensington, in the west end of London, we walked east past the Natural History and V&A Museum (where we stopped briefly to take pictures of Buddhas from China) to the wonderful Harrod's, across from which we had a delicious late breakfast at EAT.
Our Kensington neighborhood
Natural History Museum - the "cathedral of nature"
Carvings on the Natural History Museum
Entrance to the V&A Museum
Brompton Oratory, a big Catholic church near the museums
EAT across from Harrod's
Some of the delicious offerings at EAT. I had the Bircher Muesli, far right, which we learned about in Bern. So good.
Burberry, just down the road from Harrod's. Sigh.
Rolls Royce parked outside a hotel on the same street. I imagine it weighs more than my truck.
Then we continued under the triumphal arch on Constitution Hill and Green Park to Buckingham Palace, through St. James Park (populated with magnificent varieties of birds and nearly-tame squirrels), to Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament.
Triumphal arch
Bronze horses atop the arch
Policewoman in Green Park
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace guard, one of those not allowed to move or smile, even if some guy is pointing a zoom lens at you
Monumental fountain outside Buckingham Palace
St James Park - an Orthodox Jew taking pictures of...
This little guy.
Unusual fowl in St James Park
Houses of Parliament and iconic phone box
Up close and personal with beautiful Big Ben. (Although, as you trivia buffs know already, Ben is actually the bell inside the tower.)
Parliament security
War protesters across from Parliament. This is a permanent encampment and seems to be a designated protesting area.
We crossed the river via Westminster Bridge, then had a bathroom stop at McDonald's, a pause beneath the London Eye, and a longish walk along the riverside to the beautiful Millennium Bridge, which is next to the Tate Modern Museum, where we crossed back over to St. Paul's Cathedral.
Westminster Bridge
The London Eye and a jet plane, both British Airways
Storm Troopers at County Hall, advertising the current Star Wars exhibition
Modern art outside the Dali museum
Under one of many pretty bridges spanning the Thames
View from the book market, with the Queen Anne docked on the other side
Tate Modern Art Museum (originally a factory)
A dramatic spider sculpture outside the Tate, with St. Paul's across the river
David's view of same
Millennium Bridge
Approaching St. Paul's on Millennium Bridge
St. Paul's Cathedral
People enjoying the view from the dome (we did that on our last visit, but didn't have such nice weather!)
West front of St. Paul's
From there we walked to Covent Garden and then Leicester Square, by which time it was dark. We had a delicious dinner in Chinatown at a place well selected by David (using the criteria of how many Chinese people were eating there), then hobbled back to the Leicester Square Tube station. We joined hundreds of commuters on the subway (poor timing on our part) and gave up all personal space for about 15 minutes before gratefully emerging above ground at Gloucester Street station.
Covent Garden under the moon
Shadowlands (about C.S. Lewis) was one of many plays on offer
Odeon cinema at Leicester Square
Delicious dinner in Chinatown
Heading home
View across the tracks at the Tube platform. While we waited, we watched a little mouse scurry around the (otherwise quite clean) tracks. He was actually quite cute.
From the Tube station it was another 20-minute walk past Harrod's and the museums again, during which time it began to rain. We felt very lucky to have had sunshine for almost all the daylight hours. And finally we were back at our hotel, where we collapsed in front of the TV.
I thought I could get both days posted tonight, but alas, we saw so much and there are so many pictures to sort through so it is rather slow going! And it is after midnight and I should rest up for my big ceremony tomorrow. But to get otherwise up to date, here's a quick summary of today's much less ambitious activities.
This morning we did no more London sightseeing, but instead sat around and enjoyed our beautiful hotel until we were required to leave at 12:00. Then David retrieved the car from the nearby parking lot while I checked out, and we were on our way. The drive went very well, thanks to another lovely sunny day, the guidance of our sat nav, and being on the west side of London. We only had a few complicated one-way streets to navigate before we were whisked out of the city on a big freeway.
David took a route that led through Little Milton, meaning that we had lunch at our beloved Lamb Inn! It was a great surprise and the food was yummy as ever. We were very sad to say goodbye to its thatched-roof, home-cooked goodness.
And we are now comfortably installed in our much cheaper, but not nearly as plush, Holiday Inn Express in Oxford. We're sharing our room with all our UK worldly possessions, as we picked up our stored baggage from Great Milton this afternoon. We had originally planned to do this on Sunday, but this will give us some time to consolidate and reduce our stuff a bit so it all fits in our little car! Another bonus is that we have our bedding with us, which has helped cheer up our otherwise generic hotel room. We ended the day with watching Ratatouille on the laptop, which was very enjoyable.
More tomorrow, on what will incredibly be our last night in the UK!
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