Day 2 in London

Day two in London and I see why they call them “foggy days”. “Dreary” might be a better word for it, as it poured buckets of rain all day long. Basically we spent the day slogging through the soaked streets, avoiding puddles and the passing motorist who would splash you as they flew by (unfortunately I found that out the hard way…:-D).

We started our day by getting a good American breakfast at the Burger King along the way…ha! I wish we had taken a picture of what they served me as a sausage, egg, and cheese “buddy” (they apparently don’t do biscuits anywhere here). To put it politely, it looked like a pile of dog poo on a bun with some cheese and a bit of egg. I was brave though, and took a bite…my first mistake of the day. :-)

After eating a granola bar I had thankfully put in my bag, we headed off on the Tube for Westminster. The Abbey at Westminster was amazing; unfortunately they do not allow photography which Jenni found out after snapping a photo as we walked through the door and quickly getting shushed by a priest. Oops… Anyway, the Abbey is a myriad of small chapels which have been added over the years that contain around 3,300 memorials to kings, queens, nobles, and others—some dating back before the 12th century A.D. Very interesting to see the progression of English from it’s early roots to it’s current state (apparently a “s” used to be written as a “f” among others).

From the Abbey, we walked across the street to see Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament; then down the street to the Jewel Tower (this is where I committed my second mistake, by walking too close to the curb and getting doused by a passing car). The Tower was built in 1365 to house Edward III’s wardrobe and treasures; and is one of the two remaining structures which survived the fire which consumed the Palace of Westminster in 1834. It originally was surrounded by a moat.

We then headed toward the London Eye, which was a bit pricey but worth it for the view, even on a rainy/foggy day. Unfortunately the pictures we took do not give justice to this fact.

After the Eye, we headed to Waterloo Station, and took the Tube to the British Museum. If you are ever in London (especially on a rainy day), make this one of your stops. There is way too much to see, so you could easily wander around for hours; and best of all it is one of the few things in London that is free—which helps when you have to double the price of everything to get the true price in dollars (think $4 for a coke, or 2 pounds). Anyway, the museum has so much to see, including the Rosetta Stone, Cleopatra’s Mummy, the Elgin Marbles (from the Parthenon in Athens), and an amazing collection of rare books from the 18th century. A lot of walking, but unquestionably worth it if you like history at all; by this time, we were beat so we went back to the hotel to rest for a couple of hours.

In the evening, we headed out for another walking tour from London Walks, unfortunately they must have cancelled it because we showed up but no on was there (it was a holiday—Memorial Day); so we decided to head out on our own for a walk down the Thames; my third mistake as it soon started pouring again. After crisscrossing around town and along the river, we crossed over to the south bank and stumbled upon a pizza place called aptly enough: “The Gourmet Pizza Company”. (I was a bit gun shy after my breakfast experience, but I decided to have a go anyway; anyplace warm and dry!) Absolutely a good idea, as the pizza was excellent! We shared a veggie pizza which coupled together with the smell from inside the restaurant was amazing.

From there, we hurried back to the Tube and headed to our hotel for the evening, glad to put that fun, but extremely damp day behind us. Tomorrow, it’s off to the Tower of London and Shakespeare’s Globe Theater!