London, England. Our travel to London was a little challenging but nothing too bad. Our flight was delayed due to weather but we were flying Norse Airlines again and the preferred seats are awesome so we did not mind sitting on the plane for an hour. We landed at Gatwick and made our way to the train which never showed. The very nice train helper guided us to a different train and we finally made it to the hotel. We have decided that no matter how bad the news is, when it is delivered with a British accent, it sounds so nice! “Your train is never coming,” “Your wait will be at least 3 hours”.....say it in British…so much better! We did not have the time or energy to do anything our first day in London but we made up for it on Day 2. On Day 2, I tried to kill us by scheduling the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey all in one day. Then, just to make it even more exhausting, we threw in a side trip over to see Buckingham Palace. I think we easily walked 10 miles but we also learned the Tube map by heart! Tower of London was really cool and not overly crowded. We are still adjusting to post Covid world and actually having people at tourist attractions but we are coping! Westminster Abbey was beautiful but it took a great deal of patience to not kill the tourists with the headphones and phone apps stopping in the most inconvenient spots! At least if we had killed them, we were in a good place to pray for forgiveness….
Day 3 we decided on an easier schedule. We headed over to the British Museum followed by the Sherlock Holmes Museum and the Burough Market. The Museum was a little overwhelming because it has so many items. My daughter, the archeologist, would say, “That’s because they stole everything from the rest of the world and refuse to return it” but we enjoyed the “stolen goods” none-the-less. The Sherlock Holmes Museum was not as cheesy as I expected it to be and it was nice walk in a part of London I had not visited previously. From the museums, we headed to Burough Market. I had pictured a busy farmer’s market with some food stands for lunch. Busy was an understatement. The market was filled with thousands of people waiting in line for every kind of food on the planet. The smells were amazing and it was difficult to decide on which cuisine to eat! We finally let our feet decide and we chose a sit down restaurant and left the long lines to the younger set. After lunch, we stopped by an Italian shop in the market and found a little piece of heaven! We bought meat, cheeses and bread for a bhotel picnic. We added in fresh raspberries from one of the farmers and I waited in line for the most amazing donuts….well worth it! Our final day in London was a long train ride out to Highgate Cemetery (you knew there would be a cemetery visit!) followed by a tour of the Churchill War Rooms. The walk through the cemetery was beautiful and while the graves were not as old as those at the Abbey, it had plenty! Over 54,000 gravesites! The Churchill War Rooms was a very interesting tour. They were underground so they might survive any bombings and on the last day of the war, everyone walked out, locked the doors and left everything just as it was. I can imagine they were very glad to be able to enjoy sunny days again. Speaking of sunny days, we were blessed with bright sunny days and 72 degree weather all week so excellent for London! We pick up our rental car tomorrow and drive out to the countryside. We are looking forward to a little peace and quiet after the hectic days in the city! Ratings for London Overall: 7 Points of interest: 10 Ease of communication: 10 Ease of transportation: 7 Friendly people: 7 Cost of living: 6 Weather: 10 for these miracle 4 days!! Bill’s favorite thing: Tower of London Sally’s favorite thing: the Italian deli store at Burough Market
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
|