It really was a great apartment. I recommend staying in an apartment rather than a hotel if you have more than two people. Just the space allowed at the end of the day, and as you get ready in the morning is worth it. We were happy campers on our ride to London.
We chatted non-stop, and had a fancy schmancy meal...which I didn't eat much of. It was cold roast beef, and cold potatoes, and cold green beans. Not the finest option for first class rail travel. But, the strong English tea at the end was perfect! And I wanted to pinch the silverware...I really liked the shape and size. But, I left it because I don't need international thief added to my name anytime soon.
Our last view of France...
It's totally black while in the Chunnel, so I snapped a reflection photo.
And then, hello England!
Arriving in London, no matter by plane at Heathrow, or by train, is like being reunited with an old friend.
We took a black cab to our apartment, which was perfect!
Even a spot for Harry!
After our (dis)orientation to the Shepherd's Bush tube station, we made our way to lunch/dinner at Wagamama. (Hey, searching that, I've found they have restaurants in the Boston area in the States!) I had a tasty Pad Thai, and a cucumber, apple, mint juice.
Feeling full, we decided to get over to Buckingham Palace and see the major sights as the sun was getting lower in the sky.
To our surprise, due to a huge cycling event in the city center, the streets surrounding the palace, all the way down the mall were closed to vehicle traffic, so we got to walk all around areas that weren't usually open to foot traffic!
The sun was setting, and putting a glow on a lot of the buildings and statues.
I always try to capture my first view of Big Ben, it's always different.
We took a walk through St. James Park Lake, to get to Westminster Abbey, and Parliament.
I'd never been in there, and found it like a wonderland! Who knew there was all of this right in the bustle of the city?!
(That's the London Eye in the background)
The trees were MASSIVE!
We made it to Westminster Abbey, and back to the traffic, although, it was still strangely empty. I've been to London in the spring, winter, and late summer, and really would have expected to see far more crowds, but it seems all of London was on holiday.
Here we are...we never did perfect the skill of taking self-portraits.
Crummy photo, but I love it. I was happy, happy, happy to be right there at that moment.
We stood a few minutes to listen to Big Ben sing his song, before heading back to the apartment.
Once we got back to our area of the apartment, we simply couldn't find our way back. It was frustrating, because the directions seemed so easy, but we were clearly missing something. We finally decided to get a taxi to the apartment, and once we saw that, knew what needed to be done to get back easily. That would be the one down-side to staying in a residential area, I think. It's not immediately clear with landmarks where you are if you get turned around. But, seeing it once, we had no trouble getting around after that.
We stayed up a bit, and got a visit from a neighborhood kitty who walks the ledges of the windows, popping in when it finds open windows. "There's a cat in here, there's a cat in here, there's a cat in here" was my response. Thankfully, it scooted out and we got back to our talking, and thinking/planning for the next day. Once we were all tucked into our beds, I stayed awake long enough to hear Kris and Gwen fall asleep. I chatted with Steve for a while over messages, and finally let myself drift off to sleep watching the clouds drift through the London sky.
No comments:
Post a Comment