London Calling

We ordered our taxi for 9AM since we'd have to slog across town during the morning rush and didn't want to completely waste our first of two days in London. We arrived back at the Ibis at 11, and they were very accommodating--as well they should have been. It turned out to be a rather costly mistake on their part, considering they had to part with the following:

1 bottle of water
2 Aero mint and chocolate candy bars
2 cab fares (one during peak time)
1 night's accommodations
2 days of WiFi  ("Is WiFi free at this hotel?" I asked, knowing it was 9.99/24hr period. Shoot, it was now.)

Our first order of business was to take a nap. We were exhausted.

Finally, around noon, we headed out to explore. First, we headed to Westminster. My last trip to London, I literally had to speed walk through the abbey, so this time I wanted to take my time. There was a long line and it closed at 3:30, so we decided to return the next day. We walked around the area, taking in Big Ben, Parliament and Covent Garden and stopping at a little Italian place for lunch.

The Royal Horse Guards

I always enjoy watching the street performers at Covent Garden. Unfortunately, I didn't hear any act as beautiful as the two women that Mom and I heard singing when we were there, but this guy was decent and had a sense of humor. Here he had grabbed a random man who was coming down the steps and had him sing the last few bars of Nessun Dorma with him.

This one was a former Cirque de Soleil performer. He was amazing. Four men from the crowd were holding the Chinese poll he was performing on, and he called a little boy from the crowd to assist him by throwing up his balancing block and hat.

Our next stop was the Tower of London. We were a little concerned because we didn't arrive until 4, and it was only open until 5:30, but we chanced it anyway. One dimension of Tower of London that I absolutely loved was that they added sound effects/a soundtrack at different spots throughout. Adding the sound element really helped the history to come alive in a different way.

We particularly enjoyed these iron sculptures stationed throughout the complex.

If you look along the wall, you'll see metal statues representing the beasts that used to live in the complex. These are all monkeys; however, they used to house many an impressive animal there, including a polar bear and lions.

Our timing was actually perfect because we finished up right around closing time.

We decided to walk around Greenwich next. The park was closed off in preparation for an equestrian event in July, which was unfortunate, but it was a nice little area. There was a little opera performance, or something, that we stumbled upon as we were walking around. It was just ending, so I'm not sure what exactly it was, but the soprano's voice was lovely.

The Royal Naval College

Royal Observatory Greenwich

The Prime Meridian

London Skyline

For dinner, Steve and I grabbed a chicken pesto panini and hot dog, respectively, from a little shop, and we ate on a park bench by the Thames while the sun was setting. It was a lovely end to a lovely day.

Preparing for Departure and Coping with Arrival

Since we would have to wake up in the wee small hours of the morning to make our flight, Steve and I decided to spend the night at Kevin and Meg's in Philly, so we could sleep a smidge longer. Mom and Dad generously agreed to drive us to the Newark Airport, which meant that they crashed at the Williams-Hackenberg pad, as well. Oh, darn, we had to spend more time with Meg and super cute Asher.

Two-thirty the next morning came way too early for my liking, but we had a plane to catch. Our flights were uneventful, save for the fact that we had to sit on the runway in Dulles for over an hour due to bad weather up in New York. Admittedly, it felt slightly odd being grounded for bad weather when outside it was gorgeous. Since we knew we'd be arriving in London later than planned, Steve called our hotel to let them know we'd most likely be in after midnight. Not a problem, they assured us. Cool. We bought lunch from Wendy's since our flight information said there was no meal provided; however, they did feed us a hot breakfast (apple-stuffed pancakes, sausages, a small fruit plate, and a fruit-filled croissant we saved for later) and a snack (a turkey sandwich, chips, and KitKat bar), which we tucked away for later. Nice.

It didn't seem to take too long between the time we landed and the time we sat down on the tube, but that trip added another hour and a half to our journey. Our hotel was on the other side of London at the Docklands. We were SO ready to be in bed by the time we finally arrived at the Ibis Hotel. Unfortunately, despite the fact that there was a little note attached to the desk saying that we would be arriving late, someone opted to give our room away anyway. Big mistake. Fortunately, I'm a middle school teacher, so I have the patience of Job and was surprisingly laid back under the circumstances. After waiting for a long time for them to figure out what the heck they were going to do with us, they finally found a hotel for us. Great! It was back at Heathrow. Fantastic. Needless to say, we weren't exactly thrilled about spending another hour or so in a taxi heading back to our previous point of departure. When we arrived at the Novotel, the man at the desk told us they only had one room available--a twin. I literally started chuckling at this point. I couldn't help myself. We finally crawled into bed around 3:30AM. I told Steve things would look better in the morning...which came shockingly early.

Road Trip: UK Edition

Steve and I love road trips, so we always talked about how fun it would be to drive around the United Kingdom. Of course, we didn't think that would be happening for a very, very long time. However, over the course of the year, we started discussing it more and more, and before we knew it, our delightful little fantasy turned into an exciting possibility, which eventually gave way to a big, fat, fantastic reality. We did hit a few bumps on the road. The first was our unexpected mini-break in Italy, and the second was our summer work schedules. Minor hurdles really.

Three weeks before our departure, Steve and I booked our tickets. Between this trip and Italy, we've become quite the pair of last-minute travelers. Shoot, if it means we get to go on really cool trips, I like it.