The trip went really well. In fact, I think it was the smoothest, least problematic trip I have ever had. I had an aisle seat on both flights, and an empty seat on the other side on both flights. My suitcase was almost the first one off of the plane, and I had no problems getting to the hotel from the airport - despite the necessity of changing lines on the tube. Then as soon as I got out of the tube station, Teresa and Brian had just gotten there to meet me. Perfect.
I will be flying Air Canada again in the future. I watched 5 different movies on the flights - for free. I watched: "Yes Man," "Marley and Me," "Doubt," "Easy Virtue," and some Canadian Film called "One Week." All good. However, I was disappointed that the song "One Week" was not on the soundtrack to the movie "One Week." It's a Canadian Film, and the Barenaked Ladies are a Canadian Band. I know the theme of the song is completely different from a story of a man who finds out he has cancer and takes off on a motorcycle trip across Canada, but there should have been some way to work it in.
Here's a picture of my passport with its first two stamps - one for Canada (in the Toronto airport), and one for London.
We got a bagel for breakfast, and then I set up my stuff at the hotel. It's a really small room, but who cares? It's basically just a place to keep all of our stuff while we're out, and a place to sleep.
We got ready, and headed out for a walking tour of London. We started at The Tower of London. We actually went in, did the whole tour. It was awesome. This is where Anne Boleyn was killed - along with many other people who crossed paths with King Henry with VIII. There were many rooms showing how the tower rooms used to be, the torture devices used, the Tower as it had originally been built, and the history of everything the Tower has been used for. Apparently there was a peasant revolt in the 1300s, and part of it was destroyed. There was also a big exhibit of life during King Henry VIII's reign - the jousts, the battles, the court, etc. There was also an exhibit of all the crown jewels. It was beautiful.
After a couple hours at the Tower, I was beginning to feel sleepy. I hardly slept on the trip over here, because I was so excited, and I didn't sleep at all before we went out, so I was running up on 20 hours with little sleep. So we took a break and had some lunch - I had a fish sandwhich and fries. Mmmmm. Then we moved on.
We walked several miles along something called The Queen's Walk. It takes you past most of the famous London sights. We passed The Globe Theatre, but we weren't allowed in, because they were rehearsing for a play. Total crap. Then we walked past the Tate Modern Museum, The HMS Belfast, a bunch of museums and theatres, as well as the London Eye Wheel. That's when we got to the good stuff - Lambeth Place, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, and Westminster Abbey.
Lambeth Place is the place where the Archbishop of Cantebury lived. It's across the Thames from the Houses of Parliament in order to signify the separation of Church and State. There is nothing so awe-inspriring as the Houses of Parliament, and Big Ben. It's an amazing building. Westminster Abbey is beautiful also. I'll have to do some research about what it is used for (we didn't go inside), but I'm pretty sure that coronations happen there, and I think Princess Diana and Prince Charles were married there.
We kept walking after all of this and passed the Calvary Museum, where some guards were on horses outside the place. I got some cool video.
Not far away from there is Buckingham Palace. It was kind of gaudy. All the gates were guilded, and extremely ornate. But it was really awesome. The guards weren't changing, but they did some marching around. They were far away - like way behind the closed gates. I kind of expected them to be outside of the gate, but I suppose that happens only at the changing of the guard.
So after 7 hours of walking and touristing, we came back to the hotel. The plan was to rest a little, then go out to a pub to watch the Manchester United v. Barcelona "football" match. But we wanted to go early to be sure we could get a table, so there wasn't a lot of time. So, I didn't go to sleep. Now I was running on 28ish hours with no sleep. We went out, got our drinks, and started watching the game. I was pretty lucid for the first half of the game, but 2 and a half pints later, and still with no sleep, I was toast. I don't remember any of the second half, and I barely remember walking home and getting into bed. I think I fell asleep while I was peeing before bed. Teresa had to knock on the door of the bathroom.
I slept well - for 11 hours. Then we got up and had a nice English breakfast (baked beans anyone?) at the hotel. The plan for today is a little uncertain as of yet. We still want to see Hampton Court and Wimbledon. I've decided not to go to Chatsworth to see the Jane Austen House, because it turns out that it's a 3.5 hour train ride each way. After getting to Chatsworth, you have to get on a bus for a half hour to get there. That means 4 hours of travel each way - which means a total of an hour or two there. It's not really worth the time and effort. It will have to wait for my literary tour of England.
No comments:
Post a Comment