Stepping off the plane and into the terminal was a bit eerie. Remember that scene from 28 Days Later, when the main character (the actor's name escapes me right now) wakes up in the hospital and starts wandering through the abandoned city of London? That's what it was like. At 7:50am, the London Heathrow airport (at least terminal 1) was deserted.
However, the site that made me giggle: a Ben & Jerry's ice cream vending machine. No joke.
Anyway, we made it to baggage claim, after walking what felt like at least a mile of walkways (again, no joke) and all of our luggage arrived. This felt like a good omen for the rest of the trip. When I was last in London, I was to be there a month and it doesn't bode well for your month-long trip when your luggage doesn't arrive until 4 days after you do.
Luggage in hand, we pop into a taxi and into the city we went. Granted, it was morning rush hour traffic, so it definitely took longer than anticipated, but as we got closer to London, I was beginning to recognize areas and landmarks. We drove passed the Royal Albert Hall and along side Kensington and Hyde Parks (where I would be continuing my marathon training) and then we finally made it to our hotel, The Grosvenor House. Beautiful hotel. What was even better, we were able to check into two rooms upon arrival, which allowed for showers and a bit of a rest prior to a day in London.
I walked into my room. Damn. Way bigger than my last hotel room in London. King sized bed (it was a twin ten years ago), ample space to walk around (Harry Potter's cupboard under the stairs was bigger than the previous room) and a glorious bathroom (I don't recall much about the last bathroom, other than washing clothes in it).
And while we are on the topic of bathrooms, let me make mention of the bathtub/shower. I don't think I've ever seen as many levers as were in this shower. One to turn on the bath, one to adjust the temperature, one to turn on the shower, one to turn on the handheld....and if you didn't do them in the correct order or didn't shut of the correct ones, the whole system didn't function properly. And no, there were zero instructions, so it became a process of trial and error.
But the waterfall shower head made it all worth it in the end.
Ok, so, we got cleaned up and dad took a nap. Mom and I knew that we couldn't sleep yet (though we severely wanted to) so we headed out in search of our London Passes and a fish and chips lunch.
Picking up to the London Pass - good
Finding a pub for fish and chips - good
Going in search of the Tardis - bad
I got it in my head that the Tardis (aka the blue police box from Doctor Who) would be at Charring Cross Station and relatively easy to find. WRONG. Yes, a big blue box should be easy to find....if you are looking in the right spot.
We began by heading south to Trafalgar Square (the London Passes were picked up outside the Leicester Square tube stop).
With a quick photo op with the lions at the base Nelson's Column (sorry, those are in mom's pictures), we continued down in search of Charring Cross Station.
Once we reached the Horse Guards and Downing Street, we knew something was wrong...ie we had gone too far. With a quick look at the map, we determined that instead of going straight, as we had from Trafalgar Square, we should have made a left.
So, we looped around at Embankment and discovered Charring Cross. Great! Now we just have to find the big blue box. Simple, right? WRONG AGAIN!
We made a complete circle around the station. I knew it was on a major street, and not one of the cobble stone alleys, based on the Google Maps locator. Granted, I didn't have cell service in London, so unless I could hook into a wifi network on the street, I was out of luck searching via Google Maps. Finally, we gave up. We were tired, and we still had a decent walk in front of us to get back to the hotel, via Buckingham Palace. Defeated, I located our next route (on an actual map) and we headed out in search of the Queen's home.
The walk was lovely. The weather was nice; chilly but sunny. The leaves were turning slowly into the pretty fall hues I've grown accustomed to in the northeast and it was the ideal setting. The number of runners out and about was phenomenal. I want a job where I can go for a run in the middle of the day.
While at Buckingham Palace, there was no changing of the guard ceremony happening that day, but we did witness the changing of both sets of guards. No pomp and circumstance, but it was entertaining nonetheless, and not from a regal standpoint. Mom and I were giggling most of the time, making up what they were saying to each other and watching them have to shift by the quarter of an inch at a time based on the head movements of their leader/commander, etc. Fascinating.
Continuing on our walk, we reached Wellington's Arch, located at the southeast corner of Hyde Park. Mom and I went our separate ways here, she to Harrods and myself to the hotel. I got to the room, set my alarm and took a 30 minute nap. I swear, mom knew about this and right at the 30 minute mark, she called me. She, having just gotten back from Harrods and realizing dad was still asleep, said we should go downstairs for tea. We ended up having coffee/hot chocolate from the coffee shop off the lobby and got onto the wifi to check mail, say hello on Facebook and upload pictures.
It was here that I discovered that the Tardis was NOT at Charring Cross Station, but at Earl's Court Station....in the complete opposite direction of where we had been. Ugh. So...the Tardis would be located another day.
Once we were done in the lobby, we headed back to our rooms once more to get ready for dinner as we planned to meet up with some friends at a pub down the street from the hotel, The Audley. We met at 6 and finished dinner around 7:15pm.
By 7:30 I was back in my room and passed out.
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