Day 5 - September 28

Another morning when I didn't feel the best ... it took me a while to get going, but eventually I managed to get down to breakfast and head out.
Took a bus from Praed Street to St. Paul's Cathedral, and that's when things started to just feel wrong. I won't go into details, don't feel like being to personal here, but it just didn't work out....

Ended up going down to the Thames and check out the Millennium bridge instead which was really nice! However, I didn't feel well and fought with myself about what I was going to do.
Eventually, I ended up (sort of) following my original plan for the day and took a bus to Tower Hill. While I had originally thought of going to the Tower, I felt time was going by and after all, I have been to the Tower twice now.
I would like to go back, don't get me wrong there, but 1) I'd like to have a lot of time to spare, and 2) I'd like to have read up more on English history first! :-)

I ended up walking outside the Tower instead and headed for Tower Bridge. That is one really truly impressive building when you get close! Wow!!

I went on the 'Tower Bridge Exhibition' and that was quite an experience! I'm glad the morning's issues hadn't stopped me from going on this!
We were sent by elevator to the top of the North Tower where we viewed an introductory film, with the 'creator' and the 'architect' of Tower Bridge. I had basically no knowledge at all of the bridge's history so this was very very interesting.
After the film we were allowed to walk, and photograph, the East and West Walkway, the tiny little walkways on top of Tower Bridge - you can clearly see them when you see pictures of the bridge, but I hadn't quite expected myself to be walking up there! :-)
It was a really fantastic experience, though the walkways are quite closed in so you don't have a perfect view over London! Still, quite amazing and very impressive.
After having walked through there (for as long as you wanted) you took the stairs down - and I just have to mention the 'inside' of the North Tower. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos there (not sure if we were allowed!) but the inside was amazing - it looked really old-fashioned, like the stairs and the interior had been preserved from when the bridge was designed!
When we got down a few floors they had a minor 'store' where you could buy souvenirs. We had been photographed against a green screen upon arriving, and you could buy pictures of yourself (or fridge magnets, or coffee cups or other stuff) with Tower Bridge in the background. I'm normally not one that would do that, but since I was on my own and basically didn't have any pictures of me at all, I thought it would be a cool thing to do. Until I realized the prices! Okay, granted, I knew it would be expensive but this was almost ridiculous!! I looked for the smallest and cheapest thing - after all, I'm not that fond of seeing myself in pictures ... the smallest and cheapest things they had was a fridge magnet, about 2x3 cm (what is that? 4x6"??) - it cost .... *drumroll* £10!!!!!!! It's like 115 SEK ... €12.50 ... $16.20. Whoa - no way I was going to pay that!!
From this 'store', or desk, we were taken by elevator to street level, and told to follow the blue markings on the street to get to the 'Engine Room'. Said and done.
That was COOL!! I'm not at all technological, and there was no way I would understand how hydraulic power was transferred into mechanic power to lift and lower to bascules ... (?) - but it was still quite amazing.
At the end of the exhibition they had this really cool model of the bridge where you yourself could raise and lower the bascules for a boat coming through! :-)
I checked the souvenir shop at the end of the tour and ended up buying a really cool handbag! :-)

I took loads and loads of photos both before, during and after the exhibition - of course! :-)

I had originally thought of going on the Thames River Boat Cruise, from Tower Pier to Westminster Pier, but it was really cold and quite windy, and I saw the boats and the pier from Tower Bridge and it was crowded! In the end I decided to take this really cool bus, RV1, from Tower Gateway to Westminster. My Mum and I went on it in 2004, it starts from Tower Gateway, goes across Tower Bridge *cool!*, along the river (sort of) on the south shore, around London Eye, and across the river at Westminster Bridge (where I planned to get off) - and continues to Aldwych and Covent Garden.

I walked up to Tower Gateway and found the bus ... and apparently they had changed the bus routes since 2004 *lol* - not that surprising I guess ..:)
Instead of going across Tower Bridge, the bus went across London Bridge, at first I was a bit disappointed - I like Tower Bridge - but then I thought, I have already seen Tower Bridge up close, how cool I get to see London Bridge as well! :-)
 Then it turned out the bus didn't go over Westminster Bridge at all, but instead over Waterloo Bridge. It did cause some problems for my planning, but it was cool to go over Waterloo Bridge and you had an amazing view over London Eye and Houses of Parliament and Big Ben! :-)

I got off the bus at Aldwych where I had to walk for a while, but was lucky enough to find a bus that would take me straight to Parliament Square ... where I went to Westminster Abbey. Had a bit of an issue there initially as well (sort of) but it worked itself out in an amazing way in the end! :-)
Went on the audio tour - which was guided by Jeremy Irons, cool!!!! :-)
I learned a lot though I was quite tired and it was starting to get late, so I did skip a few steps of the tour. But I must say the church is impressive to say the least.
I am in no way a believer, I have broken most of the ties I might have had with the church, but being in the place like this really is moving. Even though I don't have a faith of my own doesn't mean I don't respect those who have ...

I took a bus from Victoria Street to Marble Arch where I had something to eat, took another bus to Queensway and walked around a bit, bought some water and snacks before heading back to the hotel - and managed to organize most of my packing! :-)

Day 2 - September 25

I slept surprisingly well the first night, and woke up early - which was good. I usually didn't have much energy at nights to deal with what had happened during the day, and since I often woke up early, I could take some time in the mornings to go through the day before and also to prepare myself for the day that was in front of me. Not bad at all! :-)

I went down to breakfast at about 7.50 a.m., it was nice that a continental breakfast was included in the price of the hotel room and I have to say, for a continental breakfast at a relatively cheap hotel, it was quite satisfactory - we got cereal and milk, juice, toast, ham & cheese, boiled eggs and coffee/tea. Quite nice and quite sufficient ... I'm not the kind of person that can cope with a "Full English Breakfast" at 7.30 in the morning!! :-)
I went back to my room to collect my things but was out and about at around 8.20 a.m.

I took a walk down to Bayswater Road and went into Hyde Park at the Victoria Gate - what a perfect way to start the first day in London! The weather was absolutely perfect, it was quite chilly (which I like!) but the sun was out and it was a beautiful clear blue sky! I took a long and quite calm walk through Hyde Park, down to the "end" of the Serpentine, ended up in an adorable little Rose Garden, where I actually made a friend! :-) There are lots and lots of cute little squirrels in the parks of London, and when I was about to walk out of the Rose Garden I spotted one next to a tree, quite close to the path I was on. I stopped, and then he rose up on his hind legs, looking SO cute! I grabbed the camera and took some photos, and then he decided to come closer (people feed them all the time, so they are not at all as shy and jittery as the squirrels we have here!) ... and closer ... and closer ... and ended up jumping up on a pole right in front of me!! So adorable!! I wish I had had something to give him ....

Since the weather was still good, and they had said it would be worse during the afternoon and the following day, I really felt I should try to go on London Eye - felt like it would be more fun to go if it was sunny than if it rained ... and then I just completely made a fool of myself - well, almost anyway.
I guess I can blame it on the fact that it's been a while since I been to London and this was my first day, or something - but I ended up thinking sooo wrong!

So, I was down at Hyde Park Corner, and needed to get to Parliament Square - by bus (still haven't mastered the underground, but I will hopefully get back to that in another entry!)! Felt like, no, probably no buses will take me straight there ... maybe I can catch a bus from Oxford Street. Yeah right, it's actually quite a bit to walk from Hyde Park Corner to Oxford Street ...
After having walked for a while I realized, I'm not sure that there are any buses going all the way from Oxford Street (technically Marble Arch) to Parliament Square ... but I do know that bus no. 12 stops at Parliament Square. One problem, it starts at Oxford Circus! Okay, maybe I can take a "short-cut", walk straight through and come out at Regent Street, and catch the no. 12 bus from there.
(Yes, no need to tell me, I just thought about it all the wrong way!!)

This is what I in the end actually did, which was madness. It was so far to go, and all the streets in London are like a giant big maze, nothing just cuts straight across. What I also hadn't thought of was that I'd be crossing right through Mayfair - which is this really posh area of central London where all the high-fashion boutiques are ... boy, did I feel out of place!!??!!

I finally ended up at Regent Street, but my feet were absolutely killing me at this point. Naturally, I went the wrong way on Regent Street and ended up having to walk all the way up to Oxford Circus, before I could finally get on a bus and rest my feet for a little while.

I got off the bus at Parliament Square, and I really really love that place, it's amazing!! I ended up taking quite a lot of photos there, then walked across Westminster Bridge and took even more photos! ;-)
I walked over to London Eye - and learned something else there! If you want to visit London Eye, no matter when, book a ticket in advance!!! There, lesson learned!
The queues were really long, although I have to say I am surprised that it didn't take longer time, at first I thought I'd be standing in line until late in the afternoon! Once I had gotten my ticket and got out of the ticket office, it turned out there was another queue to get on the actual wheel.
But, again, it went pretty smoothly and it didn't require as much waiting as I thought it would.
When we approached the wheel they had a full security check with body scanners and the whole nine yards - again, I realize the necessity and I think it is good, but it does still make me a bit uncomfortable!
I was also quite surprised about the fact that they don't stop the wheel for people to get on and off (had actually wondered about that before as well), they have this really long ramp and the put people in different lines and you basically have get on (or off) while the pod you are in is still moving! I mean, it's not moving fast or anything, and they can stop the wheel if it's needed, but I got a bit stressed about that, so it felt a bit scary to get on (but it worked out quite well).

The tour on London Eye was definitely one of the highlights of the trip, it was absolutely fantastic!! I took a ton of photos and, to my surprise, I didn't even feel uncomfortable about the hight!! I usually get dizzy if I have to climb a kitchen chair, I don't dare to walk the roof on our summerhouse, which is low and fairly flat, but riding this giant wheel, which is 135 meters (!), was quite all right! :-)  
I won't go on and on about it, but the half hour it takes for the wheel to go around went way to quickly and I gladly would have stayed in there and gone one more time! :)

However, my feet were hurting before and after having stood still (well almost, you can move around in that pod, but not that much), both waiting in line and on the wheel, I really really needed a rest!
I took a short break, but for some reason I didn't feel like I could just sit still and do nothing ... so I started walking again! :-)

Went over Westminster Bridge, took more photos, went over by Westminster Abbey, and took photos and continued to walk along Victoria Street and tried to find New Scotland Yard, with the cool sign outside ... but no luck! According to the map I should have walked right passed it, but I didn't see it! :( Continued a bit along Victoria Street and turned at Buckingham Gate, and walked up to Buckingham Palace! It's really an impressive sight to see, that's for sure. Walked around there for a bit, and took some photos (duh! what else?! *lol*). The flag was raised so The Queen was apparently there!

From Buckingham Palace I went to St. James' Park, I really like the parks in London! :-) Walked there for a while, went over the bridge and finally found a bench to sit down (by this time, I thought my feet were about to fall off!!). Didn't sit long though, as a few benches over there was this extraordinary old man, feeding the squirrels and the pigeons and the other birds from his hands. It was the most amazing thing, the squirrels jumped up on his knee and ate from his hand!! Other people were taking pictures, and so of course I had to get up and do the same! :-)
And then I continued walking ... Apparently the path I was on was closed due to construction work, so I walked back, crossed the bridge again and continued toward Whitehall - and I met the Pelicans! *lol* They are totally cool!! :-)

Walked passed the Horse Guards and onto Whitehall, and further up to Trafalgar Square. At this point I also realized I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, and maybe a meal, and a place to sit down, and a bathroom, would be a good thing. But of course, once you start looking, you don't find it!!
I had in mind that there was a McDonald's low on Regent Street, near Piccadilly Circus, so I took a bus from Trafalgar Square - but of course I didn't find it!! By this time I wasn't feeling well at all, so I took another bus to Oxford Street and figured I'd have to be able to find a burger on Oxford Street ... yeah, well ... sort of ...
Found a sign for McDonald's at Bond Street Station, went in and found it eventually. It was really hectic and stressful but I placed my order, and saw that they had "seating downstairs". Okay, down some really horrible stairs (with my feet barely working and balancing a huge tray that was not easy) only to find like 7 tables, all totally crowded, and no restroom!!! Gahhhh!
I had to eat my burger standing up, still hadn't found a bathroom and it was hardly the relaxing break I had been hoping for, that's for sure!!!

It was still fairly early, but I really didn't know what to do ... my feet were not in a good shape, and I had eaten so fast I felt sick - but I still didn't want to just "go home". I ended up taking a bus out to Queensway and went there for a little while, headed over to Kensington Gardens, but it felt like the rain was going to start any minute, and I really really didn't feel like walking any more - I was seriously scared I would injure my feet to the point where I wouldn't be able to walk much at all for the rest of the trip, not good! - so even though it was rather early, I went back to the hotel and tried to relax a bit.