Day 2 - 1 August 2014

First real day in London - yay! :)

We had a really nice tradition going during the entire trip, where I always met my Dad and his family in the breakfast room for breakfast every morning. It opened at 7.30 a.m., and even though I basically tried to leave my room at 7.29 or 7.30 every morning, they always beat me to it, and were there before me! *lol*

Anyway, I really liked that tradition, it was a great way of meeting, we could discuss what we had done the day before or what we were going to do on that day - and we started this tradition already the first day.
My plan was to use the London Pass during the first two real days in London, Friday (1 August) and Saturday (2 August). My Dad and his family had bought tickets to go to the Tower Bridge Exhibition from home, and even though I went there in 2012 it was really great, so I figured I'd do it again this year (since it didn't cost me anything, as it is included in the London Pass) and we could do this activity together.

We ended up deciding to go there first of all, do it together, and afterwards split up - and so we did.
Since we were done with breakfast around eight, and Tower Bridge Exhibition didn't open until ten, I figured we had time to do something else first, but I underestimated a number of things. First of all, during this trip I learned (which is obvious really, I know!) that it takes a lot longer for four people, including two children to "get ready" for a day a out, than it does for one adult! *lol* I also totally underestimated travel times, constantly, during the entire trip!!
We were there in the middle of summer and vacation and there were SO MUCH PEOPLE everywhere, which meant going anywhere by bus took a loooong time (nope, still not brave enough to try the underground *lol*)!

In the end we went straight from the hotel to Tower Bridge, had to change buses at St. Paul's, and the exhibition had opened when we got there!

Again, a great experience, I can really recommend it!! This time a bit different though - well, security checks first, which is quite common these days, and as usual it took a little while for the four of them, and their rather large backpack to go through, then I walked up, opened my bag and they sent me through! *lol*
The last time I was there we took an elevator up to the North Tower ... this time we walked!!!! In pretty much extreme heat ... Yeah, that was tough!! Okay, Tower Bridge is no London Eye or The Shard but when your walking up staircase after staircase and it's like 33 degrees Celsius, it sure feels high enough! :) When you get to the "top" of the North Tower (well, not technically the top, but as far as you're allowed to go) they show a pretty cool movie about how the bridge came about - quite educational, but a little difficult to explain and translate to the children. I think the younger accepted she wouldn't understand so much and didn't care a lot, but the older one is right now very inquisitive and quite upset about not understanding English (she's taken some in school already but not enough to follow conversations), so her mother tried to explain as much as possible to her.

After the movie you get to walk through the East Walkway to the South Tower, then through the West Walkway (but unfortunately you can't get through there, so you have to walk back the way you came to the North Tower again). It's really cool to be walking so high, pretty much inside and over Tower Bridge, and the view over the Thames is fantastic. They also have a lot of informative exhibitions in the walkways where you can read about a lot of different bridges, about Tower Bridge, this time they had this really cool 1960s exhibition on, where they mentioned my hero, Sean Connery! :)

When you're back in the North Tower you head down, and then follow painted arrows and signs to the Engine Rooms, you actually walk underneath the South Tower to where the actually engine rooms where that lifted the bridge. I don't understand much of the technical stuff but it's really cool to see it! :)

When we were done at Tower Bridge Exhibition we had a bit of a break and some water just outside, and then decided to split up.
The others wanted to check out London Eye, so I had a tip about a really nice bus, RV1, which departs from Tower Hill Gateway, goes across Tower Bridge and on the south side of the Thames all the way to London Eye, then goes over the Waterloo Bridge and ends at Aldwych, so the four of them set off in search of a bus stop.
I walked around Tower Bridge for a while and took a lot of photos (guess nobody is surprised about that!), and then went over to the Tower of London (and had to change my memory card on the way *lol*).
The London Pass is truly great, I could just walk passed all the ticket booths and all the queues and head straight for the entrance, a lady scanned my card and I was in. Amazing! :)

They have this absolutely fantastic installation going on at the Tower right now, which is called Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red - The Tower remembers the First World War. This is what it says on the plaque describing it:

Teams of volunteers are installing 888,246 handmade ceramic poppies in the Tower moat. Each marks the death of a member of the British Forces in the First World War.

For more information on the project and how to volunteer, please visit hrp.org.uk
#Tower Poppies

It is just amazing the way the British care and about and respect their history!!

I had arrived just as a beefeater guide started a tour so I joined in back - and it was quite fun. The information on these tours are a bit too detailed for someone who is not that great at British History, but the beefeater, Billy Beefeater he was called, was hilarious and made the tour really nice and funny!!

I really couldn't go in anywhere as the lines were enormous!!!!!!!! Again, a loooot of people in London this time of year. The queues to see the Crown Jewels were almost unbelievable. They had these usual ropes out, forming lines covering almost half the entire courtyard outside the house hosting the Crown Jewels. All that space was crammed with people standing in line, and the queue even continued several hundred meters after the ropes ended.
It wasn't that bad at other places, but still bad enough.

Despite that I had a really good time, I haven't been to The Tower since I visited it with Annika and it was great to just be able to walk around in my own pace, taking photographs and just taking in the atmosphere and the history that surrounds the place.

The Tower Bridge Exhibition and the Tower of London were really great activities and everything worked out fine, after that however, things started to go not-quite-so-well ...
I had a hard time, during the entire trip but I think it was most evident on this day, to work out how long travelling would take, when I needed to get food, when I needed to get water etc., and that sometimes threw a spanner in the wheels for me.
As it was I was done at The Tower around 2 p.m. - and all I had to eat and drink since breakfast (at 7.30 a.m.) was a small cup of water and a small bun, and it was sunshine and around 30 degrees out ... not good!!
 I was also unsure about what to do during the afternoon, I wanted to make use of my London Pass but hadn't really planned anything specific, time went by fast, I didn't know where I was going, I was really hungry and needed something to drink really bad ...

I have this favourite London McDonald's which is up at Marble Arch, they have this really large seating area downstairs and even when there's a lot of people it's usually feels pretty calm there, they have nice bathrooms etc. - I felt I needed some peace and quite, and food and drink, so I made my way up to Marble Arch ... which took quite a while!!!
Did get food and drink, and peace and quiet, and were able to think - which was very necessary!!

I wanted to visit the London Transport Museum (which was also included in London Pass), but when I started checking I was unsure if I'd really have the time. It was almost 3.30 p.m. and I hadn't quite finished my food, and the London Transport Museum is down by Covent Garden ... It didn't close until 6 p.m., but I don't see the point in getting there half an hour before they close and have to rush through it all ... I debated a lot with myself and didn't quite know what to do, but in the end I felt I didn't have it in me to stress, I don't do well when I have to stress, so instead I took a really long nice walk in Hyde Park, and crossed over into Kensington Gardens!

I entered Hyde Park a bit down Park Lane and came about this amazing monument, this one a tribute to animals killed in wars. The main text read THEY HAD NO CHOICE.
I was indeed very moved by this - not many people care to remember animals and certainly to to the extent of giving them their own memorial monument. Impressive!

The walk in the parks was really nice, even though I was quite tired and I got a tiny little bit of rain at one point - but I just love the London parks, they are amazing!!!

I ended up at the hotel a little earlier than expected due to the miscalculations in the afternoon, but I know these things happen and you can't stress yourself out about it. You can't make the right choices all the time and not everything will go according to plan - and despite the afternoon, I had a really really great first whole day in London! :)

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.