London Update - Days 1 to 3
Our first 3 days in London have been amazing. Nearly every moment feels like a "wow" moment. Everything here is history. We've covered so much ground in the last 3 days, it's been hard to absorb everything.
On Saturday we decided to caffeinate, and then wander the neighbourhood to become more familiar with our surroundings. It was really neat, actually, because it seemed like every time we turned a corner, we'd find another bit of history. Strolling through Green Park, across the street from our hotel, we discovered Buckingham Palace. Then we decided to find Westminster Tube station (the meeting place of Monday's "London Walks" tour, and in the process randomly discovered the Parliament buildings and Big Ben. After that, we strolled up Whitehall, which meant we passed by 10 Downing Street, and ended up in Trafalgar Square. Well then. We made our way back to the hotel, tried desperately not to take a nap (which would have screwed up our ability to adjust to the time difference), and at 5:00 met with J's old coworker Kim for dinner. Kim was kind enough to send us back to our hotel early, and we went to bed at about 8:30 London time (oh yes, that is in fact 3:30 p.m. Toronto time).
After a 12-hour sleep, we headed out Sunday morning for our first London Walks tour, which was called "Westminster and the West End". Turns out we did most of this tour on our own on Saturday, but that's perfectly okay, since the tour guide gave us a whole lot of info we couldn't have picked up otherwise. I had a bit of a "moment" when we rounded the corner on Westminster Abbey - before even being told what it was (although I had my suspicions), I found myself getting a little teary-eyed at the amazingness of it. The tour finished at Trafalgar Square, so after grabbing lunch at a nearby pub (fish and chips, of course!), we checked out the National Gallery. Yowza. Lots of big stuff there. By the way, I love that museum admissions in London are free (donation only, if you wish). After the museum closed, we grabbed dinner at a Japanese restaurant off Regent Street somewhere (I'm sure I couldn't find it again), wandered down Whitehall, along the Thames, and back up...er...some street...to our hotel.
Somewhere in there, we also went through St. James' park and saw a lot of birds we've never seen before, along with some Canada geese (represent!). I forget which day that was, they've kind of all blended together :). I think maybe that was on Saturday.
Today was more of the National Gallery (I've decided I love Peter Paul Rubens!), and a monumental tour through Westminster Abbey, which thankfully included very little talk of the Davinci Code, except that Dan Brown must not have actually visited the Abbey, because his descriptions of the rooms were somewhat...inaccurate. I saw the throne that was used in practically all coronations since Edward I (early 1300's, I believe). I stood above the bones of Charles Darwin and Charles Dickens. I was in awe pretty much from the moment I walked through the front arch to the moment I left. It was more than my little brain could take in. Johnathan and I are still talking about it. We found another pub after that, had supper, and then sat in St. James' park again to watch the waterfowl until the breeze got too cold for me.
To sum up, we've done more walking than I think I have ever done, seen more amazing things than I have ever seen, and there are still 4 more days left. We plan on doing a bit of shopping tomorrow (including a walk along Regent and Oxford, a visit to the Marks and Spencer flagship store, and maybe even Harrod's), at some point we want to finish the National Museum (Monet, Manet, Rembrandt, and Picasso are the big ones we missed), spend some time at the British Museum, and ideally check out the Tower of London. Hopefully my feet can take it!
On Saturday we decided to caffeinate, and then wander the neighbourhood to become more familiar with our surroundings. It was really neat, actually, because it seemed like every time we turned a corner, we'd find another bit of history. Strolling through Green Park, across the street from our hotel, we discovered Buckingham Palace. Then we decided to find Westminster Tube station (the meeting place of Monday's "London Walks" tour, and in the process randomly discovered the Parliament buildings and Big Ben. After that, we strolled up Whitehall, which meant we passed by 10 Downing Street, and ended up in Trafalgar Square. Well then. We made our way back to the hotel, tried desperately not to take a nap (which would have screwed up our ability to adjust to the time difference), and at 5:00 met with J's old coworker Kim for dinner. Kim was kind enough to send us back to our hotel early, and we went to bed at about 8:30 London time (oh yes, that is in fact 3:30 p.m. Toronto time).
After a 12-hour sleep, we headed out Sunday morning for our first London Walks tour, which was called "Westminster and the West End". Turns out we did most of this tour on our own on Saturday, but that's perfectly okay, since the tour guide gave us a whole lot of info we couldn't have picked up otherwise. I had a bit of a "moment" when we rounded the corner on Westminster Abbey - before even being told what it was (although I had my suspicions), I found myself getting a little teary-eyed at the amazingness of it. The tour finished at Trafalgar Square, so after grabbing lunch at a nearby pub (fish and chips, of course!), we checked out the National Gallery. Yowza. Lots of big stuff there. By the way, I love that museum admissions in London are free (donation only, if you wish). After the museum closed, we grabbed dinner at a Japanese restaurant off Regent Street somewhere (I'm sure I couldn't find it again), wandered down Whitehall, along the Thames, and back up...er...some street...to our hotel.
Somewhere in there, we also went through St. James' park and saw a lot of birds we've never seen before, along with some Canada geese (represent!). I forget which day that was, they've kind of all blended together :). I think maybe that was on Saturday.
Today was more of the National Gallery (I've decided I love Peter Paul Rubens!), and a monumental tour through Westminster Abbey, which thankfully included very little talk of the Davinci Code, except that Dan Brown must not have actually visited the Abbey, because his descriptions of the rooms were somewhat...inaccurate. I saw the throne that was used in practically all coronations since Edward I (early 1300's, I believe). I stood above the bones of Charles Darwin and Charles Dickens. I was in awe pretty much from the moment I walked through the front arch to the moment I left. It was more than my little brain could take in. Johnathan and I are still talking about it. We found another pub after that, had supper, and then sat in St. James' park again to watch the waterfowl until the breeze got too cold for me.
To sum up, we've done more walking than I think I have ever done, seen more amazing things than I have ever seen, and there are still 4 more days left. We plan on doing a bit of shopping tomorrow (including a walk along Regent and Oxford, a visit to the Marks and Spencer flagship store, and maybe even Harrod's), at some point we want to finish the National Museum (Monet, Manet, Rembrandt, and Picasso are the big ones we missed), spend some time at the British Museum, and ideally check out the Tower of London. Hopefully my feet can take it!