Day 36 (4/26)
Started the day fairly early at the train station. It's about a 25 minute ride, so not bad at all. I took a quick ride on the underground to King's Cross to get a picture at Platform 9 3/4. I got a little deathly hallows keychain because I just couldn't resist. All the Harry Potter fans out there know what I'm talking about.
From there I walked down to St. Paul's Cathedral, but I had to find shelter a few times because it started snowing. I only saw the outside of the church because I refuse to pay 18 pounds and not even be able to take pictures.
Lissie had given me an old guidebook with a walking tour that started at the cathedral, so I decided to give that a go. From St. Paul's I walked down to the Thames, and over the Millennium Bridge to Shakespeare's Globe, a reconstruction of the original Globe Theater where Shakespeare's plays were performed. I walked by the Tate Modern, but didn't make it inside because I had places to go.
After that it was a nice walk down the river to the London Eye. There are a ton of cafes and theaters along the riverfront, and the weather was actually really enjoyable by then. I came across a poster announcing a matinee of Jersey Boys at the Piccadilly Theater, and low and behold, they still had tickets! They were fairly inexpensive, and I ended up with a great seat.
After the show I wandered over to Dans Le Noir, which was quite an interesting experience. I had seen this restaurant in one of my favorite movies (About Time) and found out it was a real place here in London, although the filming location was different. I walked into the reception area where the hostess explained the menu to me. I could choose 2 or 3 courses, and vegetarian, meat, or chef's surprise. When I was finished eating they would let me know what the meal consisted of.
After I ordered she had me place my things, including phone and watch, into a locker. Nothing that lit up was allowed inside the restaurant. I was led down a hallway that progressively got darker, where I was then introduced to my server, Trevor, who is blind. Trevor had me put my right hand on his right shoulder, and then took me into complete darkness.
He placed my hand on the back of my chair and explained the layout of the table before pouring me some water. He also explained that I could just shout his name and he would come check on me. As I sat in the dark, alone at my table, I could hear the voices around me and I waited for my eyes to adjust.
They never did. It's so dark inside you'll never see a single thing. I started feeling a little anxious, but Trevor brought over a few more people to the table and once we started chatting I was fine. One of the girls was from Portland (small world), and there was a married couple who had just moved to the UK from Hong Kong.
When our food was brought out I think we all ended up mostly eating with our hands, as it was difficult to even get the fork to our mouths without being able to see. We each took a guess at our meal, and it turns out no one was correct.
When we were all finished, Trevor lined us up, and took us back into the light. It took a long time for my eyes to readjust. I took a picture of the menu so you can see what I ate. I was surprised. I was also surprised that I had been at the restaurant for 2 hours, sitting in utter darkness!
By then I was pretty exhausted, so I headed back and called it a night.
This is King's Cross Station. The sky looked like this all day, except for brief periods where it snowed, hailed, rained, and when there was thunder and lightning.
Nerd stuff.
The outside of St. Paul's Cathedral.
And from the Millennium Bridge.
What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet.
The Eye is so big. Each of those pods probably hold 15 people, or more.
It's 135 meters (or 443 ft.) tall.
Admiralty Arch, which leads from The Mall to Traflagar Square...
...which is what this is a part of.
Selwyn's first time to the theater.
The restaurant looks quite normal from the outside.
I ate crocodile, and it was delicious.
Day 37 (4/27)
I went into town a bit later than the day before, but I still managed to see pretty much everything left on my list.
I started with Hyde Park, because it's quite close to Paddington Station, where I take the train. Hyde Park has the famous Kensington Palace, which I don't really care about, and Kensington Gardens, which J. M. Barrie wrote about. There's a cool little statue of Peter Pan, and the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain is there as well. The Park was huge, but I didn't find much of what I would deem "gardens."
From there it was a scenic walk to Buckingham Palace. I was pretty impressed. I actually didn't even have the opportunity to complain about the price on this one because it's sold out until July. I also missed the changing of the guards. I know, shame on me.
It's a short walk from the palace to Big Ben, Westminster Palace, and Westminster Abbey. Those were all very impressive from the outside as well. Westminster Abbey costs 20 pounds to go inside, and I've seen a lot of churches, so I skipped it (though it did look very impressive).
I rode the tube to The Monument, built between 1671 and 1677, to commemorate the rebuilding of the city after the Great Fire of London in 1666. It's 311 spiral steps to the top, and they give you a little certificate once you've completed the whole thing. When you get to the top there's a spectacular view, as you're 48.7 meters (160 ft.) above ground.
I then walked a short distance to the Tower of London, where the crown jewels are kept, but it was also incredibly expensive, so you'll just see the walls like I did. From there you can also see the Tower Bridge. That's free unless you actually want to go up in one of the towers.
After taking about a million pictures, I hopped on the tube to Baker Street and visited the Sherlock Holmes Museum, which is located (of course) at 221b. It was really neat. They had set up the apartment as if Sherlock and Watson lived there, and on the top floor they had wax figures set up from the stories.
I still had some time to kill before I took the train back, so I wandered over to Regent's Park and it was absolutely beautiful. There I popped into Queen Mary's Garden, which was lovely, but I can only imagine what it looks like when all of the roses are blooming! Regent's Park also had the Avenue Gardens which were spectacular. Prepare yourself for some flower pictures.
Hyde Park Italian Gardens
The Peter Pan statue in Kensington.
The Princess Diana Memorial Fountain.
Buckingham Palace
Big Ben!
Westminster Palace
Such a beautiful day. This is my view of the London Eye across the Thames.
This wasn't anything in particular, I just liked the architecture.
Westminster Abbey
One of the downsides of traveling by yourself: you have to trust strangers to take a good picture, or you just have to selfie. Maybe both.
That's the Eye in the background.
Climbed 311 of these!
Views from the top of The Monument.
View of The Monument.
"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes - and ships - and sealing-wax -
Of cabbages - and kings -
And why the sea is boiling hot -
And whether pigs have wings."
The tower of London.
The crown jewels are in there somewhere.
The Tower Bridge
Self explanatory.
Regent's Park - Queen Mary's Garden
I don't think I'd ever actually seen a black swan before.
Regent's Park - The Avenue Gardens
The sunset over the Thames in Caversham.
Day 38 (4/28)
I woke up feeling a little exhausted after the last couple of days around the city, so I decided to take it easy. I went in to the city a bit later, and found my way to the British Museum. It's so big, like everything else in London. Texas, you've got some competition.
The museum map was laid out in such a way that it was broken up based on how much time you had to wander around. I had about an hour before I had to catch the tube to Whitechapel, so I pretty much just hit the hightlights.
Then it was off to the street art tour. East London has quite a street art scene. No Banksy stuff, it pretty much gets torn down and sold, or kept, the second he puts it up. But there was one from Stik, and an amazing skeletal hand by Shok-1.
It was quite cold all day, and I had spent two hours walking around outside, so I found a cute little coffee shop for a hot drink and some reading. Then back to see Lissie and Marco for dinner. Marco made some really good risotto, and it was so nice to have a home cooked meal.
My view from the train. It started out as such a beautiful day, but quickly turned cold and rainy.
Hung out with Paddington for a bit.
The British Museum. It turns out I snuck in the back way, so I didn't have to donate 5 pounds for entry. But I still donated a pound or two for a map.
These are from Mesopotamia. I love book related things.
The Portland Vase. Mostly I made a point of seeing this because I miss Portland.
Ladies and Gents, the Rosetta Stone:
The front of the museum was much more impressive than the back.
This was the start of the street art tour. This is a piece by Artista, who paints a lot of toast with legs.
These next two are by a woman called This One Art.
This one is by akajimmyc.
I love this one by Dan Kitchener. The bottom one might've been my favorite of the day.
A fun one by Vova Zomb.
This one is by a guy called Mr. Cenz.
This hand by Shok-1 was my other favorite of the day. Apparently he's now been commissioned to do a mural like this on the side of a six story building!
Some of you know Stik from Banksy's documentary (or mockumentary).
The crane is by an artist called ROA. ROA researches cities before he visits, and then paints endangered species from the area he's visiting to raise awareness. Cranes are not an endangered species in London, but they're a symbol of the Bangladeshi refugees who fled to the east end in the 1970's.
Day 39 (4/29)
I spent the morning running a couple errands, and spent the afternoon with Lissie and the kiddos. We went splashing around in some puddles, and I got in my baby fix.
I was jonesing for the Indian food we'd had the last time I was over, so we decided to do that for dinner. So good!
Did some facetiming and stayed up way too late, but it was worth it. Some of you might know it's hard to work out actually speaking because of the time difference. I'll be glad to be back in the same timezone as most of you in just 5 and a half weeks! I can't believe how quickly the time is passing, and yet, sometimes I feel I've been traveling FOREVER.
Look how happy they are! So cute!
They're both feeling better this time around, so I managed to get in some quality Emelia time. Look at those curls!
Getting in some more time with the littles, and then I leave for Dublin in the evening!
