Europe 2007 – Day Two

August 10th, 2007 - 8:30pm

Day Two
London
August 10 2007 - 20:30

Exhausted from the day before we still woke early: Obviously we still haven’t adjusted to our new time zone.

The room is tiny, and the bed even smaller; there is less than a metre clearance total between the bed and wall. I attempted to wash some of our clothes in the tiny sink and splashed water all over myself. Justine washed about half of them.

We set out around 10am and grabbed breakfast at a McDonald’s (not great’ but cheap!) before grabbing the tube from King’s Cross to Tower Bridge.

We explored the area around Tower Bridge and crossed over to the Tower of London where we lined up to buy tickets before lining up to get in. Tower of London is expensive. Still, we spent around three hours exploring the White Tower and grounds: We saw the Crown Jewels which we didn’t do when I came to the UK as a kid; I’m disappointed by the lack of ravens.

Not only is every tourist attraction busy given that it’s school summer holidays, but there is some sort of Worldwide Scout Jamboree going on too.

In all the touristy areas of London, there are people just standing around holding large signs advertising restaurants (likely tourist traps like the one we visited yesterday), tickets to events (soccer, plays etc). Very Strange. We managed to catch a “real” double-decker bus on one of the “Heritage” routes. We sat on the bus and ate some cheap food we’d bought from Tesco until we were told the bus was at the end of the line… Right across the road from Kenginston Gardens.

After a quick stroll we sat at the base of the Albert monument for a while (opposite the Albert Hall) as the sun set. Making a move we walked to South Kensington station past “Albert Mansions” which looked like an incredibly affluent area. Bentleys, Maseratis, Rolls Royce. Maybe a BMW for a poor couple.

We took another train to check out a chocolate shop I wanted to see and we did but Justine thought it was too expensive. We then realised we were off the edge of our touristy map but backtracked and found our way back to the hotel.

Another Tesco visit and we had dinner. I’m drinking a Stella from an embossed can. Lovin’ it.

(P.S. AZERTY keyboards are too confusing!)

Tags: europe 2007, london, stella artois, tesco, tower bridge, tower of london