Europe Day 2 - London
This morning we woke up at 7:30 am. We had left the window open a half inch, because the room was a little stuffy when we checked in. Since it dropped below 30 degrees during the night, the room was a little cold. Breakfast was included with the price of the room, so we headed down to the restaurant for another try. The “English Breakfast” was really good. I had eggs, sausage, ham, toast, orange juice, tea, and a banana. Vanessa had the same, except instead of a banana she had frosted flakes (in case you were wondering).
We had our warm weather gear on and we headed off to see London. With the help of a nice lady at the tube (subway) we purchased our all-day tube tickets and headed to Waterloo Station. We purchased our Eurostar train tickets for the 29th (when we go to Brussels) and then caught the tube back to Baker Station. That’s where Madame Tussaud’s is. While we were standing in the queue (English for line), the fire alarm went off three times. After they evacuated the building for about 10 minutes they let everyone back in again and we started posing and taking pictures with celebrities (sort of). Alfred Hitchcok tried to grab Vanessa’s breasts (no really, I have a picture), and J-Lo let me grab her butt! Who would have thought?
After a disagreement about whether or not we should take a tour bus (Vanessa won), we took the tube to Westminster Station. We poked our head out of the station long enough for me to say, “Look honey, it’s Big Ben”, and we were off on the tube again. This time we were off to Tower Bridge Station. I was a little disoriented, so we went the long way to get to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Along the way we walked along the Thames River. It was a little cold (maybe 40 degrees) and we were hungry, so we stopped at a little pizza restaurant. It turns out t was in the guidebook as one of the better places to eat in London, but not expensive. As much as I wanted a pepperoni pizza, it was called the “American” and I refused to look like an uncultured dimwit. So instead I ordered “La Reine” which had ham, mushrooms, and olives. Vanessa had a slice along with a salad and some garlic dough balls. All water here is served in bottles, so you really have to ration is when you ware drinking, or your check will increase substantially. Lunch was good and a good price.
Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre was fairly interesting. It isn’t the original (which burned down) in the 1600’s, but it was an exact replica built the exact same way. We both enjoyed it, but Vanessa was in her element (she’s a theatre teacher in case anyone didn’t know). After ward we stopped at Starbuck’s (there’s one ever block) and ordered a large hot chocolate and some toffee for the walk back to the tube station. It was getting dark (3:30 pm). After another tube ride we headed back to the hotel to get more winter clothing. Our feet were already hurting and we still had a walking tour to go on!
I had seen a sushi restaurant featured on several shows, so we asked the concierge for directions. “Just up the street, turn right and it’s on the second floor”. After walking for what seemed like a mile, we found it. We walked in and they sat us at the sushi bar, which is a 60 meter long conveyor. I picked up a plate of salmon sushi going by, and was halfway through eating when Vanessa noticed something. There were only about 6 plates left on this huge conveyor, and the staff was cleaning everything up. It was 5:30 pm. Vanessa asked about the situation, and they indeed were closing and were not making anything else. We were a little upset. I paid my bill of $4.00 (they didn’t charge us for the water), and promptly set-out to find another place to have dinner. We ended up eating dinner at a Chinese food restaurant called “Poon’s”. That’s right, I said it and I have a picture to prove it. Dinner was okay, but nothing to brag about. We caught the tube again for a 20-minute ride to the London Hill Station. That’s were we met for the Jack the Ripper walking tour.
This tour happens every day, rain or shine, and there was roughly 100 people there. We split into 3 groups for a 1 ½ hour walk through London. We went to several of the spots where the women were killed. It was very informative and definitely worth the $20 (for both of us). I never realized how gruesome these murders were (uteruses cut out, intestines removed and placed on the shoulders, throats cut to the spine. Pretty bad.
My feet were DEAD by this point. We had to walk another ½ mile to the tube station and finally got back to the hotel around 10:00 pm. Strange interesting stuff about the United Kingdom: Volume measurements are stated in metric (liters, etc.) and distances are stated in standard (miles, feet, etc.).
It’s now 11:30 pm and time for me to get some sleep.
We had our warm weather gear on and we headed off to see London. With the help of a nice lady at the tube (subway) we purchased our all-day tube tickets and headed to Waterloo Station. We purchased our Eurostar train tickets for the 29th (when we go to Brussels) and then caught the tube back to Baker Station. That’s where Madame Tussaud’s is. While we were standing in the queue (English for line), the fire alarm went off three times. After they evacuated the building for about 10 minutes they let everyone back in again and we started posing and taking pictures with celebrities (sort of). Alfred Hitchcok tried to grab Vanessa’s breasts (no really, I have a picture), and J-Lo let me grab her butt! Who would have thought?
After a disagreement about whether or not we should take a tour bus (Vanessa won), we took the tube to Westminster Station. We poked our head out of the station long enough for me to say, “Look honey, it’s Big Ben”, and we were off on the tube again. This time we were off to Tower Bridge Station. I was a little disoriented, so we went the long way to get to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Along the way we walked along the Thames River. It was a little cold (maybe 40 degrees) and we were hungry, so we stopped at a little pizza restaurant. It turns out t was in the guidebook as one of the better places to eat in London, but not expensive. As much as I wanted a pepperoni pizza, it was called the “American” and I refused to look like an uncultured dimwit. So instead I ordered “La Reine” which had ham, mushrooms, and olives. Vanessa had a slice along with a salad and some garlic dough balls. All water here is served in bottles, so you really have to ration is when you ware drinking, or your check will increase substantially. Lunch was good and a good price.
Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre was fairly interesting. It isn’t the original (which burned down) in the 1600’s, but it was an exact replica built the exact same way. We both enjoyed it, but Vanessa was in her element (she’s a theatre teacher in case anyone didn’t know). After ward we stopped at Starbuck’s (there’s one ever block) and ordered a large hot chocolate and some toffee for the walk back to the tube station. It was getting dark (3:30 pm). After another tube ride we headed back to the hotel to get more winter clothing. Our feet were already hurting and we still had a walking tour to go on!
I had seen a sushi restaurant featured on several shows, so we asked the concierge for directions. “Just up the street, turn right and it’s on the second floor”. After walking for what seemed like a mile, we found it. We walked in and they sat us at the sushi bar, which is a 60 meter long conveyor. I picked up a plate of salmon sushi going by, and was halfway through eating when Vanessa noticed something. There were only about 6 plates left on this huge conveyor, and the staff was cleaning everything up. It was 5:30 pm. Vanessa asked about the situation, and they indeed were closing and were not making anything else. We were a little upset. I paid my bill of $4.00 (they didn’t charge us for the water), and promptly set-out to find another place to have dinner. We ended up eating dinner at a Chinese food restaurant called “Poon’s”. That’s right, I said it and I have a picture to prove it. Dinner was okay, but nothing to brag about. We caught the tube again for a 20-minute ride to the London Hill Station. That’s were we met for the Jack the Ripper walking tour.
This tour happens every day, rain or shine, and there was roughly 100 people there. We split into 3 groups for a 1 ½ hour walk through London. We went to several of the spots where the women were killed. It was very informative and definitely worth the $20 (for both of us). I never realized how gruesome these murders were (uteruses cut out, intestines removed and placed on the shoulders, throats cut to the spine. Pretty bad.
My feet were DEAD by this point. We had to walk another ½ mile to the tube station and finally got back to the hotel around 10:00 pm. Strange interesting stuff about the United Kingdom: Volume measurements are stated in metric (liters, etc.) and distances are stated in standard (miles, feet, etc.).
It’s now 11:30 pm and time for me to get some sleep.
posted by Page at
3:20 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home