Day 2 of London started with breakfast in the hotel. Wow, I slept great that night. Breakfast was at the coffee shop because the restaurant in the hotel was over $40 for breakfast. Yikes! I had a Starbucks coffee and a croissant. Lisa had a water and pain du chocolat. They were French pastries in an English hotel, but they were delicious. After breakfast we took a cab to Westminster Abbey. We got there about 30 minutes before they opened and got to walk around the Abbey and the square in front of it and the Parliament building. We got some great morning pictures of Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. We got in line before they opened and went in shortly after. The only word I can use to describe Westminster is "awe". I was in awe the entire time I was in the Abbey. We saw tombs of former Kings and Queens. Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin are buried in the Abbey. The original Abbey was built in 1042, and the current Abbey was constructed in 1245. We took an audio tour narrated by Jeremy Irons, who I really like. It was very informative telling you stories about what each part of the Abbey is for and who is buried where. Elizabeth I is actually buried on top of her sister in the Abbey. Edward the Confessor, who was crowned in 1042 and had the Abbey consecrated, is entombed here.. I find the English history to be extremely interesting. It was so impressive to walk through this shrine. We walked by the alter and just as we did a Priest walked up and gave the hourly prayer. There is a section of authors buried in the Abbey such as Charles Dickens, Chaucer, and others. The Abbey was actually one of my favorite parts of the trip. It was very historic and amazing. I still don't understand how these almost ancient, ornate type of buildings were built in that time of history. The amount of money and physical labor required to build these buildings is unbelievable.
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| Westminster Abbey |
After the Abbey we walked passed St James Park to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. Another important historic building, but in a very different way from Westminster. It was very impressive to see this building that we are used to seeing on TV and in the movies. To me it seemed similar to seeing the White House from a distance, but it was still cool to see it. The changing of the guard consisted of a couple of small parades of guards marching to and from the Palace. I enjoyed seeing the guards march back and forth, but we could not see the actual changing because of all the people there. As the last soldiers marched back to their post, we walked up to the gate of Buckingham Palace after most of the people left and we took some pictures. Next stop was lunch.
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| Buckingham Palace |
Since the girls complained the day before about not eating, we made sure to feed them. Our next attraction was the British Museum, so we decided to take the Underground from Green Park to Covent Garden for lunch. It started raining on the walk to the Underground station and when we got to Covent Gardens it was pouring down rain. I also found that my day pass for the Underground didn't work at the turnstiles so I had to have someone let me in and out of each stop. It was a little annoying. We started to walk out of the Covent Garden station to find somewhere to eat and there was a pub on the right. As I was about to say 'Let's go here" someone told me we were eating across the street at Maxwell's Diner. Now I'm not sure about you, but I'm pretty sure we have hamburgers and American diner food in the U.S. Either way, that is what we had. I ordered a bacon cheese burger, which was really pretty good. We did find that their bacon is different. It is more like Canadian bacon. My dad ordered pulled pork, which being from Kansas City seemed like blasphemy. Lunch really wasn't bad, it just wasn't what I was looking for in my experience. After lunch, on to the British Museum (in the rain).
The British Museum is a HUGE place. Oh wow. They have a lot of artifacts and treasures in this building. We only had a couple of hours before we needed to go back so we started to look for the highlights. We walked through the Egyptian section, including a statue of Ramsesses and the Rosetta Stone. We moved on to ancient Iranian artifacts, which were Persian, and there were large statues and a stone wall that had an ancient painting of a Lion hunt. We then saw statues and carvings from the Parthenon. After that, we looked for the highlights. We found mummies and sarcophaguses, the first chess set, a statue from Easter Island, and many others. Lisa was bored.
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| Me and Ramsesses |
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| Sculpture from the Parthenon |
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| Statue from Easter Island |
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| Sarcophaguses |
After the museum we went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We took a little different way back on the Underground so I wasn't sure which stop to get off and it was 5:00 rush hour. My mom and I got separated from the rest of the group. I new that Bob, Justin's dad, was wearing a red Chiefs hat so I tried to watch to see when it was getting off the train. We stopped at Bond Street and a bunch of people got on so I lost the hat. I thought they got off so I told my mom to get off and we did. As we got off to look for them, we looked over and saw them still on the train. Darn it. We were supposed to get off at Marble Arch instead. My mom and I waited for the next train and when we got there, they were all waiting for us, laughing. Good times.
Dinner was nine of us going to St John restaurant. We found that it was north of St Paul's Cathedral so it was not really close to an Underground station. We decided to take a cab. We left about 45 minutes before our reservation. It took 45 minutes to get to the restaurant (in KC it would have taken 10 minutes). The cab driver was a hoot and a half. Wow, he talked our ears off. He had been to the US a couple times. He was open to talking about anything from guns to Princess Diana, who he apparently rode in his cab once. The restaurant was a little off the tourist path. It was a white building that had an open garage type area to get to the bar and restaurant area. They also have a shop to sell wine and other products. This is not a tourist spot. This was a foodie spot that screamed Anthony Bourdain. I could just see him smoking and drinking outside with the people and then eating inside at the private dining room that we had reserved. This was a really cool room. It was oddly shaped with a table to fit it. The waitress was very helpful as she had no clue what she was in for. We ordered drinks and I found that they had their own wine (that was relatively cheap). I asked about it and was told that the wine was produced by their staff wine person and they sell it in their shop. We got a bottle of both reds and they were delicious. Possibly the best deal of the trip. When we got the menu, we were lost. Whether we knew what the food was or not, the British terms used did not fit anything we could come up with, and they speak English. The waitress walked us through the menu. We got three appetizers to share and then everyone got their own entree. This is not a restaurant for everyone. To start, we got grilled whole sardines, pig's head salad, and the famous bone marrow. The entrees were smoked haddock in a cream sauce with fries, pork shoulder with parsnips, calf's liver, duck breast, sweetbreads, diver sole, and blood cake with a fried egg. This sounds crazy, right? No, this was one of the best meals, and one of the best foodie experiences I have had. I liked everything I ate, and I tried everything. The best was my haddock, Justin's blood cake, and the bone marrow. Oh wow that bone marrow was good. I will never argue with Bourdain again. If you are a foodie and you go to London, you have to eat here.
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| St. John Restaurant |
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| Our menu |
After dinner we went back to the hotel and had a few cocktails before bed. We packed up our stuff to leave in the morning and went to bed.
Next, to the ship....
(Post trip note: Lisa brought her Fitbit on the trip and this day we walked around 17,500 steps. A normal day is supposed to be 10,000 steps. We were tired.)
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