Day 2 in London

After an awful night, broken by 4 fire alarms (all false) around 11 pm, I was awake from about 3 am. Out the door at 8.00 am (after Skype chats with Andrew and Ross) and into the Tube to be packed in like sardines for the journey to Tower Hill Station, where we wanted to arrive in time for the opening of the Tower of London (change of plans, Mark).

Sure enough, we were amongst the first to enter (at half price, with our 2-for-1 ticket), and headed straight to the Crown Jewels exhibit (on Rick Steve's advice to get there early before the crowds). Then back to join a Beefeater's 1 hour tour. What interesting fellows they are with their stories and their jokes - all in all, very entertaining! After that we visited the other exhibits, including the White Tower, the Torture area, and the Bloody Tower - fascinating stuff! We were there for 3 hours in total - all morning.

After a quick lunch (I report that David had a fishburger and fries - remember that the next time he tells you to eat more healthily! - the adjacent Wagamama restaurant was too packed to try, with a long queue), we walked over to see the Tower Bridge Exhibition. What a pity, it was closed today!!! Drat! Luckily, I have a video podcast of this, so it's not the end of the world. So, on over the Tower Bridge we went, and then along the South Bank Walk, past all sorts of landmarks, and reading Rick Steve's comments about them. Apart from the fabulous views across the Thames to all the landmarks, some of the sights on this side included Sir Frances Drake's replica of the Golden Hinde, the remains of Winchester Palace, the Clink Prison Museum, the replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, the Tate Modern, a view of the Monument across the river, near where the Great Fire of London started in 1666 in which 80% of the City was incinerated, and finally a walk over the Millennium Bridge. A coffee and a smoothie to quench our thirst at the Salvation Army cafe, and a rest for our legs, and off we went again, this time walking along the Victoria Embankment, towards Temple Station, with a tube ride back to Victoria, then Pimlico. I report that we only got slightly lost, for 5 minutes today!

Right now the laundry is being done, and we're getting organised to pop out for an early dinner, followed by a tube crush ride to Victoria and the Apollo Victoria Theatre for the performance of 'Wicked' - I hope my eyes won't be on stalks by then, after the early start, and David has been falling asleep at around 9 pm these nights, so I'll have to nudge him if he starts snoring during the performance!

Michelle, thanks for your witty comments on my previous post - I enjoyed reading them! Andrew, thanks for playing with the photo of David waiting for the Heathrow Express, and putting him into a picture at the Eiffel Tower! Very entertaining!

I have managed to upload a few more photos! Over and out for today!