London: Tuesday 12 July

We had an earlier start today, and were out the door just after 9am. Just before that, Housekeeping had picked up a laundry bag of our washing (just underwear) and offered to wash it in their own in-house washing machine FREE of charge. We had been considering a laundromat a couple of blocks away, but I'd phoned Housekeeping to enquire about the cost of laundering a bag of underwear and was told that just ONE pair of undies would cost £3.50 to wash professionally (sent out). That's when they offered to do the laundry free for us! Wow, how kind was that?!

We set out down Oxford St, ultimately aiming to get to Green Park and St James Park, but hoping some particular stores might open earlier than the standard time of 10am. I wanted to pop into the Clarkes Shoes and ECCO stores before I got too tired and foot-sore, and also have a quick look in Selfridges. No luck, so we carried on by Tube to Hyde Park Corner.

We had a closer look at the New Zealand War Memorial there, which is a memorial to the war dead of New Zealand in the First and Second World Wars, just along from the statue of Wellington. I found it quite moving. 

Then we walked down the outside of Green Park (the back of Buckingham Palace) and around to the front of the palace, and the Victoria monument, where people were already starting to arrive for the changing of the guard an hour later. We carried on into St James Park, sat and had a coffee overlooking the lake, strolled down to the Blue Bridge (traditionally painted blue so that it blended into its surroundings, but looking rather tacky now) and crossed over to the Mall. There, we were in time to see a band marching out of St James Palace. We watched the crowd following them towards Buckingham Palace, and we instead headed along the Mall towards Trafalgar Square. All this was on a lovely, sunny, warm morning!

We caught the tube up to near the British Museum but stopped for lunch first, again at Eat. As we ate, the rain started. It was much heavier than the light drizzle we encountered at times yesterday, and eventually we had no choice but to venture out in it and make our way to the museum.

The rain didn't let up on the way, and I couldn't walk any faster with my ankle in a splint, and needing a walking stick. We only had shower proof jackets in our pack, and nearly hadn't taken them with us in the morning as the forecast was for it to be completely fine until the evening! It was bedlam on the footpaths, and just about as bad in the museum.

We had loved visiting the museum in 2009. But not this time!  David wanted to see the ancient Egyptian and adjacent areas again, but I was beyond it, and was just grateful to find a seat in the Mesopotamia section and send him off to enjoy the displays on his own. I think we were only there an hour in the end, and I spent a good portion of that in the queue to the women's toilets! What a shame! In the end we couldn't get away fast enough. An experience to remember, all the same! And it certainly wasn't cold today, in spite of the rain. I just wore a very light sleeveless top!

We wanted to check in with our Insight Vacation Tour Manager, who was to be available at the Grosvenor Hotel by the Victoria Station, so headed that way on a very crowded tube. It was good to meet Michelle, the Manager, and check some of the trip details. Then we were back out into the rain, onto the tube and back to Marble Arch and our hotel. Plans to look at shoes were abandoned in the hope of having time to try again when we return to London after the tour. I walked 14.2 km today...

After a lie-down back in our hotel room, I recovered enough to head down to the restaurant again. I even had a GF beef burger with a lovely GF bun. Next step was to pack, ready for the start of our Insight Vacations 18 Day tour  ('Romantic Britain and Ireland') - an early start tomorrow, the first of many...