Today began with another hostel breakfast – cereal selections, toast,
coffee and tea, and juices. Nothing fancy, but not too bad… We did a little
survey with the host while trying to eat about what they would offer at a few
hot breakfasts – eggs and bacon please (they weren’t too keen on that though…)!
Philip and I sat around after breakfast wasting some time to see if Jordan
would arrive, and trying to charge Philip’s phone because he forgot his wall
plug at home (and head if it wasn’t screwed on) – Canadian to the rescue (we’re
better than scouts)!
While I had gone upstairs to find
my charger to tie Philip over until we could purchase one for him, he had found
two girls who were sharing our table, who, it turns out, are joining us on the
tour – Hannah D and Jennifer. Small world!
When we finally went on our way,
about 10:15 this morning, we headed to our first stop – Phil’s choice – St.
Paul’s Cathedral. It was amazing inside – the architecture and the decorations…
I lit a candle, and we paid to go in and explore. It’s set up in a large
cross-shape (as are most churches - surprise, surprise) with a large dome above
the centre. The entire time we wandered around, we could see people exploring
stories above us near the dome, and wanted to know how the heck people got up
there! In the meantime, we figured we’d explore and took in the amazing
sculptures, painted ceilings, gold plated doors and cages, the HUGE organ (I
mean, I’ve been in a fair number of churches, but I’ve never seen anything that
size)! We visited the crypts and the tombs, and then back to the main floor we
went – when what did our wondering eyes find – a staircase! Going up! 528
stairs we climbed. 300 I was good for, wheezed the next 150, and the definitely
thought I was going to die on the last bit… Philip had to pee so badly he
bolted back down the stairs after running through the veranda, and after I took my time, we met again down at the
bottom.
Afterwards, we crossed over the Millennium
Bridge (which we didn’t know was such until after) and wandered through the
streets that follow along the Thames – again going from sight to sight as far
as the eye could see! We picked up lunch from EAT and ate it outside along the
river while enjoying the sights. We passed the HMS Belfast and, low and behold,
stumbled upon the Tower Bridge. At this point, it began raining again (as BBC
Weather predicted – within 20 minutes of their estimated rain-will-happen-time.
Why can’t Canadian Meteorologists be that good?), but nowhere near as hard as
yesterdays rain. We strolled across the Tower Bridge, found a Tesco Express for
Philip to buy some food at (perpetually hungry strikes again!) and then got
lost – only because we lost sight of any landmark. Getting lost when traveling
isn’t always a bad thing – as a result we stopped for a pint while it rained,
and then continued on wandering around the exterior of the Tower of London, all
while trying to find the tube station.
Now, because Philip, being the
man he was, forgot his wall charger at home but packed his adapter, we went off
to Bond St. where we were told there would be a lot more stores where we could
purchase one. Bond Tube Station, however, happened to be closed for
renovations, so we ended up at Baker Street – yup, the Baker Street, dear Watson – and while Philip went to find a
charger, I wandered up to 221B Baker Street (which is currently a fake address)
which houses the Sherlock Holmes Museum. How you can have a whole museum for a
fictional character, no one will ever know. However, next door to the Sherlock
Holmes Museum happened to be a fairly large Beatles store, which you know I’ll
be back at after this trip! Then to waste some time (seeing as it was the one
time Philip wasn’t actually hungry), we wandered up to Abbey Road, and Abbey
Road Studios.
Philip still doesn’t understand
the fascination with a ‘zebra crossing’, but he was a good sport. After
arriving at the tube station, we got hit with another huge thunderstorm and
torrential downpour. Again, similar to yesterday, it was a Vancouver shaming, soggy
to the bone type of rain. We waited it out in the tube station - a good 40
minutes or so of it - before going on. We made it to the zebra crossing, and
(sorta) got the obligatory strolling across the road photo (it was so busy –
and Philip definitely jumped the gun… we’ll have to see what Photoshop can do!)
and made our way back to the hostel where we met up with Jordan.
In an attempt to meet everyone
for dinner, we hung around until 7:15pm before we actually left to find food.
We wandered up to King’s Cross Station, where we stumbled upon Brittany and
David eating peacefully in the McDonald’s. They followed us around as Philip
attempted to pull money out (what a shifty gong show that was, 5 ATM’s later!),
and then Jordan, Philip and I went for Indian for dinner. Jordan had been to
this cute little restaurant with a 4 course meal for only 11£. It was great
food, and the first real restaurant I’ve eaten at! Philip had no idea what he
was ordering when he ordered, and ended up with Tandoori chicken, which for the
average person sounds like a great choice, but for the one who won’t eat meat
off a bone, and yet is perpetually hungry… it’s disastrous (although highly
entertaining for the rest of the party)!
I charged both camera batteries
as I was left with one uncharged and no spare today, and here I sit in bed,
hoping I’ll actually get some sleep tonight. Last night was hopeless - wide
awake, and in a strange place - I think I lasted all day with maybe 2 hours of
sleep…
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