London Wrap-up

Hi All!

No, I didn't stay for the royal wedding, I actually came back on Monday. I just was feeling a little down this week. And then Thursday evening & Friday it got really bad - Mom went in the hospital. Everything seems better on that front, and I've had a very relaxing weekend, so now I'm going to post some photos from my London trip - I hope you think they're worth it! :)

The weather was wonderful for the entire time I was there - sunny, warm, nice. The weather kept saying it would rain, but that held off until I left Monday morning. Okay - to recap from where I left off:

Saturday evening - I went to Leicaster Square & found a club that had some comedy acts performing. I'd just missed the first guy, but got in just as the second one was starting. He was okay - his act was funny things in the news. The funniest part of his act though was the drunk guy in the audience who was heckling him. The guy HAD to react to him and his reactions were funnier than his prepared act. The third guy was more well known (but I still didn't know him). He was genuinely funny. After the acts we could get in for free to the disco part of the club so I went in there. It was still early there - about 11pm - so the party wasn't even getting started. I hung around for a few minutes but decided sleeping would be a better use of my time. LOL.

Sunday - went on another London Walk - this time the highlights tour. We met in front of Big Ben, walked around Parliment & West Minister, down to Buckingham Palace, over to St. James Palace (where Prince Charles lived until the Queen Mum's death), through some alleys to Piccadilly Circus and then ended at Trafalgar Square. Our tour guide was funny. She was such a little lady (shorter than me & slim) but she had about three bags wrapped around her body. Also, she had a tendency to talk to us with her eyes closed. Like she was looking into the sun, except she hardly ever was. As a result all her mascara was on her cheeks under her eyes instead of on her eyelashes. She was chock full of information though.

After the walk I had an hour and a half until my London Eye "flight", so I sat down and ate lunch - pizza. (I didn't have any typical English food the entire time I was in London. ) Then off to wait for 40 minutes in line to get on the Eye - yes, even though you have a "reserved" time for your "flight", you still have to arrive 30-40 minutes beforehand and wait in line to get onboard. It takes 30 minutes to make a complete rotation. About 15 people fit in a pod, and they have a bench in the middle to sit on. It's really funny - everybody rushes in to sit down and then spends the entire time walking around the pod looking out the window. The only thing missing from my flight was Bill. I would have loved to kiss him at the top. Guess we'll have to go back before they dismantle it. Okay, Bill? ;)

Afterwards I walked back to Trafalgar Square and then made my way over to the Tower of London via bus. Even though the Tower was open for another hour, there were no more guided tours and most of the attractions inside were closed. So I decided it wasn't worth the 14pound entrance fee just to rush inside to see the jewels and bought a 3.5pound book about them instead.

Since I couldn't do the tourist thing, I went off to Oxford Street for some retail therapy! I'd looked up some places to buy yarn while in London and John Lewis was mentioned as a place & I knew their address on Oxford Street, so I headed there first. I was expecting an upscale yarn store and was surprised to find out it was a mid-class department store. However, they're yarn department is upper class! Full of Rowan, Debbie Bliss, Noro, etc. All lovely lovely yarns. My only complaint is that it was 100% geared towards knitting - no crochet hooks, crochet books, nothing. BUT the yarn more than made up for it. I bought four balls for a scarf swap I'm doing. After John Lewis I bought a couple books (a humourous book about the Underground & the 25th Anniversary edition of The Princess Bride) and the second season of Roswell on DVD. Fortunately for my bank account, the stores closed at 6 so I couldn't find other lovely things to spend money on. :(

To finish off the night I went to Waga Mama for dinner - a lovely Japanese noodle restaurant and then went back to Leicaster Square to watch a movie. I watched Be Cool in a HUGE theather there - it held 1344 seats! Yes, I asked. I calculated that my movie ticket ended up costing me about $20, but I think it was worth it. Just to experience a movie theater that big & in London. Oh, the movie was good too. Not as good as Get Shorty, but funny anyway. :)

That was essentially the end of my trip. I tried to go to Wimbeldon Park Monday morning for my brother, but their museum opened about the time I needed to leave for my plane. I still went hoping to find a store selling tshirts or something by the tube stop, but it turns out they hold exclusive rights to that, so you can only buy souveniours there. Sigh. So my brother will have to be happy with my tube ticket that says Wimbelon Park & a photo of the tube sign. :)

Here's a teaser photo. Go to the extended entry to see the rest of the photos.

These are mostly in order of how I took them. Most of them can be clicked for a larger version.

The view of Piccadilly Circus from Burger King. Notice the Reduced Shakespeare Theater where I took in a show the first night (an hour after I took this photo).

The Angel of Eros in Piccadilly Circus.

A cute house stuck in amongst a row of townhouses across from my hotel.

Earl's Court Tube Station.

The famous Camden Market at Camdon Lock. I thought this was it. Nope - you go outside this area & there are two or three other areas just as large as this.

The London Eye aka Millennium Eye aka British Airways Eye.

The Tower Bridge and City Hall caught in the reflection of another glass building.

The Tower Bridge & waterfront

Me in front of the Tower Bridge :)

A Statue of Queen Anne in front of St. Paul's.

Underground Sign in front of Parliment (station Westminister)

Big Ben, The Eye, and Parliment

Wimbledon Park Tube Station

I just thought these pint milk jugs were too cute - photographed in a Marks & Spencer. Which by the way, I could totally get used to shopping in - lovely grocery store.

This cracked me up. I've heard about this show (Extreme Makeovers) in the US, but I didn't know it was in the UK. And this billboard ad is just too funny.

Caught in the pizza bathroom. Apparently you chew on these little toothbrushes & they clean your teeth for you - but don't swallow! Weird.

Posted by Jinglelady at April 10, 2005 07:55 PM | Photos , Traveling | TrackBack