Day 14, August 12, Friday
Wow, Sure enough! I was having an omen when I wrote that "what if we have to call the reception!" Yes, we are no longer at the crappy Croydon hotel - Peckham Hotel. We are at a much better Days Inn just a 15 minute walk from Big Ben.
What happened? Oh, nothing major! THere was a leak from the ceiling onto Dean's side of the bed at 2 am. Not a dripdripdrip leak. it was more like a it's raining cats and dogs on my bed leak. Dean gets dressed and goes to the reception where they informed him that it was bath water and sent him back to wait for the leak to stop, that they will come to fix the problem. Their fix? A few towels and an apology. No new room? No refund? Nothing to ameliorate the situation?
Wow! When the stupid hotel guy came to the room for the third time with that stupid smile on his face to say, oh, dear it hasn't stopped yet, I flipped. You are getting us a new room, because my husband will not be sleeping on a soaking wet mattress. I don't care what you have to do, but you are getting us a new room.
So he looked at me with another smile. Really? Ok! I got on the phone with days inn and booked us the rest of our stay there.
The next day morning we canceled our stay and moved into days inn. Oh, what a joy. Yes, paid internet and paid breakfast, but what a joy not having a leak above our bed. what a joy having windows and no spell of fresh paint! What a true joy!
Today, after we happily dropped our luggage at Days Inn, we headed downtown. Got breakafast at McDonald's and started to walk.
We crossed Millenium bridge and visited a reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe theater. At the theater we grabbed a brunch and guess what drink they had there!!!! Yes, Elderflower soda!!! Then we crossed Millenium Bridge and went to see St.Paul's , where we found out , Lady Di got married.
We climbed the tower all the way up and saw teh cutsie red bus from up there. We took a pciture, but we never made it to the bus.
Before we went anywhere away from downtown, we made it to the Jewel Tower, which no longer has, actually it never has had, the jewels. It was a wardrobe at first, then a customs house, then a place where important documents were kept. The oldest door in England is there.
We hoped on the tube towards the Soho. I wanted to have tea there. We saw this crazy mall that looked like a medieval house. INside I saw some Stella McCartney hats and of course I had to take a pciture with them. And from there, we proceeded to find a tea room. Whew! We did find one! and Just in time for tea! How did we fit all of that in one day? I don't know. After tea, we went for a walk at the Soho Square and saw Paul's company, MPL. We also walked around trafalgar square and Picadilly on our way back. We did a lot today. And we had a nice dinner across the street from our hotel.
A much better day than yesterday. A bittersweet reminder that our vacation is almost over.
Tomorrow we are going to see the real jewels and take a trip along the Thames. I hope tomorrow we do get in the red bus.
Day 15, August 13, Saturday
We were going to see the buckingham palace change of the guard, but we decided that we'd visit Westminster instead, since we might not be able to make it to the changing of the guard at all. We could try to visit BUckingham on Sunday, before we go home. Westminster Abbey, where the Confession of Faith was written; Dean had a fit becayse there was no mention of the confession of Faith anywhere in the abbey, the books or the guided tour. THere was also n mention that king james was buried there.
Today we Crossed the London Bridge. Much to Dean's and mine disappointment, the London Bridge is not that fancy looking one. THe fancy looking one is the Tower Bridge. Well, so we walked to London Bridge, and ate at the anchor, that Dean had seen yesterday on our way to the Globe theater.
Fish and chips. Of course. Can you not eat Fish and CHips in London?
We made it to the Tower of London on time but because we did not buy the guide we had no idea that we should have skipped a bunch of stuff in there to get to the jewels before just when it was closing. Yes, we saw the jewels, but we were being rushed.
Oh, yes, a few days ago, I think back in Street or Hastings I suggestted that Dean had iced cofee, and it turned out it was the only coffee he actually enjoyed here. So two days ago we stopped at a starbucks and got their Frappucino, and I loved it too. Today we got it again! On the way to the tower. I love that thing!
THe jewels! The jewels are so amazing!!! No pictures allowed inside the vault though.
Oh, and we saw one of those British soldiers. The ones that don't blink! We coudl not really get close to him, but we took a picture with him in the back ground and did a small film of him walking. poor thing. I feel sorry for him. Dean says he holds his position as a great honor. I am not so sure about that. But, there's all kind of wacko's in the world, right!
After the tower, we hopped into the Thames Cruise. Oh, so nice!!! OUr guide was very spirited. With him we learned that Big Ben Is not the tower but its lasrgest bell. And Ben is the nickname of the guy who made it, Because his real name was Richard, so Big ... would sound a bit crude ( I am not at all convince this is the reasoning behind the name). We did not make out of there in time for tea, so I guess two tea and scones is everything we get for this UK trip. Oh, dear. TOmorrow we head home.
And yes, we are all packed.
Day 16, August 14, Sunday
We made it to our flight. I was beginning to worry we would not. We headed to Abbey Road early this morning. I took a picture crossing the road. Duh!!!! Of course I took a picture crossing the road. What beatles fan would not!!!!
THen we dropped my book of at MPL and I am crossing my fingers that someone that works there actually gets the book, because I left it at the door, where any one can take it. THey don't have a mail slot and that is probably to avoid wackos like me.
We thought we would be able to make it to Buckingham, but when we got there, they only had tickets for 1 pm. Well, 1 pm is boarding time. Forget it. Disappointment.
We had breakafast at a pub and headed to the hotel to grab our luggage. Good thing we could not make it to Buckingham! We barely made it from the hotel to the airport in time! But we did! And I got in the airplane withut anytrouble because of my maiden name. Tks to the girl back in america who changed my ticket.
This little british boy who got a position as steward's helper of the day keeps passing by us asking us if we have any rubbish. That is so funny. Yesterday we took a piture of a trash can. It had litter written on it! Litter, not trash.
Man, I will miss this place.
Good-bye, Good-bye, I will see you again someday.
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