May 26 - A day (un)like any other….

Today was the first full day of my Globus tour. It started off with a buffet breakfast at the Hilton restaurant. The scrambled eggs were too loose for me, but there were extremely delicious mushrooms to make up for that. I got a pot of tea and a muffin out of it too, so how could I complain? Besides, it was one of my first proper breakfasts I’ve had since I got here, so it was much appreciated. After breakfast I paid $3pounds to check my email and move some money around (there’s no free wireless here!), then headed back to my room to collect my things and met my tour group in the lobby at 8:15.

We had a bus tour through London that was interesting. A lot of the things were saw were places I had discovered on my own, but it was nice to get extra information on them. The history the guide gave us about London and England was interesting as well (though there wasn’t a whole lot new for me), but you could tell he was a Princess Di fan, because a lot of what he gave us was about her and her links to London and the royal family. I was sitting next to an older lady on the bus who was from England, but was with her cousin who was visiting from Vancouver – she was sweet, but I am hoping to get my own seat for the majority of the trip.

Our first stop on the sight seeing trip was at St. Paul’s Cathedral. I hadn’t visited it on my own because I knew we would be seeing it on the tour, but it was a quick in and out kind of thing – I would have like more time. The guide was clearly a fan of Sir Christopher Wren and knew a lot about him. We walked down the center aisle, then through the chapel at the back of the church, and then the crypt. We didn’t have time to look at the side aisles or the whispering gallery, and there was only about 15 minutes at the end of his tour to look through the crypt. Had I known it was going to be a speed race through there, I would have paid the admission and gone on my own.

But, in the crypt, I was really taken with Wellington’s tomb. Having now seen both Napoleon’s and Wellington’s, I have to say, Wellington’s is much nicer. Napoleon’s is inaccessible to average person and is huge – you can tell the people who designed and built it were trying to prove a point; with Wellington’s tomb, you can touch it, wander around it, and feel more reverence for the man since his memory stands on it’s own and doesn’t rely on an over-done monument. Surrounding his coffin are the colours of the divisions that he commanded at Waterloo (the original ones, some of which are in tatters now). Also in that crypt is the tomb of Nelson – it’s directly under the central dome, but is more ornate than Wellington’s. Being an army girl, I’m far more partial to the iron duke’s, but all the same, the fact that the two biggest military men of the 19th century lie within feet of each other is a historian’s dream.

After we left St. Paul’s, out tour guide wanted us to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham. Having sat on the lawn of Parliament to see our own guards, I wasn’t all that excited to see the one in London. Just as well, the parade down the Mall was cancelled today in order to rehearse the colour parade that will happen in June. So, our tour guide gave us about a half-hour to wander around the area. Unfortunately, the trees were releasing their pollen today, so my eyes were watering, my throat was scratchy and I was sneezing like mad (I wasn’t the only one; most of our tour was suffering from the same problems!). After that, we got back on our bus and headed through Belgravia and Notting Hill back to the hotel.

I left right away to head back to the City for lunch and some sight-seeing on my own. I had lunch at Edgar Wallace (on Connors’ recommendation) and had the best fish and chips I’ve had since getting here. Delicious. I left the pub and tried to get in to see the Temple church, but there was another talk going on, so I could get in. So, I headed east to the Suffolk Bridge – I got a little lost (no surprise) and ended wandering around the financial district a bit. I crossed the bridge in search of a tea and coffee museum that’s show on my map – but, after walking up and down the street a couple of time, I couldn’t spot it, so gave up and headed for the London dungeon museum. I got lost getting there (again, no surprise) but when I eventually found it, the line up aside was as long as Mme. Tusauds, so I decided to pass on it. From there, I headed home on the tube, grabbed some dinner at the M&S, and crashed.

I have to be packed and ready to go tomorrow by 6:45 (we’re leaving at 8), so I’m looking forward to a quite night after doing so much today (without doing much) getting ready for the start of the tour!