Heading home....

Preceeding 5 days of blogs below.

Heading home (part 1)….

Up early this morning. I had my complementary breakfast at the hotel restaurant – and it was the same as it has been for the last week. The service at this hotel was clearly designed for the ubber wealthy and lazy; I was mammed until I almost screamed, I was asked repeatedly if the chef could prepare me a special omelet, and I was asked twice if I would like me tea poured for me (before I had even gotten milk and sugar into the cup). I used to think living that kind of high life would be fun, but it was more annoying and intrusive than anything – I ate as quickly as I could, then got out of there.

Back up to my room to finish my packing which, in retrospect, was rather haphazard. I decided to check one of my carry-ons and then take my new back-pack on the plane with me as cabin luggage, but it wasn’t until I had gotten to the security checkpoint that I realized how good of an idea that was, since all of my make-ups and liquids got shoved into my doctor’s bag just to get it out of the way.

I had arranged last night for the dot-to-dot shuttle to the airport – it’s like a mini-van/bus and, for $20p, it’s probably the best money I’ve spent here so far. I opted for an early ride since I now know how unpredictable London traffic can be, and got to the airport for quarter past ten. Getting to the departures gate, I checked in electronically to save time, but still ended up paying $44p for my over-weight luggage (AGAIN!). There was no other choice – all my other bags were packed and I would have had to loose 10kg from my big suitcase, so I wasn’t even going to pretend to try.

Once checked in, I headed for the security check-point. There’s a MASSIVE difference between Heathrow at 6am and at 10am. It took me a half-hour to get through security, and I still have an hour wait until my flight is assigned a gate. So, I’m going to wander around the duty free shops and see if there’s anything to spend my money on! ;-)

Heading home (part 2)….
On June 2nd.

Home! Well, halfway there – all my clothes are dirty, so I’m at my parent’s house to do laundry. After the first half of this post, I wandered around the duty-free shops and found some Twining tea (300 bags for $20? Yes please!), then waited for my flight.

Heathrow flights are a bit odd – you aren’t given a gate number until about an hour before the flight. When I finally found out what gate we would be leaving from, I took the 10 minute walk to get out to it. We were herded into a glass room to wait – it was an odd feeling. The plane had gotten into London late, so we were 25 minutes late leaving the ground, but the pilots made up the time in the air, so we landed on time in Ottawa.

The guy sitting in front of me had at least 4 (maybe 5?) glasses of wine in about 4 hours and was drunk as a skunk. We was getting louder and more obnoxious as the flight went on, and I don’t think the situation was aided by the Eddie Murphy films he was watching (like a toddler, they just seemed to get him wound up). To make the situation worse, every time he got up, or shifted in his seat, he would look back and me with this creepy smile on his face. When getting of the plane, he offered to help me with my carry on (which I said no to), then in the customs line up, every time I looked around at the crowd, he was staring at me. Trés creepy….

Anyway, besides being a 7 and a half hour flight (and a creepy on at that), everything went fine. I watched Yes Man and Frost/Nixon, and some 30 Rock episodes, since Air Canada has on-demand viewing at each seat – it’s a nice better system that the old days where everyone had the choice of watching the same movie.

When I got to the house, I started unpacking only to realize that I had left my power-cord for my laptop plugged into a wall somewhere (I think it was at the Hammersmith Novotel), so I don’t have it. I’m going to see if my old lap top’s cord will work and, if not, I’ll have to shell out for a new one. I still have loads of pics to put up, but that’s going to have to wait until I get to my house so I can connect directly to the internet. There’s a lot of them, so I’m looking forward to finally getting them posted!

I’m having a harder time adjusting to the jet-lag coming home than I did going over, oddly enough. Other than that first crappy morning in London, I was fine, but even though I made it to 9pm last night (that was 20 hours awake), I was up at 3am this morning; that’s only 6 hours of sleep. I think I’ll do better when I’m back at my place, ensconced in my queen-size bed. I’m really looking forward to that!

I’m glad I took this trip, though there are lots of things I would do differently and some things I wouldn’t change for the world. I definitely would have packed lighter, but I don’t think I would have taken that bus tour. I enjoyed my time in London on my own, and some of the sights on the tour, but I want to be able to see England at my own pace. Dad’s talking about taking a train/driving trip through Germany next spring, so I have that to (maybe?) look forward to, but renting a car and exploring southern England at my own pace is definitely something I want to have a chance to do in the future!

And so it ends….

Ah, my time in London is coming to an end. I started my day with breakfast at the Novotel courtesy of Globus. The breakfast buffet is getting a little boring, as it’s very repetitive – eggs, ham, mushrooms, beans, hashbrowns… Very boring now. After breakfast, I packed my things, checked out, and headed for the tube station at Hammersmith. I now have my massive suitcase, my heavy backpack, my doctor’s bag, my matching purse, and this morning I had my messenger bag as well. I was halfway to the tube station, and taking a break to rest my weary arms, when I realized I had left my purse on the bed in my room. So, I turned around (with all my stuff) and headed back to the hotel. Wayward bag in hand, I chose to take a taxi to my new hotel at Hyde Park - $15p later, I has at the hotel, and being ‘mamed’ to death by the hotel staff.

I left my bags at the hotel, then headed to the National Portrait Gallery at Charings Cross. Admission was free, so I was happy to shell out the $2p for the audio guide, and had a lot of fun (I’m a nerd, remember), going through the galleries with Tudor, Jacobite, Stewart, and Victorian portraits. I was hoping to pick up a museum guide in the shop, but they only had guides relating to specific galleries, so I grabbed one on the Tudor/Jacobite collection (as well as some magnets for my fridge). I had a crappy sandwich at the gallery café, then headed to Richoux for cream tea (again – but yum…).

On my way to Richoux, I almost got caught up in a massive protest against the Afghani/Pakistani (?) war in front of the American embassy. It was a massive crowd, but it was all men – no women anywhere. Continuing on to the restaurant, I was disappointed to see it was packed and there was a line, but the woman behind the counter assured me that it wasn’t going to be a long wait as there were some groups that would be leaving. I still had to wait 20 minutes, but it was totally worth it; a 3 cup pot of tea, 4 mini-cinnamon/raisin scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam? Heaven, I assure you.

After tea, I headed up to Bond Street to find a cash machine as I was completely cash-less, and still needed to figure out how I would be getting to Heathrow tomorrow morning. I was walking up the street, and noticed a plus-sized store (a little odd, for those who know about the plus-sized market). I stopped in for a look – a lot of the clothes weren’t all that great as they relied on wearing tights (which isn’t attractive on plus-sized women), but I found a dress and a blouse. For British pounds, the clothing was reasonably priced – my clothes, plus a necklace, came up to $60p. The guy at the counter surprised me when he asked it I wanted to pay (on my credit card) in pounds or Canadian dollars. I was surprised to be asked so, without thinking, I said Canadian dollars. It wasn’t until he showed me the receipt that I realized I could have made a huge mistake – the company could have given me a shitty exchange rate, but it was, in fact, better than what the bank in Orleans gave me (of course, I don’t know what the actual rate is right now, so maybe I got screwed over in the end).

By this time, I was exhausted – I think the last three weeks have finally caught up with me. I headed back to my hotel, rested for a couple of hours, arranged for a shuttle ride to the airport for tomorrow (for $19p), then had dinner in the hotel restaurant. I sat down at 6:30 and was the only on in the restaurant for the entire time. The food was amazing though – I had the seasonal menu which started off with cream of asparagus soup, the roasted chicken with bacon, roasted asparagus, and a cream mushroom sauce. It was pretentious, but extremely delicious. I get a free breakfast tomorrow with my room fare, but after that, I get to go home! I’m looking forward to crashing on my own couch, sleeping in my own bed, and getting to shower in a full size bath tub! To bed now!

A Long and Winding Road….

Ahhhh…. Tour is over, and I’m pretty happy with that. Being with a group of people that I don’t know, who are older than me, and doing things that aren’t always what I want to do, isn’t what I would consider the ideal travelling conditions. Besides, for an extreme home body, being away from home for more than 3 weeks is a little much; I’m looking forward to getting home.

We left Brighton this morning at 8am and headed for a small town that Queen Anne used as a resort town about an hour away. I bought a post-card, but seem to have lost it along the way – I’m hoping it’ll turn up when I unpack. We had less than an hour there (and there wasn’t much to see) but it was nice to stretch the legs and get some pictures. All I remember about the place was that Anne had pan tiles installed on the main promenade since one of her sons fell and broke a leg there. Once we left there, we had a 2 hour drive to Leeds Castle.

Because of the school break and the drop dead gorgeous weather Leeds Castle and it’s grounds were full of people. There was also supposed to be a jousting exhibition, but we didn’t get to see any of it because there was lots of talking before the jousting was to start. Walking the grounds was extremely beautiful – the flowers, lawns, ponds, and streams were charming and pretty. The castle was a mix of it’s original medieval structure and building projects that stretched into the 20th century. The highlight of the stop for me had to be the box maze though. I entered it, thinking I would always take right turns to get to the grotto at its center – that didn’t work. After about 10 minutes, I was back at the entrance. I headed back into the maze taking right turns, but quickly realized I was walking the same paths over and over again. I finally fell into line behind a family that had their 6 year-old daughter sitting on her father’s shoulders and giving directions to get to the center of the maze. From there, there was an exit through an underground grotto – it wasn’t well lit and they were playing The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner so it had a real creepy feel to it; besides, it was huge underground and led out to a place outside the maze. In all, I was there about 30 minutes.

Our bus was supposed to leave at 1:05, but two ladies (who were really heavy) misjudged how long it would take them to get back to the bus, so we didn’t get out of there until 1:15. From there, we headed strait to London. We’re staying at the Novotel at Hammersmith – I’m not to far from the Tube, so I’ll be able to get to my hotel tomorrow morning without to much of a hassle. The big shock about the hotel was that the rates were posted on the back of the door - $200 pounds a night! :-O

When they dropped us off I took a couple of minutes to relax, then headed out to the shops looking for a luggage store. I found a piece that’s a backpack with wheels on it and loaded is up with some heavy stuff so I don’t have to pay the over-weight fee on my luggage again. It’ll be easier to carry, and I’ll come out $30Can ahead in the situation, so there you have it.

I chose to pass on the optional tour excursion tonight – it was dinner and a show (Billy Elliot, the Lion King, or Wicked; one I’ve seen and the other two I have no interest in, and it cost like $60 pounds – not cool). Instead, I had dinner at a little bistro where the food was fresh, inexpensive, unpretentious, and delicious; it was probably the best meal I’ve had since getting here. Yum!

Well, tomorrow I’ll start with my last free tour provided breakfast, then head to my new hotel, then to the National Portrait Gallery in the morning, then Richoux for one last tea! A full day planned, but a relaxing night tonight. I have a couch in my room, and I’m enjoying sitting on a couch for the first time in 3 weeks!

Beauty, beauty everywhere…. But not at the end of the day….

A raucous night last night. When we were at dinner there was a bachelorette party going on at the same time in the dining room; starting around 10pm that group, and a bunch of other pesky young people, were heading for the clubs. I was cursing the fact that my room faced onto the street (a thought I would come to regret today), and had to dig out my ear plugs. Oddly enough, when I woke up, I couldn’t find those plugs in my bed or on the ground around them anywhere. I was getting ready to leave when I noticed both of them in the shower; I don’t know if I was sleep walking again, or what. Odd though.

I got to the bus early enough to get the front seat, and shared it with one of the other single girls on the tour (we talked a little bit, but she’s from Japan and isn’t that great with the English). We left Bath this morning at 8am to fog. For the first hour or so, we couldn’t see much until the sun broke through the fog. But, by 9:15 we had arrived on the Salisbury plain to see Stonehenge. I was frustrated at first since we had gotten there 15 minutes before the site even opened and, from where we were standing we couldn’t see them across the road. But, when we finally got onto the site, I struck to the left while everyone else headed right; this meant that my shots of the circle didn’t have people in the background and the path was quieter. I walked around the monument, then headed back towards the bus. Behind the parking lot is a field held by the National Trust that has burial mounds in it. I had about 20 minutes until we were supposed to leave and, since there was no one in it, I decided that a nice quite walk would be helpful. I took the time to wander right up to the fence that surrounds the mounds (which put me about shouting distance from a herd of cows). The walk was nice, and when I got up to the top of the hill the mounds were on it was nice and breezy and cool.

From there, we headed to Salisbury Cathedral. Again, the tour director told us where we could get pictures, but said it wasn’t necessary to go into the cathedral, but we could if we wanted to. I took the opportunity and paid my student fee to get in. It was interesting and beautiful, but we couldn’t take pictures inside. Salisbury is renowned for holding a copy of the Magna Carta and the highest spire in England. After I wandered around the cathedral I headed into the town and had a cream tea at a little tea shop. There wasn’t much time to do anything else (we only had 40 minutes in the town), so I headed back to the bus.

On the road again, we headed to Arundel. This is the seat of the Duke of Norfolk. We had about an hour and a half to have a late lunch and wander around. There really wasn’t going to be time to view the large catholic cathedral that is in the town, nor the palace/castle, so I wandered the streets looking for a quiet place to have lunch. I found Belinda’s, a 16th century structure that had been converted into a tea house/restaurant. I had ‘potato jackets with cheddar’ which was a baked potato with butter and cheese. Yum. I started heading up the hill in town and stopped into a print store to see if they had any advertisements, but they didn’t; I still had quite the conversation with the proprietor about my thesis topic after the asked what I was doing; he gave me a bit of a diatribe on Americans and their coffee. When I finally got out of there, I kept heading up the hill for the view, then back down. I got some sherbet from a confectionary, then had to head back to the bus.

We left Arundel for Brighton but, because it’s Friday, the schools are on vacation, and the weather is beautiful, the roads were crowded and we got caught in traffic several times before getting into the regency town. We drove in along the water front and it was a nice view, but frustratingly slow. When we got into town we headed for Brighton’s Royal Pavilion, built by George IV during his regency. We were given an audio guide (which I’ve noticed has replaced actual people at all the stops where the company tells us that there will be ‘guided tours’), I went through a lot of the rooms, but my audio guide broke when I got to Queen Victoria’s rooms. Oh well, the really interesting parts involving the Oriental-inspired decorations were downstairs and I had already seen them, so it wasn’t the biggest loss.

From the Pavilion we went to the hotel. When we were told we were staying at the Brighton Beach water-front Hilton, I was expecting something completely different from what I got. I walked into the room as I was realizing that no, I wasn’t going to be having a water-front view (see what I meant about cursing my thought about getting a room on the front of the hotel? I’ve have killed for one today….), I then realized that my bed was a twin and jammed against a wall – my room is very long, pretty narrow and reminiscent of a servant’s quarter from the age when the building was built (except I’m not in the basement or attic, and I have a plasma screen TV – so you see, life is tough!).

After dropping off my things I headed out for a walk to see the ‘beach’ and would like to tell the Brits that no, you don’t have a beach, you have piles of rock that abuts the ocean – you should know that. I walked down one block along the main street, then tried to cut down to the water. I was wearing flats and rocks kept getting into them so I thought it would be better to just take them off (big mistake). So, I stopped and sat for a while, just enjoying the sea breeze and the view. Finally sucking it up, I walked down to the water to say I had dipped my foot in, and I did. It was cold, but not uncomfortably so. I then walked along to the beach to the pier along the water; there was a strata of harder, sand-like material that I could walk along, but walking about up to the boardwalk was hard.

When I got back to the hotel, I had a better chance to look over my room. As it turns out, I only had one set of towels (have you seen my hair?!?! I clearly need more than one towel…) and my toilet wouldn’t flush. On my way down to dinner I asked the front desk to send up someone to fix that (they did, but it still won’t flush….). As I was walking into the dinning room, a group of 3 invited me to join their table. They’re a mother, daughter, and the mother’s friend travelling together from Texas. They’re very sweet, but it’s like the walked out of a Rachel Ray catalogue; I listen to discussions about what the daughter’s kids would do this summer, recipes, and Church. Like I said, very cute, but the brain-trust, it wasn’t. Still, I could have ended up at the old guy you creeps me out or Twitchy McGee’s tables so, it could have been worse.

Tomorrow is the last day of the tour. We’ll be getting back to London by 3:30. I’m looking forward to getting onto my own thing. I still want to see the National Portrait gallery and maybe the London dungeon (now that I know where it is), and Kensington gardens. So, I’ve got a few more must-dos before leaving and only one day left on this trip. And, I’m looking forward to getting home.

Say hello to Wales and goodbye to vowels….

Le sigh… it was a loooonnnnggg day. Started with a late wake-up call in Stratford (by 10 minutes) after a night in a king-sized bed made up with two of the oldest twin mattresses known to man; they both dipped in the middle and the springs could be felt through the ticking. It wasn’t all the comfortable and it took forever to fall asleep. But, alas, I was up and ready to go after a lovely hot English breakfast.

We were on the bus and on the go by 8am. I had to sit next to a guy because his wife and him were the last ones on the bus, so ended up sitting to a guy who not-so-affectionately became known in my inner monologue as ‘Twitchy McGee.’ Through the entire day on the bus he kept shifting and moving; what’s worse, he kept invading my space bubble. One minute he would move and his arm would be touching me, or he would shift and his thigh would be touching mine. Had it been a long driving day, there might have been a classic Elise freak-out move, the likes of which have never been seen before (by anyone but her mother, that is). Our first stop was in the town of Cotswold (where the annual, traditional fox hunt begins every year). We were there super early, so nothing was open, but is was nice wandering around the quite little town.

We left there and headed to the ruins of Tintern Abbey. We stopped there for less than an hour – our guide told us we could pay to go in if we wanted, but she didn’t think it was necessary. Shag that – with my student ID it was only going to cost me $3.50, and I’m sooooo glad I did. The ruins were striking, but I was blown away when I walked into the shell of the cathedral; there is no roof, no window, and the floor is carpeted with the greenest grass you’ve ever seen. The first thing that struck me was that this was a true house of God (it’s corny, I know); the efforts of man are pervaded by nature and it seems like nature wins – if more churches were like that, I might go. Oh, and what the hell was the tour guide talking about?!?!

From the Abbey we headed to Bath – we got into town, had a little bit of a drive around, but because of traffic, we got stuck in the lower part of the city for almost 20 minutes before getting to the Roman Baths. But, when we did get there, we got an audio guide and entrance into the baths themselves – it was packed though, so I was feeling decided uncomfortable. I grabbed lots of pics, but didn’t stay long to listen to the audio guide or read the information panels. The one thing that our tour guide (and the employees at the baths) told us repeatedly about the waters was that we shouldn’t touch them – they’re untreated, full of minerals/metals/god knows what, and you don’t want any part of the dysentery you might end up with if you splash around in it; inevidably though, I saw several people sticking their hands in the streams/pools to see what it felt like. We call that Social Darwinism in the Guest house, I’ll tell you what.

After booking in through the baths, I exited the museum and headed to the Pump House for lunch. The Pump House, attached to the baths, was the center of Georgian society in Bath during the 18th century. As I sat waiting (and it was a long wait – service was shit), I wondered who had tread on the floors, stood in the wings, and engaged with history in that very room. Hey, I’m nerdy, I’ve never denied it. After lunch, I wandered back down to the area we got caught up in traffic to look at a used/rare books and print store I saw – I couldn’t find anything to tempt me, so wandered back to the touristy area of town and had a cream tea at a tea house behind the baths (not a good as Richoux’s, but it hit the spot. I got to finally try souchon tea – I’m not to sure I like it, but it was smoky and unique, so I think it’s an acquired taste). I wandered the back streets and alleys, window shopping and got back to the bus on time.

There was an optional excursion to Castle Combe on offer this afternoon. Castle Combe is the quintessential English village – the houses are protected and must be maintained in their historical look, there are no above ground wires, and there’s a bunch of little streets. We got to wander around the town for a while, have a drink at the pub, and take all the pictures we wanted. It was the perfect spot. I wasn’t a fan of the forced socialization at the pub, so left after I was done my drink for another walk down the main street and another stroll through the church yard. It was beautiful. It took us 40 minutes to get there and another 40 to get back, so we only had 10 minutes after getting back to Bath before dinner.

The room here is classy and comfy, and totally wish we could transport this room with us. The only down side is that I’m right over the main door and right across from the elevators – it might be a noisy night, we’ll see.

The people on this tour are driving me a little nuts. Besides Twitchy McGee, I was sitting in front of a woman who would grunt or honk every time the tour guide would give us an interesting tid-bit or fact and her sister read every sign we passed and repeated the names of all the places we passed through. When we got to the hotel, I was out in the hall way and heard through one of the doors (in the most obnoxious American accent): “OH MY GOD. Do you know what I just found in the closet?!?! A FAN!” It’s like 10 degrees here at night – were you planning on turning on the AC? Also, the number of people sleeping on the bus is getting ridiculous – we only have about one and two hours between stops, so why the hell are you sleeping, besides which – you paid all this fucking money to see Southern England, why are you sleeping through it?!?! This is all to say nothing of the complaining that the old people are doing about how rushed and hurried we are. Yes, it’s true, we are rushing for place to place, but it’s just the type of vacation this is and, most of them have been on this type of tour before, so what the fuck? Some people (okay, those people are usually old people and Americans, which there are more than enough of on the trip) just like to complain.

Third day of tour, first day of doing anything of note….

Last 3 day's worth of posts are below.

The morning started with another yummy British breakfast at the Hilton hotel, and we left there around 8am. Our tour guide, Gillian, is nice, if a bit long winded. We got a 5 minute lecture on the crops and economy of Britain this morning, and her discussion of British history (while interesting for people who don’t know much about the topic) was nothing new or overly interesting and, in some cases, just plain rumors that have been debunked by historians in the last few years. But still, I guess it is interesting in a way.

Our first stop was at Hampton Court – I was really disappointed that it was just going to be a tour of the gardens. Had I known that, I would have struck out there on my own to have a look around. I have one day in London after the tour, and I might end up going out then to see it, since I really want to see the palace. The walk around the outside was interesting, but it was pouring rain, so the walk wasn’t all that comfortable. We got there around 9am, and the grounds were only opened to us so it was nice to have the entire grounds to ourselves.

From there, we went to Oxford. We wandered around with the guide for a bit, but it was freezing and still pouring! The walk wasn’t the comfortable, but it was nice to wander around the place. We had a little bit of free time to wander around and have lunch. I stopped at a Wagamama in honour of Alanna. It was expensive, but alright – I had chicken raman that came with goyza and I ordered some rice. The soup was nice on such a cold day. I thought to buying an Oxford college sweater while I was there, but couldn’t find one that fix and with a colour I liked, so I chose to suffer the cold.

From Oxford we went to Blowden (where Churchill is buried). We got to see the grave, and since the rain had ended, it wasn’t horribly unpleasant. From there we went to Stratford-Upon-Avon. We only had a chance to see the outside of Anne Hathaway’s cottage, but got to go in and wander around Shakespeare’s birthplace and home. We got some more free time to wander around the shops on the pedestrian mall. I found a place selling antique prints/advertisements, and found two for tea companies; together they cost me almost $50pounds, but both were from 1894, in colour, and matted. I also found a shop selling Oxford gear, so I picked myself up a tee shirt for sleeping in.

On a whole, the pace of the tour seems rushed and we aren’t getting a lot of time to see the places we stop and we aren’t stopping at places I figured we would. I’m kind of regretting spending the money now (I think that’s partly the fact that I’m tired of travelling now, but I’m glad I’m doing this trip now and not before my time in London).

Some observations on my fellow travelers:
-The Americans are a freaking joke. They insist on reading every sign we pass, call everything ‘charming’ or ‘quaint,’ and keep making a big deal about how everything looks like a movie set. Enough already.
-I was sitting around 2 older men on the bus. At different times, they both fell asleep, and proceeded to snore. Nice. You’re paying a shit load of money to go on this trip and you’re sleeping through it? Come on!
-One of those guys was in his 40s/50s and is with his daughter (I hope that’s his daughter and it’s not a Lolita type situation). I didn’t see him smile all day. The girl started off talking to him first thing on the bus until he told her she was annoying and then she barely said anything else all day. When we got off at Blowden, she didn’t want to go, so he went and brought a poncho. When he got back on the bus, he took off the poncho he just tossed it on her and then sat down and left her to fold it an put it away. If dad ever pulled that kind of shit with me….
-I’m glad I paid the extra money to have a single room. There are two other single women on this tour and two single men. Odds are, I would have ended up sharing a room with some one. And, as a single, I have a king-sized bed rather than a set of twins. Nice….
-One of the single men on the trip is at least 60. He sticks like glue to the tour guide and gets her to repeat all her instructions to him and then repeats them back to her, sometimes interrupting her when she talks to the group on a whole. Very annoying, I don’t care how old he is.

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!