We're in London!!
Getting through passport/customs was so easy and quick! After some effort to get our Heathrow Express tickets accepted (they were for the previous day since that is when we were due to arrive), we found ourselves in London Paddington station. As soon as we walked out the exit, I had this wave of the familiar. I was back. I was so happy to be back.
Short walk to our hotel, where the room was ready because... we were supposed to arrive the day prior. And we had the one bedroom suite upgrade that we won in a bid! So perfect!!! Short nap and then we forced ourselves outside. First, a short walk to Hyde Park, Speaker's Corner.
Sidenote: Outside the US, the stores still carry Mail Boxes Etc. name, not UPS Store. This was right by our hotel.
Lovely neighborhoods on our walk to the park, including a Mews complete with horse droppings, and we also found some very cool puppy photographers and a Paddington!
Saw a bit of Hyde Park, Marble Arch, Speaker's Corner, and of course some phone booths.
Walked through the park and down to lower corner where we turned to get to Buckingham Palace.
And then another short walk, through St. James Park and down Birdcage Walk, to Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster, etc.
It rained for about two minutes on this walk but we had just entered a tiny cafe for water/snack and barely noticed it.
Sat next to Ben to view the Thames and London Eye. We watched dozens of school groups come and go, in a wide variety of uniforms.
Then, short walk down Parliament St., past 10 Downing and the horse guards, toward Trafalgar Square.
The National Gallery and Portrait Gallery are closed this summer.... still haven't seen Jane or the Bronte paintings... next time!
We thought about going into Covent Gardens, but we ran out of steam. So Mei Mei had her first trip on the Underground and heard "mind the gap" for the first time. Walked back to hotel to rest/unpack a bit. Then we said we had enough energy to get to a restaurant next door. When we arrived we saw one drag queen setting up speakers, and the hostess said they were closed for a private event. Bummer! We had to find the energy to walk down the canal area to seek other options. After checking out
many restaurant options, Mei Mei wanted the food truck! A food truck! Well, always go with Mei Mei's gut when it comes to food. We had a great meal and we nearly went back to this food truck a few other times on the trip.
We ran into a Tesco Express to grab breakfast and snack items... including Jaffa cakes... not good... orange chocolate and biscuit... dry... don't recommend!
A few shots of a messy apartment... Ma stayed on the sofa bed because she stays up later and wakes up earlier... and because the teenager needed her privacy and let's face it, she's used to really big beds!
SMEG appliances! They were very nice!
Hotel named in honor of Oscar Wilde!
We came back and hand washed the sweatshirts that we wore in airports/on planes for 50+ hours and turned on the towel warmer! The hope was that they'd be nearly dry by our return from Paris, and that is exactly how it went. We both fell sound asleep before 8p, not due to jet lag but because of the lack of sleep for the prior two days. And... we had to set a very early alarm because the next morning was our train to Paris!
