London [Day 1]

Even without an alarm set we were both awake by 7:00am so we got up and dressed and then packed our things. It was still early so we left our bags in the room and then went down to have a little breakfast. We relaxed and had a leisurely morning over coffee and eggs. Around 9:00am we went back up to the room and got our bags and then checked out of the hotel. Once the car was loaded we started our drive back to London. All the morning traffic was gone and the drive was really easy and stress free. As we made our way back to the car rental place we were remembering all the traffic we encountered on Saturday. But this morning it was totally clear and we arrived to turn in the car about an hour early. Luckily this time we didn't have any problems and we were done with the rental place quickly. Next we went into the hotel near the car rental place and they called us a taxi to take us to our hotel in the city. The taxi arrived in less than five minutes and we were on our way to start our visit to London.

The taxi ride to the hotel (Hampton by Hilton London Waterloo) took about 50 minutes and there was all kinds of traffic but since we weren't the ones driving it didn't matter. Before the taxi left we scheduled him to pick us up on Thursday morning around 5:30am to take us back to Heathrow for our flight back to the USA. It was right around noon when we walked into the hotel and we figured we couldn't check in but we hoped they would at least store our luggage so we could go out and explore London. Surprisingly our room was ready so we got checked in, went up to the room and got settled and freshened up and made a plan for the afternoon.

We left the hotel and walked less that five minutes to the Waterloo Station to take the Tube to Leicester Square. A friend had given us some Oyster cards to use on the trains and subway but we needed to add some money to it. So we stopped at the information desk and loaded the card and then went down to catch the subway. It was a quick ride with only one stop before the one we needed. At Leicester Square we walked toward Trafalgar Square and stopped at a kiosk to pick up our London Pass cards. With the cards we got a guide book so we found a place to sit and looked through it to decide what we wanted to do. We noticed we were just behind the National Gallery so we decided to go in and have a quick look. Thomas enjoys the Impressionist so we headed to those galleries and spent about 35 minutes looking around. Then we decided we didn't want to be in a museum so we left there and walked to the Charing Cross Station and took a train to London Bridge. From the station we walked to The London Bridge Experience. Here is a little description from their website . . .

War, Fire, Murder, London Bridge has seen it all. From Boudicca’s bloody vengeance against the Romans through the incarnation of John Rennie bridge, the display of traitors heads on the bridge and a recap of the Ripper, The London Bridge Experience really is a fully integrated character led journey through history.

We actually enjoyed the whole thing. When the experience was done we sat down and I asked Thomas to describe it with single words - here are the words we came up to describe it . . . hoaxy, fun, weird, scary, silly and interesting. It was worth seeing! 

Outside we found a bench and sat down to look at our guide book and map to figure out a plan. We looked at where we were and where our hotel was and decided to take a walk and stop along the way to do things. The first thing we did was to visit Southwark Cathedral. This is a beautiful building in that it is very simply done. There isn't a lot of gilding or mosaic tile or glitz. I really loved the stark beauty and I loved the history of the church. I am glad we stopped here on our walk. We also got a free guide book with our London Pass. Leaving the church we walked by Sir Francis Drake's Golden Hinde II. We decided not to go in to see it and just looked at it from the outside. Then we continued walking to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. With our London Pass we got a free guided tour and entry into the exhibitions. We had a great tour guide named Hannah - she was very animated and entertaining. During the tour we got to watch rehearsals for Doctor Scroggy's War. It was interesting to see them at work. I really enjoyed this tour and learning the history surrounding the Globe.

As we left the Globe I noticed the Millennium Bridge and Thomas and I decided to talk a walk across the Thames. I always like being at places I see in movies and this bridge was used in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. We had a nice walk across the bridge and back and got some roasted/candied nuts along the way for a snack. After making the return trip over the bridge we found a bench and just sat for a while and people watched and enjoyed the late afternoon. By this time we were getting hungry for dinner and we had seen a place close to the hotel that we wanted to go to. So we started our walk to the restaurant. We made it in 15 minutes to Gourmet Burger Kitchen. We both had avocado and bacon burgers with skinny fries. It was delicious.

Back at the hotel we decided to get some clothes together to take to the laundry in the morning. We only needed a few thing washed to get us through the next three days. We also packed things we didn't need anymore so that we wouldn't have as much to do Wednesday night. Then we made a decision for what we wanted to do tomorrow. We spent the rest of the evening reading and relaxing. Now it is time to get some rest for our first full day in London tomorrow.