I think all the steps and walking finally exhausted me to the point where I could sleep through the night. I slept until 8:30, had some breakfast, then packed my stuff up and chilled. Since we had only our backpacks, most days we'd just leave our clothes on our bed, and take our backpacks with just basic necessities out on the town. Today, we had to check out of hostel at 11, and we didn't need to catch our train until 6 pm. Which meant we would spend the whole day exploring some more with our luggage on our back. (Weighed at the airport at 7.5 kg or about 16 lbs). We checked out at about 11:30, after stripping our beds and handing our keys in, we were on our way. We had really done all the things we needed to see in the past two days so we just decided to explore some of our favorites again.
It was a drizzly morning so I was glad I packed my umbrella. After stopping by Big Ben again to take the typical telephone booth pose with some true London in the background, we decided to head to Trafalgar Square. It was a big landmark on the map so we figured we'd check it out.
As we walked down the road towards the square, we passed 10 Downings Square, home of the Prime Minster. Tons of security and I was half expecting to see Hugh Grant ( Love Actually, anyone?). We walked by the Calvary Museum and some guards on horseback. More crazy tourists and their peace signs.
Trafalgar Square has a bunch of statues and it's surrounded by the respective houses representing places like Canada and New Zealand who still have ties to the Queen. It began to rain harder so we found sheltered in some cheesey tourist shops. I bought some postcards, and we decided we wanted to head to Harrods for some more indoor fun. The path to Harrods found us walking down The Mall towards Buckingham Palace. It reminded me of Washington D.C. A long street with trees on each side leading straight to the Palace. It was boarded by St. James' Park and there were a bunch of people running in the rain. We sat on a bench in Green Park near Buckingham, the backpacks were weighing us down for sure. The path that runs along the Constitution Hill is named the Diana-Princess of Wales-Memorial Walkway. They really do love that Princess.
We were starving so we stopped at an Italian restaurant named Spaghetti House. I got some type of Penne which was just alright, but the Bruschette appetizer was delicious, great idea Claire. Carb loaded we were a little more energetic.
When we got to the familiar doors of Harrods, we were told by security that we would need to check our bags. That was fine with us, so we headed to door 3 and downstairs to the "Left Luggage" area. Our experience was improved by the doorman in green who held the door for us. So posh. It cost us 3 pounds to check our bags but it was worth it not to have to walk around with it for the first time in 4 days.
The entrance by the Left Luggage was also home to ANOTHER Diana and Dodi Memorial. This one was an over the top statue of them holding hands, releasing a dove, with a plaque that read "Innocent Victims".
There was also a "guest book" of sorts. More like a tribute book. Now we've signed our name at any place we can, to leave our mark, so we decided to leave our tribute to Diana. I remember watching the coverage over and over when she died.
A Candle in the Wind. I thought it was appropriate. I really loved that song.
After giving our tributes, we headed to explore the five floors of goodness. We tried to find the bulletproof clothing, but we think it was in "Gun Room". We went through the Pianoroom...home to multiple grand pianos and the Guitar room, full of beautiful guitars. They had a home theater room (made me miss HUI and Co.) and a bookstore. We also went to the Pet Kingdom, home to Harrods Puppies, Kittens, Bunnies, and Hamsters. There was a plaque saying that they make sure their pets get optimal treatment, and I'm assured they do. If I were a dog, I'd want to be a Harrod's Dog. The pet area had a gourmet "Pet Cupcake" area, and even "Bowser Beer". Sounds like something Charlene would buy for Rhett & Scarlett.
After the Pet Kingdom, we walked through young woman's clothing and found some cute things, way too expensive for us. We then went through the Fossil Room...
Seriously, the most expansive selection of things I've ever seen. Like a really really classy Super Walmart and Macy's combined. We even did a tour of the "International Room", aka the room with designers whose clothes you can't afford...Prada, Chanel, Louis Vitton, Gucci....
We got some souverniors (Harrod's shot glasses for me) and a bookmark for Claire and it was back to claim our luggage and get on our way.
We decided to walk back to Piccadilly to see if we could find where they shot "Diagon Alley" in Harry Potter. It was still raining and the streets were crowded with umbrellas. I was getting tired, my bag was getting heavy. We found at McDonald's at Piccadilly to sit and dry off for a bit. We hit up Cool Britannia again to see what souvenirs we could find. Another shot glass. I decided that would be souvenir from every place I visit since they are easy to transport and relatively inexpensive. We gave up on finding Diagon, and headed back towards Victoria. It was another long walk, passed Buckingham again.
The puddles were hard to afford and my feet got wet. I swear I am always walking around with wet shoes on this continent. I thought about renaming my blog to "Getting My Feet Wet in Europe"... a little symbolism in there too, but Dublin Baby! is named after the Friends Episode I had spent much of my time in London reminiscing over.
We got to the Gatwick Express and after waiting for Stevie, who didn't show up, we got on the 6 pm train. It was packed and it was hard to find seats. My feet were throbbing and wet, and I was glad to sit down.
We got through the Gatwick Airport... which is a lot of open spaces and "zones" to check in. We got our passports checked. We headed to security, got our liquids out. They provide ziploc bags at this airport (we already had some) and there was a little man with a big smile handing them out. We sat in the waiting area until our gate opened, which reminded me once again of a mall, even had a mini mini Harrods. We got reconnected with Stevie whose phone had died and thus didn't get our texts. We decided we should head to the gate. Stevie said her boarding pass said Gate 8 so we headed down the corridor to Gate 8. When we got to a checkpoint the man told me there was no gate 8. I thought he was kidding.... but nope. So we had to hike all the way back up the corridor we came to go down the corridor labeled 11-95. Luckily we were at Gate 20, not 95. We were moving fast because the gate closed at 8:15 according to our boarding pass and it was about 8. We were moving quick, and we made it with plenty of time to spare.
We lined up like a mob to get down the tarmac, and we managed to be somewhere in the front. We sat in row 4, and we were on our way. The flight isn't long at all, so I couldn't fall asleep. We landed in Dublin after seeing the pretty lights, and it was time to hit immigration.
With my US Passport and Irish Green Card in hand, I made my way to a desk, where a lovely Irish man stamped me. He asked how my trip was, how I like Ireland, and told me I must be smart to go to UCD. I love Irish friendliness.
We found our AirCoach, got on, and I had to take my shoes off. My feet was so unhappy with me. After a bit of a wait, we got on our way, and we pulled into the stop by the Montrose about 11:30. We got off and made the long walk to our rooms. We ran into Jen and Stacy on the way so we chatted up the hill. Then it was time to check my email, and then off to bed. I was exhausted.
It was a greeeat time in London. I loved the city. It was classy and posh. We saw a Royals Royce parked in front of this classy hotel. Everything is sleek, and a mix of historical genius and modern efficiency. All in all, we probably walked over 30 miles in the 3 days we were there. And climbed thousands of steps. What a work out!
London. Check.
No comments:
Post a Comment