Wednesday 24 June 09

Not everyone broke their fasts this morning (probably not a great idea, but they chose extra sleep instead), but all were ready to head out shortly after our planned 8:30. The tubes were extremely slow this morning, but we finally made it to Tower Hill, bought three families' worth of tickets, and in we went to the Tower of London.

The plan was to meet back at the entrance at 12:30, but we saw all the kids arrive early, so we joined them and headed out along the Thames (just above Tower Bridge) and back around to the tube station. We caught the tube to Westminster, coming out just at the tower of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament where many excellent photos were taken. We then walked along past Parliament, past Westminster Abbey and the church of St. Margaret (with a surprise pastor listed on the sign!), and on up the road to Methodist Central Hall. One million Methodists donated a guinea each to build this building way back when a million pounds was enough to build huge church structures.

Down to the basement we went for lunch at Wesley's Cafe - everyone had good food and a nice respite from all the walking we've been doing these past few days.

Once we were finished, it was a shortish walk up to Trafalgar Square to see Nelson's column, the various fountains, the lions, and all the pigeons. Sadly, there were no bird seed vendors, so we couldn't cover anyone with seed and watch the pigeons land and eat. Ah well.

So - up to St Martin in the Fields church where the London brass rubbings centre is now located. Many of the travellers made rubbings (I'm not telling who did them, as they may be secret gifts for a later date - don't even bother asking.) while others watched, shopped, or visited the spectacular sanctuary above. Very much worth visiting if you're in London.

Next up was shopping in Picadilly Circus. Some of our crowd wanted Wimbeldon shirts, and we had been told that Lilywhite's was the last word in sports stores, so there we were. Sadly, so was the heat, as their A/C seemed to have died. It was upwards of 35C in the store, and it's 6 storeys tall, so there was plenty of sprinting up and down the stairs trying to gather everyone.

Eventually the shopping was done and it was time to go back to the hotel. Or was it? No, not for everyone. How could one go shopping in London, and not get to Harrodd's, after all? We certainly couldn't, so a group of 10 or so headed off for the famed store. All were stunned at the store, and even more stunned at the prices. Still a (very) few things were bought, and now we can say we shopped at Harrodd's.

I did receive an interesting text message whilst I was buying a book for the trip home, but that's another story.

Once back at the hotel, it was time to figure out dinner. The lads were all for a quick trip to Burger King, while the lasses were a bit put off by the thought of American fast food for their last dinner in England (and that's quite understandable). Accordingly, we headed for a Pasta and Pizza restaurant called Garfunkel's. The food was excellent, although the service left something to be desired at a couple of our tables. Still, it was a good meal.

After dinner, I hit the Internet Cafe to catch up the blog a bit more, then it was home and everyone packing and actually sleeping before the 4AM wake up calls for our 5AM pickup.

Good grief - it's really nearly over!