Today was a whirlwind. We were up at 7am to rush off to London. We saw a bit of it yesterday but not anywhere close to the fullest extent that we wanted to see it. From Uxbridge, it takes about two hours with the bus and the change of trains to get to the heart of London. We got out of the tube and exited out into the most dreary weather I have ever encountered here. It was drizzling and overcast, typical London weather from what I'm told. It was hard to believe I was experiencing 60 degree rainy weather in the middle of July, but I am not in Florida, obviously.
Our first real view of London was in the towering form of the Big Ben. He's set up pretty snugly to the Parliament House, if I recall correctly. We could have had a better introduction to Big Ben had it not been so cold and wet, but nevertheless we made our introductions before taking a peek at the London Eye. 30 pounds to ride the London Eye for an hour, we couldn't justify spending that much so we headed off to Westminster Abbey. It was a sight to see. We walked into the church right next door to it, St. Margaret's church, and reveled in it's regality. The line to see the Abbey was really long, longer than any Disney ride I have ever ridden. We walked around to the areas where just 4 months before Princess Kate stepped out to wed Prince William. It was amazing. I still could have made a better princess though.
Anyway, moving on. We walked on towards trafalgar square but stopped off at Westminster Cathedral. Really breathtaking, they had a few tombs inside, and little corridors to walk into. We went on to trafalgar square which was less impressive than what they portray on the maps.
So we went off to get tickets to the broadway show Lion King. We managed to get them at 13.50£ in the standing room area. We then headed off to the London Tower where we were approached by a man who tried to sell us his student tickets. We bartered. He wanted 34 pounds for the both of them which is about 65 USD but we wanted them for 30 (58 USD roughly). He lowered it but we didn't budge. He finally reluctantly said no and we turned away to purchase our tickets at the kiosk. It's a good thing we did. They told us the tower was closing in an hour and we wouldn't really get our money's worth as it takes about 3 hours to tour it. So we decided that we would do it tomorrow. We walked over to Shakespeare's Globe theater and had some drinks there. Then commenced our walk to Lyceum Theater where we would see one of the most watched and hardest-to-get-tickets show, Lion King.
It was packed. I mean packed. We had pretty good spots for what we paid. I was impressed. Now I have to confess, seeing the Lion King wasn't on the top of my priority list but Bella told me it would be worth it. She wasn't kidding. It was really astounding. I had to wonder how these people come up with the costume ideas. Being there reminded me of how much I loved the theater (fiancé, we're going to the theater when I come home). The only things that could have made it better was if we could have dressed up and sat down ( we got tickets in the standing room only area). Otherwise, it was amazing. We got out of it rather late and took the last train home to Uxbridge. We ended up entertaining ourselves on the hour train ride home by singing all the Disney songs we could think of (the things five hours of sleep does to you). I'm certain the woman behind us didn't appreciate it. Regardless we made it to our much anticipated destination and waited for the bus to take us home. We were awake for 18 hours that day. 18 hours. We are crazy. Never did a hot shower and a bed sound and feel as good as it did that day. Tomorrow: Tower of London and Scotland.
Cheers.
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