Day 10 - London [July 8, 2009]

Today was a real pleasure! After waking up late (again.... I guess we are in vacations so it is all good) we went to dropped our bag at Marcia's work. Marcia is my friend's cousin. I have met her a few time in the past and was really happy that we were to meet (and stay with her) during this trip. We didn't get too see her in the morning. Just left the bag with her assistant... I guess Marcia forgot to tell him we were dropping the bag off so he kind of looked at us funny at first but did take the bag :)

From there it was just a short walk to Buckingham Palace. We got there just in time to see the funny guys with the big hairy hat do their walk out the Palace gate. It was a great thing to watch. It makes me think of Nan so much when I see them... I tried to take pictures but it was so pjam packed of people that it was hard to get any good shots.

After that we walked to Trafalger Square to have a bit to eat... some expensive sandwiches. Not sure why stuff is so expensive in England. I mean... 12 pounds for two pre-wrapped sandwiches and 1 yogurt... that's 20 dollars.

We continued our walk around London. We stopped int the War Cabinet & Churchill museum. It is located underground. This is where Churchill and his big army guys were staying and planning their next move during the war. I learned a lot about Churchill... I guess I didn't really know his role in History. I often questioned my brain about what it decides that his important enough to remember and what it doesn't bother remembering.... I totally feel that it is out of my control unless I really force it to remember by spelling stuff to it... Which is often annoying. One thing is sure: I might not remember all the details and who is who but I sure will never forget this trip.... so far it has been so great!

I finally saw Big Ben properly. Mike told me that Big Ben is not the tower but the name of the bell inside the tower. I think I knew that already. We went half way on the bridge to take better picture. You can also see the new London attraction there: The Eye. It is a big Ferris Wheel. Up to 20 people can be in one cabine and it takes about 30 minutes to go around. It doesn't really stop. It goes so sow that people are getting in and out without it stopping. The cabines are big enough that someone can get married in there... We decided to skip the Eye(and its queue) and took the tube to the Tower of London. The plan for today was just to see it from the outside. It was too late to actually go in. We walked acrossed the London Bridge toward the London Dungeon on the other side of the Thames. Unfortunately it was also too late to go in the Dungeon. I know that Mike really wanted to go (although the price was a bit high 22 pounds each). We will either comeback tomorrow or just skip this attraction this time around.

I gave a quick call to Marcia and jumped on the Tube to meet with her and Loukas. It is a shame that I can't remember the type of restaurant (I'll update the blog once I get the info right) but it was delicious. I am really impressed with the quality in food in London. Each meal amazes me! The eating pod in the east bay would be in paradise!!! The evening was great. MArcia had a birthday card for me :) It was so nice to spend time with Marcia and Loukas. The evening went by so fast. Chatting about everyting... I should have planned so time to go to Greece during this trip. The place sounds lovely... next time. You two will have to come and visit me in California.

One pleasure of the day was the black taxi ride back to Marcia and Loukas's place. It was something I wanted to do while in London. I didn't get to hop on a red double decker yet but now that i did the taxi I'm all good :)

We spent the night at Marcia and Loukas... hopefully we'll wake up early enough in the morning to say bye.