London - Day 4

"It's going to be a pig's ear of a day."  I'm gonna be honest, I have no idea what that really means, but this is how the BBC weatherman described the forecast for the day.  Through the process of deduction, I assume that means it's going to be cloudy and rainy with patches of sunshine, because that's what happened on day 4.  First things' first...check the scores of the Sweet Sixteen.  During breakfast in the executive lounge, I headed straight for the computer to check the scores...March Madness is my FAVORITE sporting event of the year, so I was really bummed to miss most of it.  After the updates, Brett and I enjoyed breakfast before heading out for our double-decker bus tour.  We started with the Tower of London.

This was a really interesting visit.  Once we paid our admission, there were free tours by Yeoman Warders, more commonly known as beefeaters.  In the present day, they are retired servicemen who have received at least 4 medals from the Queen.  They live inside the walls of the Tower of London and are very knowledgeable in British history.  We saw several interesting sites including the Bell Tower, with White Tower, the British crown jewels, and several set of ancient armor.  It was a very informative tour and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  Following the tour, we sat down outside in the mist for some traditional Fish 'N Chips and ... Dr. Pepper (very difficult to come by in Europe).

Without much time to spare, we headed back to the bus and to our next destination, Westminster Abbey and Parliament.  We got off at the wrong stop and had to take a little hike backwards, but we eventually found it.  We decided not to go in, but we got some great shots of the front of Westminster Abbey and Big Ben.

We then made our way to Buckingham Palace.  Although we didn't get to see the infamous "Changing of the Guard," we took some pictures of the outside of the building and went through the gift shop quickly where we picked up some stamps and postcards for our family.  We found our way back to the bus stop and, unfortunately, wasted about 45 minutes waiting for our bus tour to pick us up...totally messing up the itinerary!  Finally, the bus arrived and we headed toward Harrods - a HUGE department store/mall that is pretty famous.  We weren't sure which stop we needed to take because it's not a really big attraction, so we AGAIN went to far and had to backtrack!  But, we did get to stroll through Hyde Park (very similar to Central Park), so that was a nice way to see this historic landmark.  

About 2 miles later, we arrived at Harrods.  It had so many stores, but it's not like your traditional American mall.  There was no atrium or middle section where you could look around and walk by all of the stores.  You would just walk from one right into the next with no entrance or barrier...you would have to look carefully at the walls and clothing tags to even know what store you were in.  My mission...comfortable shoes!!!  We found the Harrod's athletic shoe section and they didn't have any women's shoes my size again, so I started looking at men's 

...I was desperate!  Finally, I found the shoes of my dreams...well, they felt like HEAVEN on my feet!!!!  I was so excited, I didn't even care how much I had to pay for them...they were worth every penny!!!  Before leaving Harrods, we checked out the HUGE chocolate/candy shop on one of the floors.  It was HUGE and reminded me of an American mall's make-up department...large well-lit glass cases with a variety of goods and 3 to 4 women with huge smiles on their faces ready to serve.  We couldn't resist picking up some treats before leaving.

Luckily, we then got to hop right back on the bus and rode through the remainder of the stops back to the hotel.  We were SO tired and our dogs were really barking at us!!  However, we did get to see another view of Picadilly Circus as well as St. Paul's Cathedral and several great views of the British Airways London Eye.  When we got back to the hotel, I took a very relaxing bath in the nice large tub and Brett went down the block to one of the bike shops we had spotted nearby.  We went to the Executive Lounge for cocktails and snacks before eating a great dinner in the hotel restaurant - a 3 course meal at a very reasonable price and turned in for our last night in London.

I was not looking forward to leaving.  I love the British culture and,

honestly, it was nice to watch TV in English :)