Day 4 in London...

Today I went to the London Zoo.  I love zoos and try to go to them where ever I am.  I like to see the different ways the zoos are set up and the different animals they have.  The London zoo is small but nice.  Most of their big animals are african animals. The Lemur and Monkey exhibit you could go in with them.  Very cool.

You could go right in with the Lemurs!  They are so cute :-)  

You could go right in with the monkeys too :-)  

There's usually something that makes me wonder about security from the animals at almost every zoo I go to.  At this zoo, the gorilla exhibit is the thing that got me.  It is open separated only by a moat and electric fence.  Animals are smart and this security made me think of Jurassic Park where they test the fence for weaknesses.... Then I get back today and am talking with my hostess and she says one of the gorillas got out a few months ago.  Zoo was on lockdown until it was caught.  No one was hurt luckily.  But yea... my point exactly. 

the moat and electric fence security from the powerful gorilla... 

After the zoo, I walked through the park (I tend to walk through a lot of parks) and went to Madame Tussauds wax museum.  Although a bit expensive, it was set up very cool and even had a little ride and 4D show. 

 

I have 3 places on my to-do dessert list... I decided to find one of them today.  Bubble Wrap Waffles!  Basically a bubble waffle wrapped like a cone filled with ice cream and toppings of your choice.  I had vanilla ice cream, oreos, strawberries, and nutella.  

Is it only Day 3?

In 3 days I've walked almost 30 miles.  Crazy.  Anyway, today I rode the Great Western Railway to Windsor to see Windsor Castle.  It is the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world and an official residence of the Queen.  Of course you can't take pictures inside.  Seems to be going trend almost everywhere I visit.

I got back in time to go back to the Westminster Abbey that I missed yesterday.

After Westminster Abbey, I walked over to the Churchill War Rooms.  Very interesting and cool history.

To end my day, I took a River Cruise for happy hour and had a beer while on the river.

Big Ben

London Eye - I didn't go on this.  The Sky Garden is higher and provides better views... and is free. :-) 

this is the Sky Garden :-) 

This bridge was built by all women while the men were away at war.

Back when advertising was not allowed on the river, this company got away with it by creating this windows that happened to be the name of their company.  

Day 2 London - so much walking!

Wow.  What a day.  I walked 12 miles today... many of them unnecessary because I got lost... a few times.  Most places I went today you couldn't take pictures inside or couldn't use the flash in which case my pictures just come out blurry anyways.

I started out the day at 7am!!  Found a fairly good pastry place on the way to the Underground... will probably be stopping there every day now.  :-)   Got on a different line which was a bit faster than the one I took yesterday.  However, I got off at the wrong stop but Southwark Cathedral was at this stop so decided to head there.  I was early by 2 hours and there was a service going on.... so I started today with a little church service.  :-)  It was a beautiful church.

Since I got off at the wrong stop, I was also too early for the London Bridge Experience so... I walked across the Tower Bridge to the other side of the river to go to the All Hallows by the Tower.  It is a small church but is the oldest church in London.

After that I walked down to the Monument where I climbed 311 steps to the top.  It was built in 1677 to commemorate the Great Fire of London and to celebrate the rebuilding of the City.  Good views but the Sky Garden still had the best views of the city.

I then walked across London Bridge back over near the cathedral to go to the London Bridge Experience.  It was very cool and fun.  Its an interactive play/haunted house of sorts that goes through the history of London Bridge.  They have the award for top horror attraction in the world... it was good but definitely not the top. ;-)

At this point is when I got most of my unnecessary walking in... I had the hop on hop off bus ticket today so was going to take the bus over to Churchill War Rooms but I got lost trying to find where the HOHObus picked up.  Walked through Borough Market... twice.  Finally found a bus stop... got on the wrong color and it was going the wrong way.  This color was headed towards the Westminster Abbey... which is on my to-do list anyways.  So figured I'd go there.  Got off bus at that stop.. the Abbey was closed until 2pm (it was 1pm).  At this point, I should have grabbed some lunch nearby and waited it out but you know me... go, go, go.

I decided I would walk over to Buckingham palace and see the Royal Mews. I was almost to the palace when I finally realized I should eat something before I pass out.  So I stopped for a bit then continued.  Buckingham Palace was packed... tons of people dressed up, ladies in fancy little hats.  Apparently today was 1 of 3 garden parties the queen will hold this year.  Every year the queen invites more than 30,000 people from all walks of life to the garden parties.

I then strolled over to the Royal Pews.  Lots of interesting history there.

Once again, I tried to get on HOHObus to Churchill War rooms and once again I got on wrong color. lol.  This one was headed towards Kensington Palace.  Ok. No big deal.  I'll go there.  So I got off at Hyde Park and started walking through the park.  Hyde park is huge... a mile later, I arrived at Kensington Palace.  Beautiful place inside.  They also recently opened a Diana exhibit there that displayed many of her dresses and talked about her fashion.  Very interesting.

I sat in the park for a bit then made my way to the Underground.  Got back to Finsbury park, stopped for a beer at the beer garden, grabbed some thai food and headed home.  Tomorrow I will make my way to Windsor castle... should be slightly less walking...  :-)

Day 1 - London!

I got a late start this morning... didn't leave until almost 9:00 and after taking the underground to London Tower it was almost 10:30!  Definitely leaving earlier tomorrow.  I was in rush hour craziness!  Londoners (?) like to move fast... especially when they are going to work.  They can cram a lot of people on those trains... packed like sardines.  Quite the experience.

I have the 6-day London pass that includes most of the stuff that I want to see while I'm here.  Today I had free reservation for the Sky Garden.  I heard the sky garden had better views than the London Eye and it was free. I figured I would ride around on the Hop off Hop on bus tour for a little bit and end up back at the Sky Garden for my reservation.  It was a beautiful day and I saw a lot of the city from the bus.  The bus got caught in a bit of traffic... I'm not a big city driver anyways and definitely do not think I would want to drive around here.

The Sky Garden was beautiful!  Definitely worth visiting and great views of the city!

After the sky garden, I went over to the Tower of London.  Very interesting and lot of history there.  Crown Jewels extravaganza is there... Quite amazing and surreal.

I toured Tower Bridge next.  The walkways have glass panels in the floor which is pretty cool.

By the time I was done with the bridge, it was 5pm and most attractions close around then.  So I grabbed some dinner at the Vault under the bridge and headed home.  Pretty good for Day 1 I think.  Ready for sleep and Day 2 tomorrow :-)

Always an adventurer... (Travel Day)

So back up one day.  Yesterday.  Or Saturday and Sunday I guess.  I lost some hours in there somewhere.  Anyways, I left Denver no problems. I'm still coughing... although it is subsiding with the pills Avril gave me but thats later.  I arrive in Iceland approximately 7 hours later via big plane.  The Iceland airport is so tiny!  Probably half the size of our security terminal area in Denver.... small airport.  One runway.  I only had an hour layover... then 3 hours later I am in London.  I get my bag and find the underground.  Super easy if you know where you are going.  Lots of people and they like to move fast... no lolly gagging around.  The Piccadilly Line takes me straight to Finsbury Park where my Airbnb is 0.8 miles away from the station... and here is where the adventure begins.  Dragging 2 bags behind me, I turn the wrong way to go to my airbnb.  I had looked at the map and knew the direction to go except I did not realize there were 2 exits out of the station.  So I thought I turned the right way but it was the wrong way...  I went 1/2 mile before I decided to turn my GPS on to help me since I was not running into the street like I should have been.  GPS took me in a few circles and, after almost giving up and just calling an uber, i found the street!  I was at the beginning of the street - literally #1 - and had to go all the way down to #91 but I made it... 2 miles later.... dragging 2 bags...  the shower felt great and I slept for almost 12 hours!  I met Avril who took me around and showed me the quick way to get to the Underground.  And we stopped at the near by rooftop pub and had a Guinness :-) She gave me some pills - cold relief - for my cough... see if it helps.   I took no pictures of my journey :-(  but here is my room :-)

Vacation for 3 weeks.... but first...

I remembered I had a blog when my friend Pavun asked me about blogs.  Actually, I think I have another one out there somewhere... but I use that one as a website... that I've also haven't been on in probably over a year!  Crazy.  A lot happened in 2016 too... can't believe I didn't blog about it.  I'm not much of a blogger I guess.  And most people follow me on facebook anyways... guess Facebook is more my blog now.

Anyways, I digress.  I leave on vacation soon... for 3 weeks!  Going to London, Scotland, and Iceland.  I'm so excited!  But first, I'm stuffing my body full of vitamins and water (over a gallon today) to try to get rid of this cough!  Its so annoying and I've pretty much had it since January.   It went away for a little bit, then came right back.  I feel ok, just coughing.  ugh.  

I'm going to try to blog while I'm away... that is if the TSA gods still allow laptops to come on board.... I'll check rules before I leave.  So be on the lookout - see if  I can start this up again...  :-)