London in Words

We’re home! I was happy to be on vacation, although I am not going to lie, every morning I wanted to just lay in bed all day and watch TV. But we would get up, shower, and head out on the town. Walking. After the first day, we did not walk very quickly, mainly because I couldn’t. My short little 25 inch inseam legs just couldn’t keep up with my sister and Workaholic. That and the pain in my calves, and shins, and feet. So I typically walked behind them, and every once in a while, they’d turn to make sure they didn’t lose me in the sea of people on the sidewalks of London. We walked and walked, to the point where even my sister had had enough and wanted to jump on a bus. It didn’t matter what bus, any bus, anything to get us off of our feet.

We had a great time, I loved being with my sister, who I really only see about once every 2 years. She is kind of a nut, and was ecstatic to be in her favorite city in the world. (at least that is what she says after a couple of glasses of wine) We went to the Tower of London, (where they used to behead people), Westminster Abbey, (where the bury people), and St. Paul’s Cathedral, (where Charles and Diana got married). We went on The Eye (a huge ferris wheel), went to Trafalgar Square and Buckingham Palace, saw The Globe Theatre (where Shakespeare’s plays were performed), walked on London Bridge and Millennium Bridge, went shopping on Bond Street and Oxford Street and Covent Garden, walked through The British Museum (where Brits show off everything they’ve stolen from everyone else through the past 1000 years), The National Portrait Gallery (Picasso, Monet, Rembrandt, etc.) and Tate Modern (Andy Warhol & more Picasso, as well as lots of other weird art). We saw Big Ben and Parliament, and Downing Street (where Prime Minister Gordon Brown lives) We saw lots and lots of the red postal boxes and the red telephone booths, and the last day we were there, Workaholic and I walked the length of Hyde Park (twice) and visited Princess Diana’s memorial.

And the pubs. I wish we had actually visited more pubs, but they didn’t seem to be exactly where we wanted them to be when we were in the mood for a drink. We went to the Guinea, The Hung, Drawn, & Quartered, Checquers, something about Marlborough, and something else about Boxing. There were a couple of more, but I don’t remember their names. One of them was even on our map, which we didn’t realize until after we left. I generally drank wine, because I just couldn’t stomach Guinness, and Workaholic had one bad night with sake. We had dinner with Workaholic's uncle and his wife, who were kind enough to treat us and introduce us to the "Bull Shit Corner".

All in all, we had a good time. It was best just seeing my sister and hanging out with her. I haven’t spent that much time with her in years. So a big THANK YOU to American Airlines for giving me 3 seats to sleep in on the way there and the way back, and Grosvenor House in Westminster for being a 5 star hotel and still giving me my employee discount. Someday…we’ll be back!!