London: in 3 days

I apologize at the start for compressing three full days in London into one blog post. However, free internet was hard to come by and I opted for doing more and blogging less.

Because we only had three days to relax and sightsee in London, my travel companion and I made a generic, flexible list of things to see in London:

Palace, Park, Pub, Market, Museum, Window Shop, Cafe, Fish n Chips (just chips for me!), show.

Thursday We arrived last Thursday morning, checked into our hotel, grabbed strong coffee and walked to the nearby Hyde Park and Kensington Palace. The gardens were lush and green, a nice contrast to the gray drizzly weather. The rain didn't stop anyone from enjoying the outdoors and the park was filled with people playing in the rain. After a short nap, we had lunch of miso soup and vegetarian sushi at the Hare & Tortoise, took the tube to Covent Garden and walked around and peoplewatched. Last stop after being awake for nearly 48 hours was a semi-swanky dinner of gnocci at a restaurant whose name eludes me.

 

Kensington Palace

Friday We overslept, skipped breakfast, grabbed coffee and headed straight to the Tower of London. We did a self-tour and took in amazingly old architecture, the crown jewels and a swarm of other tourists. Sandwiches at the Pret a Manger, a walk across the Thames on the Millenium Bridge and on to the Tate Modern.  We walked to and around the crowds in Picadilly Circus, had 2 pints of ESB Ale at the Duke of Wellington pub in Soho, got takeout from a China Town restaurant for dinner and made a tipsy trek on foot and tube back to the hotel.

Millenium Bridge

Saturday I had traditional English breakfast (minus the bacon and suasage) at the hotel and set off by underground to the Spitafields Market. We got completely lost and asked for directions from a lovely couple. They were going there anyway and we walked with them to the market.

They also suggested we check out Camden Market, walk to Primrose Hill and then see the show, La Clique at the Hippodrome. W'e decided to take free advice from locals and spent the rest of the day doing those things. Camden Market was souveneir central, Primrose Hill and nearby Regent's Park was a quiet respite and La Clique was a hilarious and entertaining show.

Camden Market