London, UK
What a day. I misunderstood what I read about there being showers at the London Euston train station, so after 12 hours on a train no shower for me. I was also quite irritated to discover that it cost 30 pence to use the bathroom. Given the cost, I took full advantage and was in there for probably close to an hour trying to get clean and change. #travelproblems
Immediately after leaving the station I saw a woman feeding the pigeons, it was a scene right out of Home Alone!
My only plan was to do the hop on, hop off bus since I’ve got no idea how to get around London, nor did I do very much research. I made it to a bus stop and then wandered around Kensington Gardens for a good two hours just trying to find the palace (photo four is me in front of Kensington Palace, where the Royal family lives) and the Princess Di fountain. It was beautiful there, there was wildlife everywhere- all different kinds of birds, squirrels, etc. As well as dogs just living the dream playing with each other, playing frisbee, playing catch- these dogs loved life. They got to be off the leash everywhere and were all so well behaved! I took way too many silly pictures of ducks and swans and a nice woman gave me bird seeds to feed those cool green birds! They fly right into your hand if you hold it out, but the pigeons try to too. Eventually I found both places and then moved on. I caught the bus, there are several different tour sets for each bus company, I was trying to get to a stop to switch tours and had thought I was successful until the bus driver said, “follow those guys,” and “those guys” no idea where he had told them to go. I eventually just went my own way and ended up walking past Buckingham Palace (photo five), where the Royal baby was presented, etc. It was pretty cool! You couldn’t get close to anything though.
I finally did catch up with the bus I wanted and got to see the rest of London, however I didn’t make it to the Tower of London in time to do a tour, so no Crown Jewels or anything else, just outside sights, which was fine because I was exhausted anyway. So exhausted, in fact, that I forgot my luggage at the pub I went to for dinner (last photo), thank goodness the waitress was paying attention and ran after me! [Outside sights pictured: Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the London Eye, and the Tower of London aka London Bridge/Tower Bridge]
I took the underground train from Picadilly Station to Heathrow and then a bus to my hotel, for next time it would be easier to just get a hotel in the city and just train/bus to the airport. Either way, check in was simple, only got 30mins of wifi though so I went to bed after a quick shower, which I needed to do anyway because of my early flight to Germany the following morning!