This is the Good Life: European Vacation Part 2

Thursday, November 6, 2014

European Vacation Part 2

We landed in London around 11:30 a.m. London time. After going through custom (about 45 minutes) we saw a gentleman holding a sign with our name on it. We went to him and he said he was waiting for a couple more people and then we would head on to our hotel.

I saw a money exchange booth and tried to exchange some money. I had already taken care of our money before we left but one of Sierra’s friends had asked me to buy her something and given me money. The exchange rate of dollar to euro is horrid, and from dollar to pound is even worse. Since we were going to both United Kingdom and mainland Europe I had to exchange both at home with a local bank. What I found is that the local bank was fair while at the airport in London the cashier charged commission. Needles to say I waited and hoped I had enough.

Next, we sat and waited for one last passenger who unfortunately never showed and I began to get a bit irritated. (If you choose not to take your transfer please contact them first as they and the rest of the passengers are waiting for you.) It was a delightful drive to the hotel, and a bit exciting as they drive on the different side of the road then in America. This proved quite challenging as we would cross a street looking one way as another car would come at you from the other side. I wonder how many tourist get hit by cars in Europe a year. We checked into our hotel. The room was quite small and the bathroom even smaller. I think I take the larger size of things in the US for granted. This was a quite nice hotel, the Double Tree Hilton in Westminister, but I was quite disappointed in the narrow halls, small rooms and snug little shower. On the other hand it did have an Apple computer in your room that also functioned as the television. We were able to skype our lovely kiddos and that was nice.

Being a little tired we took a couple hour nap and then hit the sites. From our hotel we began our walk to Parliament with Big Ben, so very amazing. There were police officers with very large guns by the gate but the other police officers wore the cute round blue hats and were very helpful. Across the street was Westminister Abbey. It was large but unfortunately it had closed for the night. The outside was lovely. I can’t imagine what it would cost to build something like Parliament and Westminister Abbey today. I enjoyed just standing there admiring all the detail.

We went to the pier and enjoyed fish and chips in front of the London Eye (a vey large farris wheel that overlooks London). From there I thought we would walk down to London Bridge and back to our hotel. We walked along the Thames as the sunset and the night life began. We had forgotten it was Friday night and the pubs were very full.

The only thatched building in London is the Shakespeare Theater, built as it had been during that time period. It is the only thatched roof building because during the London fire all the roofs caught on fire and they were not allowed to build with them after that. The Shakespeare Theatre is the exception.

We continued on and walked and walked and took in the sights. We saw a large boat like that of Sir Frances Drake. I love history and thrilled I knew who that was, thank you Abecca.

I apparently got a little confused and we continued to walk past the London Bridge to the London Tower bridge quite a ways down. It was very fun to walk across the bridge. We walked past the London Tower, and back to our hotel. The walk was very long and we didn’t feel quite as safe on this side of the Thames. It was darker and not as touristy. Everywhere you walk there are cameras taking your picture. A tour guide later told us there are thousands of camera’s and by the end of the night our picture was probably taken around 300 times. All in all it was a great day.