I’m not sure if it was because of the time difference, or if it was because we are used to getting up early, but we both found ourselves up and awake around 5 a.m. the next day. We decided to go ahead and explore some of the famous sightseeing spots of London while it was early, and we rolled out of the hotel around seven in the morning. We took the tube to Victoria station, and from there walked east past Westminster Abbey to Big Ben and the houses of Parliament. On the way we were asked by some other tourists if we could help them find something, so I guess we looked like we knew what we were doing. We spent several hours walking around the area taking in the sights – Buckingham Palace, the Guards Barracks, some beautiful parks, a cottage next to a pond with pelicans swimming everywhere. Finally we ended up at Trafalgar Square, and it reminded me of my previous visit, and how many pigeons there were at the time. Now it seemed like they had the pigeon population under control.
We felt a little hungry after walking so much, so we decided to go for breakfast, and found a nice little restaurant called La Roche, down the street from the Square near some theaters. We both ordered coffee and a full English breakfast, and I reacquainted myself with the traditional eggs, bacon, sausage, tomatoes, beans and toast. Just as before, the first one is really good and makes a big impression, but after 3-4 of these in a row they get to be a bit much.
After breakfast we were ready to get walking again, and we walked clear to Piccadilly Circus, then along the shopping streets until we reached Green Park, and sat on the lawn under some trees and took in the beautiful weather. There was sun shining in London, and it was nice to see the good weather, especially considering the last time I was in London it was only gray and cloudy. Green Park was filling up with people cutting across to go check out Buckingham Palace, and we realized that we missed a lot of crowds with our very early start.
Our next stop was a hotel that specialized in afternoon tea service, so we made a reservation for the following day, and then made our way to Covent Garden. Unfortunately we arrived before noon, and apparently noon is the time when all the stores open and the pubs start serving alcohol (at least on Sunday). We killed a little time in a pub sipping on a mango juice drink, and then at noon all the stores opened and we could do some shopping.
It was apparent that the weather was going to be on the cool side during our stay in London, and Kuniko had forgotten to bring some cool weather clothing. I wanted to get some socks since I didn’t see many opportunities for flip-flops in London (and as it turned out, elsewhere either). Even though the sun was shining and we had blue skies, it was just a bit cold. We found what we needed at a couple of stores in the area, and then we stopped at a pub for beers and a small snack to serve as our lunch. The pub had “jacket potatoes” on the menu, and we picked one flavor, BBQ pork, and it was interesting. It was just a regular baked potato with different fillings that you could choose. I’m not so sure BBQ is a good match for this dish, but it was fun to try it out.
By this time Kuniko was starting to get pretty tired, so we headed back to the hotel to take a break and get some rest. I made a reservation through the internet for our dinner at a place called Tom’s Kitchen in South Kensington.
Before heading to the restaurant we walked over to Harrod’s department store to walk through their food sections. They had some pretty exotic stuff, and we marveled at the caviar bar where you could sit and enjoy various types of caviar. A little rich for us, but maybe next time! We arrived at our restaurant a bit early for our reservation, so we sat in an adjacent park and watched families playing outside in the beautiful weather. One thing I did notice more than last time in London was the abundance of public parks and areas to sit and relax. I guess I don’t see them as much in our area of Japan.
I enjoyed the dinner – I had pork belly, and Kuniko had fish and chips. She was a little disappointed in the presentation – it was served in a modern style, but I think she was hoping for something a little more traditional. The food was a little pricey here for what we got, so overall we weren’t too thrilled with the place.
We were both pretty whipped after the big day, so we headed directly back to our hotel for some much needed rest.
