On Tuesday we continued our sightseeing of London, and headed out to see the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge. We took the Circle line to the Tower Hill station, and then walked a little ways to the Tower of London. We arrived a bit early so we decided to walk across the Tower Bridge and explore the other side of the river. We were still full from dinner the previous night, so we decided to skip breakfast, and do a lot of walking instead.
The Tower Bridge was interesting for me to walk across, since I had somehow missed the experience the last time I was in London. The weather was clear and sunny, and we were treated to beautiful views of the London skyline. You could really appreciate the unusual architecture that is common in the downtown area – very different from Kobe. Back at the Tower of London we were able to see red ceramic poppies being “planted” around and on the walls of the tower and in the dry moat area. They were an artistic exhibit meant to symbolize all the blood that had run through the tower through history. Pretty heavy.
We were able to pick up our tickets easily enough, but the entrance to the Tower had apparently changed recently, and we had to walk almost all the way around following guides to another entrance. Once there it was easy enough to get in, and we set about exploring all the museums and exhibits. Again, our relatively early start paid off and we could look around with very few tourists getting in our way. The busiest section was the area were we could view the crown jewels close up, but for some reason they weren’t as striking to me this time around. Kuniko wasn’t so impressed either. But overall the visit was interesting, and I think we were both glad we came.
On the way out we shyly asked a Beefeater for a picture, and he politely said yes. I think 90% of his job is posing for pictures with tourists, so it wasn’t really unusual for him. Thanks, Beefeater guy!
Our next stop was Notting Hill. Kuniko was really interested in exploring the neighborhood. I remember going there years ago, but the day I was there everything was closed. This time everything was quite open, and we had fun poking through the unusual shops and avoiding the really touristy ones. I had fun looking around in a spice store, and Kuniko led us to various famous spots from the Hugh Grant/Julia Roberts movie “Notting Hill”. We even went into the bookstore that was in the movie, and it was a little weird to be in there considering I’d seen the scene once or twice on DVD – kind of a reality meets Hollywood moment.
Moving on from Notting Hill we took the underground to Marble Arch station. Back in 2000, I stayed at a hotel near this station with my dad and uncle, and it was nice way to bring back the memories and walk around the Marble Arch itself. I couldn’t exactly find the hotel by looking around, so I think it either went of business or I am mis-remembering the exact location. Both of these are equally possible.
We continued down the main street, past lots of shopping areas and brand stores, and then made a random right turn and came across a pub for lunch. Kuniko had venison pie, I had fish and chips, and we washed it all down with several beers. Kuniko really liked the Portabello Ale that was common in London pubs – I think it was her favorite beer during the stay. I tried so many beers I can’t remember a particular favorite, but I do know I drank way more stouts than I usually do.
While we were inside the pub the weather outside changed to cloudy and windy, but the temperature remained very comfortable. I think this was the first time that we saw clouds during our London stay – so I guess we were lucky to enjoy very unusual weather (to me).
Now that we were full of calories we decided to get some exercise by walking from the pub all the way to Leicester Square, walking at top speed and dodging tourists as we went. By now there were a startling amount of tourists walking around, so it made for an exciting obstacle course as we walked. Leicester Square was an easier station to use (fewer transfers), so we made good time back to our hotel. Once again we made time for our late afternoon nap. We ended up sleeping a little later than we had planned, so we decided to go to St. Pancras station to try some wine by the glass. Three or four days of beer had us looking to wine for a break. We had a couple of nice glasses of sauvignon blanc, along with some great artichoke dip (we had to ask the staff to identify the dip). Instead of going out to eat again, we decided to do some shopping at the M&S in the station, and we picked up sweet peppers stuffed with goat cheese, salami, diablo pepper cheese slices, and a bottle of Cava. The Cava was an inspiration of Kuniko’s – we couldn’t find a place selling wine openers, and sparkling is always easy to open. We brought it all back to our room and drank the Cava out of coffee cups. It was nice to have a slow night in, since we are off to Stonehenge tomorrow.
