Our Official 2008 Rick Steves Guidebook and our Official 2008 Rick Steves Map (carefully saved from our last visit to London) strongly suggested that the first thing we should do in London is go to the Tourist Information at Piccadilly Circus. At the TI we would be able to get maps and brochures and we would be able to buy discount theatre (when in England spell as the English) tickets.
Travel Tip #1: Do not use an old guidebook.
Eventually we came to a ticket kiosk not approved by Rick Steves, and we bought some tickets for Matilda on the following day so the trip wouldn't be a total waste. (See October 10 to find out how that turned out.)
The next planned activity was a London Walks tour called Royal London.
London Walks works like this. You go to a specific tube station at the specific time designated for the tour you have selected. An official, certified, badge-wearing tour guide shows up holding a handful of London Walks brochures. You pay the guide £7 or £9 and then everyone who showed up follows the guide around for the next two hours. There is probably more standing than walking, so I might have called it London Stands, but that's probably not ideal from a marketing standpoint.
Our tour guide, Rex, was very knowledgable and appropriately loud. I will need to look up the places we saw in order to provide a complete list. I'll describe the highlights, for now. We were hoping to see the changing of the guard, but it was not taking place today. Instead we were taken to see the changing of the Horse Guard. This was probably bette because Rex showed us where to stand so that we were in the front row and only a few feet away from the horses when they came by. It was very impressive. The horses were a special breed and they were large and dignified and beautiful and they pooped as they walked by. The soldiers wore elaborate, eye-catching uniforms and looked very dashing.
We finished our walk at Buckingham Palace. The flag flying from the roof told us the Queen was there, (but we didn't see her, nor had I expected to). Did you know they ran out of money when they built it so Canada, AUstralia, and someone else had to pay for the three _______ gates in the front?
Our afternoon tour, with Fiona, was "The Blitz." We started at St. Paul's Cathedral and learned about the efforts of the "Night Watch" to save the cathedral. This group included retired architects, able to read the complex building's plans. We learned about the preparations, and in some cases, lack of preparations, for the expected Blitz. We learned about life in the bomb shelters. We learned about British endurance and the ability to "carry on."
We had to leave a few minutes early to get back to the hotel in time to change into something decent, as we had reservations for the Chocolate Obsession Afternoon Tea at our hotel. This was going to be our dinner. It was pricey, but the food was vey good, the presentation was charming, and the service was first rate. We had to make a choice of tea. They had a number of "regular", plus a box of samples of some exotic blends that you could smell. I chose Orange Blossom Oolong. It had a very light orange scent/taste and I liked it a lot.
We were given menus, although there were no further choices to be made. You got what was on the menu - all of it. At first I thought it wouldn't be enough food, but in the end, I couldn't finish it. First we were given 5 small sandwiches on a plate that looked like an easel: salmon, egg salad, ______, _______, and ______. They were all quite tasty. Then came the pièce de résistance, the desserts. They brought a 3-tiered stand. The bottom plate had scone, jam and clotted cream, which is like a thick whipped cream. The second layer had small cupcakes. The top tier had a chocolate easel, sprinkled with edible gold dust. On top of the easel were ____. Next to the easel was a glass filled with chocolate beads and holding two cookie lollipops. Very cute, and also yummy.
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