Monday/Tuesday

Monday 6/8/09
Today we went back to walk around a few places we just saw from the bus yesterday. First we went to St. James Park, pretty much in front of Buckingham Palace, and walked around the lake in the middle. Nice place to hang out if you live near. Then we walked over to Westminster Abby. A little pricy to get in, but it was worth it. It doesn't compare to St. Peters in the Vatican, but it's got to be second. Lots of famous people buried here. Kings and Queens, famous poets and composers. Lots of others I don't know. The one I found most interesting was Charles Darwin. Seemed strange to me. The little church next door, St. Margarets, was small but worth checking out inside. The stained glass was art, not just colors. As you walked around you realize that the large stones that make up the floor are actually crypts!
Then we took the "Tube" to St. Pauls cathedral. We didn't feel like paying a bunch to see another church so we just looked around it and found a little place for lunch. From there we hopped the Tube again to the British Museum. It claims to house the largest collection of antiquities in the world. Probably so. It's free and you can see things from 3000 B.C. It has quite a few things from the Parthenon in Athens. We were at the Parthenon a couple years ago and it's a bit of friction between them and Britian. Both agree though, that if the British hadn't sent the pieces from Athens back to the British Museum, most would likely have been beat up and destroyed. That's what happened to much of the Parthenon before Greece started protecting it.
After the museum we took the Tube back to the hotel and took a nap. Our feet were killing us by now. After rubbing each other's feet with some of the peppermint foot stuff we thankfully brought, and then an hour or so nap, we were ready to head out again.
So we hopped the Tube again to Piccadilly Circus. The word "Circus" means a spot where many streets meet. This was some sort of hangout. There is a statue/fountain in the middle that had lots of people sitting all around it. Even when we took off at 10pm. We wandered around the shops and stopped into a brand new Planet Hollywood for dinner. It just opened two days ago and they gave us a 20% off coupon. Then we wandered through Chinatown. Didn't plan it, just took a different way back. It was quite obvious it was Chinatown :)
So then aboard the Tube back to the hotel. We've had enough for today.
See the pics here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016635&id=1633509060&l=07ce5beeea


Tuesday 6/9/09
Today we fly home. We decided to just get a leisurely breakfast at a little cafe and make use of their free internet. We checked out about 1pm and hopped the Tube again to the airport. Good thing we're headed out in the afternoon. At 7pm the Tube workers went on strike.
So we took the Tube, with one connection, for the hour trip to Heathrow. From there it was pretty smooth. A 10+ hour flight and we are home. Up at 7am for a call tomorrow, and back to normal :)