Last night I asked Sam if London was what he expected. He
said it wasn’t the London he expected and that we needed to go looking for it.
So today, we set out to find Sam’s London.
We had slept in a little this morning. I’m trying really
hard to keep up with someone almost half my age, and he is doing well to try to
slow down a little for me. I’m normally a fast walker, but he is a good foot
taller than me, so it isn’t easy. That and I really like to look around at all
the new sights and that is hard to do while I’m trying to keep up with Sam.
The first thing we did today was master “The Tube” system.
There is reported to be a strike going to happen with the underground system
while we are here. It seems that the government here has decided it would be
better to only have automated ticket sales and no human ticket salesman in the
stations. I certainly don’t agree with this, as today we used the human over
the confusing automated system. If they do go on strike, it is going to cause
massive disruptions in the commuters. Thousands of people use the underground
daily, an all these people will have to use other forms of transportation. That
leaves us tourists in kind of a tricky situation. I chose to look at it as
maybe witnessing some history. I am always up for a new adventure. However, we
will have to change hotels during this strike, and you all heard how much Sam
loves my closet sized suitcase! Lol
Well, we got our tickets and hopped on the tube going to
wear we want to go. I must say, it is a very easy transportation system to use.
We figured it out in a short time and got to the place we wanted to. Charring Cross
was our first stop and we went to Trafalgar Square. We walked around here and
went in the National Gallery and looked at the paintings. Right before we went
in, there is a huge blue chicken. This is as big as the other statues of lions
and other famous people. I had to know what it stood for and why it was blue.
We made our way over there to read the plaque. I’m trying to come up with what
the chicken could stand for. Some kind of Calvary group in some war? Food that
save the soldiers and blue for the royal family? We got there and I read the plaque.
Talk about major let down. It stood for absolutely nothing. It was just art commissioned
by the government. I told Sam that we had to go look at the paintings so I
could have my faith in art restored again. So we went in and checked some out.
We didn’t stay long, as this is the city Sam was looking for and he just found
the London he was looking for, and it wasn’t in that building.
After that Sam just wanted to start walking and see what he
could find. So we started walking. Sam is not into taking photos, and I had
left one camera back at our hotel and my other one was getting low on battery
life. My phone camera is being finicky. I sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t.
So though we saw tons of cool things, we didn’t take many photos. We happened
to come across the Horse guards Parade. It happened to be at the time of the
changing of the horse guard. That was awesome to watch and those horses are
beautiful. Sam told me that if I touched them at all, I could be arrested. I
decided I really didn’t want to test this out and meet a London cop up close
and personal under those circumstances.
We then walked down to the river Thames (pronounced Tems,
according to Sam). We could see the London Eye and we decided we would go on it
today. For those of you that don’t know me, I am terrified of heights and
really don’t like Ferris wheels. I was assured by some friends that this one
was worth it and not scary like the others. We had to pass through a fair to
get there. We saw a cute merry go round. It had a sign on it that told about
the origin of the Ferris wheel. Apparently they were used to train the troops
on and that America’s goes the opposite direction than the traditional ones. Interesting
information.
We stood in line to buy the tickets. The lines were long,
but moved quickly. Then we got in line for the Eye. Again long, but moves
quickly due to the fact many people get in the car, and it doesn’t stop for
people to get in and out. Yes, you heard
me; you get in and off while it is moving. Granted it goes slowly, it is still
a little scary to get on and off a moving object. I managed to get on and even
stand up and look around the city. We found Big Ben, The Parliament Building
and Buckingham Palace from up there. I was so proud of myself. I walked all
around the car and looked out. Sam wanted me to lean up against the glass, but
I really didn’t like to do that. After we went around, I got off without any
mishaps, and we headed off to the buildings we had seen. We heard Big Ben up
close and personal and walked through St James Park to Buckingham Palace. It
had beautiful tulips in the front, but the gates we closed to the palace and we
could barely see the guard. I had wanted to try to make them smile, but at that
distance, it wasn’t going to happen. Sam said that when the Queen is in
residence, the gates are closed, so I choose to believe she was in there
somewhere.
After that we needed to head back to the hotel to get ready
for the Broadway show Wicked we were going to attend that evening. We dressed
up nice and headed to the tube again. We got to the right station and found a place
to eat. It was a very popular place and was very busy. We both tried several
different beers and I even tried a pear cider. That was very good. We ate some
pub food and on our last beer, one of the bar tenders came up and asked me if I
would like to try some black current syrup in mine. I said yes and went and got
some. It gave the beer a different taste and I decided I liked it. He came back
and asked me several times if I liked it and I assured him I did. Sam decided I
needed to find a London man so he would have someone here to stay with when he
came back, but I told him that it gave a whole new term to long distance relationship
and I wasn’t interested in anyone there anyhow.
We finished our food and beers and headed to the theater.
Being from Montana, I haven’t really been to many Broadway
shows. I like good theater and really like musicals. Wicked was reported to be
one of the best ones. Sam has seen it a couple of times and when he saw most of
the cast was new at it, he was a little worried. But after the opening act, we
both sat back and totally enjoyed it. He said some of these actors were better
or as good as the ones he had seen. I have to admit, I really enjoyed it. I
will buy the soundtrack to it. It was amazing watching it from the 3rd row. We
also looked at the orchestra at the end. I hope to be able to attend some more
shows sometime in the future.
After the show, we came back and wrote our blog. Tomorrow
morning we are getting a private tour from the man who Sam’s company uses when they
come to London. I have no idea where he will take us, but I will enjoy every
moment of it.
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