Wednesday we (Preston, Wouter, Maxim, and I) decided to try to make the walking tour again while the others opted for shopping at Harrod's. We packed up, ate, and checked out and headed for Trafalgar Square again. This time we made it but it was raining and the guide wasn't sure but was optimistic that the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace would still occur, they rarely cancel it. It wasn't raining too bad as we waited to start the tour, but by the time 10:00 o'clock arrived, the rain was coming down pretty hard and the tour guide had to change the tour so we wouldn't be out in the open too much.
We went to the Horse Guard and were able to watch the guards change there. As they passed us, one of the guards lost a button and Preston had his eye on it and as soon as they passed he ran out to get it. He was beaten by on old lady from Canada and was so mad as she pushed her way in front of him. The rest of the tour he contemplated pick-pocketing her, mugging her and finally took all our money and tried to buy it from her, to no avail. Needless to say, it added to his bad image of Snowbirds. Our tour then we headed down to Buckingham Palace to see if they would still have the guards changing. As we walked, we passed some of the band and the guide got us excited that they would still have it but a minute later he changed his mind and said they were going back to their barracks.
We left the tour and meet Lonica's good friend, Alyson Rogers, who has been in London this summer with her husband. We looked at Buckingham Palace and Queen Victoria's fountain and then headed to the British Museum. By now we were all thoroughly soaked and ready for some indoors activities. We were disappointed that the walking tour hadn't been able to go on the regular route and thought that Harrod's would have been a better choice.
The museums are the best value in London - they are free! The price also means that there are lots of people. We saw a friend there though, one of the girls that we shared our room with at the hostel.
Preston is pointing to the Rosetta Stone. The stone was much larger than I thought probably 2 1/2 feet by 3 feet and had tons of people wanting to see it, like most of the Egyptian part.
We were amazed at the huge artifacts that the British have taken and couldn't imagine how they transported them across deserts and oceans to England more than hundred years ago.
After the fast track tour, provided by Alyson, we all sat for a minute (which we later regretted) before heading back to the airport. We just had a short walk to the subway station, a short subway ride to the train station and had to run to make the train back to the airport and sprinted as soon as we hit the airport. We had only 40 minutes before our plane left and still had to check in. Anita and Rob were waiting for us and I'm afraid we had them worried. Both Anita and I had to have our bags searched because I left a water bottle in the bottom and she hadn't pulled out her toiletries which took more time. So Anita and I had to run what seemed like miles to the gate through crowds of people and then we stood and waited in line for 15 minutes! It was late by the time we made it back to the house and we all had sore legs but had had a great time.
2 comments:
Tell Preston I hate snowbirds too. He totally should have gotten the button!
I remember running through the London airport in a desperate attempt to make my plane flight. I also remember Claire snagging an old man's bag on the wheel of her suitcase (we couldn't check them because we were so late) and her just running down the terminal without a clue that there was an old man chasing her down. It was hilarious. Although I don't think the men waiting on the plane for us thought it was so hilarious... good times!
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