A "Royal" Day

A Royal Day....

What a day, what a day! Mark and I were well rested and able to visit many places in London. We began our day at Starbuck's for breakfast. I know what many of you may be saying, “What? You go all the way to London and you eat at Starbuck's?” My answer is YES! It has wonderful fresh fruit and scones and muffins like nothing in the states. We didn't want a heavy breakfast, just something to get us going.

After our breakfast we headed to the Hammersmith subway entrance. We are very lucky because it is only about 10-15 minutes away from our hotel. We got our day pass and headed off to Piccadilly Circus. I do enjoy riding on the subways and appreciate how convenient they are for everyone to use and enjoy. I wish we had more in the states. Think of all of the fuel we would save. It is also a great place to people watch.

Emerging from down in the subway we were greeted by bright lights and lots of people. I didn't know what I was expecting to see, but I liked what I saw. There were street performers and giant ads like you would see at Time Square. As we began to walk we saw a monument that I knew was near Buckingham Palace. We headed off to see the palace because I wanted to see it up close and personal. Well, as we got closer and closer we noticed that some guards were walking down the main road we were on. Then we had to walk super speedy fast......I needed to be there to see the changing of the guard. Mark stayed on the opposite side of the street, but I raced over to be as close to the palace as possible. Now, we did not know this was the time of day the guards switched. We were very lucky to witness the change. The band left the palace in front of the area Mark was standing. I got to see the band go by and then the guards who were on duty leaving the palace. The guards were being lead by a few people playing the bagpipes. It was a very royal event! We walked around the St. James Park which is across from the palace. It is a large and beautiful park.

As we continued to follow the path by the park we saw Big Ben. I knew that meant that we were almost at the parliament building, which meant we were almost to The Eye! I was looking forward to riding in the eye to get a 360 degree view of London. It was not meant to be today...the eye is closed until January 21^st. Luckily, Mark and I should have some time on Monday afternoon to go back and hopefully take a ride. I am hoping we can get on. You never know how many others will have the same thought that us. We then headed off to see more sights.

We found ourselves in Trafalgar Square. Shopping, shopping everywhere! There is so much to see and so much to do. We really had to pick and chose because someone could stay in the shops all day. We did go to a very nice bookstore. I bought three books. I found a children's book that was written about “Going on a bear hunt”. It is a song I learned when I was in girl scouts and now I have it in a book. Mark thought I was making up the story when I would sing the song, but now he knows it is real! After a little shopping we decided we really needed to get something to eat. We came across a very charming area that had Italian restaurant after Italian restaurant. We chose one and I am glad we did because it is the first pizza that looked and tasted like the pizza we would get in Italy. YUM!!!!

By now, I have to say my feet were killing me. We had so much still to see and do so onward we went. We headed to the subway to get over to Harrods. Holy moly......Harrods is HUGE!!!! I could not believe how large this store was until I got in and looked around. Luckily they were having a large sale so many people were coming in and going out. We found the Egyptian escalators and went all the way to the top floor and worked our way down. Now, we only saw a teeny tiny portion of the store yet we were in there for some time. I have never seen a store like this one. On the bottom floor they have so many specialty food areas (fruits, teas, chocolates, etc.). What a sight. Mark couldn't believe the store. I told him if I lived close to the store I would need to take one weekend to look at each floor if I really wanted to see everything. I think one would have to really know the store well to take advantage of the sales.

After leaving this amazing sight we headed around the area. We were able to see some more street performers. They hang out in the subway and around the area where everyone exits. We found Hyde Park but it was too dark to see much at all. That may be tomorrow morning.

I have attached many photos from our day out. They will probably attach in a different order from how they were taken.

We are back in the hotel, almost 8 hours after we headed out for our day. My feet are thankful to be resting in their comfortable slippers. (Judy, I brought the ones you gave me in the stocking.)

Tomorrow will hopefully be another fun filled day. I do have to be back at the hotel for a 1:00 Skype interview. We will see how that goes.

Time to relax and read one of my new books!