Ok, finished with BIL's house. We went to get the paint from a local store, but they were closed. Oh well. Guess we will get it tomorrow and start the taping process so I can trim out the tight areas. If I can get the painting started tomorrow, we will be in good shape. Hopefully we can finish up the majority by Monday if everyone is working on it.
Back to the London experience.
DD17 and I slept in a little. We were just so tired and lack of sleep was crashing down on us fast! Anyway, we got up and decided to go check out the breakfast provided by the hotel. Well, it was edible and it could fill you, but there wasn't much of a choice. They had small croissants, butter, marmalades, a type of corn flake cereal, a dark bran flake cereal, oj, grapefruit juice, milk, coffee, or tea. I knew ahead of time that a continental breakfast may not consist of much, but I really was hoping for a little piece of fruit. Oh well, it is food and it didn't cost me extra. Of course they did offer a traditional English breakfast, but that was $16 per person and not worth the price in my opinion, so cereal will do just fine. DD17 is not much of a breakfast eater, so it didn't bother her. She just ate croissants and drank water. I ate 1 sm. croissant, 1 c. bran cereal, 1 c. milk, 8 oz of oj, 4 oz of grapefruit juice. Not the best meal, lots of bread, not balanced, but what do you do?
We went back up to the room to make our lunch and throw it in DD17's backpack. For those who don't know, backpacks are very essential in Europe. It hasn't changed since I was there 21 years ago. People carry these like they would a purse. Almost everyone has one. You can carry your umbrella, snacks, books, items you purchase at the store, etc. DD17 loves this way of living, as she has never been much of a purse kind of person. Anyway, we made some sandwiches, threw in some fruits, veggies and water and we were off. This became our ritual for most of the week and it worked rather well.
Down to Lancaster Gate to get on the underground. We bought TravelCards for the day, which allowed us unlimited use of transportation (excluding some buses, some trains, and cabs) for the day in the zones that we were spending our time. It is definitely much cheaper than going from station to station, but still cost about $18/day for the two of us. Back to Piccadilly Circus to cash some traveler's checks. We went there since we knew the area, there were many banks and we found some good rates there. Well, let me tell you, it is not as easy to cash these checks as I had thought it would be. The first bank I went to told us that they didn't cash the type of check we had (they were Visa, not Am EX or some others that are out there). So she told us to go to Barclays bank to get them cashed. It was just around the corner. We went there, but their Currency Exchange portion was closed, so we were sent to another location up along Regent St. It was just a few blocks away they said. Well we kept walking and finally found the bank. By then I decided that I was exchanging what I would think I needed for most of the week so I didn't have to come back again.
DD17 went to drink some water that we bought the night before only to have it explode all over her pants. We didn't know it was carbonated. She just laughed, thank God. Needless to say, it didn't taste well and we needed to go get some more. In the meantime, I decided that I wanted to find the British Visitors center. According to the map, it looked like it was on Regent St. We walked and walked and I couldn't figure out where it was. Finally, we found a bus stop map and realized that we were going the wrong direction!
So we walked back towards Piccadilly Circus and turned onto the lower part of Regent street. Tesco was there so we ran in for some water and tissues. DD17 was coming down with a cold. Unfortunately, for her it hung on with us throughout the trip.
We found the Visitors Center and picked up a few more tidbits of info. It was also a great place to stop and rest a little while we decided where to start our sightseeing. We decided to go see London Tower. Off we were to the underground again. But before we left the area, we ran into the store that had the ties and I bought DH a really nice one. He loves it by the way and I will say that it is the nicest he owns and he owns alot.
OK, on to the tower. We jumped on the Bakerloo line and took it to Embankment then switched to the District line and took it to Tower Hill. Not too much of a problem, but I did realize quickly that when you switch at a station where two or more lines meet up then there is a lot of walking in the Underground to get over to the correct line. Here's a tip: Avoid switching at any station that has three lines meeting up. It is a very long walk. Not bad, but longer than one would expect. We ate our lunch on the underground. Not many people around and we had time before our final stop. I had ham on white bread, 4 carrots, and 1 banana.
Coming out of the Tower Hill station, we saw a portion of the original wall built by the Romans 2000 years ago. It was cool and in front of it was a bronze statue of Ceasar. The tower loomed in front of us across the road. It was not what I expected at all. I thought it was supposed to be one of the towers on what we consider to be London Bridge, but it is not. It is more like an old fortress. Of course, DD17 knew this already as this is one of her favorite time periods to study. The original portions of the tower were built by the Romans. They created a walled city, but now only small portions of that remain. Grass has taken over the moat that existed and the walls are a thousand plus years newer than their originals. It cost about $50 to get in and that was with a discount for DD17 being a student. Pricy, but this is the one thing she really wanted to see. Needless to say, I made sure that we spent alot of time here to get our money's worth.
The Tower is really neat and a must for anyone visiting London. It is there that the Crown Jewels are kept. They were very interesting to see, but I would have loved to have seen more of the jewelry used through the ages by different kings and queens. Also, housed there is the Fusilers museum. We went in and saw some history regarding the American Revolution. Very interesting. We walked along the top part of the tower walls, we saw the gates that are raised when a drawbridge is dropped, we climbed many circular stone staircases. Also saw a 1600's indoor bathroom. They had the stone angled properly from an upper floor so that the waste slid out of the castle. Of course, they made sure that it was away from the enterance. Gee......I wonder why?
We saw armor, likenesses of the various kings and their horses, and even took pictures of the ravens, which by the way have their wings clipped so they cannot leave the tower. It was really neat and there were a few places that we didn't get a chance to explore since they were beginning to close. I bought a few books about the Crown Jewels and the Tower itself. These are great souvenirs that DH can enjoy and I can use to remind myself.
I saw some beautiful jewelry that was for sale and supposed to be similar to or replicas of jewelry worn by royalty. Fell in love with a necklace and considered buying it, but I had a hard time justifying a $100 for it. Where would I wear it to? Then of course, you need matching earrings. If ever the currency rates begin to even themselves out a little more, then I will consider ordering it and having it sent to me.
Oh yes, we were able to get good veiws of the Tower Bridge (what most think of as the London Bridge). Actually, the London Bridge is a newer concrete bridge. The original has been replaced many times over the course of time.
We didn't know what to do after leaving the Tower. Most shops close early in London, so there is not as much late night shopping as there is here. I saw a church next to the Tower and decided to go look at it. It was All Hallows and happens to be the church where John Q. Adams married his wife, Wm. Penn was baptised and an earlier president was baptised (just can't remember who it was). I think it was neat and we did go inside for a quick peek.
Time for dinner as we were getting hungry. Not knowing where you are and which way to go does not help in finding food. Well, across the street from the church is a pub called The Liberty Bound and we checked out the menu. Not bad prices, but it still amounted to $12-14 min per person. Tired and a little wet. You surely didn't expect me to say we were dry, this is London after all. We decided to venture into the pub. It was very nice. Lucky for us, after sitting down we noticed a special that runs M-F and allows you to get 2 meals for about $14 combined as long as you order both from a certain part of the menu. Now my day is looking even better. We ordered lazagne. Trust me, we could have done with one plate. The plates were large and the lazagne covered 2/3's of it and was served with a salad. Oh yes, another Tip: do not think it odd when you are asked if you want ice and lemon in your coke. Ice is not necessarily a standard. Anyway, great meal! I ate almost all of it. Not a great idea, but that walking will make you hungry.
After our wonderfully inexpensive meal ($20 altogether, great for London), we decided to go home. We went to Tower Hill underground and went over to Monument were we switched to the Central line, which is a 4 line hookup so actually we walked a ways and ended up picking up the Central line at Bank. I never again switched at a station with more than two connecting lines. Before reaching the hotel, we decided to get off at Oxford Circus and walk around a bit. There are all kinds of stores on Oxford St., as well as all kinds of prices. We walked all the way to Bond. Quite a journey after a long day. Here we jumped on the underground and went back to Lancaster Gate. I planned to go to sleep early, but stayed up a bit trying to plan what we would do for the next few days and booked a tour to Bath, Lacock and Stonehenge for Sunday, May 22. Ate 3 wheat crackers, had a bite of an apple bake bar, and took in about 30 oz of water.
All in all, it was a good day. I didn't get enough water in, but the fiber inthe cereal was great. I can honestly say that I was exhausted and my feet were beginning to hurt. I would say that we put in about 8 hours of walking, maybe a little more.
So why are Londoner's so thin? The portions are smaller (with the exception of that lazagne), soft drinks are smaller, and they walk alot! Also, they walk fast! In fact, we were looking pretty lazy compared to how fast these people were walking. Great way to stay in shape though and I truly did not see too many people that were more than 25 lbs overweight. I think we need to take a cue from these people.
I will post more tomorrow, but for now, I need to get some sleep.
I will probably take off a few more today after I catch back up on water and get rid of some retention.
There is nothing worse than making good time going to Chicago and you lose it all waiting to pay the tolls, much easier to do online. Anyway, I got to the airport in time, but of course had to make my circle around as I tried to find the right parking lot that I wanted. This happens everytime, I guess it is a ritual. However, this time I wanted extended parking and had I really prepared properly, I would have had DD17's boyfriend drive us up and back. $13/day to park. Ouch! Oh well. Made it to British Airways fine and in plenty of tme. The line was moving slow though. I have not figured out why O'Hare, one of the busiest airports in the country always staffs 2-3 attendants to check you in and leaves 5 spots vacant and always has 3 more attendants doing nothing but yakking in the corner. It takes forever! Now I was beginning to panick about missing the check-in time. Finally, up to the desk. After the check-in time of course. But guess what? Those BA people are so nice and pleasant. The guy didn't say a word about being late (we were still there in plenty of time for boarding). 
How can this happen? Needless to say, it took us longer to get checked-in and finally they straightened things out. However, they guy told us that we would be on the later flight. 
I was bummed, but what do you do? 
We were leaving on time!
I had 4 mushrooms, 2 cauliflower dipped in a little cheese sauce, and 1/2 onion ring. We will skip the onion rings next time. Then came the salad, it was small and mainly lettuce. Of course, I added a few crutons, and some green goddess dressing. That dressing is the best that I have ever tasted (not the same in the store) and I am sure full of calories. 
London is known for its great food, but not necessarily for British food 
