I'm Back

The flight went well, I fell asleep before the first movie ended, and woke up a few minutes before the breakfast which was an hour before we landed.  I was somehow able to get much more comfortable than I had before so I think that's why sleeping was more successful.  Customs was super quick and easy, and my bag came out within 5 minutes, obvious we're not at RDU anymore.  The Tube was of course packed, which made carrying 3 bags so much fun.  I took the Tube to Victoria Station with the intention of seeing Buckingham Palace and a few other sights near there.  The cheaper place to pay to leave your bags is at the coach station, so I walked over there - it wasn't far but felt further the first time when I was looking for it, mainly because I wound up taking an unnecessary detour through the main train station.

I got to Buckingham Palace just in time to kind of see the end of the changing of the guard, which I didn't even realize was going on, but it was quite obvious by the crowd.  I could only really see the group march in and hear the music though, the crowd at the gate was pretty large.

8-1-11 London

Well I was going to keep writing, but I've got to go find some breakfast somewhere and probably do a little grocery shopping.  I will try and finish writing when I get back.

So to continue:  I waited for the band to march back away from the Palace and then continued walking down Birdcage Walk and through St. James Park.  It would be a nice place to relax and enjoy a sunny afternoon.  The birds and squirrels around the lake were obviously very used to being fed by humans, and seemed pretty aggressive in coming up to anyone that put their hand out at all.  By now I'd worked up quite an appetite, as the airplane breakfast isn't very substantial.  I had been planning on going into the Churchill Museum and War Rooms, but delayed it for some lunch.  I wound up walking to Trafalgar Square scouting out places to eat.  I was looking for something maybe a little more adventurous than what is around MK, but was ultimately unsuccessful, and wound up at a pub.  I got braised oxtail and of course a pint of beer.

This random new, pretty ugly building was right in the middle of Parliament, Westminster Abbey etc. - stuck out like a sore thumb!

The Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms were pretty interesting.  It is the location where the war operations were run from, and many of the rooms had been left intact from the day they closed.  Of course things had been restored, but much of the furniture and everything else is original.  Maybe the neatest part was the map room, which still had the original map, complete with all of the pinholes from tracking troops and ships.  The museum part was just a vast amount of information and documentation of Churchill's life.  Did you know his mother was from the Vanderbilt family that had Biltmore Estate built?  The most impressive feature might have been the interactive timeline, that went through anything significant that had happened in his life.  I think you could spend a week reading everything available if you wanted.

Then my Tube adventure continued back to my train station.  I did find time to stop in the Euston Tap for a few beers before the train to MK.  I did wait for a bus to take me closer to my place though, I was tired of walking and carrying my bags, even though the bus didn't necessarily save me any time.

Spent the night unpacking and watching the crazy Seahawks game.  Woke up today exactly at the scheduled sunrise time and went out for some groceries so I could eat today.  I didn't know, but the store made announcements that there are laws preventing them from selling goods before 11am.  Guess that's why the grocery stores don't open till 11!  Finished the afternoon with a good workout.  I've been working on a couple of lab reports while watching KC and Baltimore.  My 6:20 wakeup call is going to be a rude surprise I think.