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Published: November 17th 2010
Day Nine-May 17,2010 As I woke up the next morning,the little TV in my room was chock full of volcanic news. It seemed that once again,European airspace was closed down. Although we had originally planned to forgo our cheap tickets to Dublin,I received a text from Ryanair,telling me that our flight was cancelled(shocker).Upon looking on the website, I found out that we would be receiving a refund on our tickets.Yay!! (I guess it was a sign that we really were not supposed to go,anyway).
We had decided to sleep in a bit today,but since I was awake,I decided to grab something to eat.First,I went to the hotel desk,where to no surprise,they suddenly had availabilty for that night.I confirmed my room for that night,and walked over to Queensway and grabbed a muffin from one of the cafes. Once I returned,Jen and Ashley were awake,so we decided to continue with our plans to see the Tower of London.We had been warned of large crowds there,so they quickly got ready,and we headed for the Tube.
It seemed to take especially long to get there-either that,or our stamina was waning.Once we emerged from the Tube,we noticed that
the skies were gray again and the temperature seemed to have dropped. We found the Tower easily enough-the turrets are hard to miss!
We purchased our tickets in a decent amount of time(unfortunately,my London Pass had expired by this point-I haveto say,based on my history with this and the Paris version,I'm not sure I can recommend it as a good value). Since it was still early,and the crowds didn't look TOO bad,we stopped at the Pret a Manger cafe by the ticket counter. We settled in with coffee and discussed our plans for the day. We didn't want to plan on being stuck in London and putting things off,so we decided to go ahead as though this were our last day.If we were stuck,we would have a LOT of downtime on our hands!
Upon entering the TOL,we studied the map and schedule,and found that there was a Beefeater tour starting momentarily. I had heard strong recommendations for that,so we headed over to the meeting point. Our guide showed up,dressed in full red/black garb,and commenced the tour.It was hysterical!!! He guided us through the major highlights of the grounds,depicting the historical events and people with MANY jokes
thrown in. My personal favorite was when he asked all of the Americans to raise there hands.After a healthy amount of the group complied,he stated," If only you guys had paid your taxes-all of this history could have been YOURS."
Once the tour was completed(about an hour),we went off to explore the Jewel Tower,home of the famed Crown Jewels. Suprisingly,the line wasn't bad,and we kept moving through the first few rooms where they were playing a video of Queen Elizabeth's coronation. Soon,we were in the rooms with all of the treasures,filled with weapons plated in gold,official coronation sticks used for centuries, and more.There were china displays that would put Tiffany's to shame. Finally,there were the crowns and tiaras-each one more encrusted with jewels than the one before. It was amazing-and of course,no photos were allowed!!
After we exited the Jewel Tower,we explored the rest of the Tower for awhile. As we were strolling through the compound,we came across a couple of actors in midst of a skit. Lo and behold,it was the freaky duo from Kensington Palace a few days before.Apparently,KP, Tower of London, and a few other places are all affiliated with each other,so they
Our Beefeater
A must-see tour!!have roles at each. Once the skit was over,we approached the guy,who seemed to remember us. When we commented on his "escape" from kensington,he declared that we "must be drunk" before taking a pic with us.
We decided to grab some lunch and head to Madame Tussauds. In the interest of time,we chose a small little cafe near the entrance. Once again,we were greeted with lackluster service and the hostess(?) told us to "sit anywhere",leaving no menu in sight. 15 minutes later,just as we were about to leave,a waitress came over,tossed a few menus at us,and left. 10 minutes later,we ordered fish and chips,along with our drinks.The waitress took our order wordlessly and left.
Since it appeared that we had some time before our food arrived,I went outside to a little Internet cafe that I had noticed.We had discussed seeing a play that night,so I went in search of any last minute,extremely budget deals.I found a few,and went back to the restaurant,and still had a healthy wait for our meals. At last,our waitress dumped three plates in front of us. We were starving by this point,so we dived right in.
Just as quickly as
The Bloody Tower
Umm...probably where they held afternoon tea,no? we started eating,we stopped. My first bite of fish tasted especially crunchy.I looked at the others and noticed that they had similar expressions of distaste.On further examination,it was confirmed-there were still many,many bones left in these fish.If that wasn't enough,during my dissection,I saw that the underside of the bread was quite shiny.As I was about to voice this discovery,Jen pulled a huge piece of scaly skin away from her fish.Lunch was over.
Of course,it took awhile to get our bill,and upon seeing our nearly full plates,the waitress gave us a dirty look."What,you didn't like it?" We politely pointed out the bone/skin aversion. She shrugged,took our credit cards,and left. Upon my research,I had been surprised to find out that the British tipping system is quite a bit lower than ours. I was beginning to understand why.
Appetites ruined,we left and headed for the tube to Madame Tussauds. This was Jen's top sightseeing spot,so she was especially excited. I could have taken or left it,but it wasn't bad. You tour through several rooms of famous wax figures,and the photo ops are rampant. They also had a "monster" room,with ghoulish weapons and masks,before dumping us at a walk-through haunted
The Jewel Tower
Home of the Crown Jewels...and probably part of Kate Middleton's wedding atire. house.Definately NOT my favorite activity! Jen ran ahead happily,while Ashley and I clung to each other and tried to get through as quickly as possible.Of course,there were zombies galore jumping out of the pitch black,and at one point I felt one grab my arm.Screaming,we tried to run,but the zombie wouldn't let go.As I turned around,I saw that it was the Asian tourists behind us,trying to ask us where to go!
Once we emerged,we had a few more rooms to walk through,then took a little Disney-like ride that led us through the history of the museum.This was pretty much the conclusion of the tour,so after exploring the gift shop,we decided to go.We didn't have enough time to make it back to the hotel if we wanted to have dinner before the play,so we headed straight for Covent Garden and the West End.
We had enough time to walk by some stores on the way to the theater,so we did. Once we found the theater and procurred our tickets,we headed a few blocks back to a steak and seafood type restaurant that we had noticed. I have to say,this was one of the best meals of the trip.They
They DO exist!!!
Finally!!! The official British guards are spotted!! had a three course menu deal for several items,so we each had some type of steak,baked potato,and dessert.Just what we needed after the long day! We also saw,on several surrounding TVs,that the volcanic activity was lessing and airports were reopening.It was looking positive for going home the next day!
After dinner,we made it to the theater with about 10-15 minutes to spare,but like my experience a few nights before,they were rushing us to our seats. Because of our draining funds,our best deal was to see Dirty Dancing.We were warned that the seats had "highly restrcited viewing," but we took them anyway.Sure enough,they were on the side of the balcony,and if you sat striaght back you missed half of the stage.However,we found that if we pulled our chairs a bit forward,we could see just about everything.
Although it wasn't one of the more well known plays, we all liked the movie,and it seemed like a nice,lighthearted,fun play to see. Sure enough,the play kept to the movies plot in exact detail,and the actors looked eerily like their movie counterparts (especially the male lead in Patrick Swayze's role). The special effects were amazing,and the play was great! Halfway through,we
The Crazy Actors
Apparently,Kensington Palace doesn't pay well enough... decided to bravely switch to a section of empty seats perpendicular to us.The view was perfect,and no one even batted an eyes.A few others even moved up as well.
Once the play was over(receiving much applause,but again,no standing ovation),we headed back out towards Covent Garden. We stopped at a pub for a little bit,then headed back to our hotel.It was getting late,and we still had to pack. A quick call to Continental/American Airlines showed that our flights for the next day were still on schedule. So,after packing,we headed to bed,planning on visiting the London Eye the next morning before heading to the airport.
The trip was rapidly coming to an end!!!
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