London: Later. Closed. Mussels. Cider.

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Geo: 51.5014, -0.185201

What was that phrase? "Beware the Ides of March"? Truer words were never spoken. We headed to the <a href="http://www.hrp.org.uk/">Tower of London</a>, only to find that Monday is the one day a week that they don't open until 10:00. So, with a little more than an hour to kill, we went to the Tower Bridge Experience - as much to get out of the wind as anything else. It was on our Heritage Pass, so we went in. I think we were all glad that we hadn't paid anything out-of-pocket for it.
 
We did finally make it into the Tower, and had a tour with a Beefeater (you gotta!). He was charming (as they all are), and gave a really good tour (although the crowd was large enough that it was hard to hear sometimes). Saw the Crown Jewels (PrettySparkly), the Armory (guns-n-armor) and the gift shops (you gotta!).

Had a bite of lunch at KFC just next to the Tower (isn't there something inherently wrong with that placement?) and headed out to catch the tour bus. About the time that I realized we were on the long route and didn't really want to be, Sara realized that she'd left her backpack at KFC. She hopped off to go back, and we planned to meet up at <a href="http://www.westminster-abbey.org/">Westminster Abbey</a>. No sooner had she stepped off and the bus pulled away, than I realized that she had our tickets, so we couldn't transfer to the shorter route. The long route stopped at Piccadilly Circus, so we whipped out our trusty Tube passes and made our way to Westminster.

It turns out that Monday is the only day that the Abbey is not open until 3:30. I'm beginning to feel like a prize idiot, about this point (as I'm supposed to be the experienced one). Sara joined us pretty soon, with backpack in tow (Hooray!!). Hopped back on the tour bus, and jumped off at the stop by the hotel. We took cabs over to the <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g186338-d199873-r1737111-Thistle_Kensington_Park-London_England.html">Thistle Kensington Park</a> (we had to do this to keep the £25 pp/per night rate). Freshened up a bit, then we went to dinner at <a href="http://www.belgo-restaurants.com/">Belgo Centraal</a>. Love that place. Did a bit of shopping at M&S nearby. I wasn't ready to end the evening just yet, so after dropping the rest of them off at the hotel, I went down to Finnegan's Wake, an Irish pub down Gloucester Road. I met 3 gents there, who are all working on the soon-to-be-open <a href="http://www.baglionihotels.com/pages/eng_hp_londra.jsp">Baglioni Hotel</a>. Nice blokes, if a bit raunchy. Mark (who I never sw again), Kevin (Chief Engineer, who's from South Africa, played rugby and supports Millwall football team) and Peter (a handsome Glaswegian who looks quite a bit like Billy Crystal). Had a really lovely time chatting with them, and made promises to meet up with them on another evening.

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