time for tea

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After naples, we decided that maybe it was time to start heading for home. This meant passing through london to get a flight. i really thought i wouldnt like london. i'm not sure why i thought that i wouldnt like it, but i have to say it was my favorite city. I could have spent a year just wandering around checking out sights, going to plays and concerts and generally just hanging out. This was a city that i would go back to. We spent our first night just kind of wandering around. We didn't get in until the evening so after finding our hostel and checking in, we just hopped on the subway and made our way to westminster abbey and westminster cathedral. we walked around this area, then down to the river by london bridge (which for anyone who doesnt know, its just a regular modern bridge...dave was not aware of this and was quite disappointed). We also swung by trafalgar square and a couple of other places, but i dont remember what they were called. The next day we went to the british library and saw the exhibits there. The display there, although small, is packed with intersting pieces of literature. Dave was mostly interested in the hand scrawled beatles lyrics (which were cool to see), but the other pieces should not be overlooked. They had all sorts of religious texts including a gutenburg bible, jane austens writing desk and some of of her notes, the last piece of writing known to be in shakespeare's own hand, the magna carta and declaration of lords, and all sorts of other interesting and unique books and articles. Next we wandered over to the british museum. We were expecting to have to pay like 8 pounds to get in, but like the library it was entrance by donation. So that was a nice surprise. I was excited to see the rosetta stone, and it was exactly how i thought it would be. however, it seems thats what everyone wants to see and you have to be somewhat pushy to get close to it. The museum was very large, so we just kind of breezed through it and didnt really look at anything too closely. We then took a little jaunt up to abbey road and saw the crosswalk from the beatles cover. It was funny watching other travellers taking pictures of eachother walking across the street. I dont think that the people driving in the area were very impressed at being cut off by beatles fanatics. We walked into the parking lot of the studio to take a picture, but i dont think we were supposed to be in there. When we walked out a car drove in and a few minutes after the people in the car went inside the gates closed and a security guard came and stood by the entrace.
I cant even remember what we did after this. Memory fades fast when you travel.

The next day was the day our flight left, but we had the whole day before we had to go to the airport. We did our shopping this day. We went to watergates? bookstore. Its six floors were a bit overwhelming. I could have spent quite a bit of money there, but somehow i managed to control myself and came out with only three books. We also went back to Westminster abbey and actually went inside this time. It was quite impressive, but i found that all of the crypts and memorial plaques took away from the beauty of the architecture itself. The choir was practicing while we were there, so we stopped midway through our church wander to sit and listen to them sing. This was a highlight for me, but dave was not as appreciative ("they were offkey"...i didnt think anything of the sort. crazy fool) It was kind of expensive to get in (8 pounds), but it was worth it. Especially if you know the history of the various people whose crypts are there. After the abbey we took a cruise down portabello road which i had wanted to see because of the movie bedknobs and broomsticks. It wasnt all that exciting, but i did find a sweet jacket there for 5 pounds. Then it was off to the airport, where we nearly missed out flight, and we were on our way home.

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Photos

abbey road studio
apparently most pictures are from behind the gate? this is what dave tells me. i'd actually never seen it.

Comments

[Dave]

we went for lunch at that little cafe after abbey road with the really olive oiled covered potatoes and the fighting family ... or maybe that was before. anyways Thanks for memories Dave