Post by sdjeff4sc on Sept 30, 2007 20:14:26 GMT -5
Hey all! Thanks again for everyone's help in planning my trip! It's late here in London and our Eurostar leaves in 8 hours for Paris. I posted this on TA, but have combined each day's posts into one. I hope to add a daily report on Paris and the Loire/Burgundy but you may have to visit the TA site to see pictures until I can figure out how to post...... As I mentioned when I first got here, I'm pretty long-winded, so beware before you begin!
"This is London!"
September 27th:
Arrived in London 10:00 AM British Airways to Heathrow, cleared customs and caught the Tube into London. Reserved a room at the Park City Hotel in Kensington. Our original plan was to take the regular Tube (4 pounds) into the city because the Heathrow Express is 15 GBP. Plan was also to take the Tube to Gloucester Street station on the Piccadilly line and walk to our hotel. Lucky for us, the Gloucester Street station on the Piccadilly line was closed for repairs (the Circle and District lines are open at Gloucester Street) so we got off at the next station, South Kensington and took a taxi to the Park City. This worked just as well because I had Google Earth’d the directions from Gloucester Street to the Park City and would have gotten us lost – I got the directions all wrong. Anyway, we arrived at our hotel and I must say it deserves it’s high ranking on the TA pages! It is a wonderful hotel, and a tremendous bargain for the money! We booked a standard double on the 2nd floor, it is a large room, large queen-size bed, desk, mini-bar, and a large modern bathroom w/ a large tub and modern fixtures – we’re very happy w/ the hotel.
For our first day we did not plan anything so as to allow us to just walk around and acclimate to the time change. We took the Tube to Westminster station, came out of the tunnel and, Ta Da! Big Ben was right in front of us. Since it was my partner’s first trip to London, I thought the arrival was perfect. We walked across Westminster Bridge to the South Bank and strolled the Jubilee Promenade, past the London Eye but didn’t go up (my partner also has a fear of heights) and cont’d to the Millenium Bridge where we crossed back over the Thames. We wandered up the streets, came around the corner and came upon Trafalgar Square (which was missing A LOT of pigeons I thought – “Red Ken’s” plan to drive out the pigeons seems to be working!). We lingered for a few moments and headed up into the National Gallery – my favorite museum in London. Being tired from our flight, we didn’t really spend the time we should have in the museum, but we saw most of the highlights and moved on.
We strolled eastwards down Pall Mall towards Green Park but got sidetracked by our terrible thirst and ended up in a pub, The Red Lion, up an alley around the corner from the Cutty Sark Pub. Enjoyed a pint of Guiness, met another couple from New York who were enjoying their 2nd day in London. We parted and decided it was time to return to our hotel since it had been such a long day. We walked thru Green Park south to Buckingham Palace, found the ticket office to tour the State Apartments the next day. Made it to the Tube back to Gloucester Street station, got lost on the way back to the hotel – again, ended up near High Kensington Street, stopped at another Pub, another pint of Guiness, finally got tired of walking around, walked into a wine shop and asked for directions. After buying a bottle of claret, we were pointed in the right direction towards our hotel and arrived safely back at the Park City,, amazingly only about 2-3 blocks from Gloucester Street station!
Being too tired at this point to look for a place to eat, we wandered around the corner to a Sainsbury’s Department Store (Wow! Nice place!) and picked up some fresh bread, some ham, salami, and several cheeses (in small portions per our request) and returned to our hotel for a light meal of bread, cheese & wine. Falling asleep watching the “Beeb”, we turned in at 9:30!
Friday, September 28th:
Woke up and returned to Sainsbury's around the corner, I simply must have a Diet Coke in the morning (some people like coffee) and my partner was pleased to find a Starbucks inside for her tea.
After provisioning, we headed out to try and see the Queen’s Gallery, Royal Mews and State Apartments at Buckingham Palace, the 28th was the LAST day the Palace was open to the public this year. Weather report called for rain and I did not have an umbrella (my partner did….). Got off the Tube at St. James station and promptly headed off in the wrong direction again! I “think” we ended up somewhere near Chelsea. While looking at a map (apparently looking quite confused) an older woman approached us and asked if we were lost, to which we replied “completely”. She asked us where we were trying to go, we replied “Buckingham Palace”, she asked if we were going for the Changing of the Guards, we said, "not particularly, we wanted to tour the State Apartments.......". She stated the obvious at this point, that we were going the wrong way……… she pointed us in the direction of Victoria and we found Buckingham Palace road and finally found Buckingham Palace (Thank God for that kindhearted woman!).
We purchased out tickets for the Gallery/Mews/State Apartments – our appointment called for immediate entry to the Queen’s Galleries of Italian Rennaisance paintings. Spent about an hour there, while walking out of the Gallery, it began to rain…… back into the Gallery’s gift shop, where I purchased the world’s most expensive collapsible umbrella (but it's very nice!).
We moved on to the Royal Mews, viewed the various coaches including the Coronation Carriage (awesome! Incredibly gaudy, but beautiful). Wandered through the stables, saw the horses, left just in time to get a distant view of the changing of the guards, in the rain. The crowd quickly dissipated in the rain following the conclusion of the ceremony and we proceeded along the north wall of Buckingham Palace’s gardens – leaving our tour of the State Apartments for later in the afternoon to avoid the crowds. We made a quick lap (west on Constitution Hill to Grossvenor Place) of the Palace’s north wall in the rain and back along Buckingham Palace Road (until diverting a block off Buckingham Gate to a Shakespeare’s Pub for lunch of Fish & Chips and pints of Guiness!
Back to Buckingham Palace for our tour of the State Apartments – Wow! It makes you wonder what Versailles must have been like before the Revolution….. The Palace was absolutely beautiful and was well worth the expense of entry. Finishing the tour, we were led out into the gardens behind the Palace that we had been wondering about 2 hours earlier on the other side of the wall.
Leaving the Palace grounds and walking back around to the front of the Palace, we wandered through St. James Park (in the rain – the umbrella was now an investment!), a lovely stroll, a beautiful park. We ended up at the Cabinet War Rooms about an hour and a half before closing, decided we should come back the next day to allow us to stay longer if we wanted. We left and headed south towards Westminster again, ended up in front of Westminster Abbey and noted the protests going on in front Parliament Square against the current political turmoil in Burma. The Abbey was closed for the day, but we got a flyer for tours of Parliament, the 29th was scheduled to be the last day Parliament was open to the public for the year, but the ticket office was closed.
Resolved to return the next day to see Parliament, we took the Tube back to Gloucester Street, found our way directly back to the hotel and ended up returning to Sainsbury’s again for fresh bread and cheese. After a light snack and glass of wine, we decided to head out to dinner. We got a map of the area and some recommendations from the hotel and set out into the darkness, and promptly got lost again! Finally, making a wrong turn, we ended up on Earl’s Court road. Wandered past a number of restaurants, we finally set upon Strada, on High Street Kensington (review to follow later). My partner had a pizza which she found to be good, if not too much food. I started with a small spinach salad w/ bacon, avocado, slivers of parmesean cheese and a light balsamic dressing. My main course was a breast of chicken, sautéed w/ prosciutto & sage over the top. Served with potatoes and fresh green beans, the chicken was overcooked, difficult to chew, not particularly good. However, a decent bottle of Italian Cabernet Sauvignon made the meal enjoyable.
Having gotten lost for what seemed the 10th time while trying to find dinner, we returned to our hotel by the route we came and had no difficulty at all getting back to our hotel, it took about 15 minute walk in a pleasant cool (but dry) evening. Arrived safely back at the hotel and tucked in by 11:30.
September 29th:
Yesterday, we were determined to visit Parliament and Westminster Abbey and to return to the Cabinet War Rooms.
After our obligatory morning stop on the way to the Tube at Sainsbury's (for Diet Coke and tea from Starbucks) we took the Tube from Gloucester Street to Westminster, bought our tickets for Parliament at the Jewel Tower at Westminster and immediately gained entry for our tour of Parliament. Having visited the Austrailian Parliament about 10 years ago and since I occaisionally watch Prime Minister’s Questions on CSPAN, I understood the basics of how their government functions, but the tour explained the history and evolution of Parliament in pretty good depth for the time allotted. We entered the Queen’s Robing Room, the House of Lords, House of Commons, etc. Great tour! Very glad we were able to get in to see it!
Walked across the street to Westminster Abbey, made the circuit in about an hour. Found it funny that they have a marker where Oliver Cromwell “once was buried” for about three years – I have to assume that after the restoration of the monarchy, it was determined it would be better to remove his corpse from the Abbey!
Getting hungry, we decided to head towards the Cabinet War Rooms. We stumbled upon the Westminster Arms pub, recommended by Rick Steves, we had a pleasant lunch consisting of a BLT sandwich for my friend and a ham & chicken pie for myself, washed down of course, w/ the obligatory pint of Guiness and another pint of cask-conditioned ale (seems there are excellent prices in this pub for Food/Beer compared to many others in London - 2 pints for 5 pounds 20!).
We arrived at the Cabinet War Rooms to discover that they had opened a companion museum paying tribute to Winston Churchill! Took the audioguide tour of the wartime bunker and then spent about 45 minutes in the Churchill museum – two good museum/attractions for the price of one!
Since my partner’s brother was arriving at Heathrow on his way back to the States and I wanted to see my parents (who had arrived the day before) we decided we should head back to Kensington to be closer when they both arrived. We detoured to Knightsbridge to “tour” Harrods…… we didn’t buy anything, but it’s always fun to just wander, ride the Egyptian Escalator and the Doti Fayed/Princess Diana Shrine in the basement.
Again, waiting for my parents to return to Kensington from their tour and for my friend’s brother to arrive at Heathrow, we decided to head over to Earl’s Court station, exiting the station, we saw a pub across the street – it was as good a place as any to wait for our anticipated phone calls (I brought my AT&T mobile w/ me w/ the Int’l roaming activated). Entering the pub, we discovered the Man U./Birmingham match on the telly so we ordered pints and settled in to watch the match w/ the locals, Man U. won 1-nil.
Finally receiving our respective calls from my parents and her brother, my friend and I parted ways at Earl’s Court, I to return to Gloucester Street to connect w/ my parents and she to wait at Earl’s Court for her brother to arrive from Heathrow. I enjoyed a pleasant light meal w/ my parents in their hotel (the Copthorne Tara) and my friend had dinner w/ her brother. I got back to our room at the Park City hotel before her, got ready for bed and put this together, she returned shortly thereafter.
Tomorrow, we are agreed we are going to the Tower of London early for the Yeoman Warder tour and the Crown Jewels, after that, we’re not sure what we’re doing next, but are going to try and get to Soho/Chinatown for dinner Sunday night as we’re scheduled to leave for Paris Monday morning on the Chunnel.
September 30th:
We're off to Paris in about 9 hours so I wanted to sort of wrap up our stay in London.
We awoke this morning w/ visions of the Crown Jewels dancing through our heads. Since the Tower of London doesn’t open until 10:00 on Sundays, we left the Park City Hotel around 9:00 to get in early. We went to the Sainsbury’s next door for our morning routine of tea/Diet Coke and found they did not open until 11:00 AM! We ended up buying Diet Coke at a newstand and tea at Starbucks.
Took the Tube from Gloucester Street to Tower Hill and stood in line for tickets and entered for the Yeoman Warder tour. My partner has never been to London before and it seems a waste to go to London for the first time and NOT see the Crown Jewels! As always the tour was the most entertaining part for me, the Yeoman Warder provided the history, background, and jokes that make the tour (besides the Crown Jewels) so enjoyable! After the tour, we headed to the Jewel Building itself, spent several turns on the conveyor belt admiring the beauty of the several crowns kept there in storage….. I can’t add to what has previously been said about the Crown Jewels…….
As an aside, recently, the Tower added the very first female Yeoman Warder to the guards at the Tower. I had seen her on the TV in the States before departing. As we were getting ready to leave the Tower, I saw 3 of the "Yeomen" over by the Church. One of the three was obviously her! I quickly walked straight towards the 3 of them, excused myself for interrupting their conversation, and said, "I'm sorry, but I saw you on the telly, would it be okay for me to have my picture taken with you?" The other two male "Yeomen" smiled at my question, they both rolled back out of the way and the new "Yeoman" was very polite and friendly and kindly agreed to have her picture taken with me. Once the photo was taken, I thanked her for the photo and congratulated her on her assigment to the Tower, she thanked me, and wished me a good day! All in all, I was pretty pleased and the picture came out well (I'll try to post later!).
Following the Tower (where we spent about 3 hours in all), we crossed the Tower Bridge to Southwark. Settled down at the Anchor Tap pub, enjoyed another few pints and a “baguette” sandwich. We wandered back over the Tower Bridge to Tower Hill to take the Tube back to our hotel, we decided until to go to Covent Garden. Took the Circle Line around to King’s Cross, transfer to the Piccadilly line to Covent Garden.
On arrival at Covent Garden, we had no idea what to expect – neither of us had ever been there! What a sight! We were both astounded by the mass of humanity……… We wandered up one street and down another and eventually ended up in Chinatown. We made several laps up and down each street in a quest to find a Chinese restaurant I had dinner w/ my cousin & his fiancé in 2002 – w/out luck, we could not find it…..
We returned to our hotel and called my parents who were staying a short distance away. We took a cab to a Spanish tapas restaurant, Tendido Cero (on Old Brompton Road). Dinner was wonderful! We had several rounds of tapas, a terrific crowd in the restaurant. The food was delicious and the tab for 4 w/ 2 bottles of wine was only 100 GBP!
We returned to our hotel for a nightcap and my parents returned to their hotel and we retired to our room to pack for our train to Paris tomorrow! The trip continues…………
More from Paris in the coming days!
"This is London!"
September 27th:
Arrived in London 10:00 AM British Airways to Heathrow, cleared customs and caught the Tube into London. Reserved a room at the Park City Hotel in Kensington. Our original plan was to take the regular Tube (4 pounds) into the city because the Heathrow Express is 15 GBP. Plan was also to take the Tube to Gloucester Street station on the Piccadilly line and walk to our hotel. Lucky for us, the Gloucester Street station on the Piccadilly line was closed for repairs (the Circle and District lines are open at Gloucester Street) so we got off at the next station, South Kensington and took a taxi to the Park City. This worked just as well because I had Google Earth’d the directions from Gloucester Street to the Park City and would have gotten us lost – I got the directions all wrong. Anyway, we arrived at our hotel and I must say it deserves it’s high ranking on the TA pages! It is a wonderful hotel, and a tremendous bargain for the money! We booked a standard double on the 2nd floor, it is a large room, large queen-size bed, desk, mini-bar, and a large modern bathroom w/ a large tub and modern fixtures – we’re very happy w/ the hotel.
For our first day we did not plan anything so as to allow us to just walk around and acclimate to the time change. We took the Tube to Westminster station, came out of the tunnel and, Ta Da! Big Ben was right in front of us. Since it was my partner’s first trip to London, I thought the arrival was perfect. We walked across Westminster Bridge to the South Bank and strolled the Jubilee Promenade, past the London Eye but didn’t go up (my partner also has a fear of heights) and cont’d to the Millenium Bridge where we crossed back over the Thames. We wandered up the streets, came around the corner and came upon Trafalgar Square (which was missing A LOT of pigeons I thought – “Red Ken’s” plan to drive out the pigeons seems to be working!). We lingered for a few moments and headed up into the National Gallery – my favorite museum in London. Being tired from our flight, we didn’t really spend the time we should have in the museum, but we saw most of the highlights and moved on.
We strolled eastwards down Pall Mall towards Green Park but got sidetracked by our terrible thirst and ended up in a pub, The Red Lion, up an alley around the corner from the Cutty Sark Pub. Enjoyed a pint of Guiness, met another couple from New York who were enjoying their 2nd day in London. We parted and decided it was time to return to our hotel since it had been such a long day. We walked thru Green Park south to Buckingham Palace, found the ticket office to tour the State Apartments the next day. Made it to the Tube back to Gloucester Street station, got lost on the way back to the hotel – again, ended up near High Kensington Street, stopped at another Pub, another pint of Guiness, finally got tired of walking around, walked into a wine shop and asked for directions. After buying a bottle of claret, we were pointed in the right direction towards our hotel and arrived safely back at the Park City,, amazingly only about 2-3 blocks from Gloucester Street station!
Being too tired at this point to look for a place to eat, we wandered around the corner to a Sainsbury’s Department Store (Wow! Nice place!) and picked up some fresh bread, some ham, salami, and several cheeses (in small portions per our request) and returned to our hotel for a light meal of bread, cheese & wine. Falling asleep watching the “Beeb”, we turned in at 9:30!
Friday, September 28th:
Woke up and returned to Sainsbury's around the corner, I simply must have a Diet Coke in the morning (some people like coffee) and my partner was pleased to find a Starbucks inside for her tea.
After provisioning, we headed out to try and see the Queen’s Gallery, Royal Mews and State Apartments at Buckingham Palace, the 28th was the LAST day the Palace was open to the public this year. Weather report called for rain and I did not have an umbrella (my partner did….). Got off the Tube at St. James station and promptly headed off in the wrong direction again! I “think” we ended up somewhere near Chelsea. While looking at a map (apparently looking quite confused) an older woman approached us and asked if we were lost, to which we replied “completely”. She asked us where we were trying to go, we replied “Buckingham Palace”, she asked if we were going for the Changing of the Guards, we said, "not particularly, we wanted to tour the State Apartments.......". She stated the obvious at this point, that we were going the wrong way……… she pointed us in the direction of Victoria and we found Buckingham Palace road and finally found Buckingham Palace (Thank God for that kindhearted woman!).
We purchased out tickets for the Gallery/Mews/State Apartments – our appointment called for immediate entry to the Queen’s Galleries of Italian Rennaisance paintings. Spent about an hour there, while walking out of the Gallery, it began to rain…… back into the Gallery’s gift shop, where I purchased the world’s most expensive collapsible umbrella (but it's very nice!).
We moved on to the Royal Mews, viewed the various coaches including the Coronation Carriage (awesome! Incredibly gaudy, but beautiful). Wandered through the stables, saw the horses, left just in time to get a distant view of the changing of the guards, in the rain. The crowd quickly dissipated in the rain following the conclusion of the ceremony and we proceeded along the north wall of Buckingham Palace’s gardens – leaving our tour of the State Apartments for later in the afternoon to avoid the crowds. We made a quick lap (west on Constitution Hill to Grossvenor Place) of the Palace’s north wall in the rain and back along Buckingham Palace Road (until diverting a block off Buckingham Gate to a Shakespeare’s Pub for lunch of Fish & Chips and pints of Guiness!
Back to Buckingham Palace for our tour of the State Apartments – Wow! It makes you wonder what Versailles must have been like before the Revolution….. The Palace was absolutely beautiful and was well worth the expense of entry. Finishing the tour, we were led out into the gardens behind the Palace that we had been wondering about 2 hours earlier on the other side of the wall.
Leaving the Palace grounds and walking back around to the front of the Palace, we wandered through St. James Park (in the rain – the umbrella was now an investment!), a lovely stroll, a beautiful park. We ended up at the Cabinet War Rooms about an hour and a half before closing, decided we should come back the next day to allow us to stay longer if we wanted. We left and headed south towards Westminster again, ended up in front of Westminster Abbey and noted the protests going on in front Parliament Square against the current political turmoil in Burma. The Abbey was closed for the day, but we got a flyer for tours of Parliament, the 29th was scheduled to be the last day Parliament was open to the public for the year, but the ticket office was closed.
Resolved to return the next day to see Parliament, we took the Tube back to Gloucester Street, found our way directly back to the hotel and ended up returning to Sainsbury’s again for fresh bread and cheese. After a light snack and glass of wine, we decided to head out to dinner. We got a map of the area and some recommendations from the hotel and set out into the darkness, and promptly got lost again! Finally, making a wrong turn, we ended up on Earl’s Court road. Wandered past a number of restaurants, we finally set upon Strada, on High Street Kensington (review to follow later). My partner had a pizza which she found to be good, if not too much food. I started with a small spinach salad w/ bacon, avocado, slivers of parmesean cheese and a light balsamic dressing. My main course was a breast of chicken, sautéed w/ prosciutto & sage over the top. Served with potatoes and fresh green beans, the chicken was overcooked, difficult to chew, not particularly good. However, a decent bottle of Italian Cabernet Sauvignon made the meal enjoyable.
Having gotten lost for what seemed the 10th time while trying to find dinner, we returned to our hotel by the route we came and had no difficulty at all getting back to our hotel, it took about 15 minute walk in a pleasant cool (but dry) evening. Arrived safely back at the hotel and tucked in by 11:30.
September 29th:
Yesterday, we were determined to visit Parliament and Westminster Abbey and to return to the Cabinet War Rooms.
After our obligatory morning stop on the way to the Tube at Sainsbury's (for Diet Coke and tea from Starbucks) we took the Tube from Gloucester Street to Westminster, bought our tickets for Parliament at the Jewel Tower at Westminster and immediately gained entry for our tour of Parliament. Having visited the Austrailian Parliament about 10 years ago and since I occaisionally watch Prime Minister’s Questions on CSPAN, I understood the basics of how their government functions, but the tour explained the history and evolution of Parliament in pretty good depth for the time allotted. We entered the Queen’s Robing Room, the House of Lords, House of Commons, etc. Great tour! Very glad we were able to get in to see it!
Walked across the street to Westminster Abbey, made the circuit in about an hour. Found it funny that they have a marker where Oliver Cromwell “once was buried” for about three years – I have to assume that after the restoration of the monarchy, it was determined it would be better to remove his corpse from the Abbey!
Getting hungry, we decided to head towards the Cabinet War Rooms. We stumbled upon the Westminster Arms pub, recommended by Rick Steves, we had a pleasant lunch consisting of a BLT sandwich for my friend and a ham & chicken pie for myself, washed down of course, w/ the obligatory pint of Guiness and another pint of cask-conditioned ale (seems there are excellent prices in this pub for Food/Beer compared to many others in London - 2 pints for 5 pounds 20!).
We arrived at the Cabinet War Rooms to discover that they had opened a companion museum paying tribute to Winston Churchill! Took the audioguide tour of the wartime bunker and then spent about 45 minutes in the Churchill museum – two good museum/attractions for the price of one!
Since my partner’s brother was arriving at Heathrow on his way back to the States and I wanted to see my parents (who had arrived the day before) we decided we should head back to Kensington to be closer when they both arrived. We detoured to Knightsbridge to “tour” Harrods…… we didn’t buy anything, but it’s always fun to just wander, ride the Egyptian Escalator and the Doti Fayed/Princess Diana Shrine in the basement.
Again, waiting for my parents to return to Kensington from their tour and for my friend’s brother to arrive at Heathrow, we decided to head over to Earl’s Court station, exiting the station, we saw a pub across the street – it was as good a place as any to wait for our anticipated phone calls (I brought my AT&T mobile w/ me w/ the Int’l roaming activated). Entering the pub, we discovered the Man U./Birmingham match on the telly so we ordered pints and settled in to watch the match w/ the locals, Man U. won 1-nil.
Finally receiving our respective calls from my parents and her brother, my friend and I parted ways at Earl’s Court, I to return to Gloucester Street to connect w/ my parents and she to wait at Earl’s Court for her brother to arrive from Heathrow. I enjoyed a pleasant light meal w/ my parents in their hotel (the Copthorne Tara) and my friend had dinner w/ her brother. I got back to our room at the Park City hotel before her, got ready for bed and put this together, she returned shortly thereafter.
Tomorrow, we are agreed we are going to the Tower of London early for the Yeoman Warder tour and the Crown Jewels, after that, we’re not sure what we’re doing next, but are going to try and get to Soho/Chinatown for dinner Sunday night as we’re scheduled to leave for Paris Monday morning on the Chunnel.
September 30th:
We're off to Paris in about 9 hours so I wanted to sort of wrap up our stay in London.
We awoke this morning w/ visions of the Crown Jewels dancing through our heads. Since the Tower of London doesn’t open until 10:00 on Sundays, we left the Park City Hotel around 9:00 to get in early. We went to the Sainsbury’s next door for our morning routine of tea/Diet Coke and found they did not open until 11:00 AM! We ended up buying Diet Coke at a newstand and tea at Starbucks.
Took the Tube from Gloucester Street to Tower Hill and stood in line for tickets and entered for the Yeoman Warder tour. My partner has never been to London before and it seems a waste to go to London for the first time and NOT see the Crown Jewels! As always the tour was the most entertaining part for me, the Yeoman Warder provided the history, background, and jokes that make the tour (besides the Crown Jewels) so enjoyable! After the tour, we headed to the Jewel Building itself, spent several turns on the conveyor belt admiring the beauty of the several crowns kept there in storage….. I can’t add to what has previously been said about the Crown Jewels…….
As an aside, recently, the Tower added the very first female Yeoman Warder to the guards at the Tower. I had seen her on the TV in the States before departing. As we were getting ready to leave the Tower, I saw 3 of the "Yeomen" over by the Church. One of the three was obviously her! I quickly walked straight towards the 3 of them, excused myself for interrupting their conversation, and said, "I'm sorry, but I saw you on the telly, would it be okay for me to have my picture taken with you?" The other two male "Yeomen" smiled at my question, they both rolled back out of the way and the new "Yeoman" was very polite and friendly and kindly agreed to have her picture taken with me. Once the photo was taken, I thanked her for the photo and congratulated her on her assigment to the Tower, she thanked me, and wished me a good day! All in all, I was pretty pleased and the picture came out well (I'll try to post later!).
Following the Tower (where we spent about 3 hours in all), we crossed the Tower Bridge to Southwark. Settled down at the Anchor Tap pub, enjoyed another few pints and a “baguette” sandwich. We wandered back over the Tower Bridge to Tower Hill to take the Tube back to our hotel, we decided until to go to Covent Garden. Took the Circle Line around to King’s Cross, transfer to the Piccadilly line to Covent Garden.
On arrival at Covent Garden, we had no idea what to expect – neither of us had ever been there! What a sight! We were both astounded by the mass of humanity……… We wandered up one street and down another and eventually ended up in Chinatown. We made several laps up and down each street in a quest to find a Chinese restaurant I had dinner w/ my cousin & his fiancé in 2002 – w/out luck, we could not find it…..
We returned to our hotel and called my parents who were staying a short distance away. We took a cab to a Spanish tapas restaurant, Tendido Cero (on Old Brompton Road). Dinner was wonderful! We had several rounds of tapas, a terrific crowd in the restaurant. The food was delicious and the tab for 4 w/ 2 bottles of wine was only 100 GBP!
We returned to our hotel for a nightcap and my parents returned to their hotel and we retired to our room to pack for our train to Paris tomorrow! The trip continues…………
More from Paris in the coming days!
I also can relate to the search for the Chinese restaurant - we went to a pre-theater dinner on an earlier trip at a place that actually had pretty good food, but could not remember the name or exact location so on the last trip we thought "how hard could it be, we just stumbled on it the first time"! Well famous last words! We never did find it, and ended up having some of the worst Indian food ever. 
Yes we have been, seen the highlights, but none of the walking/pub visits. Glad you enjoyed, and look forward to your France updates! 
hahahha