London

After a wonderful visit in Birmingham we were headed to London for a few days. On Tuesday the 28th we caught a train to Marylebone station with David and somehow managed to squeeze all of our luggage and the three of us in a taxi. Thank goodness for black cabs and their unconventional interior layout! 

My dear friend Anna lives conveniently close to King's Cross St. Pancras where we were going to be catching the Eurostar, so we left our giant suitcases at her place upon arrival before heading out. While James took off with his brother, Anna and I took a reminiscent walk and enjoyed some tea in a cafe in Camden where she's lived for nearly 6 years. 

I stayed with her 5 years ago as well when Natalia and I were in London on our backpacking adventure. Lucky for James and I we were able to stay with her before she heads to Toronto for the summer to finish writing her PhD thesis! After an afternoon of chatting she and I were ready for a feast and we went for sushi. It was delicious! 

On Wednesday James and I headed to the British Museum. Neither of us had been there before and we were ready to be full blown tourists. What a spectacular entrance!

We saw the Rosetta Stone which was much larger than I'd imagined, many Egyptian relics - including a mummy, a fascinating collection of clocks and many other stunning items of history. One piece however that really gripped me was called 'Throne of Weapons' in the African Art section which is a chair made from recycled guns.

You can look at its Wikipedia page here: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throne_of_Weapons

That evening we headed out to Greenwich where we were meeting David and Paula, a friend of mine from when I traveled around New Zealand and Australia. James and I got to the area early so we could walk around and see some famous sites including the Cutty Sark sailboat, the Naval College Gardens, and the Queen's House. 

For all those Tudors fans out there, this was where King Henry VIII and his daughters Queen Mary I and Queen Elizabeth I were all born. There was a stone commemorating the site that the palace formerly stood. 

It started to rain a bit so we went to find somewhere to go for dinner. James had a few things to tick off his food list while in England, one being eating pie and mash. Safe to say, mission accomplished.

Sticking with the supremely British fare I felt I had to go for the fish and chips, not realizing the portion of fish I was about to receive. Although it was the single largest piece of fried fish I have ever seen, complete with an overwhelming amount of oil, I got right in there! James was lucky enough to be able finish it off for me, so he sort of got to check fish and chips off his list as well. Efficient!

Thursday morning we went for full English breakfasts (another check on the list...) in Camden followed by more walking. Later that afternoon James went to meet his old roommate Dave and I met up my friend Nashwa. We caught up for a bit then checked out a free art exhibit, and then walked around a bit before parting ways. There was some panic due to the fact that James and I did not have phones so we were relying entirely on using our friends' cell phones to contact one another. It all worked out though, so mega thanks to Anna, Nash and Dave!

On our last day we decided to go full tourist: St. Paul's Cathedral and the Tower of London, complete with a north bank walk along the Thames in between the two. It was a crazy amount of walking (including climbing 538 steps at St. Paul's to the Whispering Gallery, the Stone Gallery and the Golden Gallery) but we learned a lot about history that day. And from the top of the cathedral we saw spectacular views:

It is such a beautiful building to photograph, especially in nice weather. The sun really came out that day so the walk along the Thames was gorgeous. Many a Londoner were taking an extended lunch or perhaps a half day to maximize the sunshine! When we got to the Tower there were so many tour groups, especially school-aged French students, but we gave it our all and walked around the whole place.

This last photo is of the lineup to see the Crown Jewels. We were not up to waiting for an hour to see them so we gave it a miss and left to enjoy a delightful Italian dinner near Covent Garden. Shortly after we met up with David for farewell beers. Until next time, England!