Day: Yesterday

So yesterday was cool, we got a lot done but fell short of our itinerary. We slept past the alarm which put us at a two hour deficit from the get-go. Our first stop was Hammersmith station for some breakfast. We ordered "breakfast baguettes," I think that I ordered two bacon egg cheese, but we got bacon sausage egg, which was good because the sausage was great! I'm going to order another one today. The london tube website said that our section of the tube was down. I hope it's back up by the time we get there. Apparently weekends are prime-time for tube outtages because of "maintenance." We've been seeing LOTS of tourists here, of all nationalities. It has really caught us offguard, we were expecting "off-season" traffic, if I get some extra time, I'll post pictures of Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square.

After breakfast, we went back to Buckingham Palace to get some pics without tons of people... well, we got pictures, but there were still tons of people. We just happened to get there at about the same time as the day before when the changing of the guard was taking place, apparently everyone thought that it was taking place yesterday as well. Luckily, today they will be back and we won't be there. After buckingham palace, we went to "Tower Bridge" which is sometimes confused with London Bridge. It was beautiful and spectacular. We did the tour for six pounds a piece and got to go up in the tower. The view was very good. Afterward, we took a tour of the Tower of London, which was MUCH bigger than I expected. The downside of things being much bigger than you expect, is that you don't spend nearly enough time there. The Tower seemed to be like some sort of "london disneyland," with some great stuff, even though it's tailored for tourists. We did get to see the Ravens which was what I was most excited about, and I'll tell you this; they are the biggest ravens I've ever seen. I'm sure Dad and D. Kiger would have a great time shooting at them. I think Amy read that they feed them a pound of raw-meat and blood every day.

After the tower we tried to get to the Borough Market, I say "tried" not because we didn't make it, but because it was difficult to get to. The tube map shows two stations connected to each other, but they are actually a good half-mile away. Needless to say, we walked a LOT yesterday. Once we got to the bourough market, we had a few snacks and bought some candies, it was extremely cool. There were several "beware of pick-pocketing" signs. I don't think I got pick-pocketed, which is good. We were tired, hungry, and sore after the market... we hopped back on the tube and at this point, we missed lunch. We went immediately for the National Gallery and luckily the National Gallery Cafe was spectacular! I ordered a steak for 15 pounds (not a bad price), and it was GOOD. I ordered it medium-well, and told Amy to remind me from then on to just order medium because my last steak at the Napa restraunt at our hotel over-cooked my steak. It came medium, and I was happy. It came with a great blue-cheese cream sauce and yummy fried potato slices, Amy liked her hamburger and fries too. After dinner we only had 30 minutes to see the National Gallery (not nearly enough time). But we made the most of it, we saw some great Degas and VanGough pieces. This place was simply beautiful. Outside the Gallery was Trafalgar square, which was full of trash and protestors before we went in, after we came out, everything was cleaned up! The city workers here are amazing, they keep everything clean. We headed back lastnight, completely worn out. We went to sleep early and slept in a bit. Today we are recouperating and not travelling out to Stonehenge, we are going to try to hit it on the 8th.