england trip #4 – london

Yes, apparently it IS going to take me forever. Oh, well, what’s the hurry? Not much else going on – including our very quiet Thanksgiving involving me, my father, and Baker B going to Cracker Barrel. Which, I have to say, (and much to my astonishment.) was actually quite good.  Traditional Thanksgiving fare- turkey, dressing, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce… several other things, including a beverage (not an adult one, sadly) and pie for dessert. All for $9, and not only edible but tasty. And no clean-up. We had to wait about half an hour for a table (I’ll spare you the details about how we drove by much earlier, decided the line was too long, and tried several other places where.. DUH… lines were also too long, before going back and just getting on the list — by that time it wasn’t too bad. Okay, so I won’t spare you the details. Whatever). And the weather was almost as astonishing as the meal – sunny and warm, so sitting out on the “porch” in great big Cracker Barrel Rockers was surprisingly pleasant.

SO. Back to London! And I certainly wish it was that easy to find myself back in London. Or the countryside. I MISS IT.

Our next stop, the day after Tower of London and Tower Bridge was just as touristy, and just as impressive:

Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Westminster…. the works.

The light was not good at all, sadly — it was early in the morning and very glarey. So I got a lot of washed-out views and a lot of bad shadows.

Since we were sticking pretty strictly to our London Pass attractions, we didn’t go in Westminster Abby. I think you can actually go through the graveyard for free, though, and of course I totally forgot about it. I had made all sorts of notes about stuff to see in my cool Moleskin London City Notebook (which I totally recommend – amazingly helpful both for the planning stages and the being-there part, with all sorts of places to note what you want to see and do along with what what you actually did see and do), but it was surprisingly easy to miss stuff anyhow, even with the notes. A note for next time– updated notes!

And if you have issues with heights, be forewarned…. yes, we DID go up in the London Eye!

It was (I think) the only attraction we paid for – and if you love views (and are okay with being waaaaaaaaay up in the air) it was well worth it.

Yes, just hop right on in the Pod!

Baker B could not do this. He doesn’t like heights, and it’s amplified by being in a smallish glass pod with a bunch of other people. That you can’t get out of. Kim had a little trouble with it too, and had to sit down for part of the ride. I think that’s the top of her head in the bottom left corner, actually. It didn’t bother me at all. It goes veeeery slowly. And I adore a view.

Next stop — ferry ride! Much less alarming, for sure.