Trip to London: Day 2

Day 2 (March 22)
We started off the day with the big English breakfast. Today we decided to make good use of the Big Bus Tour ticket.
The idea with the Big Bus Tour is that you can "hop on/hop off" any number of stops they make. This is quite convenient when you want to spend some time at any number of London's attractions.
We decided to get advanced tickets for the tower of London. We purchased them from the Big Bus Tour agent at the stop. We hopped on and went for a ride.
We decided to hop off at the National Gallery first. Having a need for coffee we took a quick spin around Trafalgar Square there thinking we can find a Starbucks (and there were quite a few in London). But amazingly we couldn't find any! Oh well.
One thing any tourist or local should appreciate is the fact that just about all the British museums and galleries charge no admission fee. They do kindly ask that you do give some sort of donation to help maintain the museums. If the museum had a special exhibit, it might charge an admission for that exhibit.
At the National Gallery, we perused some of the halls on the main level. After about an hour or 2 we were starting to get a bit pooped from walking around the museum. Time to go back out into the brisk cold weather (it was sunny but nippy!).
We went back to the bus stop and caught the next bus. Next stop: Tower of London.
It was recommended that we partake in the free tour given by one of the Wardens/Yeoman at the Tower of London. So we did. And I thought it was well worth it as the Warden was quite animated and funny to listen to. He related some interesting and at times bloody history of the Tower of London.
With the close proximity of the bird flu to the UK at the time, all of the ravens were put away in a more protected area. So, we didn't get to see them. :-(
After visiting the various buildings on the grounds, we were starting to get a bit hungry. Again, after that big breakfast we were good until about mid-afternoon.
There were some eateries not far from the Tower of London. We found one that served fish & chips! So fish & chips is what we had. It was pretty good actually.
We caught the next bus back, which turned out to be one of the last buses on that route (thank goodness!). We got off by Marble Arch and walked back to the hotel.
That evening, as we weren't too famished after having that late lunch, we went to a pub around the corner. The Charles Dickens I think. The food really wasn't that great, but at least the brew was okay.
Thus ended day 2.

Trip to London

Well, it's been a few weeks since we got back from London. All I can say is that it was expensive and that it was typical spring weather: cold, damp and windy. But that is not to say that it was a miserable trip! On the contrary, we made the most of the week we were there, rainy weather or not! :-)
Day 1:
We landed at Heathrow just a little after 7AM local time. We managed to get through immigration/customs with minimal fuss (except for some comments about my Brazilian visa). Got our tickets for the Heathrow Express and away we go!
We got into Paddington around 9AM and found our hotel with very little trouble. The hostess of the hotel asked if we were hungry and sent us down to the dining room for our first taste of a traditional English Breakfast! How sweet!
After filling our jet-lagged tummies we checked in and made our way to our room. We dropped our stuff on the floor and promptly laid our heads down for a quick nap.
Around 11:00 we made ourselves get up. Any longer of a nap and our jetlag would just be worse! So, after refreshing ourselves, we made our way to the Big Bus Tour bus stop that was just around the corner from the hotel. We bought our tickets (good for 48 hours!) and made our way to the upper (exposed) deck of the bus.
Okay, we really did not realize just how chilly the weather was until we got underway on the bus! This is the blue route of the bus tour. This took us to many of the major attractions. At some point after we went by Victoria station, we knew we just had to get off somewhere and warm up. By now it sometime in the middle of the afternoon. That breakfast had kept us satiated until now.
So, we decided to get off at the stop next to Harrod's. We made our way into the famed department store and headed straight into the food hall.
After wandering around for a bit, we settled on a sushi bar. We got ourselves some green tea, miso soup and a plate of nigiri sushi to split between ourselves. Needless to say that was a rather expensive late lunch, but heck, when you gotta eat, you gotta eat! ;-)
next we decided to just roam around the department store to see what all the hub-bub was about the place.
Well, the only thing I can say about Harrod's is that it does offer much in the way of high-end designer goods. At the same time it also provides a certain amount of kitsch to the whole experience. Also throw in some snobbery such as having to carry packs in your hand instead of over your shoulder. :-p
After we thoroughly warmed up and had enough of Harrod's we figure it was a good time to head back to the hotel. We decided to walk back since we were just on the other side of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.
The walk through the park was okay. There was a cold stiff breeze blowing. :-p
We got back. Rested. Then we decided to head over to the Royal Exchange pub which was a 5 minute walk away. There we had a nice filling meal and some brew. Thus the end of day 1.