Friday, May 8, 2009

This morning, Rick’s alarm did not go off for some reason. So we woke up later than planned but we both needed the extra rest. We had breakfast at our hostel which was free. They only had toast and cereal but it was better than nothing. We then took the tube towards Buckingham Palace. We walked through a park which was quite nice except for the fact that it was raining. When we got to the main road we noticed a bunch of people and police standing around a driveway of another palace. We walked over to see what was going on. As soon as we got there, the gates opened and cars pulled out. The Queen and Prince Charles were in one of those cars. It happened so quickly that unfortunately we did not get any pictures.

Rick and I then walked over to Buckingham Palace. We were planning to watch the changing of the guard. However, because the weather wasn’t cooperating, it was canceled. They did have a very short ceremony but Rick said it was nothing compared to the real thing.

We then decided to go to the British museum. This museum, like most in London, was free to get into. Since Rick had been there a couple of times, he was able to give me a tour and point out some of the highlights. The British museum has hundreds of thousands of artifacts from around the world. It was very interesting to see.

After the museum, we were both very hungry. As we were walking I spotted a little restaurant that had burgers and other sandwiches that were quite cheap. The only catch was we had to take it to go. Rick and I had burgers and chips (french fries) for little over 6 pounds which is about 9 dollars. For a meal in London, that was really cheap. We found a bench to sit on and ate our lunch. Fortunately, the weather had cleared up by this time and it was nice sitting outside.

We stopped at the hostel for a little bit to rest from a busy morning of walking. Rick then showed me where he lived while he was staying in London. He also showed me Herald’s which is a huge shopping store in London. The department store is very expensive. After that we had dinner. Rick and I split barbecued ribs and chicken.

After dinner, we went to see Big Ben and Parliament. We also saw Westminster Abbey and the London Eye. We then took the tube to see the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge. Before going back to our hostel, we stopped at Piccadilly Circus. This area is like Times Square in New York City. It has many large, lighted billboards.