S and J Take London: Part 2

You may recall from yesterday that Julia and I were last seen running and eating our way through London. Boy, that sure didn't happen when I first visited in 1984! My first "meal" was a cheese sandwich on white bread. And things didn't get much better after that. The London food scene has come a loooong way, baby!

Onward.

Friday included a trip to the Tower of London where our Yeoman Warder was none other than Dickie Dover--the same guide B and I (along with my sister, Jenn, and brother-in-law, Tom) had when we visited in 2005! At the end of our tour I mentioned this to him, and he told me that next year he will be retiring from his post after 40 years. Amazing!

I just love the Tower and all of its stories and history. They've added a marker so you can see the spot where Anne Boleyn lost her head. And Mary Queen of Scots. And Kathryn Howard. And . . .

One of the main things that Julia and I wanted to do on our trip was a bicycle tour, and we had scheduled that for Friday afternoon because the weather looked like it was going to be nice. We were not disappointed--the weather could not have been better and the bike tour amazing. A little scary at times, but after a while we got the hang of it--London drivers aren't the most patient with cyclists--and really enjoyed our tour. If you're ever in London, definitely try the Fat Tire Bike Tour. Totally fun.

Saturday started out rainy, so we decided to go grab some breakfast at one of our favorite little spots: The Muffin Man. I had taken my other girls there, and they insisted that I take Julia. Nothing special, just a very sweet tea room where we had some lovely scrambled eggs on an English muffin.

After breakfast, it was starting to rain a little harder, so, rather than head to Portobello Road as planned, we decided to visit a couple of museums in the morning while we waited for the rain to clear. Good call.

We visited the Victoria and Albert--my favorite--and the British Museum because Julia had read about the cool stuff there including the Rosetta Stone and this guy:

By late morning the rain had cleared, so we made our way to Portobello Road and the wonderful market there. Sure, it's crowded. Sure, it's touristy. Sure, it's overpriced. But it's fun!

And, besides, one of my favorite movies is based there.

By now, of course, our feet were killing us, so we took the bus to Kensington Palace where we had tea at The Orangery. Perfect!

After tea, we walked back to our hotel to pack up and get ready for the next leg of our journey: Oxford and the Cotswolds.

Come on back tomorrow for the next part of our amazing adventure!

*****

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