Cornish Pasties and English Squirrels
Day 3 started a little late since we had gotten in a bit later than we expected the night before. We missed breakfast at the hotel so we picked up a little snack at the Victoria train station. We tried some Cornish Pasties. I had tradition steak pasty and Steve tried a chicken and vegetable. I was instantly hooked, but since we don't have any pasty stands around here, I'll have to learn to make them.
From the train station, we walked over to Buckingham Palace with our Cornish Pasties in hand. I must confess, apart from the fancy gates, Buckingham Palace was rather plain.
We made our way over to Big Ben while walking through St. James Park. Of course, I was ridiculously excited to see an English squirrel. In true English fashion, this English squirrel was much friendlier than our rude American squirrels. The squirrels in my backyard won't even give me the time of day.
Steve and I started walking toward Big Ben and happened to pass Westminster Abbey. Right about that time, we also were caught in a torrential downpour. So we took the only cover we could, inside the Abbey. I wasn't planning on actually going inside the Abbey as this was the "Reader's Digest Condensed" Tour of London, but with no sign of the rain letting up, we paid the fee and went it. I'm so glad we did. The history in that one building is just amazing. Not only are Kings and Queens buried there, but poets and writers (Chaucer, Dickens, Browning, Tennyson), scientists (Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Lord Kelvin), musicians, (Handel) and even David Livingston, the famous missionary. For someone who loves history like I do, it was quite a treat.
After the Abbey, we walked to Trafalgar Square, buying an umbrella on the way. Sadly Trafalgar Square was full of big screens, a stage and bleachers for the Tour De France that coming weekend. I'm still confused as to why it was starting in England and how they planned to bike across the English Channel.
As Steve said in his blog, we went to the National Gallery but were disappointed. Not only could we not take pictures (We found that out after taking one and having a guard run over and ask us to delete the picture immediately, although she was very nice about it.), half the museum was closed due to some strike resulting in a shortage of staff. (Guess they didn't want to risk not having anyone to keep us horrid tourist from taking pictures.) I did get to see Monet's "The Water Lily Pond", one of my all time favorite paintings. I really wanted to see Canaletto's paintings, but that was one of the areas that was closed. We ended up going next door to the National Portrait Gallery. Much better, but it wasn't open late like the National Gallery was.
By this time, we were quite hungry. So we headed up to Leicester Square where the premiere of Harry Potter had been just a few nights before. Steve bought us tickets to go see a show, then we searched for a place to grab a quick bite to eat.
After the show, we walked around London, taking pictures. I'm so glad we were able to see so many of the sights at night. They are beautiful in the day, but absolutely breathtaking at night.
A perfect end to a perfect day.
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