We had exactly 1 day to explore London before having to catch the overnight bus to Edinburgh at 11pm at Victoria Station. So, bleary eyed we packed up and headed to the station to stash our luggage. Victoria Station has a service where you can leave your luggage with a guy at a counter and they store it for you for 8.50 pounds per bag for the first 24 hours. The line for this was long. We took shifts - 2 of us would wait in line while the other 2 ran to find a sandwich for lunch - and had just enough time to get to Hyde Park to make the walking tour at 1pm. Sandeman’s New Europe does awesome free walking tours of a number of famous cities in Europe that last from 2-3 hours (www.neweuropetours.eu). I’ve done 3 and the guides have all been knowledgeable and helpful and work solely for tips. It’s a great way to see major sites and get some history in as well. We saw Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and a ton of other sites around the city.
After the tour, we decided to try to see the Tower of London (or possibly the London Tower, a man we asked for directions was very annoyed that I said it the wrong way) and got to see some of the more graffitied areas of the city by cleverly getting lost for a bit.
*SuperNova Travel Tip: Being lost is part of traveling. I have a horrendous sense of direction and have spent large parts of my life lost, so I forget sometimes that being lost is a new and scary feeling for some people. Just remember to stay calm, take a deep breath, and look to see which side of the buildings the moss is growing on. Oh wait, no. I mean, remember that you’re in a city, not a desert. There’s food and water everywhere. If you have time, explore a little, you might find something awesome on your way to finding your way. If you’re pressed for time, then ask someone. If you refuse to ask someone, then you should have brought a map.
We eventually made it back over to the Thames, but by then had been walking for hours and decided we’d just take a picture of the London Tower from where we were. We were all getting hungry and assumed that there must be an English pub nearby where we could get a pint and some fish ‘n chips on our last day in London in this very popular and touristy area of the city. Now, for those of you who are loyal SuperNova followers, you know that whenever I make the mistake of "assuming" something I get universally spanked. This time, though, we actually weren’t wrong; there were several pubs along the many small streets we traversed. They were not, however, serving food on Sunday after 4pm. I don’t know how you’re supposed to know that or why that is the policy and we were too hungry to care about discovering the cultural intricacies of London pubs.
We stumbled down a cute cobblestone road thinking that there had to be a restaurant along it. And there were many store fronts that looked like they should be serving food, but they all appeared to be closed. We finally came to the end without having found even a fast food restaurant to lower our standards to. Tensions were getting high as the hunger delirium mounted. We turned left and leaned on the railing above the river. We wearily turned our heads to the left and noticed that the way was lined with restaurants. We’d been walking along the back of the strip of restaurants. We quickly made our selection, got a table on the deck overlooking the river, and I had the most delicious shepherd’s pie while M, V, and Mc had the Sunday roast special with pints and ciders all around. Cheers!
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