Our first full day in England was jam packed. We started off the morning with with a yummy breakfast at the hotels Pearl Restaurant. We had the most interesting scrambled eggs. I note this because it was not even close to the way that scrambled eggs are prepared in the United States. I'm not even sure how to describe it - they are milky, with a kick of cheesiness and salt - and were not huge chunks. It peaked our interest so much so, that we have attempted to do it here at home - and Andrew has managed to figure out the process. (One of the few times I have given him reign in the kitchen.) I guess what caught us most off guard was the bill for breakfast. Thank goodness our breakfasts were included in the tour package - - 50 pounds for a continental breakfast was astonishing. The exchange rate at the time was 2 times the dollar. I can't think of anyone who has paid 100 dollars for breakfast. Regardless of the cost, it was a yummy breakfast.
After breakfast, we joined the rest of the group for the start of our day. Our morning surprise was that the group will be using a Routemaster bus to get around the city of Westminster. The Routemaster bus has no longer been used as transportation since 2005. They can now only be rented for special occasions. Clearly our group constitutes a special occasion. We all hopped on - well in between taking pictures - and headed to Parliament Square. We got a nice view of the bell tower that houses Big Ben (the bell) as well as the Parliament buildings.
We spent the remainder of the morning touring Westminster Abbey with 2 Blue Badge guides. We got to enter a back entrance into the cloisters. We got interesting stories about the Kings and other notable people actually buried in the Abbey, like Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. The Abbey is so different from the way churches are built here. I think Andrew and I really liked it - even more than Notre Dame. As we exited the Abbey we were almost pulled into a Westminister Choir School event - they were holding a fund-raising fair. Although we were unable to attend, we did get to see some traditional British Dance.
Next, we were back on the bus for a short trip St. James' park. It was an absolutely amazing green park. I probably could have just spent an afternoon out there reading a book. We took some pictures and then the group headed towards Buckingham Palace. The tour guides had magically guided us to a great spot just prior to 12:30 - time for the changing of the guard. Those guys really take pride in their job. It was an amazing sight to see.
After more time to take pictures, we gathered on the bus for a ride to Harrod's Department Store, which is huge by the way. The only store that I could think of that it compares to was the FAO Schwartz store in NY except add another like 4 levels to it. We had High Tea at the Georgian Restaurant on the 4th floor. We both enjoyed the Harrod's special tea, sandwiches, and scones. Andrew and I took about an hour to explore the rest of Harrod's. Even though a half off sale was going on - I couldn't bring myself to buy anything. Half off the pounds would then get doubled because of the exchange rate - so that 160 pound outfit is still 160 dollars. Ooops.
We caught the bus back to the hotel for a short afternoon of relaxing and getting all dressed up. Our dinner this evening was taken care of by the trip and we were going to Simpson's-on-the-Strand. This used to be a gentlemen's only club until 1984. Other than that tid-bit, we had a wonderful dinner. The group then walked a little ways to the Lyceum Theatre to see the production of The Lion King. If you don't know the show - it is performed with puppets. It was outstanding. I would love to get the opportunity to see it back here in the States as well. After about 5 minutes - you forget about the actors - the puppets really are alive. I was most impressed by the wildebeest stampede. It was an amazing feat of set design. As Disney VIP's, our day was a little bit longer. After the show ended, we got a special backstage tour. We got an up close look at the costumes, puppets, and sets. That was really amazing. By the time we made it back to the hotel, we had surpassed tired and gone straight to totally exhausted. But the good kind of exhausted.
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