London, Day Five: The First Day of Rain

So in an amazing turn of events we had our first day of rain on the fifth day in to our trip. Before I came here I was under the impression that we would probably have rain just about every day. We got incredibly lucky! And I think Ann Marie and I are seriously starting to hit a wall...every day it gets a little harder to keep hoofing it around this city. I think I've done more walking this week than I have ever walked during any given week in my entire life. We've been getting very very lazy...which is evidenced clearly in at least a couple places during the course of this blog.

This morning we started our day by heading to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. Here is the gate in Green Park right before you get to the palace...


And right across the street from here is the one, the only, Buckingham Palace...


There were tons of people there despite the rain. This statue was out in front of the palace.


But there were so many people and the rain was so incessant...and the changing of the guard was apparently running late...that we left without seeing it. Lazy moment number one.

Then we went to the British Museum...thoroughly soaked by the time we arrived.


Which happens to be home of the Rosetta Stone.


(You can see my reflection in the glass in this next one...Shane, this is your picture of me for the day.)


After viewing the Rosetta Stone we walked around and looked at some other Ancient Egyptian artifacts...




And then we went to lunch in the museum cafe and I had the first disgusting meal during my time here. I was going to get a baked potato but the toppings they had to offer were: tuna fish, coleslaw, corn, and some shredded cheese...and the cheese didn't look all that good. Yuck. So I got the vegetable soup, thinking I couldn't go wrong with soup. I was very wrong...


I could not eat this soup. For some reason it tasted and smelled like fish and by "vegetables" apparently they meant "slivers of carrot and some little green things." Luckily I had a little bit of French bread and a cookie too so I managed to survive the afternoon. After lunch we saw a little more of the museum but then left. Lazy moment two.

Then we went to St. Paul's Cathedral. I'm convinced this is the place where the old lady from the song "Feed the Birds" in Mary Poppins sits and sells birdseed to feed the pigeons. "Feeed the biiirrddss...tupins a bag. Tupiinnnss, tupppiinnnnss, tupins a baaaaggg."


But you had to pay 11 pounds to actually walk around inside...so we poked our heads in, had a look, and left. We'd already seen St. Martin in the Fields and Westminster Abby so we felt we'd seen enough churchy stuff. Lazy moment three.

We then went over to Notting Hill to do some shopping on Portabello Road. I believe it is when we arrived at the Notting Hill tube station that we did the one non-lazy thing all day. As a matter of fact it was so non-lazy it was outright stupid. The station was pretty crowded and we needed to take an elevator to get to street level...or take the stairs. I hate crowded elevators so I was willing to do just about anything to avoid it. Ann Marie cautioned me that she saw a sign saying there was a whopping 193 steps to the top, but I just said "I bet it's not as bad as you'd think."

Dear lord was I wrong. I think I nearly killed my poor aunt. I managed to power through the stairs and nearly had an asthma attack at the top...I couldn't even feel my quads...and Ann Marie had to stop twice to rest. I felt so bad I couldn't stop apologizing. She was about ready to strangle me.

But we still had a good time shopping and walking around Notting Hill...here's a view of the shops on Portobello Road...


This one store, Alice's, was almost like a museum. It was packed with really cool, strange antiques.


During our journey we also stopped by a bakery KC had recommended to get some cupcakes. It was called The Hummingbird Bakery.






Alan and Amanda - suprising they had NO hummingbird cupcakes! They did, however, have red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting...


Naturally, I unhinged my jaw and ate the entire thing in one bite.


Then, when we were lesiurely strolling back to the tube station, we passed by this very unassuming looking building.


Which turns out to be the former home of George Orwell.


I LOVE the book 1984 so this was a very exciting discovery. This little round plaque was the only thing denoting the house as a historical site. You could very easily miss it and I'm so glad we didn't.

Also on our way back to the tube station we saw a very interesting storefront display. It contained two live bunnies.


So cute! I know in this picture it looks like that maniquins foot is crushing the poor thing but I promise you it wasn't. He was hopping around happily and nibbling on some hay.

After that we went way out of the way to Covent Garden to do some more shopping and then we headed home for a relaxing eveing of pizza, wine, and Semi Pro. Although this movie is definitely NOT one of Will Farrell's best, it was a vast improvement over last night's selection.

Night all! I have to rest up for my last full day here in London... :'(