Day Two: London

We straggled onto the 10:00 train from Oxshott into London, and ended up straggling back on the 10:00 that evening.  Much later than we'd expected, but it turns out there's quite a bit to see and eat do in London.

We started with a hop-on hop-off bus tour.  I don't remember what this building is, but it was striking.  If anybody knows, feel free to tell me in the comments!

Tower Bridge; HMS Belfast in front to the left.

The new city hall and "the gherkin," the latest additions to London's eclectic skyline.

The City is guarded by dragons.

Our first London pub grub was quite good.  Bangers and mash: the bangers were bangin', the mash was ok, the gravy was great.

ham and leek pie w/veg and chips--the pie and chips were fantastic

The White Tower inside the Tower of London.  Holy cow, this place is huge and confusing.  It wasn't on our list, but I'm glad we decided to stop in. 

Miss Chef enjoyed a nice view of Tower Bridge from the moat.

...and then some goofball decided to get in the picture.

This chapel is the oldest remaining part of the original Tower, and also where Lady Jane Grey made her last prayers before the execution ordered by Bloody Mary.

Further down the Thames, a nice view of the London Eye.  It's very big.

The cloisters  of Westminster Abbey with Parliament tower in the background.  There are no pictures allowed inside the abbey, so you'll just have to believe that we were in there.  Miss Chef got bored by looking at a bunch of dead people.

The National Gallery at Trafalgar Square, and the countdown to the Olympics.  It was raining rather steadily by this point, but you haven't experienced London if it hasn't rained on you, right?

A re-creation of a Van Gogh done in living plants.  Very cool.



Soho in the rain.  Miss Chef loved the facade of this pub.  We didn't go in, though; we were headed to Foyles bookstore.



Another pub meal, this one pretty mediocre.  Chicken and cider pie.  The pie was overdone and underdone at the same time, but the veg was quite good.

Fried brie with Cumberland sauce and a mache salad.  This was very good; there were orginally three pieces of brie, but we were hungry.

Since the food was so mediocre, we wandered around 'til we found a little Belgian waffle place for dessert.  We chatted a bit with the two girls running the place; though a bit of a cheap place, it was kind of fun.  Then we got on the tube and back on the train for home. 

Today, day three is not really planned; a day trip to...somewhere.  We were originally to go to the beach, but the weather is supposed to be cool, so we'll spin the wheel and go somewhere else.  Stay tuned.