london: day 3

monday: june 30th, 2008
francis and i take on the city, or try...

9:30am: we've become so used to the tinny bling of cell-phone rings; we hardly ever hear the grating ring of a real land-line phone anymore. well, i heard one, right next to my ear, blaring like a fire-alarm, at 9:30 am, jolting me out of sound sleep. alarming! francis, on the other hand, not only didn't even blink, i could not rouse him. so i went downstairs to acquire our breakfast and bring it back up on a tray.

he was still hard to wake, and slow to rise. i realized we weren't going to make the 11am changing of the guards, so we slowed down a bit and decided to enjoy our meal and not rush it. i made tea, and we ate our breakfast of cereal and rolls with marmalade, and blackcurrant jam (francis' new favorite.)

we decided to hit the british museum first, only a stroll thru russell park and a few blocks away. the building itself is amazing, -huge, crowded, and daunting. the inside foyer alone, i could look up and stare for hours. i said: pick your favorites, we can't see everything. we spent a good two hours staring and gaping, francis full of wonder at all the ancient egyptian relics, truly fascinated, and taking pictures of everything.



we wandered the surrounding neighborhood, got a sandwhich to go, and i tried to figure out the bus system, determined, but, hot and frustrated, could not, so we ended up taking the tube only 2 stops (which, when i told ruth later, she had a good laugh about it. apparently, it was only a ten minute walk!)



we took the tube to charing cross for trafalgar square, only to find out it was closed off for a canada day celebration. so we sat down on the steps, hot, tired, and blank. where shall we go now? i looked down at our map to get our bearings and realized we were only blocks away from the thames and parliament, so we decide to walk down the thames. we passed a tesco (grocery store) and popped in to buy a snack: smoothies, bananas, and smarties (like m&m's), and then sat on a bench along the river to rest and watch the world go by.

we spent the afternoon in a slow meandering crawl, enjoying the sunshine and the sights. we crossed the jubilee bridge, with views of the london eye (ferris wheel) and big ben and parliament. francis wanted to sit and watch a street performer, (which we did) and he watched him, mesmerized for ages. then he saw a playground, and wanted to swing, so i rested for awhiled longer, while he played, a kid still, even when you're a tourist in the heart of london. i was glad to give him that time, because all we've been doing is walking and looking, for days. it was nice to just be somewhere, instead of going somewhere, and watch everyone else about their day.







we crossed back over the thames, this time by way of westminster bridge, to gape at big ben and the parliament buildings. i told francis the story of guy fawkes; we talk about government and the queen.

we looped back along the river to where we started, and beyond, to covent garden, to meet up with ruth for a dinner of fish and chips. i thought it would be a long walk, but this is where i finally realize it only took us minutes, and how close we are to our hotel. it was only a 10 minutes walk back, with ruth leading the way, and we sat in russell square for the sunset, and let francis play in the fountain, while we talked.



finally, cold to the bone, and francis wet thru, we parted ways: us to our hotel, ruth to bike home thru the streets of london, before it got too dark.

9:30pm: a much earlier night. no tv. baths. figuring out tomorrows plans. tidy up for checkout tomorrow (back at ruth's for 2 more nights), journal, bed...

francis can not wait for wednesday, for meeting up with greg.
neither can i!