Off the Island - and Across the Pond

The company Bob is working for needs to renew their hurricane insurance. According to the insurance broker, a face-to-face meeting with the underwriters can mean savings - or at least not so much of a premium increase. And, the underwriters just happen to be located in London, a place neither of us had ever been. Oh, darn!

Bob was already flying on Friday (to Saturday), so he added a day to the end of his trip and added me to his reservation - after all, it was almost our anniversary :)

After an overnight flight, a train ride from Heathrow to Paddington Station, and a taxi ride through Hyde Park, we arrived at our Knightsbridge area hotel early Saturday afternoon. We explored the neighborhood that afternoon and were stunned by the cars: multiple Rolls Royces, Bentleys, Aston Martins, Ferraris, Maybachs ... the Mercedes' were the poor relations!

Sunday, we took a bus tour. We saw a lot, but the routes didn't go to all the normal stops, because it was the day of the London Marathon. We got off the bus to walk over to Big Ben and Westminster Abbey and found ourselves at the marathon course as the elite runners were nearing the end.

On Monday, Bob headed to The City, and I did more sightseeing. I saw Buckingham Palace - and the infamous balcony - without all the crowds that were there on the wedding day. I also explored Harrod's, which is a very confusing place, tho I did manage to buy some gifts there.

Bob was back in The City on Tuesday, so I walked to Hyde Park to see the very impressive Prince Albert Memorial:

A couple of blocks more, and I was at the Victoria and Albert Museum. There was absolutely no way to see everything in that place! And it was even more confusing than Harrods :) There are 12 miles of corridors in the 5 story building, and most of the staircases go to only some of the floors. I wandered for several hours and saw nearly all of the displays that I was most interested in. I especially enjoyed the room devoted to religious sculpture:

Bob and I went to the Tower of London on Wednesday and enjoyed our Beefeater-guided tour:

Afterwards we saw the Crown Jewels - where, of course, we weren't allowed to take pictures.

That afternoon, we went to Westminster Abbey, and I was terribly disappointed to find out that they had closed early that day. For that, I believe that Bob will have to take me back another time.

The trip was less than a week, definitely too short for a place with so much to see, but we had a great time - and even warm, sunny weather! The travel was fairly ease, plus we (generally) understood the language, so both of us foresee another trip there in the future - hopefully soon!