London Sunday am to pm

Finally, at 10:15 am on Sunday (almost one full day later than anticipated), we landed at Heathrow airport. We found the train ticket booth and found out that instead of taking a LONG tube ride or an expensive Heathrow Express ride, we could take a new service called Heathrow connect; it got to Paddington station in 25 minutes (vs 15 for the Express), but was only 6 pounds (not 25).

At the Hilton, we checked in and were shown to our room; ITTY BITTY. Of course. Paul was shocked. I was reminded of the crappy rooms Rachel and I stayed in (this was classier, though, than many of those). The bathroom here is smaller than mine at home, if you can believe that!

After that shock, we decided we were feeling claustrophobic, so we walked down the road to see what kind of area we were in. I would say, based on the number of Arabic restaurants and signage that we are in a very diverse neighborhood. We ended up by the corner of Hyde Park and speaker’s corner, where there was a peace demonstration we avoided. We then found a pub and after sitting down, I realized how tired I was. But I had the ability to still remember that we wouldn’t be served, so I told Paul he had to go up to the bar to order our food. I had fish and chips and Paul sausage, beans, and chips (fries). I literally was on the verge of falling asleep sitting up, so we trudged back to the Hilton and I CRASHED! I had, at this point, been without sleep for over 24 hours. Paul was experiencing some major culture shock (with the money, ordering food, tube, etc.). I do not think he expected it to be this big or busy.

A few hours later, we started moving again and figured we’d use our travel cards on the tube since we had already lost a day. FUN! Jump on, jump off. Not too hard to figure out what’s where. What’s harder is to find your destination once you get out of the tube station (left or right?) We ended up lost! We were looking for the Tower of London area. We ended up by the revitalized docklands (nice houses and lofts). We walked A LOT! Then we found the Tower of London and Tower Bridge (absolutely gorgeous…and mind boggling! We didn’t tour the tower yet, so I won’t say much about it here. Besides, I could have looked at it all day and still not find the words to describe it). We then took the tube back to hotel as it was dark and we were tired again. We had supper at the hotel (20 pounds for a calzone and spicy fries). We then went to the room and crashed.