Day 8 - London & Phantom of the Opera

Also, it was Thanksgiving Day, and Ariel and I planned to run our own "turkey trot" - we hadn't run since our race!

Our hotel was relatively near Hyde Park, so we took the underground to get there. Unfortunately, we went the wrong direction at first, and it took about 15 minutes longer to get there than it should have. By the time we got to the correct stop, it was already pretty late. I had done enough research that I thought it was only going to be about a 4 mile run all the way around the perimeter.

We started near the Albert Memorial, and headed west. We were able to see Kensington Gardens (which looked pretty neat!) and then continued on. I was watching the clock, we had told Lisa that we would be back by 8, and it was already almost 8, so we decided to take the underground back. But then we couldn't figure out how to get there. We saw a sign that said Pedestrian Subway - but apparently that just means a tunnel for people to walk under the street?

After taking a quick picture at the Achilles statute, we asked a police officer how to get to the next underground station.

Arrived back at the hotel about a half hour late. Breakfast at the hotel was pretty gross. Quick shower, then we headed out for the day of wandering around London.

First stop was Kings Cross & Platform 9 3/4. On our way there we saw a cupcake stand calling our names.

We waited an obscenely long time to get our picture taken - but the pictures were REALLY awesome.

After that we decided we would go to Buckingham Palace. Wandered around the park nearby and took some pictures.

Then went to Westminster Abbey (which was closed until 2). Figured we would go see Big Ben (also under construction - of course).

Enough time for lunch. We found a British Pub that we were able get into.

Headed back to Westminster Abbey to walk around - another place where no photography inside was allowed. Grrr.

Then we had to head back to the hotel to change before going to the theater.

We found a place nearby that had happy hour specials. They also had the slowest service EVER EVER EVER.

We barely got to the theater in time. We had fairly decent seats, and I'm happy to say that everyone enjoyed seeing The Phantom of the Opera (it was my pick).

We weren't out of the theater until after 10, so another night of not getting back until VERY late. I'd also had a bit too much wine, and didn't sleep well AT ALL.