Editor’s Note – Today, we continue a week-long series on Coach Jeff’s Blog about our family’s recent trip to London and Paris. On Day 2 of 4, I’ll tell you all the highlights of our visit to London.
We grabbed our bags and were whisked away from London Heathrow Airport in a modern taxi that resembled a mini-van that had been seriously retrofitted. The three of us sat in pull down seats at the back, 1-2-3, all in a row and marveled as the cab driver navigated in and out of traffic.
If we were starring in a movie, the flashes of sights whizzing by the outside of the vehicle would have been set to some sort of music such as the Clash’s classic, London Calling. Folks driving on the opposite side of the road, colorful billboards, iconic landmarks and so forth.
Finally, after the harried cab ride from the airport to the Waterloo area of London, we arrived at our hotel. After all the frenetic travel of the previous 12 hours, we were greeted by a friendly face in the hotel lobby.
It really is a small world!
From that point, the fun started. Some of the London landmarks we visited from Friday to Sunday included:
As I mentioned yesterday, we also checked out the London Eye. Holly, Paul and I rode it and got a great, majestic view of the city and gave them the perfect location for a selfie.
We also took a shopping trip to Harrods, speaking of majestic, where I purchased someone’s (spoiler alert) birthday gift.
Some other milestones of the London leg of our journey included:
- Piccadilly Circus
- Seeing a show, “Once,” in the West End
- Breezing past Big Ben
The changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace was quite an impressive display; the visits to the cathedral and abbey were awe-inspiring. For us Americans, our notion of old dates to 1776. But when you are walking in a place like Westminster, that goes back more than 1,000 years, you quickly recalibrate your own timeline.
Eating fish-n-chips, riding the underground (tube), watching a bit of BBC News, visiting St. Paul’s Cathedral. The entire London experience was fantastic.
On Monday morning, we packed up and headed to the Waterloo Train Station to begin our journey, by rail, to Paris. Tomorrow, I will pick up there with more of the story.
JG
Originally posted 5/20/2014
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