Day 15: London Sightseeing- The Fast & Frantic
Well, in all honestly, I’m already back home from my adventures and I’m very late to the party posting this. My apologies. I was uber exhausted towards the end and since I’ve been home, I’ve been been catching up on sleep, Dr’s appts, and people.
So…. back on May 1, I decided to purchase a HoHo (Hop on Hop off) audio guided bus tour of London's main attractions. You buy a Day Pass and can get on and off as many times as you want as the bus makes stops near all the big touristy places. I figured this would be the easiest way to see the most, if only as a drive by. The stop closest to my lodging was Grosvenor Park so I headed there and looked around for the stop. There had to be a sign or something, right? Nope. I kept seeing The HoHo busses go by but they weren’t stopping. I tried flagging them down and the drivers wouldn’t pull over. Some of them ignored me and one just pointed behind me in a general direction on the the other side of the park. So I kept walking around that damn park, seeing the busses go by. At one point, I’m pretty sure I started stomping my feet with tears in my eyes. Finally, a bus driver took pity on me, pulled over, and the first thing I did was yell, “Where is this fucking bus stop??” It turns out it was a few streets down from the park but it was “close” to the park, so they just called it Grosvenor's Park stop. Ugh. The driver even admitted it was a bit confusing and made sure to tell me that they’re not really allowed to pull over other than scheduled stops, but he welcomed me aboard anyway, without even checking my ticket. I lost an hour of this busy day and I was pissy but I got over it when I remembered how grateful I was to actually, finally be in London and I was about to see some very cool places.
I only had time enough to pick one place to get off and actually visit the inside of, so I picked The Tower of London. I mistakenly thought that’s where Mary, Queen of Scots had been held prisoner but I was wrong, again. (it shouldn’t surprise me how many times I was wrong about something on this trip, yet it did!) It was still a great experience as it was where so many others in history were held captive and executed, like Queen Anne Boleyn and Sir Walter Raleigh, for example. The ticket seller for the Tower told me a tour had just started and I could catch them down on the moat. So I hurried over and joined the first large group gathered at the moat. It wasn’t until about an hour in, when I asked the tour guide a question, that he asked who I was and how long I had been with them because this was a private tour group. Oops! I finished exploring on my own and then I needed to leave to make sure I made it to Harrods for my afternoon tea reservation by 4pm. When I got back to the stop I was dropped off at for The Tower and showed someone my ticket voucher, it turns out I had been with the wrong bus company! Many different bus companies offer this tour and the one that had originally pulled over to pick me up wasnt the right one and he never checked my ticket. Oh well, at least I got on A bus and saw the shit I wanted to see! Got on the right bus and kept it movin and got to my tea time by 4pm.
Harrods’ Tiffany's Blue Box Cafe was so bougie, so cute, so yummy, and so Tiffany Blue. My phone died before all the goodies came so i didn't get pics of the sandwiches, cakes, cocktails, and of course scones and tea but there is a pic of the tea room below.
I made it to where my luggage was being held 5 minutes before they closed @ 6pm, then took The Tube (don’t like underground subways- hot and claustrophobic) and finally my train to my last accomodation near Gatwick Airport (smaller airport & cheaper flights than Heathrow-fyi) for my flight home the next morning. It was a great tip my buddies from the train had given me. Since neither Heathrow nor Gatwick are actually IN London, stay somewhere nearby the night before so you’re closer and less stressed about getting to the airport on time the next day, especially for morning international flights. “The more you know” 😉
