An Afternoon in London

I've been forgetting to get this up until I'm crawling into bed. I guess I could have written when I was up having my middle of the night snack a couple nights ago...but there's no telling how that would've come out. So... London. I was there briefly on my way to Zambia. I was in the airport again on the way back, but that doesn't really count. I had this really great plan for seeing London. I had spent a lot of time with a map, circling places to go and sites to see. I was suppose to land in London around 1100-ish. I didn't have to be back until 1900-ish for my flight to Jo-burg. One thing led to another, and it was about 1300 when I landed at Heathrow. I had anticipated it taking about 30 minutes on the Connect to get into town, when I discovered my London Pass was only good for the Underground...which takes more like 1 hour and 30 minutes. My time in the city quickly dwindled away. 

I was determined to stay positive about the whole deal. It's not like I could do anything about it, so why not enjoy what I could? I took the tube (with one line change) from the airport to the area where the Parliament buildings and Big Ben are. Walked across the bridge and saw The Eye. Went a little ways further to the Florence Nightingale Museum. I figured I should swing by there. Pay my tribute to nursing history or something. It was actually very cute. Well done. Anyways, then I went back over the bridge, past Big Ben, over to Westminster Abbey.

I looked at the map, and while there were tube stops, I elected to walk from that point up to Picadilly...turns out that's kind of a hike, but I'd been on a plane, not moving, so I enjoyed it. Also turns out, I can get around a foreign city without my iPhone and Google Maps. Along my path, I passed the National Gallery (which I had really wanted to, say, go browse around inside of). There were lots of quaint places that would've been fun to explore, had the time been available. 

From there, I took the tube to King's Cross Station...because I wanted to see Platform 9 3/4. Obviously. And, unfortunately, that was kind of a let down. I didn't feel like they did a very good job replicating it. But, here you go:

After that, it was time to get back on the tube for the long journey back to the airport. Let me tell you, the tube at rush hour is crowded and hot. You want to be on an end where the window is open. Then, it's not too bad. I got to the airport and made it to the gate in time to go to the bathroom and freshen up before another overnight flight. Freshening up in an airport bathroom involves good baby wipes (like Huggies One & Done Cool Cucumber), dry shampoo, face cleansing wipes, Scentsy hand cream, Scentsy room spray (for your clothes), and mouth care stuff. By the time I was done, that was one good smelling bathroom stall. Speaking of which, Heathrow has really nice bathrooms. Seriously. 

Obviously, I would like to back for real sometime and see all the things I couldn't see this time around. I'd really just like to have a couple of months to like backpack through Europe. Maybe someday. My recommendations to anyone going into the city between flights would be (1) leave your carryon luggage at the "left luggage desk," (2) take the Connect or Express into town, and (3) make sure you have on good shoes because I think it's easier to walk around than mess with the tube. 

Obligatory telephone booth photo!