UK 1: London Arrival, food, a museum, an eye, and a dungeon

On Tuesday night, I began feeling very rundown and had a bit of the chills.  By our Saturday night flight to London, I was just feeling the exhaustion part of whatever ailment I had.  The plane had a lot of vacant seats.  People were jumping into empty rows for comfort.  Miles and I had an extra seat next to us.

They kept the lights on for a very long time compared to other overnight flights that I've been on.  We had pretty poor sleep overall.  We arrived at a few minutes past 6 am, at Gatwick Airport, a less popular airport than others in London.  We breezed through customs, with no one in front of us in line.  I imagine not many flights were arriving that early.  I had bought tickets on the express train.  We walked right onto the train.  There were only a few others with us.  The ride was quick and smooth, the chairs comfortable.

The express train brought us into Victoria station.  I picked up an Oyster card, their electronic subway card.  I was informed that children ten and younger ride the subway for free.  After a five minute ride, we were at our home station.  Our hotel was a 3 minute walk away.  We dropped off the luggage and searched out breakfast.



Across from the train station was an American style 50's diner.  I thought that it would serve all food on the menu, but they were unfortunately only serving breakfast food.  Next, we made our way to the British Museum, a free museum nearby.



On the way, we walked through a local park, named Russell square.  At the entrance, we saw our first English phone booth.

Inside the museum, the first room we explored was dedicated to Egypt.   I am not a huge fan of museums, but seeing the Rosetta Stone was pretty neat.  The next area was greece, which was similar to what we had seen in the Louvre.  We spent the most time in a series of rooms displaying clocks.  Miles was most fascinated by a clock that measured 30 second intervals by having a ball roll back and forth across a wooden board, and then flipping and going back the other way.  The placard explained that these clocks were not very accurate.  It also said that the ball traveled 2,500 miles a year.  Last, we saw a viking loot found in a chest in a local river, with some in the shape of Thor's Hammer.  Miles did not know that Thor was a real thing, only knowing him from Marvel movies.  Finally, we found an area displaying jade.

The Rosetta Stone

Rosetta stone close up

We were both exhausted by this point, so we headed back for a nap.  We walked past St. Pancras Station, which was in a beautiful building.  We also took a brief stop in the British LIbrary, to take a glance at the Magna Carta.



We awoke from our nap with a call from the front desk, informing us that Stephanie had arrived.  We ate at a local Italian restaurant.  Everything near Westminster Palace and Big Ben were closed off to fireworks by reservation.  We walked through Trafalgar Square and the neighboring areas before returning to our room for the night.



This morning, we got up in time to arrive at our reservation for the London Dungeon at 10:45.  Two of our tickets were bought in combination with the Eye for a discount.  The London Dungeon was an hour and a half experience that involved actors walking with us from room to room, playing notorious characters from London such as Jack the Ripper and Sweeney Todd, along with some city history such as the Black Plague and the Great Fire of 1666.  There was also a short boat ride in the dark, that ended up having us go backwards, along with a short ride at the end where we were buckled in and then dropped 10 feet.  It was dark and atmospheric, with well acted pieces.  I just wished there weren't so many people cramped in for some of the rooms.



Next door was the London Eye, a huge, and very slow, Ferris Wheel.  I opted out of this one, but Miles and Stephanie enjoyed it.  Apparently, someone proposed in their car.  We walked across the bridge toward Big Ben, which is undergoing renovation.  Just over the bridge, we ran right into the New Year's Day Parade, which blocked us from reaching Buckingham Palace.  We followed the only walk-able path, east, and found a pub for a late lunch.  We encouraged Miles to try fish and chips, but he decided on the slightly less adventurous hamburger.  The pub had an excellent bread and hummus.



At this point, I was feeling really tired and went back to the room for a four hour nap.  Stephanie and Miles went to the Museum of London, one of the only places open today.  They had a great time and I woke up feeling much better.  For dinner, we went to a nearby Mexican restaurant, which was closed, and found a nearby pub instead.  The pub was not crowded and I loved the atmosphere.  The food was fantastic.  I had a vegan lasagna.

Tomorrow is our long final day in London before taking an overnight train to Edinburgh, Scotland.