A Day of Hiccups

May 10: Glen served his mission in London and as such had lots of ideas of how the 28-hours we were spending  here should go.   

His plan for Tuesday was: 

1.  Eat a quick breakfast at the hotel

2.  Go on a duck tour around town 

3.  Go in the  Tower of London to see the crown jewels

4.  Take a tour Saint Paul's cathedral 

5.  Visit Buckingham Palace (if there was time) 

6.  Pick up luggage from hotel

7.  Visit Preacher's Corner in Hyde Park (if time)

8.  Pick up our car at 6:00pm and drive to my brother's house

It was an ambitious plan, but he knew his way around and he was confident that we could all the big stuff done at least.    

Here's what actually happened:   

1.  Breakfast at the hotel was overpriced and gross looking, so we left without eating hoping we would run into somewhere easy and fast to grab a bite.  We never found one. 

2.  It took us a while and quite a bit of extra walking {without any breakfast} to find the right location for the duck tour.  It was pouring rain, the tour guide was a bit boring, but we did have a good time seeing the sites from the tank. 

3.  After the duck your, we finally ate a little something and made it to the   Tower of London, but got discouraged by how expensive admission was and by the long lines to get in.  So we just walked around the outside  and headed on to our next destination. 

4.  We arrived  to Saint Paul's cathedral only to find out that it was closed early for an event.  

5.  We arrived to Buckingham Palace just as a tea party was starting.  Weirdly we were not invited to join them, so we watched the stream of people entering into the palace for a little bit then headed back to our hostel.    

6.  We picked  up our luggage.  We all packed in backpacks for this trip to make it easier to tote around, but it was still heavy!

7.  We walked and walked and walked and walked {with all of our luggage}and never found Preacher's Corner in Hyde Park.  Our backs and feet were all killing us by the time we decided to give up on our quest.

8.  We ran into the Hyde Park chapel and stopped in the visitors' center for a brief respite. 

9.  We headed to the train station to pick up our rental car, but didn't arrive until 6:15, which was approximately 15 minutes after it had closed.  

So we had no car and no where to stay in London and all of  our luggage on our backs. 

It was not our best moment.  

But while Glen was making arrangements with the car rental company, we found Platform 9-3/4 {in Kings Cross station}.  

It was literally a dream come true for Ellie!  

After a few magical journeys into brick walls, a dinner of British pasties from a stand, a whole lot of finagling on Glen's part, and an hour and a half train ride back to Heathrow we finally got a car and drove to Matt and Karey's house.

It was after midnight when we arrived, but we were finally there ready for some western England adventures.  

Stay tuned!