Saturday!
To start my first official day off, I went on a quest to obtain tickets for Much Ado About Nothing. At 10am they hold a lottery for 20 best seats for 10quid (10 pounds). I got my ticket and waited until they called out the ‘winning’ numbers at 10:30. I, unfortunately, was not one of the lucky ones this time. :( BUT I have a few more weeks to give it a shot! Besides, David Tennant will be very sad if I don’t come to see it!
I found myself quite hungry and went off to Leicester Square to find something to eat. I settled on a cafe that had WiFi access. I stayed there for quite some time, using my iPhone to update my FB and check email. I also had my top-up phone out to answer text messages from the Winant girls. I alternated between the two for quite some time. As I was preparing to leave, a small group of people started to surround me. One of the men had a tube map and was approaching from my left. The rest of the group was on my right. An older lady was directly on my right. The man on my left started asking, “Excuse me, do you know how to...” He never finished the sentence; however, because at that moment the manager came over and inserted himself between me and the group. In a thick Irish accent, he yelled at the group and made them leave the cafe. I had no idea what was going on and was a bit confused and shaken. The manager then turned to me and asked, “Are you ok, love?” I nodded. He then proceeded to explain that he had not seen this particular group of Romanians for quite some time, but they were attempting to steal my phone. They use one of the group to distract the victim’s attention one direction, while the group is on the other side, ready to take whatever they are trying to steal. I was dumbfounded! I sincerely thanked the manager and felt it was time to leave.
After my little adventure, I decided to go to other parts of London and explore while waiting to meet up with the other Winant girls. I ventured to the London eye and got a few good pictures. I decided not to ride it as of yet because of the long lines and for the fact that I can purchase tickets much cheaper online. (London may even offer a City Pass -- this quite helpful in New York.)
I wandered around Waterloo station and found my first Doctor Who billboard. I was a little surprised that I have not seen more. I found myself in need of a toilet. (You don’t say restroom...it’s toilet or loo.) I also had my first experience with a pay toilet. Yes, I said PAY toilet. I had to pay 30p to use the loo. I looked through my change and found I did have 30p by using 20p and two 5p. As I walked down the stairs, I saw a sign that specified that to use the toilet you needed 30p. BUT, you needed to have either three 10p or a 20p and a 10p. I stepped out of line and rummaged through my change once again. I did not have a 10p coin. Thankfully, a nice Scottish woman offered me a 10p coin. We then discussed the pay toilets and how they are unnecessary. “It’s all about making more money for each cabinet,” she explained. “Different cabinets charge. They just want to get more money of out people.”
I used the tube and headed toward London Bridge. I was a little disappointed. It’s just a regular old bridge. I took a seat on one of the coping stones from the original bridge. I know this because a little plaque on the coping stone told me so. It also told me that most of the original London Bridge is now in Arizona. They shipped the stones to America and constructed the bridge there in the 1960’s. LOL!
I visited a little souvenir shop and bought a few little things. I spoke to a sweet lady at an ice cream stand when I asked for directions to South Bank. She told me about the Indian family that was sitting close by and how they found a cell phone, had contacted the person it belonged to, and had waited there for 30 minutes to return it. :) Bless her, she sent me in the wrong direction, but I figured it out before I went too far.
I had heard from the girls and we were meeting at Tower Bridge. I decided to take a bus since there was a stop close by. I was looking at the bus map (frankly, they are quite confusing) and an older couple asked me where I was headed. (Apparently, when I am confused, strangers can read it all over my face!) I, for once, was at the right stop for the right bus at the right time! I had a lovely chat with the woman about London and her grandchildren and what to do while I was here. They ended up needing the same bus and made sure I was headed the right direction when we got off the bus.
I met up with Lorena, Carolyn, and Molly and we chatted while we took in the views at the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. Lorena, like me, was wanting to take some pictures. (It was GORGEOUS today.) We walked to the bus stop to head toward Big Ben.
We walked from Trafalgar Square to Big Ben to Westminster Abbey. Lorena and I stopped several times for photo ops. We ended up laying around on the grass in front of Westminster Abbey. It was just beautiful. The grass was cool, the sun was shining, and a slight breeze was blowing. We would have stayed there all afternoon and evening....except for the fact we would need some sort of shelter. LOL
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