Right Place, Right Time by Victoria Loehle

Aimless wandering through London (with the aid of a tour bus map that lacked street names and an underground map that merely labeled the stations) may not seem like the best way to see everything that you could possibly want to see, but Alexa, Kristin, Emily, Corre, and I managed to stumble into all the right places at the all the right times.

After that wonderful tour of Parliament (thanks, Rachael!), we set out in search of food...and 10 Downing Street, which we found. We took pictures of the buildings behind the gates and armed guards, not exactly sure which one belonged to the Prime Minister. Then we walked onward, our stomachs loudly grumbling, and came across St. James Park. The beautifully blooming flowers and vivid green shrubbery...and the prospect of a cafe in the center of the park...seemed to be calling us. So we headed into the park, toward the cafe. We found it rather quickly. I was shocked by the prices for the meals and was about to drag our little group toward a less expensive place when a couple of Canadian (or maybe American...apparently the polite thing to do in England is assume a tourist lacking the British accent is from Canada...) tourists mentioned to us that there was a nice selection of take-away sandwiches inside. So we went in. And we found more than sandwiches. We bought food (a chicken coronation sandwich and a scrumptious slice of carrot cake for me) and headed to the roof. We enjoyed a terribly delicious lunch while looking out over a pond of rather unique water fowl, including two very white swans (untainted by the Thames), surrounded by reeds and shrubs and trees. Emily tried Treacle Tart (Harry Potter's favorite dessert) with her lunch. She said it tasted like honey and brown sugar and was very dense...Not her favorite dessert, but not her least favorite either.

After we finished eating, we walked through the remainder of the park, taking pictures of some really cool-looking birds, watching ducks dive under water and swim around, enjoying the green beauty of the park in the middle of London. We ended up at the Horse Guards' Parade, and we got our first close-up pictures of 'fluffies' (the royal guards with the tall, fluffy black hats, as defined by Alexa). We walked through the archway to the parade grounds where beach volleyball was played during the 2012 Olympics.

We continued walking toward what we hoped would be Buckingham Palace and had just finished snapping pictures of the glimmering black and gold gates when we suddenly noticed a large procession of fluffies...

But they were wearing green checkered kilts and playing bagpipes and holding an enormous Canadian flag. We initially concluded that this was not, in fact, the changing of the guard and that this parade of people was just confused. After a few more pictures of the Palace (with real fluffies in the background) we followed the sound of bagpipes and realized that the procession was part of a memorial service to dedicate a monument to Canadians who fought along side the British during the first and second world wars.

So we walked on, along the Mall, this time with every intention of arriving in Trafalgar Square. Like the other swarms of tourists milling about the place, we took pictures of the monument with the giant lions and of the enormous blue rooster (Alexa suggested that someone had painted it that color as a prank...it sort of really looked out of place).

We wandered toward the National Gallery and were distracted by three men in matching blue jeans and maroon-red shirts who were spinning on their hands and heads. Turns out they were a break dancing crew from Spain, and we had arrived just in time for their show (they were warming up when we first saw them).

So we watched their show, which was pretty impressive, though they begged for money one too many times before their grand finale...32 consecutive head spins on concrete by one guy...in London, in Trafalgar Square, in front of the National Gallery.

Then we went into the National Gallery (free admission, and they boasted several of Monet's more famous pieces). The first painting that really caught our eye was of a regatta in Venice. We found Monet's works a few rooms over. Kristin and I were surprised that "The Water-Lily Pond" was so small. All five of us were particularly in awe of an enormous horse painting in another room...it looked like a real horse frozen stiff and trapped behind glass...

We then wandered out of the National Gallery and returned to the streets of London. We ended up in the equivalent of NYC's theatre district in and around Time Square. We walked into M&M World on a whim, were briefly suffocated by the smell of chocolate, bought nothing, and left. We also stopped in a touristy gift shop. Corre dropped a toy police hat with a blinking light on top...it didn't work so well after we left...which is why we left in a bit of a hurry...

We walked a bit further and ended up in Piccadilly Circus. We took a few pictures, but our feet were aching now, and all we wanted to do was sit. So we did...on the top level of a red double-deck bus. Turns out those all-day train tickets we bought also worked for the buses, so we hopped on a relatively random bus, enjoyed a really great vantage point of London for about three minutes, and hopped off near Charring Cross Station.

Then we turned toward what we hoped would be the Thames and ended up at Embankment Station (which we were looking for earlier after leaving Trafalgar Square; we took a wrong turn and ended up in M&M World and then in Piccadilly Circus). We were actually looking for a quality pub by the water...What better way to end a day in London? We crossed the bridge above the station and looked out over the Thames. The London Eye stood on our left, and Parliament stood on our right. The Thames stretched our before us, surrounded by the London skyline. It was the perfect place for some perfect pictures. We continued across the bridge. About half-way across, Kristin spotted a carousel and decided that she sort of really wanted to go on. So we headed over to the carousel, and Corre, Emily, Alexa, and Kristin climbed onto horses and prepared to enjoy the ride. I stood by the side and took pictures with Alexa's camera...I thought the horses were kind of creepy looking; the steeds employed by the Royal Guard and the London Police were much prettier. When the ride ended, we spotted a wicked awesome wooden playground and walked toward it.

And we all would have played on it, but we were deterred by the sign near the entrance that read NO BIG KIDS; ADULTS MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A CHILD.

We were ready for dinner now, so Emily busted out her phone and found a place called Benugo. It was a hip pub with artsy British patrons, not a tourist trap. It was located in the BFI (a sort of film museum and cinema for unique movies and documentaries, not main-stream rubbish), across the street from the National Theatre. The food was delicious (smoked salmon and goat-cheese asparagus ravioli for me), and the desserts were even better. I tried pistachio creme brulee...kind of like Emily and the Treacle Tart: Not my favorite, not my least favorite. But it tasted like pistachios, and I like pistachios.

Finally we headed back to Paddington Station to go back to Henley. We were exhausted but totally elated by our day in London. It really was wonderful.

P.S. Coach Jason is awesome...because he wanted me to mention him in a positive light in the blog...and because he brought us all on this awesome trip to England. Thanks, Coach!

P.P.S. Pat and Martha and Paul are awesome, too. Thanks for accompanying us to England!