Day 4: Sunny London
The past days have been overcast and rainy so we were pleasantly surprised to see the sun shining as we stepped out of the hotel on our 4th day in London. It was a great day to stay outdoors but we first had some must do errands that we had to attend to.
First stop for me was the laundomat. Since we were to leave for Paris early the next day and didn’t want to lug dirty laundry around, we planned to do the laundry a day before departure. I have not tried doing laundry at a Laundromat so it was quite an experience for me. Just like any other first time experience, I was a bit anxious where and how to start. Best way to start is to ask for directions and so I did just that. There are two options- you can leave your laundry and just pick it up later or you can do it yourself. For the latter, you pay by the weight (7 pounds). If you choose to do it yourself, you buy soap (5p), insert coins into the washing machine (4 pounds) and then insert coins into the dryer (20p for each run; I had to do 5-6 runs). It took me almost an hour to finish the laundry from wash to dry.
While I was doing this, Gabby was also doing his own set of errands. First stop for him is to print out our Easybus tickets to the airport the next day. Since we were to take off from Luton Airport, which is around an hour from central London, we had to find a cheap way to get there. Good thing that there is Easybus (also affiliated with Easyjet and Easyhotels).
After printing tickets, Gabby went off to meet our friend Nicky to leave some stuff behind. Since we purchased some stuff (primarily books and cards), we decided to leave these so that we don’t have to lug these around throughout the trip. We would still go back to London before heading to Manila anyway so it made a lot of sense.
Gabby & I met up at the Greenpark Station. From here we walked along one of the Royal Parks, Greenpark to get to Buckingham Palace. Since the sun was beautifully shining, people lounged at the park, sat on the grass and enjoyed the outdoors. Runners also abound to take advantage of the perfect weather (I was a bit envious since I have not run since we got here). Trees and shrubberies at the park already had the autumn glow, with leaves in varying shades of orange.
At Buckingham Palace, we were welcomed by the sight of hundreds of people who also went there to witness the changing of the guards which was scheduled at 11:15AM. Since I am a short girl, I had difficulty viewing the ceremonies since most of the tourists were way taller than I am. But with patience. I was able to squeeze myself closer to the gates and finally get a good spot where I can shoot photos. I even got to take a video of the guards playing Star Wars!
After Buckingham, Gabby and I decided to just explore the nearby area of Leicester Square, Covent Garden, Soho and the British Museum for the rest of the day. But before this, we had to head off to West End to purchase our theatre tickets.
We decided to take advantage of the last minute, half-priced tickets for plays. We got balcony seats for Monty Python’s Spamalot. The seats came with a meal deal for a total of 25 pounds each. Not bad since tickets usually went out for 35 pounds up if you purchase online.
After getting our tickets, we just wandered around the area, checked out the quaint street shops and then had lunch. Lunch was not so great at the Sun Tavern, a traditional English pub. We enjoyed the drinks (apple and pear cider) but the food was so so. Fish & Co fish and chips was way better than the one we had.
Then it was back to wandering around again before heading to the British Museum.