On my last day in London, I woke up, opened my shades and saw nothing but blue sky! I was shocked and very excited. Much like Saturday, Sunday I slept in a bit, so to help recover from the exhausting day before, and boy was I glad I did! But hey, it was sunny outside, no time to dilly dally. I got up, packed and checked out. I left my bag at the hotel and carried my purse and 2 orange grocery bags out with me. Yes, I still had the dog food, oranges, water & muffins and I was about to set off for a day of touring. What was I going to do with this stuff?!?!?
So I went back to the store and thought I could at least return the dog food and then maybe find someone to give the food to. As I wait for the 11am bell to mark the earliest possible store return, a man standing next to me eyes 2 bottles of vodka on the counter and, with a smile, says to me "one for you. one for me.". ha!! I laughed and joked about my inability to drink vodka. We started to talk as we both wait and he goes on and on about his visits to the states. He used to live in Sarasota, FL. He's been to NY and to Boston - of which he liked Boston much better (smaller, more manageable). He loved the freedom trail (although at the time neither of us could remember for our lives what that was called". Really nice man. I return my dog food and all of a sudden notice, this man has no shoes on! only socks! and come to think of it, he's quite dirty and smells like alcohol. How lame can I be? I offered him the bag of food and he, less than enthusiastically, took it. I don't think oranges and muffins were quite the right accompaniment to vodka. oh well.
I set off to Hyde park. A favorite of Pissaro & Monet. I thought a perfect morning would include breakfast in the park watching people. So I got myself a English breakfast and set off. I visited Princess Diana's memorial, walked my way around the serpentine pond and over to the speakers corner. Where apparently anyone is allowed to get up on their soapbox and vent away. I saw about 5 different soap boxes and only 1 was NOT going off about a religion of some kind. That got old quick, so I moved on to Oxford street. Shopping, shopping, shopping. And ask me what I bought... a magnet. Sad, I couldn't find ANYTHING I wanted. Well, that's not true, I couldn't find anything I wanted that was affordable and that wasn't a scarf (I already bought 4 scarves this month, I'm cut off). So I kept walking and took pictures as I went.
I walked down to Picadilly, tubed it over to South Kensington, walked down Fulham (hoping for some good shopping) and finally up back to Earl's Court for a late lunch. I was so tired at this point, I was happy to sit down anywhere that served diet coke and food (preferably fish and chips). This was definitely a day of walking. I didn't actually DO much, but saw a lot. And little beats the homes in south kensington, what a nice place to live.
So a little on the early side, I head back to the hotel, grab another chocolate for the road and head to the tube bound for the airport.
What a crazy bumpy ride home. Thank goodness for that 2nd sleeping pill!! I slept the whole way, got home at midnight and slept another 8 hours! only to start another week of craziness.
BUT one week from today I'll be home with Molly and Decker!!
hehehe. AND my family too :) I can't wait!!
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