24 Hours in London

We woke up early as I wanted to got to Fortnum and Mason to pick up tea. We figured the earlier the better. After getting coffee there was still 10 minutes before the store opened so we stood in the line that was forming. The funny thing was that they did not have good Boxing Day deals. I was only stocking up on tea but people who stood in line for the sale should be disappointed.

One thing we did not do last time we were in London was Churchill’s War room. The basement of White Hall were WWII operations happened. Since we really had nothing to do we went. The line up to get in was about a 45 minute wait and it was worth it. It was very interesting and educational. I recommend anyone visiting London to go.

We then found a pub and had one last British snack. After dropping off the tea at the hotel we had 2 hours to kill before dinner and the play. I had wanted to London LEGO kit so we made our way to the LEGO store. We passed by it the previous day and there was a line. We thought the line was just a Boxing Day thing. Nope. Refusing to stand in line we made our way to Hamleys then massive toy store.

Both of these places are in the major shopping district in London and CRAZY busy. Like thousands and thousands of people busy. We took side streets to the toy store, pushed over children and finally got to the LEGO section. Only to find that the set was 62 GBP!!! WTF. I was crazy but not that crazy so we left without it.

By this time it was time to find the tube station to get to dinner. This meant walking down Regent Street at 4:30pm on a Saturday during December. This is a full contact sport. Elbows out, head up, and walk strategically if you want to get to your destination.

Dinner was at the OXBO which I would not recommend. The duck was not very good. Also not very good is Christmas pudding that is warm fruit cake. Icky.

What I would recommend is seeing Agatha Christie’s Witness for Prosecution. The play is about a trial and instead of a theatre it is held in an old court room. This added to the mood of the play. The Brit’s do plays well.

Since it was our last night we walked over the bridge near Parliament that goes by Big Ben. Big Ben is currently having a face lift so not as pretty as he usually is but the waterfront at night is. It was a good end to an epic vacation.Read more