London Paddington railway station

It’s our last day in London. We have a late check out at the motel so we have until 12 to see something. We missed going into Westminster Abbey last time so that’s the project for the morning. Marl decided to come with us, Millie saw it from the bus with her friend so she’s staying home to organise her suitcase for the trip.

I forgot how close Big Ben is to Westminster Abbey and after a quick trip on the subway we came out to see him in all his glory. When we were here 7 years ago we heard the last bells ring on Ben Big before he was shut down for 4 years to be refurbished. He looks amazing now. I’ll have to get the photos out to compare.

Westminster Abbey is just around the corner, and the line to get in, if you aren’t prebooked is already quite long. We waited about 20 minutes, have I mentioned I hate queueing and finally got in. 29 pounds to enter the Abbey. Holy Moly it better be worth it.

We didn’t realise so many people have been buried at the Abbey. It’s a bit of a Tardis, it looks quite compact from the outside, inside seems to go on forever, different altars, different rooms, so many tombs. Really you could have stayed there for hours and not seen everything, our attention span is not that long and after an hour we were Abbeyed out.

After another photo shot with Big Ben we figured Millie would be getting anxious for us to get back so back on the underground for a quick trip home.

We’re having lunch today at The Summerhouse an easy ten minute walk from our hotel, unfortunately as soon as we left the hotel the skies opened in the heaviest downpour we’ve had the whole trip. Luckily a taxi came along to save us, he hadn’t heard of our hotel but Marl had the directions on her phone so we got there and taught a London Cabbie something on the way.

Lunch was delicious and the restaurant lovely and quite busy too. Bubbles, salmon, calamari, fish cakes and Graham had to rebel and have lamb rump were all a hit. The mango and coconut rice pudding we got for dessert grew on us after a few bites and since we only had one between us we managed to finish it off nicely.

We had a few hours to kill before heading to the airport so we got the Underground to Piccadilly Circus to buy a few souvenirs. Had a walk around Trafalgar Square while we were there.

A cup of tea back at the hotel and to keep Millie and Graham from getting to the airport way too early we had a cocktail as well. The Train station is quite close to the hotel but it’s a bit convoluted getting to it with suitcases. Luckily someone else was leaving the hotel at the same time and he knew the way. Thank goodness because it was even more complicated then we though. Easy check in and security when we got there, a quick bite to eat and we were underway.Read more