10-Hour London Layover
London was nice. We had a
10-hour layover and had about 6 hours in the city after customs,
immigration, security and transport to and from the airport. Shawna had
never been before, so upon arrival we saw most of the London sights.
We took a train from Heathrow to Paddington Station in Northwest
London. From there, I bought a day pass on the tube, and Shawna was
lucky enough to get a free one from a guy that was leaving the station
and had no use for his anymore. We took
the tube to the fancy shopping area. I showed her some of the big
shops: Burberry, H&M, Harrod's, etc. We strolled around Harrod's
for half an hour, looking at the different rooms and eateries. We then
made our way toward Hyde Park and walked along the side until Buckingham
Palace. Took a bunch of pictures of the palace, gates, and guards.
From there it is a short walk to Westminster Abbey, the Parliament
Building, and Big Ben (and the statue of Abraham Lincoln). Then we
walked down to the Thames and saw the Eye of London and some of the
bridges.
By this time we were starving
and exhausted, having not slept much on the flight over. So, we got
back on the subway and headed back North West to the "Little Venice"
area. This was a very nice
neighborhood with canals where we found a typical pub and had a few
beers. Unfortunately, they didn't serve any food until 6pm, so we asked
around about a good local restaurant. One of the patrons in the bar
made us reservations for a place down that street that is situated on
one of the canals and serves seafood. We had to rush our dinner though
(fish and chips for Shawna, and fisherman's pie for me) to get back to
the airport on time.
After eating an
expensive meal, we hurried back to the tube stop, then to the train
station, then to Heathrow where we picked up our carry-on bags from the
locker service with whom we left them. By the time we got to security,
we were cutting it very close, so it's a good thing we were the only
ones in line at 9pm. It was pretty depressing, actually, to make it to
the gate and see all the Nigerians after having just spent the day in
one of the most
interesting cities in the world. Of course, when they called for
first-class and business-class boarding, all of the Nigerians got up and
formed a big cluster in front of the ticketing agent, as they haven't
yet learned to make lines or wait their turns. By the time we boarded
there wasn't much luggage room left and everyone had already sprawled
over the seats. At that point we almost turned around and stayed in
London.
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