Buckingham Palace and Harrods

Saturday needed to be a restful day from all of the walking we have undertaken. So Kendra and I strolled three blocks to Harrods. Not my favorite place as it is more than a bit overdone with it's testimonial to Princess Diana and her boyfriend Dodi Fayad, but the food stall areas should not be missed. You can select from cheeses,
Chocolates, sushi, rotisserie chicken, candy and even caviar and champagne. Oh, they also have a cured meats selection.

Then it was on to Buckingham Palace which is only open for a month and a half in the summertime while the Queen vacations in another castle. Kate's dress, shoes and veil are on display as well as William
and Kate's wedding cake. The slow walk home followed by a nice nap were great.

We avoided a rainstorm by ducking into the subway and dining at London's oldest Polish restaurant. It's stepped up in class and the food was excellent. The pierogies had more butter than I use in a year. But they were tasty.

More Walking: Steps Included!

After partaking in our hotel's daily English breakfast, we took the Underground to Buckingham Palace to learn that tours were sold out today. That meant that we hopped on the remainder of our double decker tour bus to complete our tour from yesterday. We sat up top in the front row for a birds eye view of driving those monsters in the city. What a job these drivers perform!

After the tour bus, we visited Saint Paul's Cathedral to view Sir Christopher Wren's magnificent work and climbed all the way to the top of the dome: over 500 steps. Our legs were shaking for an hour after we finished. Our lunch meal took place at the Earl of Sandwich. Yes, a relative of the Earl opened the store; the sandwich was invented by the Earl!

Parliament opened its doors for a 75 minute guided tour. What a treat this was to see the House of Commons, the original palace for the Kings of England beginning in the 12th century and where William Wallace of Braveheart fame was tried and convicted of treason.

Afterwards we took a walk through the shops of Carnaby Street, Soho and went to see Shrek the musical. Quite the busy day indeed.

Tomorrow we hope to get into Buckingham Palace; if not we will repel over the fence.

London

We made it London from Brussels via the Eurostar train. Great ride and it was quite empty; we enjoyed Paprika flavored potato sticks during the trip. As we left the world of Belgian waffles, chocolates and beer we headed for pubs and fish and chips.

Wednesday included a tube ride to the West End to see the sites of Piccadilly Circus and boy what a circus of people. Busiest I have ever seen. We walked through Chinatown, past Trafalgar Square, Scotland Yard and took in a glass of wine at Gordon's Wine Bar under the Jubilee Bridge. Dinner was Mexican. Yes, we went to London and ate Mexican food!

Thursday's weather brought London's notable rainy weather and we decided the double decker tour bus ride was in order. Saw many sites, took a tour of the Tower of London, walked past Harrods (we'll go in there later this week). Enjoyed dinner at a great Asian chain called Wagamama. They gained another convert today in Kendra. Took in a business meeting at Punch and Judy at Covent Garden prior to Wagamama. We finished up the night with a walk over the Jubilee Bridge on our way to ride on the London Eye. Something new: they added a 4D movie to keep the lines shorter. Guess they took lessons from the folks at Space Mountain at Disney.

Legs are tired today but we have more places to visit.

Brugge!

After Kendra and I finished the most incredible waffle in existence, we decided to walk it off and explore the rest of Brugge. About 10 miles of walking later we found 3 churches dated as old as the 12th century. One was the Church of Our Lady. We walked, stopped for chocolate, and came upon the Half Moon Brewery which is the last remaining one in Brugge. Our hour long tour taught us that the best thing about the brewing process is tasting. We enjoyed our glasses with a couple from South Africa who were moving back there from Amsterdam. It was an enjoyable conversation discussing extreme weather and tasty beer. Next up was a canal tour which was an enjoyable respite from our long walks. Our dinner was in the basement of a medieval building called the Taverna Curiousa. I enjoyed the Flemish Stew while Kendra ate the steak. Their tomato soup was pretty good, too. We took the mile jaunt back to the train where it was jam packed with Belgian and French tourists.

Up tomorrow: the Palace and Atomoium and a Chunnel train to London.

Off to Brugge

After exchanging more dollars for Euros we headed to the Brussels Central Station to catch a train to Brugge. Both we and the train were late so we missed getting a bike tour of Brugge. However, we started a warm day, by Belgian standards, with espresso and the most delicious waffles with strawberries and whipped cream. Words cannot describe the taste. Let's just say Kendra would have this for breakfast everyday if she could and she doesn't eat breakfast. Time to explore more of Bruges including a canal tour. This place is what a cartoonist would draw as a the quintessential Medievel European city.

Decision Made By Accident

Well, Kendra and I let our bodies make the decision this morning by falling asleep for a few hours. When we woke it was 1:45 Brussels time.
We obviously needed sleep. Then we quickly got ready and hit the streets and are still hitting them. This post is from Chutneys just off The Grand Place, the center of the tourist area in Brussels. During our walk we stopped and saw the Grand Place and it's ornate markings, the Palace, closed on Mondays and Manneken Pis (also known as Pissing Boy). It was small. I mean the statue not the thing he pisses with.

We already had some excellent Belgian Beer, fries and ice cream. I'm waiting for my mussels and fries to arrive. Kendra is devouring onion soup and better save some for me. Chocolate is our next stop!

Boo

Safely arrived in Belgium

We made it safely to Brussels. Managed to see a few movies on the flight. Hall Pass and Take Me Home Tonight for RB and Just Go With It for KB.

Kendra figured out the way to get to our hotel from the bus stop.

Big question of the day: sleep now or keep moving.

Boo