London Part 2

This trip to London was triggered by a concert. Blackfield was playing in London, and Geli and I are big fans of Steven Wilson's music, and this is one of his bands, so we felt like we had to go see it! So we got train tickets, concert tickets and we booked a babysitter to watch Sophie at the hotel, while we were at the concert. We signed up with a babysitting agency, while we are here. They work all over the UK, so we can just book something ahead of time, and they can send us a babysitter. So we opted to do that so we could go to the concert.

This was on a Friday, so I took half a day off from work and we got on the train to London. Once off the train and in London, a quick ride on the tube towards the station closest to the concert(and our hotel).

We had just gotten our new camera, and I really wanted to take it to the concert, and take some pictures there. But I checked with the venue and cameras were allowed, but not "professional cameras". Our camera is definitely not a professional camera, but it is a dSLR, so it would look "pro" to many people. After thinking about it for a while, we decided not to take it, because if they didn't let us in with it, I would have to run back to the hotel and we didn't have that much time. It was at what looked like an old theater, so that gave the show an interesting feel. The concert itself was amazing! They impressed me, and I already liked them a lot. Geli had not really heard this project that much and she was very pleased as well. Since we don't have any pictures to show for the actual concert, here is a video of the band we went to go see(I couldn't put just one!):







After the concert we quickly walked back to the hotel. Sophie was okay, she just wasn't asleep yet. We tried to sleep, but we also could not. It turns out that the hotel was next to the tube station, where it was not underground. So it was loud most of the night and again by early in the morning. After midnight, it started to get a bit quieter, and we were able to sleep a little.

As soon as we got up we ate some cereal, got ready and walked to the Museum of Natural History! It was a pleasant walk from the hotel to the museum. To my surprise, there was no entrance fee, which was nice. The building stands tall, looks like a castle, it is an impressive sight.

We weren't sure if Sophie was going to let us look around or if she was going to want to leave quickly. But to our surprise, she loved it! We brought her little camera with us, and she was taking pictures of all the animals and dinosaurs that she liked! She had a lot of fun! And so did we.

As expected, there was a Charles Darwin statue on the first floor at the end of the hall. The building was very impressive on the inside as well. We had never been to such a huge museum! There were more fossils and displays than one could absorb in one visit.

After being at the museum for over 3 hours, which seemed to pass by way too fast, we headed to the 222 Veggie Vegan restaurant for lunch. We got a bit lost on the way, but we eventually found it. This was a vegan buffet!

They had vegan quiche, tomatoes stuffed with tofu, pasta salads, various other green salads, some stir fried potatoes and a few other dishes. For dessert, we had a vegan pancake stuffed with vegan ice cream! After that fantastic lunch, we walked some more, headed towards Hyde Park.

Along the way, we saw some protesters, that happened to be distributing information about the fur industry. After walking a bit more, we made it to Hyde Park! It is a massive park! We didn't even see all of it, but we walked around, sat by the lake, watched the swans and ducks swim by, laid on the grass, and walked around some more!

There was even a giant Ferris wheel there! People having picnics, laying down, playing football, rugby, you name it. It is a very lively place!

After the park, we walked towards the metro station. The Marble Arch was there, it was like a plaza. There was also some sculptures, fountains, and a lot of flags.

We then got on the tube. We were headed for Abbey Road. We just had to see it! So we took the tube towards it.

It was a nice neighborhood. We walked a few blocks to get to Abbey Road. Once there, we were surprised with what found. It is apparently quite a popular attraction, because of the Beatles  famous album with that name of course. We definitely did not expect so many people there!

It was just a street really, with the traditional English style pedestrian lights and crosswalk stripes. But there was so many people there, all trying to do the same thing....recreate the album cover by walking across and taking a picture. They would hold up traffic trying to do this, it was quite interesting to see. Although I would imagine the local residents to be somewhat tired of it already.

We also saw the Abbey Road Studios there, a few houses down from the cross walk. Apparently, people write on the wall there. I am not sure if they are allowed to or not, but it seems like everyone writes something there. Something Beatles related.

After Geli walked across and we got the picture, we walked back to the tube station to head to
our next stop. The Loving Hut! This is a vegan restaurant chain, can you believe that? They exist! That is great by itself, but they also change the menu at every location to suit the local cuisine, which is great as well! The food is always fantastic as well! So you could say this is our favorite restaurant chain.

Sophie got the golden nuggets(top left) and chips. We got the fishless + chips and the veggie burger + chips. We got free dessert because we were taking pictures of the food! We got a chocolate cheesecake and a strawberry and cream sponge cake. We also had some coffee. Everything was fantastic!!

After the dinner we just walked to the tube station and took the tube back to the Liverpool Street train station, which is where our train to Colchester would depart from.

Sophie fell asleep at the train station. She was exhausted. We were too, but we can't just fall asleep when we get tired, although that would be nice.

We finally arrived at the Colchester train station...it was too late for the buses, so we took a taxi from the train station to the town centre, and it is a very short walk from there to our house. We are still not done with London. There is still much more to see and do there...we will be back!