Feeling the burn ....

A nice early start today saw us walk down to the closest gate to Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park to hire a bike.  All over London Barclays Bank has bike racks where you can hire a bike.  Bobbie did ask whether riding a bike was something you never forget ... huh?  So we whipped out the travel card and eventually managed to unlock and reef  the bikes from the highly sophiscated bike racks.  We started in Kensington Gardens with a view to visiting Kensington Palace (of course) ... however, it's mostly closed for renovations and after just 5 minutes on the bikes, we were already starting to feel the burn.  Lactic acid build up ... check!  With 'riding along on my push bike honey' coursing through my brain we set off again.  We reached the other side of the Gardens and then decided to try and find the Peter Pan Statue and Princess Diana's memorial fountain.  Only so many of the paths are marked as bike paths and it took us a while to figure out what others were ring-a-linging their bells at us ... seems that single file is the way to ride in the park.  Other paths we had to walk alongside our bikes and while posing for a self-timed photo ... we watched incredulously as a woman noticed us posing, turned her head and noted the camera position and yet kept walking!?!?  We do have a great photo though of us ... with her just walking out of frame.  HA ... she didn't time her photo bomb to perfection.  A Canadian couple were watching and decided that we look in need of assistance and took the photo for us.

I think we actually got lost in the park .... after we found Peter Pan, we kind of stumbled across Princess Diana's memorial fountain which wasn't open yet.  Our early start was working for us ... on schedule already!  Finally found our way and realised that we had actually cycled all the way to Hyde Park Corner ... and if you look at a map, it pretty much means we did the whole park circumference.  WE TOTALLY ROCK!!!  Redocked the bikes and started our walk to Buckingham Palace (oh yes, we were feeling invigorated after that and a good walk was what was needed .... besides, there had to be a coffee shop somewhere along the way right?).  It started to rain and duh?  guess who forgot their umbrella.  Hmmm, frizz city here I come.  Sidled up to Bobbie (who of course is like a boy scout and comes prepared for everything) until we came across a convenience/souvenir shop.  Presto, umbrella purchase in hand ... it was on to Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guard.  My lovely friend Ash recommended getting there quite early in order to get a good position.  So we pretty much were stoop sitting just outside the Palace for about an hour ... and Ash was right .... it was the best time to arrive.  MASSES of people congregated.  FINALLY, the ceremony started and about halfway through Bobbie said "oh come on, how long does it take to change just 2 guards" ... funny girl.  There were a couple of band regiments playing and out of the 6 songs played, I picked 3.  Now check out this playlist:  Tom Jones (It's not Unusual), Star Trek Theme (oh yes), Barry Manilow (Cococabana), a jazz number, a waltz and then the finale "Who could ask for anything more"

Off through the London drizzle to St Paul's for attempt 2. Beautiful, beautiful church but not sure how you can maintain reverence with tourists milling around during a service.  Climbed the 530 steps to the Golden Gallery (burn baby burn).  It was very windy up there and as I hugged the stone wall, made my way around. Too bad it was a drizzling overcast day because the view was just amazing.  Had to be the friendly Aussie and offered my services as a professional *cough* photographer to the other tourists.  They were impressed with my skills I could tell!  They weren't worried at all that I wasn't prepared to peel my back off the wall to take the photo.  Back down the 530 steps.  Legs quivering quite a bit for a while.

Went to the British Museum.  Good grief that thing is huge .... fantastic displays and way too much to try and cram into a couple of hours.  Circled a couple of the highlighted ones and made our way to those exhibits and taking in whatever else happened to be on the way.  The Rosetta Stone was great as was the Easter Island Statue.  "Dum Dum, give me Gum Gum"  Egytian mummies and pieces of eight. Tiny dice the size of your fingernail in the shape of a crouched human.  Mind boggling greek vases.  It would take weeks, maybe months to really see a lot. 

Harrods was our last stop for the day ... thank goodness cause the sore feet were back.  Walked in through the perfumery and it was packed.  We have come to London and visited Harrods during the ONLY sale they have for the year.  There's a lot of people in there.  Tried to find a cafe in there and decided that after walking through a few shopping areas that this store was just way too big for us! Found the gift shop, got what we came for and found the closest pub where we had dinner. Walked into another store and bought a couple of trinkets only to have the checkout girl ask "What language do you speak in Australia" WHAT THE? Was I speaking something else? She also asked for a recommendation about where she should live. We said Queensland and then she asked "Will I have those cute koalas in my backyard" *sigh* What are we going to do with the English I ask?  Caught the bus home and hobbled into the apartment.

Bobbie just came back from the BEST food shop "Wholefoods Market" with a bunch of goodies ... nom nom nom nom ... candied almonds, fresh organic fruit, truffles, chocolate pudding and White Chocolate Lemon & Cashew Bites.    AHA ... it's snack time!


Perhaps we need another burn day tomorrow me thinks?!