We truly played tourist on our last day in London. We hopped on the “hop on hop off” bus and went to the Tower of London and explored the grounds. We did not see the royal jewels because the line was over 2 hours long. We did, however, see the royal crowns and where the prisoners were tortured, so I would say we made the best of it. I guess you have to set priorities! I got great photos of Tower bridge, and the London Eye (observation wheel), took a ferry ride down the Thames, shopped and ate lunch at Harrods. Gene didn’t even complain because AAA said Harrods was a must see. (I swear it was in the handbook and I did NOT Photoshop it in.)
Harrods was quite an adventure due to the sheer size and number of nooks and crannies. With over 300 departments, it would be difficult to see everything in one day. But we once again set our priorities on food and souvenirs! We dined in a restaurant in the basement and enjoyed the quiet break from tourism and masses of people. After browsing a bit, we found a Harrods gift shop and picked up gifts for the girls. Where else would you expect to find pens with crowns on them?
We ended the afternoon with Tea at the Hilton. It was everything I hoped for, and Gene was a good sport. I will admit, I never thought Gene would agree to a tea, but he seemed as excited to try one as I was (all those nights watching The Great British Bake Off, finally paid off!) You can see from the photo what my priority was . . . the food! When Gene asked, “How do we do this?” I explained that his job was to cut everything in half and to make sure I got half. We couldn’t eat everything, so we asked for a box to take the rest to our room. I got a kick out of Gene carrying the leftovers home.
We had an amazing three days in London, but we were ready to ditch the crowds and all the smoking and start our tour of Scotland.
