7/9/16

Today started out a little rough.  After staying up for so many hours in a row and being jet lagged, we were up early, but were a bit lazy to start out.  We headed out around 11 and had the best time in London thus far.  We took the tube (the London metro system) up to London Bridge, where we explored the Borough Market.  We were told by several people to check this place out and I am SO glad they did.  We spent more than an hour just walking around the market.  Think of West Side Market of Cleveland or Eastern Market of DC, but better!  People are cooking to order, you can find anything from BBQ pork, to Indian food, to fish and chips, to sausages and sauerkraut.  It was great!  We found a meat pie with mashed potatoes, sticky toffee pudding, and green cabbage ( for Sarah ) for a reasonable price.  We also found an oyster pub where we enjoyed an oyster stout ( Ty ) and a red ale ( Sarah ). 

From there, we headed to the Globe Theatre, but were a little let down, because they were not currently giving tours.  We have both seen models of the Globe, but not life-size so we were willing to pay to get a tour, but a show was currently playing.  Instead, we went to the Tate Museum.  This was not at all on our list of things to do, but we are so glad we happened upon it.  We were able to see much modern art and performance art for FREE! 

From there, we headed to the National Gallery.  It really wasn’t too far of a walk.  It took us under an hour to cover the ground.  We also got to see the summer festival on the south bank and the north bank on our way.  The National Gallery was GREAT!  Ty got to see his impressionist artwork and Sarah appreciated all of it. 

From the museum, we decided to hang out with the locals at a few pubs.  We found two in the area which were nice.  Sarah’s goal for the day was to get a Bulmer’s cider and Ty to get a Guinness because that is primarily what we drank 10 years ago when we went to Ireland.  It was really nice to reminisce.   

We took the tube again back to the hotel.  We cannot believe how easily we were able to navigate the tube and how quickly we were able to get around London.  We really regret taking the bus tours, because, though informative, they were SO time consuming.  The tube runs more trains and do not have to deal with London traffic.  The tube is the way to go!

When we got back to the hotel room, we ate our leftovers from the market and headed out to the area around the hotel.  We walked around for a while and had one drink at a local pub.  Ty got really tired, so he headed back and Sarah went grocery shopping.  Tyler is loving the local British television We are leaving early in the morning, so we had to prepare for our journey to Paris!  We SO look forward to our stay in Paris!

We were both in the mind of “London sucks” before today.  We have learned a lot about the city and would suggest not using the bus so much as the “tube”.  Also, there are many maps that are very confusing.  Several maps that we have do not actually match the topography of the city itself.  Also, the city streets aren’t labeled as well as they should be.  Tune in for more about our adventure.