London, continued

The next day (Sunday, Sept. 12) my ever-resourceful husband found us a little b&b in London in the Lancaster area called the Ashley Hotel, which was very moderately priced. So we set out for the city we were attempting to visit once again. Now if money were no object, we could have taken a cab from our airport hotel to our city hotel, but that is not the case when you're backpacking throughout an entire continent. I am convinced there is no other way to do it other than to follow a budget (especially if you've both quit your jobs to wander across the world...that old chestnut). I'm amazed at how much money we've spent in just a week's time, and we've been quite careful. The US dollar really doesn't help either. So we took a bus back in, attempted to get on the tube, but it was closed for repairs (awesome) so we had to get on another bus then to another area to finally get on the tube....anyway, it took us about three hours to get to our hotel....just in time for check-in :)



At this point, Joey was getting pretty sick of London and we hadn't even seen anything yet! But once we dropped our stuff off, we headed to the usual places you see in the London, beginning with Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. We also relaxed for a bit in Hyde Park and watched a lovely Indian couple in traditional Indian wedding attire take their wedding shots. Like I said before, I studied here in college, so I have seen these sites before, but they are always amazing to see. I think Joey was surprised at the crowds that were there. We walked along the River Thames for about three miles, seeing the different sites such as the London Eye, Tate Modern, London Bridge, the beautiful Tower Bridge and the London Tower. We walked for a really long time! We had dinner near the tower at a place I had really enjoyed when I was there last, WagaMama, an Asian noodle bar. We headed back and caught a fireworks show on the river in celebration of the Thames Festival's conclusion.

Big Ben

At Tower Bridge at nightfall

Tower Bridge

Monday was our last full day in London, but unfortunately, we had some housekeeping to take care of. Our clean clothes were becoming scarce, so we found a nearby laundromat. We also spent most of the day figuring out where we were going to next....thank goodness for internet in our room and THANK THE DEAR LORD we brought our little netbook with us....this little computer has been our saving grace many a time on this trip. I think we'd have been in trouble many times without it.

That evening, we did make it out to Buckingham Palace, a must see in London. I had never seen it at nighttime, and it was quite beautiful. The beaver-headed guards (as Joey calls them) were out as always standing watch. The architectural structures in this city are really amazing. 

Buckingham Palace at nightfall

So once again, when you don't have plans, the world is your oyster, but the options can overwhelm you. We looked at flights, apartments, hotels all over Europe...I was corresponding with people regarding their studio apartments to sublet for the month and getting confused as to whom I'd spoken with. We were just trying to find the cheapest (last minute) option, which we've learned that cheap doesn't always bode well with last minute plans. Ah, the cycle continues! It's really important for our money to last as long as possible so that we can continue to travel for as long as possible.


So that evening, we decided on Greece. Then after researching on where to stay, we decided to stay on the beautiful island of Santorini, a place I have seen in pictures and movies, but never knew the name...I just knew I wanted to go there. So the next morning, we said goodbye to bustling London and headed to the airport for our flight into Athens...
 
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Much love,