Insight Vacation Select Choices Tour – London – July 17th 2011

This morning we had an orientation bus tour allowing us to see all the main sights. Our first stop was the Royal Albert Hall. We then drove around Piccadilly Circus which is like a mini version of time square, then we did a drive around Trafalgar square. We crossed the Thames Bridge and stopped at Westminster Abby. My mom and I walked up to see Big Ben and walked along westminster bridge. After that we were off to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards. It started to lightly rain and I was worried that they would cancel the changing of the guards, but I got to see it happen and the rain held off till we were back in the bus. After that it was back to the hotel.

My mom and I grabbed something to eat at a place called Pret A Manger which is a sandwich shop that has delicious wraps and sandwich’s. We then made our way to Kensington Palace, using a hop on – hop off tour bus. I ended up purchasing a ring that looks like the Spencer family tiara. Afterwards my mom and I walked through Kensington Gardens and we ended up at the Diana Memorial Fountain. Then we walked through Hyde Park and went back to the hotel.

While we were back at the hotel we tried to figure out dinner plans. My mom had asked front desk for some suggestions and they told us that there are a few places down St. James Street, so while she was trying to map it out, I got to talk to Damien for the first time on the phone. (more on him later) Past communication has been via facebook or whatsapp (which is messaging program for the iphone). So we talked about random stuff and confirmed our plans to meet for the first time on Tuesday July 19th 2011. Afterwards while mom and I were walking around Damien suggested a restaurant for us to try. He suggested two actually, one being his favourite and another being an interesting place to eat. Since the interesting place to eat was closer to our hotel we decided to check that place out.

The restaurant is called Sketch and is on Conduit Street. Apparently it’s like a living art museum made famous by football (soccer) wives and girlfriends going there. When my mom and I arrived, we were shocked to find it closed. Apparently it’s not opened on Sundays. So I sent a text to Damien telling him so and he suggested that we go to his favourite restaurant, Il Cucciolo located on Denman Street, however that was closed as well. So my mom and I just ended up eating at a british pub.

After dinner we decided to walk up to Piccadilly Circus. It was pretty packed because there were some street dancers performing in the street. By this point it was pretty late and we didn’t want to have to walk back to our hotel on Oxford Street, so we decided to take the underground/tube for the first time. It was all pretty easy to figure out and we were back at our hotel in no time. My mom got to work on figuring out our route for tomorrow and I snuggled up in bed to try to fall asleep. Another 6am wake up call was something I was not looking forward to.