Just one of those days...

Yeah. It wasn't the worst day in the world but it sure didn't run smoothly.

I woke up this morning with a wonderful itinerary for another day in London:

• Arrive in London at 10:15
• See Tower of London until noon
• Quick Lunch
• See British Museum until 2pm
• Meet with Lord Barnett at the House of Parliament at 2:15
• Walking tour of London and wander around
• Go back home around 6pm

This is what today actually looked like:

• Arrive in London at 10:15
• See Tower of London until noon  go to Tower but be deterred by price and crowd
• Wander around underground for a while
• Quick Lunch snack
• See British Museum until 2pm  iPod dies
• More underground shenanegans
• Meet with Lord Barnett at the House of Parliament at 2:15
• Walking tour of London and wander around
• Go back home around 6pm 4

Yeah...My train was on time so I was off to a good start. I got off the train and onto the underground, also making good time. Then I thought of something: remember last night when I posted all of those pictures? Yeah...I left my SD card in the computer. Ooops. All I could think about was what an awful blogger I would be if I didn't have any pictures! Thankfully, I walked right by a camera store and picked up the smallest, cheapest one I could find. 

Then I headed to the Tower of London.

I got there at a reasonable time (or so I thought). I was walking up and heard Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and thought how fitting it was to be listening to a Beatles song in London. There was a line both at the ticket booth and to get in. I don't really care for crowds and though Monday wouldn't have been so packed but I wrong. I was already in a bit of a grumpy mood since I had to spend 11 pounds on the SD card and didn't want to spend another twenty pounds on a museum when there are plenty of free ones across the city.

So I left and headed towards the British Museum. The underground line I planned to take was experiencing major delays so I had to go an alternate route which was out of the way of course. I got off at Russel Square. Ever wonder how far down the subway is underground? Most tube stations have escalators. This one doesn't. It does offer a lift though. But I thought I would take the stairs. I started counting and wasn't even close after the first 50. It was a spiral staircase which was worse because there was no end in sight. The good news is I made it up all 177 stairs. Guess who's butt is going to look great tomorrow! I wanted to die when I reached the top. I got out and crossed Russel Square which is this small, beautiful park.

Then I finally made it to the British Museum.  

I was still recuperating from conquering those stairs and decided I needed a reward of a cheese and tomato crepe. MMMMMmmmmm....crepe.

I wandered in and turned on my Rick Steves British Museum Audio Guide. I've mentioned this before but wherever you travel, you MUST download the Rick Steves Podcasts. He gives great commentary on all types of attractions as well as tips for staying wherever you are. The British Museum is HUGE and he covers the highlights of the permanent exhibits in just over an hour. Honestly, I think if you were to cover every bit of information in the museum, you would walk away with nothing as it's truly an information overload. I apologize for the quality of the pictures from here on out, but of course I also forgot to charge my camera before I left and to conserve the battery (and make my SD card purchase worth while), I turned off the flash.

We started in the Egyptian exhibit with the Rosetta Stone.

Let my people go! This one of the many statues of Ramses that he had made during his time.

Translator anyone?

 Roman mosaics. A technique they got from the Egyptians and mastered the art.

What's an Egyptian exhibit without a mummy? There was a whole room of them!

This is Ginger, a perfectly preserved skeleton.

Now we move on to the Assyrians. They were very advanced for their time. Can you find the tank in this picture?

And then on to the Greeks. Like the camera battery, I had not charged the iPod before I left and it died with a little less than ten minutes of the tour left to go. That meant that I couldn't take the walking tour I had planned later in the day.

So I headed to Parliament. I had been put in touch with Lord Barnett as he is a family friend of my Great Uncle and he knew my maternal Grandmother growing up (I'm a quarter English by the way). I spoke to Lord Barnett last week and we set a time to meet: today at 2:15. I got there at 2:00 and was escorted into the building most Londoners haven't been in. I'm sure there was some sort of mix up as our meeting never actually took place. We set the time and date on Thursday of last week once he was back in Manchester and I hadn't given him my contact information in case something else came out. I kept holding out hope until 2:45 when I finally left. I still have a few more weeks here so hopefully we can work something else out.

It was beginning to rain and since I knew I couldn't do my walking tour anyways, I thought it was a good time to go home. A little bummed from the days events, I really holding out for some French macaroons at the market by the Waterloo station. I passed up some tempting street food vendors only to find the market was gone! Now I was really upset and grumpy as I hadn't had anything more than breakfast and that crepe. I thought for sure I would splurge on the next indulgent thing I saw. Then I came across a sushi stand. It was only 4 pounds (much better price than any pre-packaged sushi in the States) for all of this. It absolutely hit the spot! I love how sushi is an extremely satisfying, relatively healthy option. YUM! I grabbed it for the train ride home and read my book for the duration of the journey.

I caught a bus immediately and was home before I knew it. I was going pull the pity card and pout for the rest of the evening until I got to chatting about cakes with some family. That always puts me in a good mood. The roommate made burgers and that made me happy too. 

All in all, today actually wasn't too bad, just not great. I did walk over 20,000 steps and my ankle is more comfortable thanks to the brace I bought. YAY.

Cheers!