Sep 26, 2011
London

Day 5

• Got a full English breakfast at a cafe on Kings Road. I thought I could finish it, but it won.
• Went to Westminster Abbey where so many famous people are either buried there or have altars in their memory. Also, it’s huge. 
• Walked across Westminster Bridge to the South side and marveled at the Houses of Parliament. Our US Capitol is just a shack compared to that.
• Walked entirely too quickly across St. James’s Park to get to our timed tour of Buckingham Palace. The State Rooms are open only 2 months during the year so we had to see how the Queen partied it up in her home. Unfortunately for us, a few of the rooms were overrun with Royal Wedding crap, but there were lots and lots of happy British ladies. Good for them.
• Then it finally happened: RAIN.
• It had been sunny and disgustingly lovely up until that downpour. It was the first day we didn’t take along our rain jackets that we hadn’t been wearing.
• So the rain, along with a Tube station closing down and not one empty taxi cab, kept us from seeing the Dennis Severs House that we had planned on that evening.
• Instead, we rested at Covent Garden (is that possible?). We drank some cider and ate some cheese before venturing out to find Tayyabs, the best Indo-Pak restaurant in London.
• Holy hell, it was busy, but we just lined up and then found us a table after about 30 minutes. The food was the best desi food I’ve ever had.
• Across from the Whitechapel tube station is the Royal London Hospital, the creepiest hospital we have ever seen in our lives. Quite possible that no one comes out alive from that place.