The next morning I got up at 6 and around 630 I said to myself… self? Kidding.. I just got up and went out running in Hyde Park! My favorite thing to do on vacation is run in the morning when it’s all quiet and beautiful (and alone) and I only did it ONCE this trip! (I’m writing this now at a cafe on the last full day and I know I’m not running tomorrow – haha).
It was so lovely. It was in the 40’s but I put on my headband/ear warmer and went out for 2 miles. I was going to do a body weight workout but there is no carpet in the apartment and my knees would not be happy, so running it was!
After that, I got in a shower, and everyone got up and we had reservations for the Sky Garden for breakfast. It was on the 36 floor of.. not sure what the building is called but I’ve heard it called the Walkie Talkie building!
We were going to Darwin Brasserie and it was nice because we had a separate entrance because it was earlier than the public building was open. We got to escape the crowd during the security check and go up to the 35th floor.
Breakfast was delicious. I had a veggie/cheese omelette and the fruit plate. The view was great and it was fun to get out in the morning and explore. We got so much food and just enjoyed seeing the sights from the 36th floor (we walked one floor up!).
I sort of expected the “garden” to be bigger but it made sense how it’s as laid out. We were fascinated by the three people cleaning the windows on the top of the building. I would love to know the schedule for that. How often? Where does the water go? (We decided there must be rain gutters.)
As we were looking out, we could see the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. Our tickets to tour were the next day but I suggested we just head down there and see if we could switch our tickets – which I knew would not be a problem.
We spent a few minutes hanging out at the Garden, looking at all the sights. One of the buildings that Sam had wanted to go visit, she could see, and we determined it was the Bank of England.
There were a few other interesting ones that we couldn’t figure out.
Data plans in Europe are so slow, btw. Thank goodness for most places having Wi-Fi so we could research!
We left and navigated our way over to the Tower of London, passing by the oldest church in London. Something like 500 AD?
The Tower was exactly as I remembered it when I visited 18 months ago LOL. But J had a good time exploring and Sam found some cool things.
I wonder what age that kids sort of just realize that being forced to go to tourist attractions is worth the hours of boringness for the one hour of super cool things.
When will I realize that? Kidding. I did have a good conversation with my Dad about that. He had a very pragmatic way of just knowing that on an 8 hour tour, 4 hours would be boring, 2 would be pretty interesting, and 1 or 2 would be something he was really excited about.
I wish more people could take that outlook on it. I think I do for the most part but I start doing circles around people wanting everyone to be happy and then I’m super fucking irritated that no one is happy or that I’m not happy.
Anyway!
Oh, there were signs about the Ravens at the Tower and they were SO creepy. They were bold. They were just perched on the railings and would stare at us as we walked past. I swear they were going to bite us. When we were going into the artillery building, there was one perched and this small girl (8yo?) was SCREAMING, loosing her mind about having to go past it because it was too scary.
Same girl, same!
We got some cool pictures outside of the Tower Bridge though. Sam got some TikTok’s and J was also taking some nice photos.
We had been talking about the Uber boat we had been seeing and I think I suggested that we check out the pier and see if we could get a ride. Sam, at one point, was saying she had wanted to see MI6, or drive by it, and so we wandered off to the pier.
We were able to get on the Uber boat with just a 15m wait. The weather was perfect. It was “supposed to” rain the next day (it did for an hour in the morning so didn’t affect us!) so we were trying to soak up all the good weather.
The Uber boat was really nice. It wasn’t that crowded, easy to get on, easy to just “tap and pay” as we went on and off, and it was lovely. We enjoyed sitting down for a few minutes – J wandered off and was outside the boat and looking around and Sam and I were having a snack.
The boat would stop really quickly and we were having a panic attack on which one to get off… but we got off at Westminster and then separated. Sam said she didn’t want to see MI6 and was tired and wanted to take the Underground back and J wanted to walk and get a snack.
Sam and I sat next to the corner of Big Ben for a bit and got a few more TikTok’s which she was pleased about. We got a few shirts – two for her, one for me, and one for G. She picked out some postcards too.
We then went home. On the way, I started eating my pack of peanuts which NORMALLY I’m fine with. But I think my High Tea, sweets, and constant French fries caught up with me because I got home and felt terrible and just curled up for two hours.
I was feeling a bit better but J had made the reservations of some restaurants that interested him. One of which I had gone to last time with Dad – which was great – we both loved it – but when I looked it up, I looked up the wrong location to the one Dad and I went to last time. So when I GPS’d it, it said 30m walking and 20m by subway so when we all left together, they said they wanted to walk and I was like… walking is JOLTING my stomach, not something I want to do more of… and we didn’t really talk about it because we were already walking and it was crowded.
So that was a little classic. I was in the wrong Hawksmoor at exactly the same time as they arrived at the right one. Along with the Morrison’s, as we were having dinner with them as the same time.
So I got to walk another 10m… I did feel a little sorry for myself and want to cry for a hot minute. I’m not sure if I was feeling more sad/angry at the fact I looked up the wrong place, didn’t communicate or check, or that I wasn’t feeling good and was now all alone. But I was actually proud of myself for pulling myself together. Walking wasn’t the end of the world. Normally I love walking – but 5+ miles a day on a rough stomach was doing it for me. But I knew that coming into dinner, I had to bring positive energy and not be a downer.
So there was definitely a pep talk that I gave myself, and walked in and tried to sparkle a bit. I always wonder how the spots are doled out for the last person. J and Sam didn’t save me a seat next to them but there was a spot next to my Dad and Kyle, which honestly was probably for the best.
I’m there to hang out with my Dad and preferred being able to chat with him and enjoy the last evening. Ryan was sitting next to J and Sam which was also good, that boy can talk to anyone and is such a good conversationalist. Sam was sitting next to Kara, which was probably a deliberate choice. Kyle was next to me and Cindy, just to finish that seating arrangement off!
It was a good dinner.
Dad and I had shared the chateaubriand last time so decided to share it again. It was SO good. We also got some sides to share. Ryan and I were going to share it since we usually prepare our foods the same way but he got his own since he was sitting on the other side of Dad.
We talked for a little while longer and some had dessert and then said goodbye and went our separate ways. Such a fun few days of seeing them!
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