36,394 steps….OY!  That’s well over 30 kilometres…  That’s how many steps my phone recorded for September 29… and my feet, hips, and in fact, my whole body agree that that is a LOT!  ?? We covered an immense amount of ground this day.  We passed Westminster Abbey – several times, hit Trafalgar Square – several times, saw the London Eye, the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben (under construction and not to ring again for four years), and London Bridge.

After yesterday, we quickly discovered our packs were too heavy, and a challenge to fit in the overhead bins of airlines.  We decided we needed to purge… again!  If you’re packing at home, they say to pack – take away half, and then take away half again and then again (or something like that).  We did that, but obviously our first three purges weren’t enough!  The post office would be one of our stops tomorrow!

We met our friends and  started our walking tour.  We bought tickets for St. Paul’s Cathedral, and though it was impressive, it wasn’t anything FABULOUS – a bit disappointing, in fact.  We purchased some lovely bacon and cheese sandwiches for lunch and ate outside the London Tower.  As much as I really, really wanted to go in and tour, the time constraints and the 28£ price tag talked me out of it.  * sigh*.  Maybe another time.

For supper, we had some lovely fish and chips at a little cafe deep down in a crypt!  It felt a little strange, eating our chippies on top of graves. ?  Later, we checked out Piccadilly Circus, which was bright and energetic and crazy – a bit like Times Square, but on a smaller, toned-down, quieter scale. Plans were made to meet our friends early the next day for Westminster Abbey, Shakespeare’s Globe and in the evening, the Broadway hit, Wicked.

We headed off for our little hotel, sure that we knew the way, declining the offer of the paper map, confident in our sense of direction.  Hahahahahahahahaha!

AGAIN, we were massively lost.  AGAIN, we were turned around and upside-down, tired and grumpy.  I’m afraid the Amazing Race would want us only for comic relief!