Today we woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, 8:00 am for the Tube Rally. Basically, we were divided into five groups and sent on a scavenger hunt around the city of London. We had to hit up all of the major sights and answer questions about the sights that we visited. It got intense.... real fast. Our team (five of us: Me, John, Claire, Aisha, and Renee) headed off to the British Museum straight away because it is the closest to our hotel, Pickwick Hall. Trying to be smart, we headed to the information desk right away... I thought I would be clever and just ask for the answers from someone there, but turns out they don't really memorize every random little fact residing in the museum (for example: What happened to Mary's dog? I don't know, either. And neither did the lady at the info desk). So we ran around on a wild goose chase looking for minuscule facts around a museum with at least four stories.
After the British Museum, we decided we would head out to Harrods, practically one huge mall contained in one store, the most expensive store ever. Like, afternoon high tea costs 29 pounds per person. I don't think I'll be heading back out there; it just makes me depressed that some people will spend 100 pounds on a belt for a child. Most of the things we were supposed to be a-scavenging for were non-existant at our present moment, anyway. The hunt was a tad outdated...
Honestly, I can't remember exactly what happened today because many, many tube rides, bus rides, and miles walked are all jumbling together... we did go to: Buckingham Palace, The House of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, The National Portrait Gallery, Covent Garden, St. Martin-in-the-fields, St. Paul's Cathedral, and a ton more that I cannot even remember. I swear, we got off the tube at most every stop on the Piccadilly Line. Word of advice... If you're ever in London and you're leaving the Underground and there's an option to take the lift (elevator) or the stairs... Take the lift. Always. The line for the lift was super long at one point, so I thought people were just lazy and weren't willing to go up, like, four flights... nope. They were just smarter than me. Four stories up the stairs, I figured out that it wasn't ending any time soon. Fifteen flights. Fifteen flights of stairs I climbed today. It got me. And it got me good. I'm pretty sure my group hated me after that. I hated me, too. Because it was a stupid decision.
After much exploration, deterrence, and perseverance, we actually made it back. Really, guys, in this blog I made this day sound a LOT shorter than it actually was. It was SO long. All through the day it was blistering cold with spurts of sleet, tiny hail, and some rain, too. We got back third, but we failed to "scavenge" all the answers on our sheet, save one destination. Sadly, we did not win. Jase's team won, though, so I'm trusting he'll send a bit of that extra 20 pounds my way!! Hahaha.
All in all, it was a good day. Being out and about in the city without someone herding you like a sheep is fascinating... navigating is easier than I thought it would be. Went out for fish and chips tonight. Delicious, especially considering that I had only eaten two pieces of toast that morning for breakfast and nothing else all day.
Tomorrow we go to church at St. Paul's Cathedral. Should be lovely. Cheers, everyone!
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