Trip Report: Day 8: London (aka THE END)

I know everyone has been waiting with bated breath for me to finish up this trip, which has taken foreverrrrrr to get through. But I think my life has calmed down now so I won't be delinquent in the future. 

Anyway, upon returning from Paris we only had one day left in London before it was time to go home! We liked the British self-awareness regarding their ridiculous driving-on-the-left rules. As a pedestrian it was pretty disorienting going from England to France and back again in quick succession.

We went to the Victoria and Albert Museum first thing. There was a really interesting exhibit of British clothing through the ages and a bunch of other random stuff. I took a picture of this item, from the theatre exhibit, for Ben. 

They used to put it in the floor and dramatically pop actors out from beneath the stage in the middle of shows, but unfortunately people got killed all the time so it was banned.

Then we walked down the street to Harrod's.

Harrod's is a pretty weird place. Most of the bottom floor is food of all types, but there are also floors of couture clothing, electronics, toys.... all sorts of stuff. We bought some pastries, of course.

But not a bespoke cake.

We got lunch in a little cafe that overlooked one of the food halls.

And ended up on the toy floor, texting pictures of stuffed animals to Hillary to evaluate as potential gifts for the kids. Apparently these big eyed things are all the rage.

After Harrod's we went back to the hotel to pack and regroup and eat the pastries. Then we headed out for out last evening of adventures! We popped into the British Museum to see the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon friezes.

And then went on our very last death march to our dinner reservation at Rules, the oldest restaurant in London. It sprinkled the tiniest bit on the walk - the only time it rained on the whole trip, which seems pretty amazing for Britain in early springtime.

Rules was everything you'd imagine the oldest restaurant in London to be. Doorman in a top hat, wood paneling with old paintings and taxidermied animal heads on the wall, game meat on the menu, the whole nine yards. The food was great, too! I ordered steak & kidney pie since I had never had it before and discovered I'm not the hugest fan of kidneys, but that isn't Rules's fault.

The last bottle of wine!

The next morning we took the tube to the airport and spent a couple hours in the Heathrow Virgin Atlantic lounge, which was every bit as nice as the one in JFK, then flew back to the United States. Nine days spent sharing a hotel room with my mom and we didn't kill each other! And we had a lot of fun and saw a lot of sights, too. 

Next up: we'll see!