While it seems like it has been months, it was only two weeks ago that Natalie returned home to the US. On the final weekend of her visit, we got up early on Friday and caught a plane from Aberdeen to London's Gatwick airport. After checking in to our Hotel, we walked about 1/2 a mile to a small community called "Horley" (pronounced Orley) had a late lunch and pint of "Real Ale" (you know, the flat, warm beer that is so popular over here).
After lunch we caught the train into the heart of the London shopping district known as "Knights Bridge" where we stopped to visit Harrods Knights Bridge. Harrods is a department store that covers over 4.5 acres and has over 1 MILLION (yes, that's correct) square feet of shopping space. It has 330 departments where you can buy everything from a new Maserati to a souvenir golf tee ... and I mean EVERYTHING in between! There are restaurants on every floor (some floors have as many as 5 places to eat), and deli's where you can buy the most exotic imported foods in the world. It is truly an overwhelming place. (Useless fact: On September 10, 2007, Harrods hired a live Egyptian cobra to protect the shoe counter.)
When we were done fighting the crowds and after we managed to find our way out of this maze of a store we decided to head back to the hotel. Little did we know that we were about to hit rush hour at Victoria station.
To quote: "The station is the second busiest on the London Underground system, serving some 80 million passengers per year. The station was not built for this number of passengers, which results in severe overcrowding." ... this is not an exaggeration ... the station is elbow to elbow at 5:00 PM on a Friday... wherever the crowd goes, you go.
After dinner in Horley and a taxi ride back to the hotel, we met up with one of my co-workers from Houston for a drink at the hotel and then off to bed.
Saturday was spent being truly LAZY... we slept in and ordered room service... it was a nice break. Sunday morning we got up and headed back into London for and express sight seeing tour. I took Nat to see Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abby, Buckingham palace, London Bridge, and the Tower of London... whew! Later that afternoon one of my co-workers from Mustang's office in Woking took the train up to London and met us for a quick pint at the "Hung, Drawn and Quartered" pub (A tribute to William Wallace whose head was mounted on top of the London Bridge as a warning to those who would stand against England) and then off to dinner at a small hidden pub in central London.
Monday was sad day of long goodbye's as Natalie got on her plane to Houston and I returned to Aberdeen :-(
Don't forget to take a look at our pictures here.
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