Well, my journey home has taken a little longer than expected. I have been delayed in Mildenhall, England the past several days. The KC-10 that was supposed to take us home is broken and awaiting maintenance. Normally I wouldn't mind getting "stuck" somewhere, but since I haven't seen Brooke and the boys in over six months I'm ready to go home.
This was my first time in England, so the one bright spot was getting a chance to go to London for a day. Coming from the heat of the desert, I wasn't prepared for the chilly weather of England. I had to go to the BX and buy some warmer clothing. They didn't have much of a selection other than sweatshirts and athletic gear so I wasn't dressed the way I would have liked to have been, but at least I was comfortable and warm.
We took a cab from Mildenhall to a town called Ely, where we took "the tube" into the city.
Mildenhall and Ely are in a very rural part of England, and it's about a three hour car ride to London. The train ride took about an hour and a half, but I slept most of the way. My internal clock isn't quite sure what time it is with the new time zone I'm in.
Once we got into London, we got on our tour bus and went to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. When we got there, there were hundreds of people gathering around to see whatever it was we were going to see. No one was really sure what signaled the beginning and end of the ceremony. We stuck around for a little more than an hour, but didn't see a whole lot because of the crowd and the obstructed view. Here's some of the pictures I took while we were there:
None of us had much to eat for breakfast that morning, so when we were finished at Buckingham Palace it was time to get some lunch. One of the guys we were with wanted to go to the Hard Rock Cafe, so we walked there for our next stop.
Once we were done eating, we found our tour bus and got back on. The rest of the time we pretty much stayed on the bus so we could see all of the city and stay warm. With the limited time we had, I felt like I barely scratched the surface of what London has to offer. There is so much history here, I wish I had a couple of weeks to explore and enjoy the area. In the end, I think we made the most of the time we had. Hopefully, Brooke and I can come back someday.
Pretty sure this was the guy who invented the sandwich, so I took the picture.
The Tower Bridge as we were crossing the London Bridge. For some reason I always thought the Tower Bridge was the London Bridge... learn something new every day.
One view of the London skyline as we were about to cross the Tower Bridge.
Crossing the Tower Bridge. Once we were on the other side, we headed West and followed the Thames River going back into the main part of the city.
It was kind of cool being in London right after the release of a James Bond movie. I saw Skyfall in Abu Dhabi and liked it a lot. You should go see it if you haven't yet.
Kind of wish we had eaten here instead of the Hard Rock, but I was happy to have food in my belly.
Not a great picture, but it's the best one I could get of Trafalgar Square as we passed by.
Big Ben and the Parliament building... the sun was starting to set at this point, but the building looked really cool with the lighting they have in place.
The London Eye.
Once the sun went down we made our way back to King's Cross and took the train back to Ely. I feel like I got to see most of London, but didn't get to explore the way I would have liked to. I guess that's a great excuse to come back someday. Until next time...
