London, England: Chapter 5 Last Day!

Tower Bridge

On our last day in London, we got up early to get the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. It was a nice ceremony, even though a bit long, but it is worth a stop to see royal tradition alive.

Changing of the guard

Right next to Tower Bridge is the Tower of London, where nobility, and royalty usually met a grisly end, or where held for an extended period of time. The crown jewels are hosed in the Tower of London. We did not go visit it on this trip to London, because time was so short and we still had to eat and run to a museum. London Bridge has the more famous name, through song, but Tower Bridge has the famous aesthetic (both are fairly close to each other (walking distance, about 15 minutes).

Near the underground, doesn’t the lamplight sign remind of the Chanel logo?

We ate in the Borough Market. It is one of the oldest food markets in England, its founding date being 1014 (so its over 1000 years old!). The food was great, cooked right in front of you and the stall were not empty. My husband had a great pork sandwich and I went for a shrimp wrap. Each stall has its own flavors from around the world. If you are not feeling like a processed juice, or soda, you can walk to the produce section and the squeeze fresh juices from local farms. It was a great experience and we would go back and eat there again and explore the market.

In the Wallace Collection

We ran to the train, so that we can make it quickly to the Wallace Collection. This was once a private residence of Seymour family, Marquesses of Hertford. It has one of the best collections of art, armor, and furniture. We had to almost run through it, but some piece just stopped us in our tracks. They were breathtaking, the armor from many different kinds of periods, places, and peoples. The art was mostly British, but a very wonderful collection. They had Severs on display and ancient Greek and Roman sculptures. Next time we are in London, we will take much longer to look around and appreciate the extensive collection. The best part it is free and very well maintained, donations are always accepted and appreciated for the upkeep of the building and art.

Some of the “knights” at the Wallace Collection

We were running very late for our transport back to the hotel. Our choose was cab or train. We choose cab, that was a mistake we might have gotten even quicker with train. The traffic in London is horrendous and the underground is quicker than the traffic of the very many cars. Our transport was waiting for us for a good 30 minutes and he did not drive away! We booked through Expedia, a shared transport, but it turned out to be private (which was a great bonus).

In the airport at the Harrods store

The VAT process in London is easy, but it is past the airport security. You will have to take your purchase with you on the plane, which in my opinion Is the best thing to do (you would not want it lost). After i got the forms stamped, my item checked, I put the envelope in the box ( I took a picture as proof before sealing it) and we went to the boarding gate. The VAT return came in at about three and a half weeks, which is not too bad.