Bernd has a flight out in the morning, so I say good bye to him at 8 and he's off. You know, I figure my life is pretty cool when it's at a point where you know people that will fly into a city to meet you in Europe.
The plan today is to make our way out to Greenwich and see what happens. We have the normal (and last breakfast in the room as we finish up all our bread and jam) breakfast. Hopping on the tube we make our way out to take the Docklands Light Rail to go to Greenwich. When we get to the stop, we learn that it has been replaced by bus service for the day, so we take it to Canary Wharf and figure to head out from there.
We go to Canary Wharf and walk around a bit where I buy a game for the PS3. (See previous posts for why). Once at Canary Wharf, the thought of taking the bus further out to Greenwich doesn't seem like something to do since I did actually want to ride the Light Rail, not a bus. So, I see a fairly high speed boat that we can take back along the Thames towards Westminster. We opt for that instead, and we get to see London by boat, which is something that was very cool.
Here's some proof:
Coolness on the Thames
Next, we get off the boat and decide to walk back to SoHo to explore the area more since we didn't earlier in the week.
We have lunch at Angus Steakhouse, which is like a Sizzler, but you know, every so often, you have to hit the chains too. Before we head over to SoHo, we hit a bunch of antique bookstores on Charing Cross Road where I pick up some sweet WW II era books. From there, it's off to SoHo where we pick up a few more things and just walk around the area with the beautiful weather in London that day.
We decide to take a slow walk back to the room, since I have to check us in for tomorrow's flight 24 hours before and I want good seats since it's a long flight home (longer than going).
The casual walk takes us through Piccadilly Circus (a shade over 12 hours from when we were there last).
Along the way, I find a van apparently made for my dog:
Note: I ain't that tall of a person.
It's a great day for a walk, but our feet start to kill us, so we catch a bus at the edge of St James Park to save some wear and tear on our already worn and torn legs and feet.
We've walked a ton this week, we figure at least 5-10 miles each day so by now we're feeling every time we go out. I've gone through more socks this week than anytime in my past. So much so that there is a "sock death watch" going on every day according to my wife.
We get off the bus at Royal Albert Hall and take some pix:
A concert venue quite unlike Madison Square Garden in NYC
Then, we head back to the room to rest up and start packing. I've bought a ton of books on this trip so I get to work.
At 7:30 I check in and snag us some sweet exit row seats for the trip home. Plus it's only 2 seats next to each other so I don't need to climb over other people (which turns out to be a blessing).
We're very tired, so we stay in South kensington, opting for Thai for dinner. Back at the room, we finish packing and get some much needed sleep.
