London
We entered the city about 2:15 p .m. We had to stop to drop off a couple who had to catch a flight out of Gatwick airport. We got to Marble Arch about 2:45, but due to traffic and two cars parked in the front of the hotel, we didn’t get off the bus until 3:10. I rushed to get off the bus, grabbed my carryon from under the bus, and got up to the reception desk. I wanted to get into my room, unload my stuff and get to Kensington Palace before 4. Unfortunately, the room was not ready yet. The clerk said it would be 30-40 minutes. So, I went down to the porter’s office, collected my luggage, and went back up to sit in the noisy, busy lounge. I talked to Dad for a few minutes and then went to go check on my room. It wasn’t ready, so instead of being on the 4th floor, they changed my room to the 8th floor. When I got into my room, I found 4 twin beds!! I called down to the front desk to inquire if this was my room. It was. After a few minutes of unloading my things, I went over to Hyde Park to catch the hop-on/hop-off bus. The ticket clerk that had been so nice to talk to back in June was working . So, I greeted him again. He remembered me and asked how my trip was. We chatted for a few minutes. When I bought my ticket for the bus, he gave me £ 2.00 off the full price. I got on the bus and headed for the London Dungeon experience, instead of Kensington Palace. I decided to do Kensington Palace tomorrow afternoon since it is the closest place to my hotel. I got to see some more of London that I had not seen previously since the London Dungeon experience is one of the most further out places to visit. I got to the London Dungeon about 5:30 p.m. The London Dungeon experience is located in a former tunnel system from the Victorian period. The experience itself is basically a large haunted house with a very short water ride and a two story free fall ride. There are character actors throughout the place telling stories of death, murder, and mayhem of earlier London life. The whole experience took about 1 ½ hours. By the time I finished the experience, the hop-on/hop-off bus was no longer running for the day. I had to catch two city buses to get back to Marble Arch. By that time it was almost 8:30 p.m. and I was dog tired. So, instead of trying a restaurant that Lee has spoken about earlier, I grabbed some McDonalds and headed back to my room. I ate, watched some TV, and for the first time did not blog or download pictures! I was just too darn tired.