London Layover

Today we began our 2-week Scandinavia Smorgasbord. Applying lessons learned from Indonesia with the Istanbul layover, we began with the longest layover we could find in London. Our red-eye flight arrived at Heathrow and we took the Tube to Hyde Park, arriving at Buckingham Palace in time to see the changing of the guards. Due to the recent Jubilee there was still a good deal of bleachers and fencing they were taking down, so at first it looked like we could only glimpse it from a distance through the fence. Walking a little further, we arrived at The Mall (the road running from the Palace to Trafalgar Square) in time to see the passing of the horse guards and a small group of soldiers marching right past us.

Thinking that was it, we began to wander through St. James’s Park. I’ve been fortunate enough to visit London twice before, both times in November, and I was pleasantly shocked to see the seasonal transformation. The day was mostly sunny, and just cool enough to warrant a light sweater as we strolled through gardens with an abundance of flowers and baby swans. My favorite was a giant replica of the queen’s crown out of different types of plants.

We left the gardens just in time to see and hear a military band parade past us, and followed them out as we began our search for food and drink.

On previous trips to England, I noticed that one of the things I enjoyed most were the guided tours and today proved to be no exception. An older London gent decided to become our tour guide for a few blocks, explaining the buildings as we passed and leading us to a convenience store by Trafalgar Square before bidding us a good day. I got my Cadbury fix, and Maggie sampled one of their unique flavors of crisps (aka potato chips). We ate these while watching school kids climb on the lions around Nelson’s Column, and the giant countdown clock for the Olympics (44 days to go!) in front of the National Gallery.

The rest of our time was spent strolling towards Tower Bridge, people watching on The Strand and enjoying a beautiful day. The steps of Saint Paul’s didn’t have an old woman feeding birds, but it was full of people enjoying their lunches. Inspired (and hungry), we crossed over the Thames on the Millennium Bridge and enjoyed lunch at an outdoor market before continuing on to Tower Bridge. I’d seen the iconic bridge before, but today was lucky enough to walk across it.

On the other side, we hopped on a double-decker bus back to Trafalgar Square and took the Tube back to Heathrow, finally acknowledging our tired feet from the walking.

Our flight to Oslo was brief, and as we landed my disorientation wasn’t just from the new landscape and language. We arrived after 10 PM, yet the sky was still light! By the time we cleared customs and took the train into the city it got a bit darker, but was still just the dusky color of a sun recently gone down. This was a good thing, as we were a little disoriented leaving the train station and took the scenic route to our hostel.