Lost in the City

Not having a cell phone has been a rude awakening. We use them daily to communicate with others, look random things up such as a nearby restaurant or navigate through an unfamiliar area, and we probably rely on our phones too much. But standing on a street corner during busy traffic while trying to read the street names and then find the tiny print on a huge fold out map will make you really wish you were staring at your little blue-blinking current location dot. I mean, when was the last time you used an actual paper map?

Front view of Covent Garden

"Floating on air" street performer

Yesterday, we decided to spend time wandering around and exploring the city. Up until this point we haven't done anything "touristy" or seen many London sites. We used a walking tour outline from one of our guidebooks and then made it up as we went.

We started in Covent Garden Piazza which is a covered outdoor market filled with tiny shops and patio restaurants. We grabbed a quick coffee and perused around. There is always some type of entertainment in the market from street performers to bands to comedy shows for a crowd. But my favorite thing was the Christmas decorations that were already hung up... I can tell that Christmas in London is going to be spectacular!

Christmas decorations inside the market

Aaron and Yacine in front of the Russell Office

Next we headed up to Leicester Square where the theaters and cinemas are before passing through a brief section of Chinatown. Continuing on we headed to Picadilly Circus which is where Aaron's office is.

Even though it was a Sunday, I got a quick peak inside since Yacine was working for a few hours. It's not as big as the Seattle office, but definitely a good size and a fantastic location. Aaron is actually moving desks in the next week so he can't get too settled into his current seat : )

We crossed down Picadilly street which is lined with fancy boutiques, high-end shops and the glamorous Ritz Hotel before strolling through the entrance to Green Park.

City backdrop in Green Park

Seattle has a lot of beautiful, amazing parks, but it is crazy to me that in London there are huge parks right in the heart of the city! Green Park was gorgeous - there were enormous trees everywhere and the multi-colored leaves fell as we walked the path and covered the ground around us. There were lots of people lounging on the grass and park benches enjoying the crisp fall day.

It's definitely the fall season here!

We walked through Green Park, finally exiting out at Buckingham Palace where tourists lined the gates hoping to catch a glimpse of the Royal family. The iconic palace guards marched in place before standing stoic at the entrance. These were the first guns that we've seen since arriving in the UK... we're not in America anymore!

Buckingham Palace Guard

Aaron and I have also perfected the self-pictures. Although he has to hold the camera since he has longer arms : )

In front of Buckingham Palace

We continued out towards the River Thames through Westminster where we stumbled upon a WWII memorial, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and the London Eye. Big Ben is really spectacular in person. We walked up right as the bell was ringing 3:00pm (or should I say 15:00?)...

Time for Big Ben!

The London eye along River Thames

 Afterwards we walked along the river edge and headed back up towards the city at Trafalgar Square which was hosting a Diwali celebration. We quickly browsed through the National Gallery Museum (which is free!) and admired a few of the paintings before heading back up Regent Street to our flat. Of course, I had to duck into an iconic British red telephone booth on the way home. Cheerio operator!

British telephone booth

Our evening ended with dinner at an Italian restaurant, Grappa and some American football : ) There was an NFL game in London so we got to watch it without having to wake up at an absurd time of the day.

I'd say it was a pretty successful walking tour of London even if we did have to navigate with a good old fashioned map!