London Day 5 - A Very Busy Day

We had several things left on our London to-do list, and got most of them accomplished today.

Sounders at Stamford Bridge

First, we went out to Chelsea’s home field at Stamford Bridge. Unlike US stadiums, this one is tucked into the middle of a neighborhood. You get off the tube, walk less than a block and turn down a driveway…and there it is. It is a lovely-looking facility…and we brought along a Sounders scarf for some photos.

Oh, hello!

Ally was yelling “Fernando!” as we walked in.  We didn’t see the real Fernando, but he was a big presence in the Chelsea megastore and she took the opportunity to make his acquaintance. There was some disappointment that the Torres! Torres! Torres! T-shirts didn’t come in size small, but she did buy a pair of socks with his face on them. The store sold just about everything you could think of…with the Chelsea logo – toothpaste, candy (Chelsea Chews) and even bath loofahs.  I do have a photo of Ally giving the bird to a John Terry poster, but we’ll save that for private viewing.

Tower Bridge

Next, we put together a picnic lunch with sandwiches, salads and fruit and rode the tube to Westminster where we took at 30 minute boat cruise on the Thames.  We had just emerged from the tube station when a short rain shower hit, and everyone (us included) scurried back inside the station like rats when the light comes on.  It was over just as quick, and we went onto the boat.

The cruise was enjoyable, and we had a deck hand doing funny commentary and pointing out the landmarks. We got to float by that giant photo of the royals from a couple days ago.  The ride ended at the Tower Bridge, where the boat did one of those Queen’s Jubilee circle spins so we could all get a good photo view of the Tower Bridge.  Jorge was reppin’ the Sounders jersey all over London today.

Turd on a stick

It was a little cool and breezy on the boat, so nothing sounded better than a hot cup of tea.  And of course there was a Starbucks located right by the dock.  This Starbucks was huge, easily 5-6 times the size of the stores we know in the states.  We got quite a kick out of some of the items in the bakery case, including porridge and something called a marshmallow twizzle, which actually looked like a turd on a stick.

 

The friendly barista managed to get Ally and Jorge’s name correct on their cups, but somehow I became “Garl”.   Of course when our order was ready, they called for “Yor-gay” so I guess we’re even.

 Tower of London

Following our tea break, we wandered around the Tower of London, which to my surprise isn’t just a tower but a huge castle complex.  Ally had been there before, and neither Jorge nor I had any interest in going in, so we just looked from the outside.

Cashier's line at Primark

From there, we journeyed to Primark, the clothing store that Ally favored when she lived in London.  This place had to be Jorge’s worst nightmare – not just a store, but a humungous store.  Imagine the biggest Forever 21 store you’ve ever been in times three or four, packed with people shopping in a Nordstrom anniversary sale frenzy…and that’s every day.  Yep, that’s Primark.  But you can’t beat the sheer volume of clothes and the reasonable prices. 

Primark shopping

Ally wanted to look for a coat, and Jorge wanted to look for rugby shirts. Men’s stuff was on the second floor, coats on the first…so we made a plan that if we couldn’t find each other (a very likely possibility) we would rendezvous at the front door.  No sooner did Jorge leave us than I turned away to look at something and turned back and Ally was gone.  No sign of her anywhere in the crowd.  A moment of panic, and I decided to just yell her name.  She did hear me and backtracked.  After that, we stuck together. She found two coats, then we went up the escalator to try and find Jorge.  Luckily he was done and had decided to wait at the top of the escalator for us. Then we just had to wait while Ally stood in the world’s longest checkout line.  There were easily a dozen cash registers going, and a Disneyland-like queue to get to them.  We finally made it back outside, purchases in hand.

Krishnas in hoodies

There was an odd site outside of Primark, Hari Krishnas.  When was the last time you saw Hari Krishnas?  As usual, you hear them first and you think "Seriously? Hari Krishnas?" But these weren't your father's Hari Krishnas...they were wearing hoodies and the leader had a headset mic to help boom out the "Hari Hari Krishna Krishna chants.

Up top the doubledecker bus

Next, we cross another item off our list – a doubledecker bus ride. We’d been wanting to do this since we got to London, but could never figure out which busses went where.  The tube was just easier to understand. But we found a bus near Primark that said “Earl’s Court” so we thought “why not?” We got seats on the top deck and thoroughly enjoyed the ride.  It went through Ally’s old neighborhood of South Kensington, and it was cool to see everything from the bus. When you’re walking, your busy figuring out where you’re going and remembering to look right and left at crossings, so you miss things. Here we could just sit back and enjoy looking at everything.

The bus dropped us off at a stop right by the apartment (now we know where all of those busses go).

Futbol at the pub!

We dropped off our bags, picked up the laptop and headed down the street to the Blackbird pub to cross another item off the list – watching soccer at a pub.  They were showing the Real Madrid v Manchester City game, which gave Ally a chance to root against Ronaldo.  We had a nice pub meal and I got to write today’s blog entry while Ally and Jorge were engrossed in the game.

We had been trying to think of something cool to do on our last night in London, but I think we did so much cool stuff today that we won’t need to.