3 teens, 2 days, 1 city...(Part 3 of 3)

Sunday, we split up a little. We went to see the Tower of London from up close. I decided that I should enter at least one of the historic landmarks we were seeing, and so paid the £14.50 student price (instead of the normal £17 price. Either way, the price is ridiculous.) to get in, while Luis and Juanmi went to see a couple modern architectural landmarks they wanted to see. The Tower was impressive. Between replicas of the torture machines used when it was a prison, engravings on the walls left by the prisoners that are still there today, the displays of old armor, the interactive museum, and the Crown Jewels, it was definitely worth the price. I took a lot of pictures, including some of the Jewels, which techincally is prohibited, but I couldn't NOT photograph every step of the trip.



Running about 10 minutes late, I met up with Luis and Juanmi outside the Tower and we went to see St. Paul's Cathedral. After that, the day went downhill.
We left the cathedral, our map almost blew away, we headed down the main street looking for the Metro station, it started raining, we realized we'd lost the map and also gotten lost, we walked about 10-15 blocks in the rain until we found a station, which happened to be on one of the two central lines through downtown London which were closed that weekend for repair, we walked another couple blocks in the rain to another station, realized we really didn't have any more time to see anything more. So we headed to the restaurant Masiel had recommended for lunch before heading home. However, the whole street of restaurants was closed! We ended up going to Wok-in-a-Box, where they only accepted cash. I used the last of mine, and Luis only had the £20 note. Uh-oh (earlier that day, buying the train/metro tickets, we'd tried to use the note to buy them, but the ticket agent justed started laughing, saying it was a really old note and asking where we'd gotten it!). The Chinese woman behind the register just stared at it for awhile, before calling over her workmate, and then the other, and the other, and finally the manager. After all 5 of them had looked it over, they finally took it. And so ended the saga of the old £20 note.

After lunch, we went home, thanked Masiel, grabbed our suitcases and took the train to the airport. However, due to construction that started THAT day, we ended up taking 4 trains instead of 2 and we missed the check-in for the flight by 10 minutes!!! They wouldn't reopen for us, so we had to pay £35 each to catch the next flight to Alicante. So instead of flying out Sunday night at 6:50PM, we had to fly home Monday morning at 6:35AM!!! As such, we had to spend the night in the airport. Between sleeping on the benches, calling the parents to explain how we'd missed the flight, and trying to exchange 2€ so I could use a computer and check my debit card (that I'd been using all weekend) and send an email, it was an interesting night. It was also an interesting end to a fun weekend.

Sleeping on the benches in the airport.

My legs/feet were killing me after so much walking, but it was worth it, to get to see London.
Next week: ITALY!!!

More in PARTS 1 & 2!!!

Part 1: http://erikinalicante.blogspot.com/2009/03/3-teens-2-days-1-city.html
Part 2: http://erikinalicante.blogspot.com/2009/03/3-teens-2-days-1-citypart-2-of-3.html

Currently listening to:
Song: Elgar/Something Inside
Artist: Jonathan Rhys-Meyers
Album: August Rush Soundtrack