London at Night

After we emerged from the pedestrian tunnel (yes, I survived), we hit up the public transportation again and went to Oxford Circus. 

 

I'm discovering that there are lots of ritzy parts of town... or maybe the ritzy area is just very large.  Either way, we were walking past lots of swanky, hoity-toity shops like Hermes and Louis Vuitton.  I could almost imagine I was in The Devil Wears Prada.

 

These rich people really know how to light things up at night an make it look absolutely beautiful.

Then we found our way to the Hungerford footbridge for some amazing views of Big Ben, Parliament, and the London Eye all lit up.

 

This is the British Airways London Eye.  For a fee, you can ride in one of the gondolas for an amazing view of the city. 

 

 

He's so handsome...

 

Big Ben is on the right, and Parliament is right behind him.

This is looking straight up at one of the bridge supports.

Hungerford foot bridge.

The view from the other side of the Thames.

Big Ben and Parliament again.


After that, we decided to head back.  We were close to Waterloo station, so we just walked there.  The problem was, we couldn't figure out how to get in! Have you every had that issue where you're like "I can see it, so I should be able to get to it..." but then you can never get to it? Oh you haven't?  Me neither...

Anyway, we maybe sort of ended up on the wrong side of the tracks for a little bit, but eventually found our way into the station.  Good thing, too, because we needed to use the bathroom loo!

Here's the thing about restrooms toilets over here: they aren't free.  They are either in an establishment where you are expected to spend money (like  a store or a restaurant) and hidden in such a way that you have to ask where they are, or it is very obvious that you are coming in just to use the loo, or you have to actually pay to use the toilets.  The train and underground stations have turnstiles at the entrance to the toilets, and you have to put in money before you can get in.  The really annoying thing about Waterloo, is it cost 30 p, which is less than some of the tube stations, but you can only put in 10 p or 20 p coins. Which leaves you (and a lot of other women) standing there, fumbling around trying to get correct change when you really need to pee.  Of course I didn't have a 10 p, so I went back upstairs and asked Tim if he had one.  Nope, he just put in two 20 p coins, and it took it but didn't give him change, but he didn't care.  I tried the same method with success.

Sorry for all of the graphic details, but if you want to know what it's like over here, this is it.  Consider this your episode of Real Life with the Taylor: Using the Public Toilets.

Saturday was a good day, but we were so tired when we got back that all we could do was watch several hours of Olympic coverage and go to bed way too late.  Have you ever had that problem where you're too tired to go to bed?  You don't have enough energy to get up and brush your teeth and put your pajamas on, so you just stay up later and later and later? 

No? 

Me neither.