A Tale of Two Cities: London

It was the most expensive of times, it was the most expensive of times....

London:

We arrived in London and walked to our hotel, which we had booked for only 45 pounds a night! (about 70ish dollars) We found out that this was because the room was on the basement level smelling strongly of burnt coffee, and there was no bathroom of any kind, just a bed! Down the hall was a toilet, no sink. To take a shower we had to walk up 4 flights of stairs to the communal shower! Our "continental breakfast" literally consisted of two pieces of white toast. And some burnt coffee (hence the smell).
So we tried to spend as little time there as possible! The first afternoon that we arrived, we decided to walk around and try to do some of the things on Grandma Jan's list (Jordi's Grandma had written out a list of things for us to do and see in London). We found Buckingham Palace and the park by the Palace. We walked through that park and found Hyde Park, where Speakers Corner is. It was fun to go there and see where Dad has often been! We saw amazing monuments and architecture everywhere. One thing that was interesting was the innumerable amount of World War tributes and memorials there were.
We eventually came across Westminster Abbey, and what do you know but they were closed for mass!
"Perfect!" I thought. My Auntie Donna and Uncle Rick had told me the best time to see the abbey was during Mass, so we told the guard we were there for Mass, and he let us in. Inside was breathtaking -high celings and everything was very ornate. They give you a sheet telling you how to follow Mass, so that was good! (When to sit, stand, sing along, etc..) It was incredible! We were tired from walking so much, so it was nice to sit in this beautiful place and hear the voices of the choir echoing throughout the church. It was a beautiful service and I'm really glad we got to go!
Afterwards we decided to try and get dinner, and on the "List", Covent Gardens was mentioned as being a good place to go and eat. Unfortunately for us, our map was super vague! We didn't see Covent Gardens, but we did see New Covent Gardens Market - close enough, right? WRONG!! After hours of wandering across bridges and throughout the industrial district of London, we found an empty parking lot with empty warehouses, which said it was the Covent Market. Finally we found a girl who told us where to go, so we got on the extremely expensive metro and arrived at a much more populated and friendly looking area!!
We found some amazing, albeit scorchingly spicy Indian food, and had an impressive quantity of naan!
The next day we spent hours at the British Museum, which was awesome. Then we went to the Globe and the Tower of London (creepy!) We didn't do any of the tours, but it was fun to see the places. In the evening we went to a typical English pub for a warm beer and steak and ale pie with mashed potatoes. Jordi liked the cuisine, but I probably won't miss it too much ;)
Then on to perhaps the best part of the day - Wicked!!! We got tickets earlier that day, so we went to the theatre and saw it that night. It was soo good, I loved it! I've been wanting to see it forever, and Jordi really liked it too! I have to say I think it's definitely better than the book.
Anyways, the next morning after picking at my toast (Jordi gobbled up his breakfast, bless his heart), we got on another expensive metro to the train station where we bought expensive lunch and got on an expensive train to Paris, where more expensiveness awaited us ;)
But we had a great time, and got to see a lot in the short time we were there. My favorite parts were Westminster Abbey, the Museum, and of course, Wicked!