Pesach Travel Adventures - Day 2

Day 2 – Thursday, April 5 – London


We started off our morning with a Tube ride toward the center of the city, and ended up right in Trafalgar Square. After some time looking at the statues and the countdown clock for the Olympics, we did a little walking past White Hall, stopped for some coffee, and crossed the Themes on the Jubilee Bridge to the other side of the river. There were some great views along the way, even though the skies were overcast and threatening to rain. 


The night before we had pre-bought our tickets for the London Eye, so we got in a short line, picked up our tickets, then got in a longer line to wait to get on the Eye. Luckily for us the line moved pretty quickly, and within about half an hour we were in our pod and on our way. The London Eye is basically a giant Ferris wheel that takes about 30 minutes to make one revolution. We really enjoyed the views of the city, and of course getting to take some great pictures.


After our revolution we walked down the pier for lunch at Giraffe, then walked back over the river to the National Portrait Gallery. Now, portraits aren’t usually my favorite kind of art, but I have to say that I really enjoyed the museum. The displays are organized chronologically, and it was interesting to look at how painting style and the way in which people were depicted changed throughout the years. We spent almost two hours in the Portrait Gallery, and then got back on the Tube to head to Piccadilly Circus. 


We walked through the square and made our way to Hyde Park and Speakers Corner. The park was fairly empty of people, and the majority of the flowers and trees were just about to bloom. You could tell that in about three weeks, everything would be green and beautiful. We walked from one corner of the park to another, and ended up in Speaker’s Corner. My memory from the last time we were in London was of tons of people and lots of noise, but today there was nobody there – somewhat disappointing. 


From the park we took a bus over to John Lewis (a department store that seems to be the love-child of Macy’s, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Nordstrom). Jeremy and I found some really cool espresso cups with the old Tube map on them. From there we walked to a delicious Thai restaurant for dinner, and met up with my friend Gavin, who happened to be in London to spend Pesach with his family.