Rodriguez's in London

 

 
How many Rodriguez's can you fit into one red phone booth in London? Seven...barely. LOL! We finally made our first trip to London! Two Rodriguez families in London at the same time...can they handle us?!

Our trip started out on a coach bus, BUT as it pulled up to the corner we were sure it wasn't ours due to the fact it was about the size of a van! WHAT?  That cannot be the luxury coach we paid for to take us all to London...and where is the bathroom. No bathroom on this bus, the seats were the size of the ones in the economy section on Southwest Airlines...the really cheap seats and it was a full ride! We had one seat to spare among probably 50 people give or take. Thank goodness it wasn't too long a ride.

We had 4 teenagers in our group and they quickly took the back row, the four adults sat across from each other. Everyone pretty much "plugged" in once wheels started rolling...that is except for Diane and me. Hey...we're two women with a lot in common so we did what we do best...TALK!  It wasn't long before an ear bud was pulled out and the words "I'm hungry and are we there yet" were uttered. Thankfully Diane had a purse full of "Curly Whirlies."  I might be wrong with the spelling but it was a long stick of carmel covered chocolate and it was good!

Once in London we unloaded from our "mini-coach" and made our way to Starbucks! Needed to load up on hot coffee before hitting the town. Everyone made a stop into the loo (at the price of 1 pound each which equals to about $1.60! Yes $1.60 for each person to pee...and you couldn't just pay for one and let everyone else sneak in on your coin, nope there are cameras everywhere. Michael took the longest and as he proclaimed when he came out "Sorry I wanted to make sure I got my pound worth! lol)

Coffee's in hand and two new squished penny's for my friend Linda in WA in my pocket we were now ready.  I'm not totally sure what I expected of London, but some things surprised me. I was a little surprised at how dirty I thought it was. Maybe it was an off day or maybe that is just what you get in a large city like this. We walked around several splatters of VOMIT on the sidewalk and even one on the ledge of a wall...very gross. There were homeless people sleeping under trees and in underpasses...I don't know why I didn't think we would see that, we saw it all the time in Florida and there just seemed to be a lot of trash laying about.  

The buildings were amazing. The people all in a hurry to get to where they were going. Taxi cabs honking and even cursing at each other. Roads and sites of interest (like the palace) were blocked off for the Remembrance day ceremonies...and the rain came down.

We were brave (or maybe dumb) and sat up top of the double decker bus tour...it was the place to be for the best pictures and we wanted good pictures. However, once wet I think we all wished we were down below where it was warm and dry. But it wouldn't have been as much fun it we didn't get to complain about how cold we were, and it was a good excuse for more Starbucks! LOL 

I loved the park by Buckingham Palace, loved the leaves so much! They were huge! I'd never seen so many or such large leaves in my whole life. I really just wanted to pick a few up to take home with me.  I loved the "Bobbies" in their uniforms and cute hats...I'm sure they never refer to them as cute but I think they are. Loved the pub we ducked into for lunch, good food, good drinks and great company.  The black taxi cabs are cute too...even though we had a shady driver that took us the long way to make a few extra pounds.  Everything about the day was nice and looking back at the pictures now I think maybe it wasn't that cold and wet...LOL no it WAS.  My friend Diane says I just haven't acclimated yet and this time next year it won't feel as cold to me, I hope she is right...I think she is.

We've already made plans to go back in a few weeks. I can't even imagine how neat it will look then with all the Christmas decorations up. I will have to really plan my outfit better to make sure I am WARM and as wet proof as possible which means I may have to break down and wear a hat. Sigh...I'm just not a hat person...maybe a hoodie?