Our Honeymoon "Grand Tour of Europe"

We woke up very early (4 AM) because of jet lag.  We wanted to have a full English Breakfast.  Since we wanted to visit Shakespeare's Globe, we decided to eat at the Swan at the Globe Restaurant.  Before heading there, we grabbed some bagel and soup.  We took District Line to Mansion House station and walked towards Millenium Bridge.  Took pictures of St. Paul Cathedral along the way but we didn't plan to go there.  I didn't find Wren's architecture interesting (no offense).  The bridge is pretty cool.  I could see the Tower Bridge as the sun rises.  We had the English Breakfast at the restaurant while waiting for the Globe to open.  The black pudding had stronger taste than I expected but we managed to finish them all.  I really thought the coffee was very good.  Best coffee we had in London.

I have been a big fan of the bard since I was introduced to him in high school so the Globe was the highlight of the London trip.  The museum was informative and the guide we had for the tour was excellent.  There was construction going on so on some parts she had to speak really loud but overall it was a pleasant experience.  There was no performance in winter though which is understandable because it was open air but they're building a separate indoor theater so they can have performance all year long.  Maybe next time I'll visit in the summer so I can watch a performance.  We were thinking of going to Tate Modern next door but we decided we didn't have enough time and we were not that interested in modern art so we walked back to Mansion House tube station and went to Tower Hill to visit the Tower of London.

We used the 2 for 1 again and the first part we visited was the big tower in the middle (White Tower).  There was a lot of stairs involved and it was a one way tour with clear directions.  I really enjoyed the stuff they put there, especially the weapons and armors but my favorite is the dragon on the picture.  It's really crazy for Indonesian tour agencies to choose Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum over this or the British Museum.  These two places show British history while Madame Tussaud just shows replica of celebrities and it's available in Hong Kong.  We had lunch at New Armories restaurant which was better than I expected.  I had the chicken (don't know what it's called) and it was very very good.  After lunch we went to see the Crown Jewels.  It was in a smaller building and not as interesting as the White Tower.  After that, we visited the tower where the two princes were imprisoned and presumably killed.  They wanted us to vote who ordered their execution but I thought it was obvious that King Richard III did it.

We left the tower and tried the fish and chips from a stand just outside.  It wasn't good at all.  I've had much better in Jakarta.  Then we walked to the Tower Bridge and take some pictures.  The bridge was a magnificent piece of architecture.  I can't decide whether this or the House of Parliament should be the face of London.  We decided to go back to the hotel for some quick rest because we had a football game to attend to.  We took the counter clockwise circle line back to Paddington which actually run overground and we disembarked on the other side of Paddington Station.  I realized that while Paddington is convenient for Heathrow, it's not really the best area for sightseeing because of the distance to the tower area.  We went to the grocery store to buy some drinks because we have a policy never to drink anything from the hotel room mini bar because the price is unreasonable.

After a quick rest, we went to Harrod's.  It was pretty with the lights on at night but I don't care much for it.  The only section I like is the toy section and the bookstore.  The Egyptian stairway was pretty cool though.  We took a taxi to Stamford Bridge stadium because I assume the tube will be crowded with Chelsea fans.  The driver dropped me off and I walked with the other fans to the stadium.  I almost couldn't get our tickets because I didn't bring a picture ID but I managed to get them by quoting my address.  It was a pretty good experience to watch a football game live but I prefer watching it on TV because of commentary and replays.  We left the game a few minutes before full time to avoid the crowd but other people had the same thought (because it was monday night).  We couldn't find a taxi so we took the tube.  That was actually the most interesting experience, watching the fans go home after the game under police supervision.  That was day 2, which was another great day in London.