Day 5 - May 27, 2008 - Last Day in London

  London, United Kingdom
Tuesday, May 27, 2008

This was our last full day in London and we wanted to make the most of it. One problem though - I had to get my visa from the French consulate. So the morning went to waste as I tended to my travel documents and Sofia lounged at an internet cafe close by.

Open Up!

Once I was done though, we headed to Buckingham Palace via a stroll along St. James Park. The queen was home, so we didn't get to go inside the palace, but took plenty of pictures outside.

We were in London and while afternoon tea at Harrods was nice a day earlier, we decided to do high-tea a la English style. So we took the tube to Knightsbridge and Hotel Mandarin. This was my first high-tea so I must describe the experience in detail. The service was quick and courteous. The food included tiny rolled up sandwiches (tuna, salmon, crab, chicken & corn, egg & cucumber), the pastries were fresh and the scones were brilliant. The Darjeeling was not bad either. All I can say is "More tea ya?"

St. Paul's Cathedral

Next stop was St. Paul's cathedral. I am not writing about the beauty of all these places because you can read that elsewhere online. All I can say is that all these sights were breathtaking and we didn't want to leave London. At St. Pauls, we were too late to climb the dome, but got to admire the cathedral from the inside.

Next, we proceeded to Oxford street for some shopping. Our highlights there were:

1) We finally got Sofia a phone for London that she could use once she returned to London for the summer.
2) We had fish and chips from a street vendor.
3) We saw Primark - a huge department store with prices you wouldn't believe.

At night, we packed our luggage, dropped off a few things at Chehnaz's place and returned to the hotel for a good night's sleep.