Ryan Air ……. and London

Well it all seemed ok to begin with. I was concerned because daylight savings starts here in Budapest this morning but we got our wake up call at 3.45am, along with all four of our alarms going off at the same time. There was no chance we would sleep in or be an hour late. Thank you Tim Apple.

The taxi to the airport took about 30 minutes and check in was easy.

Was at the boarding gate when the fun began. Our flight was 7.30am. At 6.30am they started boarding. We headed through the gate only to be queued in the stairwell for 15 minutes. Herded onto a bus where we were squashed in like sardines. It’s ok, we wouldn’t be there long. After ten minutes out onto the tarmac……where we stood in the bus for another 15 minutes for no apparent reason. It was stifling hot and I actually got my mask out because people were coughing. Including me. The asthma inhaler made an appearance. Maybe the flight crew hadn’t boarded? There were quite a few older people on the flight and any longer in the bus or the stairwell and I think there would have been some fainting happening. Eventually the bus doors opened. We walked to the plane where we took our seats. No one checked us as we got in…….. I have to say Ryan Air, pretty ordinary.

And then of course there is always one. The lady beside me played candy crush the whole time, with the sound turned up.

Sorry. Not sorry. But that’s rude. When in the company of other people you should always turn your phone down. Just sayin’.

We flew into Stansted which was actually a pretty seamless arrival into London. So seamless in fact they didn’t check our bags at customs. Or check anything. We picked up our bags, walked straight through the gates and hopped the train.

Destination? Novotel London Tower Bridge.

Yes, right next to the Tower of London.

Pretty noice 😀

MoD’s daughter arrived and off we went for breakfast and then a tour of the Tower of London.

We didn’t think we would be long at the Tower of London. Turns out it’s pretty interesting and we took our time. Sammy and I had been there in 2013 but of course I didn’t remember much.

The Royal jewels are really interesting and spectactularly gorgeous. You can’t take photos of course.

They have 6 bloody big black Cravens at the tower. Four as tradition and then two extra’s. Just because. They have large cages but they just hang around outside. You can’t tell from the photo but those birds are BIG!!!!

By the time we finished it was nearly tea time so we headed across the Tower Bridge to find somewhere for tea.

MoD’s daughter suggested a little place she had been too recently called Flat Iron.

They serve you popcorn when you arrive and a soft serve ice cream when you leave.

Whilst it was more a meat type of restaurant they did have an amazing eggplant dish in their starters which they suggested that I could have as a main. Being a pescatarian and all.

It was delicious! Good choice of restaurants.

By the end of our early tea, we were quite tired, having been up since 1.45 London time, so off we headed back to the hotel.

Found Trinity Square Gardens on the way where they have a memorial for all the lost (due to all the different wars and conflicts) Merchant Seafarers from the Commonwealth.

We also found the Roman & Medieval City Wall. I happened to look down into a hotel courtyard and there it was. Let’s wander down here MoD.

Pretty cool, it’s a surviving piece of London’s City Wall constructed between AD190-220. It once ran the distance of 3km, 2.7m thick at the base and standing over 6m high.

It’s called Roman & Medieval because originally it was Roman, then in Medieval times it was repaired and added to.

Amazing how they can find out these details.

And still our night was not complete.

We had our Welcome Drink to down.

Off to the hotel bar where we sat on large corks.

Replica corks anyway. And downed the promised wine, beer or soft drink.