London ~ Day Six

We have travelled hard these past 38 days. Especially this last week in London. Today was our final full day in this city.

So this morning when we woke up we said to each other, "Let's just take it easy today. Have our coffee, check our e-mail, see what's up on Facebook. We've done enough sight-seeing. Whatever we didn't see this trip, we'll catch the next time."

Yeah, right.

By 11:00am our conversation went like this:

Me: "Why don't we hop the bus to Trafalgar Square? And go to the National Museum? We haven't really seen any art yet."

Joe: "Sure! And there's a pub I'd like to go to that's near there. 'The Harp' in Covent Garden."

Me: "Okay! And you know? I'd like to go to Westminster Abby again. How about we go to the 5:00pm evensong service?"

So what started out as a self-proclaimed 'day off' turned into another fabulous day seeing the sights of London.

We can't help ourselves.

Trafalgar Square was buzzing. It was Eid today; the celebration to mark the end of Ramadan.


The National Gallery was great. It was free, it was full of amazing art, it was not crowded.





On our way to the pub, we happened across a sidewalk artist drawing the world's flags with coloured chalk.


People laid coins on their country of origin.


We continued up the road to Covent Garden to pop into 'The Harp' for a pint.


What a funky pub! Full of life, full of character.





Joe asked the waitress if she'd sell him a Dark Star bar mat. She said she couldn't. He must have looked so disappointed that she rushed over as we were leaving and jammed one into his hands.


Our last stop of the day was at Westminster Abby for the evensong service. What a treat that was! We got to sit in the quire with the choir!! To sit in a 1,000 year old abby while listening to beautiful voices sing the gospel was a lovely end to our week in London.


Seven hours after we had left, we were back on Edgware Road and feeling more than a little peckish. "How about some shawarma from Helen's Cafe?" Joe asked me.


The line-up of people out of Helen's Cafe goes around the block. Every single night. Joe got into the queue and ordered a few for our dinner.


They were absolutely delicious. (Except Joe ordered his a tad too hot and almost annihilated the back of his throat.)

Our bags are now packed. We've ordered a taxi for 6:00am tomorrow morning. All we've got left to do is get some sleep, then fly home.

See you soon Vancouver.


*Click on the photos to enlarge them.