Saturday...a tale of woe and Irish freckles

First, the woe...

We couldn't decide what to do today, so we headed off for the tube station and thought we would decide over breakfast (or lunch seeing that it was 11). For weeks and weeks we've had to decide when and where to eat and travel to, how to travel there, and how long to stay. It's been a lot of thinking and my head was hurting because of it. Sitting at Kings Cross, with all of the noise and people, I was overwhellmed and sick of thinking. We decided to go to Windsor Palace (which I wanted to see), but the thought of taking the tub, changing to another tube, and then taking 2 trains was just too much. I couldn't handle it anymore...thus the woe. I think it all just caught up with me and I'd had too much. NO MORE TUBES AND NO MORE BED CHAMBERS!!

Well, we did make it to Windsor, but not after a long and hard journey with a complete lack of energy to see any more historical and cultural nonsense. I'm telling you, I had completely had it with trains and tubes. Once the travel was over, I was happy to get into some fresh air and see the burial spot of Henry VIII. I was expecting a large and glorious monument, but instead found a headstone on the floor of the chapel.

Ahhh, a little red box just popped up and said I have less than 5 minutes remaining on my internet time! Must get more money....

Ok, 1 more pound has been added to my card and I have internet once again. Yay.

Anyway, where was I...Windsor! The castle was lovely, even though I really was not looking forward to another bed chamber. They all look the same to me. After Windsor we headed back for London. We went to Southwark Cathedral and then ended up at the London Bridge Experience. I wasn't sure what to expect from the London Bridge Experience, but it looked like fun so we joined the tour (free with our London Pass). The tour itself was kinda lame (bad actors), but after the tour we were allowed to go into the tombs. I was very excited, hoping for some scary stuff. It ended up being a really cool haunted house (like you'd find at Halloween), but they made our group walk single file holding on to the shoulders of the person in front of you. I was in the very front and so I had a line of people pulling me back and I was walking so slowly. It would have been cool to go at my own pace and enjoy the creepiness of it all. Somehow the conga line just took away from the whole experience.

After the London Bridge Experience, we headed to Covent Gardens for dinner and shopping. Shops were closed and dinner was ok. Second breakdown happended as we were wondering (again) what on earth to do with our last night in London. Too much thinking...my brain is tired!! I think I'm just overwhellmed with having to be on the go so much. It's been almost 5 weeks of solid travel, almost every meal eaten out, and sleeping in a twin bed alone most nights. I'm suprised I've lasted as long as I have.

Here's where the story gets better...

I saw sparkling lights in the distance so we headed towards them. I've always liked sparkly lights (Vegas, Disneyland, carnivals...). The lights were coming from a few street vendor booths selling random things. One of them was selling art work and I wanted to buy a small little image of a rat (for Moonbeam!). I asked the lady if she had it, and she did not. But she showed me others and then commented on my Irish freckles. I told her I was Finnish, but she said I looked Irish (she was Irish). We got to talking and she told me that she was married to a Russian and had moved to London several years ago after a vacation here. She said she liked my freckles so much that she wanted to give me 3 little pictures just because. I picked out three little pictures by Banksy (a well known graffiti artist) and she put them in a mat for me. Then she kissed my cheek and said that I had freckles just like her husband and she loved them. I know it sounds like a simple jesture, but it really meant a lot to me. It made my day, which hadn't been that great...all because of my freckles. She'll never know how much that meant to me.