5.5 Days in England (Part 1)

      When traveling, it is always good to have some amount of flexibility.  This thought helped me enjoy the London Trip that I have planned for about six months. My itinerary really looked good on paper. I found out that executing the plan was a bit of a challenge.  The culprit was T-I-M-E.  Yes, time. When traveling independently, in addition to travel time, include 'figuring out' time. As in, we are here right now in point A and we need to figure out which direction the bus or underground station is, to get to point B.
      My Day 1 Itinerary looked like this:

      The things we actually got to do were:

     We had so much fun in Abbey Road (where The Beatles crossed the road for their iconic album cover) watching fellow tourists crossing the street a dozen times to capture a good picture. Cars and buses had to stop. There were a few who honked their horns with impatience. I don't blame them. What driver would enjoy waiting while people they don't know have their pictures taken while crossing a street? I wasn't in their place, so I could laugh and enjoy the whole scenario. Of course, I posed a few times for my picture.

     Hubby decided he could live without stopping by the Beatles Store. So, o-o-okay (he's The Beatles fan, after all). Might as well skip The Wallace Collection because my planned itinerary mapped out the route from point B to point C to point D. Since we are not going to point C, what is the point? You know what I mean. 

     From Abbey Road, we decided to proceed to Tower Hill, grab a bite (The Liberty Bounds, http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/home/pubs/the-liberty-bounds) , and locate the meeting place for the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London.  So, from Abbey Road we had to figure out how to do that. We walked a little, asked for directions, walked some more, and more, finally found an Underground Station, and we were on our way to Tower Hill.

   

    Photography is not allowed during the Ceremony of The Keys. I had to content myself with taking a picture of the Tower of London. Let me say, The Ceremony of the Keys is not for everybody. Those who like a taste of history, would like to see this. There are those who would find it boring. Personally, I am happy to have had the opportunity to witness it.
    Find information about The Ceremony of the Keys here:  http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/WhatsOn/theceremonyofthekeys
 
    Although our first day in London did not go as planned, I wasn't disappointed. It helps to have a plan. But plans don't always come into fruition. This is where flexibility comes in. Flexibility put me in a frame of mind to have fun and enjoy Day 1 of our London Trip.