{"id":288,"date":"2016-04-08T00:35:24","date_gmt":"2016-04-08T00:35:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stayingfrosty.net\/WP\/wordpress\/?p=288"},"modified":"2016-04-08T00:35:24","modified_gmt":"2016-04-08T00:35:24","slug":"london-day-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stayingfrosty.net\/WP\/2016\/04\/08\/london-day-1\/","title":{"rendered":"London – Day 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was the perfect start to our trip. \u00a0 Early Saturday morning in London (while being close to midnight Central Time USA), and we were hunting for a 3 prong US outlet to UK outlet converter.<\/p>\n

We asked the hotel concierge for suggestions of any stores where we might be able to find such a converter. \u00a0He suggested several stores, but unfortunately for us, most weren’t open yet, and we were on the ritzy side of town that largely had upscale boutiques and clothing stores … perfect!<\/p>\n

We ventured out trying a few leads. \u00a0We did find a nice stop for some delicious breakfast, and a nice cafe as well. \u00a0Most of the stores we found were closed, or didn’t carry the sort of adapters we were looking for. \u00a0One person told us that we might have to venture to the other side of town.<\/p>\n

Dismayed, we returned to the Hotel, thinking we’d have to find a cab. \u00a0Ethan told me to stay in the room, he was going to check one last place. \u00a0After a short while of looking up stores on the tablet I had brought with, Ethan came back a new converter in hand … and it had three prongs<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This nifty adapter had a sliding lever that would flip out prongs to match the corresponding outlet. \u00a0With settings for the UK, Europe, and Asia, this was a perfect find for our trip, as in four days we’d be heading to Paris and then on to Berlin.<\/p>\n

Excited about our good fortune, and eager to truly start our trip we decided to venture out toward the Tower of London. \u00a0This was my second time roaming the streets of London, but Ethan’s first.<\/p>\n

My first time in London had been in 2007 visiting the City University of London (CUL) with some classmates from UW Stevens Point and our Professor Anthony Ellertson. \u00a0We had worked on a project for CUL and had spent a week in London while presenting the project. \u00a0For some additional fun stories from that trip see my post\u00a0Red Carpet Treatment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"UWSP<\/a>
UWSP trip to London<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The tank purred eagerly as it zipped down the sidewalks. \u00a0We walked for over an hour. \u00a0Fears that we may be lost began to set in. \u00a0I had recalled the Tower of London being much closer on the last trip, which now upon inspecting a map the Tower of London is a straight shot from CUL. \u00a0However both CUL and the Tower of London are on the other side of town from where we were staying.<\/p>\n

We strode on, in spite of being unsure of where we were. \u00a0Along the way we saw many fun sights, including St. Paul’s Cathedral. \u00a0Finally, I knew where we were.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0013\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We arrived at the Tower and were informed that the wait was two to three hours. \u00a0Having walked across town, and still going without rest since Friday at 8 AM, we were running on fumes\u00a0(a re-occurring theme on\u00a0this trip). \u00a0We decided to find some food and have a nice break.<\/p>\n

I recalled a nifty place across the London Bridge which had small shops and some nice restaurants (upon looking it up it’s called\u00a0 Hay’s Galleria). \u00a0We ventured to Hay’s Galleria and decided upon lunch at Cafe Rouge, ordering ourselves a couple of Pimms as well.<\/p>\n

\"Hay's<\/a>
Sculpture in Hay’s Galleria<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After lunch we went to find the Globe Theater and stop in the Tate Modern. \u00a0As we wandered around the galleries of the Tate Modern, I found myself dozing off. \u00a0I tried to shake off the fatigue and weariness as I wandered to the next gallery. \u00a0This trend continued through several galleries, until Ethan and I finally decide to call it a day, even though it was only around 3 PM.<\/p>\n

As we strode through\u00a0the summer heat, I once again found myself dozing off and bumping walls and a the shins of a few\u00a0unfortunate pedestrians. \u00a0This problem became even more pronounced as we wandered through the crowds and masses gathered around the Piccadilly Circus. \u00a0I sorely longed to just get back and hop into any bed.<\/p>\n

Upon arriving back at the hotel around 5 PM, Ethan helped me into bed, and I passed out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was the perfect start to our trip. \u00a0 Early Saturday morning in London (while being close to midnight Central Time USA), and we were hunting for a 3 prong US outlet to UK outlet converter. We asked the hotel concierge for suggestions of any stores where we might be able to find such a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,13],"tags":[22,25,26],"class_list":["post-288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories","category-trips","tag-london","tag-travel","tag-wheelchair"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stayingfrosty.net\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stayingfrosty.net\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stayingfrosty.net\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stayingfrosty.net\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stayingfrosty.net\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.stayingfrosty.net\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stayingfrosty.net\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stayingfrosty.net\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stayingfrosty.net\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}