trudging through the streets of london

the next morning, we got up and headed back out on foot again to wander the streets of london and see what kind of trouble we could get into.  as we passed the train station just down the street from our hotel, i took this to remember which one it was in case we decided to brave the tube at some point.

we'd seen quite a few caffe nero coffee shops in our short time in the city, and decided to stop in at one to get our caffeine fix.

and then as we continued down the street, we came upon another super cute street lined with shops and restaurants and stopped in at this adorable cafe, where the hub decided that he hadn't had enough coffee yet.

as we continued to trudge along, we passed the victoria & albert museum.  i tried to get the hub to go inside so we could check it out, but i already know museums aren't his thing.  i'd have tried to stop and read every plaque and placard and look at everything, and he'd have breezed on ahead and walked back out the door without a second thought.  

harvey nichols is another one of those iconic department stores that carries all of the high end designers, and in fact is known as one of princess diana's favorite places to have lunch and shop with her friends.  we went inside and browsed around just so we could say we did.

inside, i stopped short at this gorgeous valentino creation that i'd never have an occasion to wear.  so preeeetttttyyyyyyy.  i took this just so i could remember what it looked like.

we went back outside and kept on walking, making our way back towards buckingham palace and finding that there was a race of some sort there that day.  there were lots of runners wearing medals and still more who were still finishing their race.  i never did figure out if it was a half or a full or what, and seeing the jubilation of the runners with those medals around their necks really made me miss the days when i was one of them.

because the finish line was just outside the park near buckingham palace, there were tons and tons of people hanging out there.  and from the flag flying on top of the building, we knew the queen wasn't currently in residence.

we made our way through the park and turned this way and that, and i couldn't get over how much it looked like a studio backlot.  so pretty and perfect.

turns out that the hub had an ulterior motive after all, because all of a sudden we were standing in front of a very well-known cigar shop.  several of them, in fact.  too bad for him though, because they were all closed due to that bank holiday.

look, the official bootmaker to the prince of wales!  i love this stuff.

ooh, and this too.

and beretta, a gun manufacturer that's been around since 1526.

another look at the flag-lined road towards buckingham palace.

world war II memorial.

we'd been to the churchill war rooms during our last trip here with the girls, so we didn't stop.  besides, there were a ton of people in line and we wouldn't have wanted to wait in it anyway.

westminster abbey!

we really got in a lot of steps that day.

 we even found london's version of chinatown.

all look same?  i giggled like a 12-year-old at the name of this place anyway.  come on, it's funny!

and then when we saw this theater we decided on the spot to go inside and buy tickets to see that evening's performance of les miserables.

after all, gotta squeeze in as much as we can in the time we have, right?