Day Two - Cabs and Trains

This post is late because I decided to do it the next morning. I plugged in the power converter and connected the laptop because the battery was drained. After a few minutes, Barb said she smelled something burning. A couple of minutes after that there were sparks shooting out of the power converter. I ripped it out of the wall and it was burning hot! Guess I popped a circuit breaker as well because the table lamp wouldn't work anymore. Oh well. We had breakfast and checked out. They agreed to hold our luggage for awhile so we could tour some more. It was early and we didn't have to meet Albert until 1:30. We headed out to see Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey. Got to the palace early enough to see the changing of the guard. Pretty cool stuff - all that pomp and circumstance. England could save a bit of cash if they would just have the replacement walk up and tell the other guy to go home. But then what would the tourists flock to see? At the end of the ceremony, it began to rain; no worries we brought rain jackets and a small brolly for just this reason. Except THEY WERE BACK AT THE HOTEL IN OUR BAGS! Heading for Westminster Abbey and it was lashing down - no where to go to get out of the rain. Saw the Abbey dripping wet - oh well. Met Albert 15 minutes late and headed for the hotel to pick up our bags and then off to Covent Garden. I was relieved to see that we hadn't burned the hotel down from the mornings goings on with the converter. I had so much fun dragging our luggage through the busy streets of London and up and down the stairs of the tube stations - you just can't imagine. One train was so crowded and there wasn't much room to get the bags in, I got stuck in the doors when they closed! Albert had to pull me in the train. That would have been interesting to write about. I could have just included the headlines from the newspaper - Foolish American Tourist Killed After Getting Stuck In Train Doors Because He Had His Luggage With Him. Barb took a wander through Covent Garden and Albert and I had a couple of pints. Another cab and train ride and we were at Carol and Albert's. Carol made a great meal, we were lucky enough to eat in the back garden, and after dinner, down to the local pub we went. Had a few there and headed back for a nightcap before bed.
Guy - your mum wanted me to tell you - that is a comfortable bed. I slept like a rock.
Up the next morning, had a great brekky and headed for the train - again. Off to Manchester - excuse me - Cheshire (that sounds better, or so I'm told).