London town, 2nd visit

This post is picking up right where the last one left off.
After the massive train delay, I got back to my room and had some lunch (was starving, I had eaten breakfast pretty early on in the journey). A couple hours later I met up with Elizabeth (distant relative) and we went to the Cathedral. She wanted to show me the choir there, so I thought of our outing more as viewing a performance rather than going to church. It was an all male choir, and they were very good. Now I want to sing in a cathedral, the sound was great. The inside is so cavernous that the sound waves take longer to reach the walls, so the music has an echoy quality.
After the service we went back to Elizabeth's had dinner, talked a lot, and watched University Challenge. It reminded me a lot of Jeopardy...and I did a not so good job of explaining the Jeopardy game show to Elizabeth. I'm just so used to the show (especially the theme song) being common knowledge. We got on the topic of art, and I said next time we meet I'll bring my sketchbook. To be honest, I like showing it off. : )

Skipping ahead to the weekend now. On Saturday I got up at 4:50. It is humanly possible, but just barely. My usual group of friends, plus a few new faces, were taking a 6:30 train to London. The majority of us were only semiconscious during the train ride in, and I was glad I brought breakfast with me to at least give me some stamina to start out with.  Our plan was to see the sights while walking to the Natural History museum from Liverpool street. Once at the museum, we would see a special exhibit, look around the others a bit, and then head to King's Cross to see Platform 9 and 3/4. From there we would take the tube back to Liverpool Street Station. That was the plan.
Turns out, walking from Liverpool Street to the museum takes a loooooong time, and not everything we planned to do got done. Even so, we had a great time (for the most part).
The first half of the trip was pretty much walking and sightseeing along the way.  A couple notable things were the famous bridge and the outdoor market we stopped at.  This market had some interesting products for sale to say the least.

 Ha, the last 3 I posted just to gross you readers out.
While we were walking, I saw Sophie employing the boys in a type of wheelchair pulling I had never seen before. Poor girl, being pulled along by 2 handsome young men, don't you feel so sorry for her? Lol.

At one point along the Thames we stopped for a few minutes, so Pascoe and I took the opportunity to mess around in the wheelchairs for awhile.

I also got some more shots of Big Ben and the London Eye.

Walked through St James' Park and got a glimpse of Buckingham Palace.

Bambi got startled when she say the police horses. She even barked at them, which she hardly ever does, and as that behavior is not acceptable in harness, I gave her a correction.
After the palace, more walking.
Eventually we came across a McDonald's (classy) and decided we needed a lunch break.  We got inside, settled down at a table and contemplated our choices.  What happened next was really unexpected, and freaked me out for a few minutes.  One minute Sophie is standing next to me, and the next thing I know, she falls to the floor, unconscious.  This was the first time I had ever seen someone faint, and I stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds not really knowing how to process this.  Some other people in the group circled around her, and she woke up a couple seconds later.  Good, she's alive, now how many bones has the broken?  Amazingly, nothing was broken.  She got up fairly quickly, and seemed to be doing better once we got some food into her.  Apparently lots of activity+no breakfast+little sleep=fainting in her case.  There are no pictures obviously, definitely not an appropriate time to whip out the camera.  The rest of us ordered food after we made sure S was ok, and we all seemed to be revived a bit by getting something into our stomachs, even if it was McD's. 

We then headed to the Natural History Museum. Only had enough time to explore a cuple exhibits. Would like to return to see more, it was a huge place and seemed to have some interesting displays. We went through the taxidermy halls (stuffed animals) and saw some dinosaur bones. In that exhibit there was also a robotic T Rex, a lot like the one in Toys R Us in NYC. To be honest, you can skip that, the line was just way too long. Before we had to leave, I ltook a picture with the Charles Darkin statue, def one of the highlights of the day.

: ) When I return in June I will visit Platform 9 3/4 for sure.