Day 25

The day started with snow. A few flakes, anyway. There was a little on some cars, but nothing on the streets or buildings. Today is forecast to be rainy and cold, so we thought it would be a good day to go to some museums. We got together with my brother's family and headed to the British Museum. Dave told us which bus to take and the driver told us which stop, but there were no signs pointing us to the museum. So we stood out in the rain trying to figure out where we were going, and finally stopped a man on the street and asked him where the museum is. He pointed the way, and it was actually quite close, but there are no signs and it doesn't stand out very much. Probably the most interesting part of the museum were the exhibits about the places we had visited on the tour. They had a moai, but it didn't look quite like the others we had seen. The oddest part was that the back was carved out. I don't remember any of the ones I saw on Easter Island being carved like that. There were also exhibits from Papua, New Guinea, and Africa. I offered to loan them my "museum piece" dagger, but they weren't interested for some reason. Rather than go out in the rain to find a place to eat, we decided it was easier to just eat at the museum. The section where the cafe is located was closed, but they opened it almost immediately so we ran in to get at the front of the line. It looked like there was some sort of problem like a bomb scare or something because an older couple was complaining that they had left two desserts on their table, and they had been removed. The food wasn't very good, but that was OK. We had reservations for a great dinner at Rules Restaurant. After lunch, Dad decided to get a cab back to the hotel and the rest of us headed over to Trafalgar Square to go to the National Gallery. The building itself is a work of art. If you only notice the paintings, which are stunning, you miss half of what the Gallery has to offer. Every room is different, and the main hall is just breathtaking. I won't waste your time trying to describe all the amazing art work. Suffice it to say if you get to London, the National Gallery is a must-see stop.

When we finished at the National Gallery, we headed back to the hotel on the tube. When we got to Victoria Station, it wasn't nearly as obvious which way to go to get back to the hotel as Jan and Sam thought. We looked around the station for a while, and discovered that they have a Krispy Kreme stand there. I had no idea that it was an international company. I hope they actually make the donuts there and don't actually ship them from the US. Finally we asked the guy in the information booth where Buckingham Palace Road was and he pointed us in the right direction. We headed on down to the Palace gift shop to look around before heading back to the hotel room to rest up before dinner.

Jan got out the iron and pressed our shirts and ties and got Sam and I looking as good as we could after a month on the road. We met everyone down in the lobby and the concierge flagged down a couple of cabs for us. Rules restaurant was pretty close by, and we were shown to our table, and Lonnie's family to theirs. Dinner was very good (we all had the roast beef with Yorkshire pudding and roasted potatoes), but dessert was fabulous. Jan and I shared a rich chocolate pudding with chocolate sauce, and Sam and Dad shared a chocolate soufflé with cream sauce. Both were just incredibly good.

Rules let us down after dinner, though. We asked them to call us a cab, and what showed up was what's called a mini-cab. It's not a proper taxi at all, and the guy didn't know the Rubens Hotel or how to get there. He at least knew where Buckingham Palace Road was, but he turned the wrong way. We informed him of his mistake, but it took him several blocks to get turned back around. When we arrived at the hotel, he told us how much we owed and it was almost twice what the taxi to the restaurant charged. I gave him as close to the exact change as I had and we went inside. Dave the concierge said we should have refused to get into the car, but that would have meant finding our own taxi, which would have involved walking at least a block and a half in the cold to get to a main street. I didn't think Dad was up to that. In hindsight, I should have gone to get a taxi and brought it back to Rules and picked everyone up. Hindsight is 20/20, as they say. We were glad to be back at the hotel safe and sound, anyway.