Our Wednesday morning started with a beautiful breakfast spread before us at the Hyde Park Hotel.  As a feature of the Monograms all the hotels that we stayed at had full breakfast included as a part of our package.  A van came to pick us up for our half-day tour of London.  There were only nine of us for this more intimate guided tour.  My impression of London from my past several visits was that it was a grey, dreary place that I never cared for. I have never understood why Americans go gaga over London.   I don't like old things.  As many of you know I like modern things.  One can say I am a glass and chrome kind'a person.  But as we drove around London I came to realize that London has changed.  It has become more modern.  A lot of glass covered office buildings and many apartment buildings with balconies and lots of windows.  Now this was the London I could get used to.  While London is modernizing, Washington DC area is still copying old British architecture in its new buildings. Ugly townhouses and apartment buildings are still coming up in DC's Maryland suburbs.  Thank God I live in San Diego!

We had already done the usual touristy things in London during our past visits, so we spent the afternoon taking a Thames River cruise and going on the London Eye.  London Eye, built to celebrate the new millennium, is a Ferris wheel type structure that is 44 stories high and takes 45 minutes to go full circle.  From there you get beautiful views of London all around.  This was July and there were crowds of tourists from every country imaginable.

The London Eye

That evening we found a very nice organic grocery store, similar to Whole Foods in the U.S., and had raw vegan meal in their eatery.

We had a good night's sleep that night.  There is always a discussion about which way jet lag affects one, while flying towards East or flying towards West. My experience is that when I am going to a new destination jet lag does not affect me much because I am excited about encountering the new place that I am about to visit.  On the other hand when I am returning back home jet lag always affects me no matter which direction I had flown towards, East or West. 

Thursday morning we assumed that we were invited to visit the newly born Prince George, otherwise why would they put us up at a hotel just near the entrance to their garden.  So we went on a long stroll in the Kensington Gardens.  There were a whole bunch of reporters and TV camera crews stationed about 200 yards from the Kensington Palace.  We couldn't go in because the baby was sleeping at the time!

 Kensington Palace

We spent rest of the day exploring London on our own and with our friends Ashwin and Madhubala Tirodkar, using buses, trains, and taxi.  In the process I learned a few things. (1) Restaurants in London are typically twice as expensive as in the U. S. (2) Real estate in London is super expensive.  My friend lives in a 800 sq. ft. apartment in a nice neighborhood in London. This apartment is on the third floor of an old townhouse that was converted to three apartments.  The apartment has two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a kitchenette in the living room. This piece of real estate is going for, are you ready, $1.2 million.