Can I live in the Harrods toy department?

On our last day in London, it was drizzling and chilly in the romantic, typical London way. I was pretty bummed our time was already coming to an end when I could still list dozens of things I wanted to see and do. I suppose that's the beautiful thing about falling in love with a place: You leave with special memories and an even deeper void to fill next time. We did our best to have one final hurrah on...

Day 5

London, England

18,231 steps

Highlights: Buckingham Palace, Harrods, Hyde Park, British Museum

We filled up on our final British breakfast (eggs, ham, toast, and fried tomatoes) before hopping on the tube and making our way to Buckingham Palace. By the time we arrived, the area was already super crowded with tourists hoping to see the changing of the guard. Rookie mistake. We spent about half an hour craning our necks and standing on tiptoes in hopes of seeing the guards in action behind the gate, but there were simply too many people. Eventually, we decided to give up and make our way across the street, but a police officer stopped us at the crosswalk to let the guards pass. By sheer luck, the cop stopped us in the front row of people and we had a terrific view of the guards marching past and playing their instruments. 

Once the guards reached the palace, we were allowed to cross to the massive Queen Victoria fountain. I took some pictures of the palace and as we were leaving, we were stopped again as the guards marched by. Incredible timing. Fun fact: When the Royal Standard flag is flying (the red, yellow, and blue one), that means Her Majesty the Queen is home. Another fun fact: While waiting, the band actually plays contemporary music. We heard Barry Manilow's "Copacabana" while waiting. Ha!

Once we'd had our fill of the palace, we began walking to Harrods, the world's most famous department store. Along the way, we passed Wellington Arch, an awesome Ferrari store, and an incredible artist carving a dog out of sand on the street. Harrods, as always, was overwhelming and awesome. You could seriously spend all day wandering through the seven floors of merchandise, but Wheat and I have our priorities straight and headed straight to the toy department. Guys, it's basically wonderland for kids and adults. We played with fake snow and remote control cars, saw a replica of Harrods made entirely from Legos, played the piano and pretended to be Barbie, and convinced ourselves we didn't need one of everything.

Eventually, we pried ourselves away with the promise of food, which we found at Coffee Shop Tom Dixon on the third floor. I know this sounds strange, but this was honestly one of the best meals we had on our entire honeymoon. I had a roast beef sandwich with horseradish sauce while Wheat devoured a caprese fold-over pizza and we marveled over finding such a treasure unexpectedly. After lunch, we ventured down to the basement to see the memorial for Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed and sign the remembrance book.

In order to walk off lunch, we ventured over to Hyde Park, where we strolled along a wooded path and watched groups of campers play football soccer. (Maybe they were better than the national team?) It was still raining, so our plans to see Kensington Palace were foiled. Instead, we filled the time by checking out the Princess Diana Memorial in the park (which is just a simple, circular waterway) and marveling over the beautiful flowers and dozens of swans that surrounded and filled nearby Serpentine Lake. Not sure why, but we also experienced a somewhat Hitchcockian moment when we were surrounded by what felt like hundreds of pigeons.

Frustrated by the rain, we decided to head back toward our hotel and check out the British Museum. Wheat had been before and he was also a Classics major in college, so he gave me some lectures on Ancient Greece as we admired the Elgin Marbles, the remaining marble sculptures from the Parthenon. The museum, which was surprisingly free, is home to some of the most important artifacts in human history, including the Rosetta Stone (which allowed scholars to finally translate Egyptian hieroglyphics for the first time)...and I'm telling you - that thing was popular. I barely pushed my way through the crowd to snap a picture of it.

We spent a couple hours checking out mummies, sculptures, tools, and an Easter Island head before heading back to our hotel....but not before drooling over the gorgeous ceiling in the lobby and posing with the awesome lions outside.

Resigned to the fact I wasn't going to Wimbledon and probably wouldn't catch a glimpse of a Game of Thrones cast member, we packed up our bags, hopped on the tube, and headed to the train station.