"O Plump head water at the Cock, To which I most resort, How goes the time? 'Tis five o'clock, Go fetch a pint of port." - Alfred Tennyson

Another long, busy day! Woke up early, had our last breakfast at the Oakley (Sad! So yummy!) before checking out, then headed down the street for what was most likely our last free internet for a while (equally sad!).

Checked out of the Oakley and headed to the Novotel West Hotel. It is SUPER nice, and the service is incredible. After checking in, we also signed in at our tour's counter at the hotel so they knew we were here, etc. It doesn't officially meet until Saturday when we head as a group to Belgium, but there are some London excursions in the meantime where we'll likely meet some of our group earlier than Saturday.

Tonight's excursion that we signed up for was dinner at Ye Olde Cock Tavern (hence the title's reference, and yes, you read correctly... as in rooster) and then a River Thames cruise. We got a snack, rested a bit, then headed down to the charter bus. We figured out quickly that it wasn't just our tour group after overhearing a woman telling someone else which tour she was on, and it wasn't the name of ours. Furthermore, we picked up people at several other hotels, so they must have been on different tours but also had the choice of this excursion. Nonetheless, everyone seemed nice enough -- most must have arrived today, though, because the second we got on the bus after dinner and the cruise, it was lights. Out. Seriously, everyone around us was asleep, and two people nearly missed their stop, but didn't, thanks to their family members chasing the bus and waving frantically (and that luckily we saw them). So, we felt pretty good about being awake, comfortable, and able to head back to the hotel without that dragging-our-feet-tired feeling where you have blinders on until pajamas are adorned and the pillow is in sight.

Dinner was tasty, as well, and included an appetizer, main course, and dessert, a well as wine, coffee, tea, beer, etc. We had tomato basil soup, fish and chips (Michael), an eggplant and walnut casserole (Meredith), chocolate cake (Michael) and frozen yogurt (Meredith). All in all, a very good meal! And, which always helps, it was a pretty cool old pub. As this post's title implies, it was frequented many years ago by Tennyson, as well as Dickens, Samuel Johnson, and Oliver Goldsmith, to name a few. There are still some original pieces in the pub dating back over 200 years (the pub itself was established in 1549). Also of note, it has the narrowest frontage of any pub in London.

Tomorrow we'll partake of the breakfast buffet (included, thank goodness) and then a couple of hours later head on the Windsor Castle excursion to see the world's largest inhabited palace. Fun, fun!


River Thames cruise!











Houses of Parliament!














Tower Bridge!