Allie Goes Global

I woke up on day 13 in quite a lot of pain. As it turned out, I had not escaped injury in my mad and stupid dash across the road the previous night. The main worry was that I had somehow messed up my surgically-repaired ankle, but luckily, the pain seemed to be confined to my foot. Unluckily, I really needed my foot that day, and I could barely put any weight on it. As I continued getting ready, it seemed to be hurting less (or I was just getting used to it), so I headed out for the many activities I had planned for that day.

The first stop was the Sky Garden, located in the building colloquially known as the Walkie Talkie.

I took the bus to get there. I’ll be honest, buses stress me out in a way that trains don’t. A train stops at every stop, so it’s impossible to miss yours unless you’re really not paying attention. Buses only stop when they’re told to, and if you don’t know the area, it’s so easy to go right past your stop. Helpfully, most of the London buses have a light-up sign that tells you what the next stop is going to be. Unhelpfully, the sign on this bus was not working. All of that being said, I got there and hobbled my way into the building.

The Sky Garden is free (reservations required most of the time), but you can also book breakfast at the Sky Garden. For a low cost, you get to be the first ones up there in the morning, and you get a hot beverage and a pastry. This was well worth it to me. The Sky Garden is up at the top of the building. In addition to the beautiful indoor garden, there are also 360 degree views of all of London. They also have an outdoor viewing platform, but they keep it closed when it’s raining, so I didn’t get the chance to go out there.

Now, if I were smart, I would have acknowledged that I was injured and would have minimized my steps taken so that I could enjoy things a bit more. I was… not smart at any point on this trip. So I walked to my next stop, the Tower of London. It’s not a long walk by any means, unless you get lost and walk entirely in the wrong direction. So, uh… it took me about 25 minutes to make a 7 minute walk, and by the time I got there, I could hardly stand. This was a particular problem because the Tower was, by far, the thing I was most excited for on this trip. And now, I couldn’t do anything. I was completely useless and in an exceptional amount of pain.

I went ahead and redeemed my ticket and went in. I immediately realized the size of the complex and how many things there were to see. I tried to go up the first set of stairs I saw, and just about collapsed. So I wandered to the only thing I could see on ground level, the Crown Jewels, went through that exhibit, and then left. I can’t begin to tell you how disappointed I was. I managed to get about half a block away down a side street and call an Uber to take me back to the hotel.

I had so many plans left for the day, some of which I had prepaid for, but I was back in my hotel by 11am. My last hope was that if I rested, bound up my foot, kept it elevated and iced, maybe I would only miss one day of my planned activities and could get back to it the next day. Spoiler alert… nah. Not how it worked out.