How not to start a European trip
After a year in the planning for our month long Golden Anniversary trip to England & France, Mrs. Armybrat & I finally made it to London to meet our Brit friends a week ago. On our first outing Saturday we Ubered from a rented townhouse in the 'burb of Shepherd's Bush down to St. Paul's - a destination must for Mrs. Brat (a devout religious person).
The magnificent old Wren building was simply amazing & impressive, and she even climbed with our Brit lady friend the 279 stairs up all the way to the "Whispering Gallery" halfway up the rotunda and back down. I & my fellow non-churchgoer buddy sat below just admiring the huge place. Then we went down to the crypt beneath to explore to various tombs of famous English heroes. While rushing from one tomb to find Wellington's resting place, Mrs. Brat totally missed seeing a short staircase outside a large gate and took a violent faceplant fall to the marble floor. I was behind our two Brit friends, but saw her hit face first as hard as a melon on concrete. That's the worst thing I've ever seen in my life and damn near gave me a heart attack - not to mention the stunning pain it caused for my 73 year old wife.
She did break her fall somewhat with her left arm, causing bone fractures. Both her shins & hands were severely bruised and had some lacerations. Of course she broke her glasses along with her pride, and her face looked like she had gone several rounds with Mike Tyson. Luckily she did not break any of her teeth, but suffered several cuts which left a lot of good Texas blood on the cold marble floor of St. Paul's venerated crypt.
The story of getting her out of the crypt which has no elevators ("lifts", in local parlance) to a hospital is enough fodder for another thread, but suffice to say we did manage to resume a highly cut down London sightseeing itinerary over the next few days and cancelling the remaining two week tour of France & Paris before coming home on a rebooked return flight (British Air), which is an additional story of nuttiness & learning experience with the cold-ass corporate mentality.
After returning yesterday Mrs. Brat is resting comfortably at home and has regained her walking mobility, although very gingerly. I lost 8 pounds just pushing her around in a rented wheelchair through Westminster Abbey, around the Tower Bridge area, on the Thames River Cruise, to the Royal Princess Pub/Gin House (1829) for dinner one evening, and for 5 hours in & around Hampton Court.
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