Friday
For Valentine’s Day this year, we found a last minute special on
airfare to London, so with less than a week between booking and
flying, we went to London for a long weekend. We left Wichita Friday
morning pretty early and flew to St. Louis, where we spent the day
with family and wandering around town before our evening flight to
London. It was an overnight flight, which made for a pretty rough day
Saturday.
Saturday
After a little bit of confusion on which trains we could take and
how to pay for them, we grabbed a cheap, local train from the airport
to Victoria station. The country-side was beautiful and you could see
that the farmers’ fields had been farmed for centuries, with short
rock walls marking the boundaries of each farm. A few locals on the
train ordered pints of beer from the beverage cart, but since it was
only 11 am, Keith held off…
Once at Victoria Station, it was a relatively short walk to the
hotel, but we were tired and pulling our roller bags, so it wasn’t
exactly an enjoyable stroll. The hotel was one of many in long blocks
of houses, and was one of two houses that a husband and wife had
converted into a bed and breakfast style hotel. The rooms were small,
our bathroom was a flight of stairs away, but it was like being home and the bed had a very comfy fluffy Duvet.
Our room at the James & Cartref
House
After getting showered and cleaned up it was time for lunch and a
trip on the Underground. We grabbed a meal in Victoria Station (Keith
had fish and chips) and then attempted to figure out the Underground
system. Once we had tickets purchased that would let us travel
anywhere in the city area for 3 days, we jumped on a train for
Portobello Road, a weekend street market known for antiques, tourists
and pick pockets.
The crowds and stores along
Portobello Road
We walked quite a way along the road and then turned around to
head back towards the train station. Something new on this trip was our quest for bathrooms, as Jill, being pregnant, always seemed to need a stop. We found a coin operated public loo off of Portobello Rd. We were still tired and worn out
from our overnight flight and weren’t really in the mood to buy
anything, but we did feel like stopping for a cup of hot Earl Grey
for Keith and the best hot chocolate ever for Jill. Invigorated, we
started back to the train station again, but stopped along the way in
the least smoky pub we found the whole weekend (and thus the only one
we went into). Keith had a pint of very refreshing hard Cider on
draught before we finally decided we were too tired to do anything
else except go to dinner.
We had made reservations for that night at trendy place called
Simply Nico, where we could get a reasonable priced, yet somewhat
upscale French dinner. Simply Nico got us hooked on bread, butter and olives as a starter. We had the veal and duck as our mains. Great food except not as heavily seasoned as our we usually like (the potato gratin has a godd example of this). Creme brulee excellent. We decided to walk through a very chilling,
brisk wind all the way to the restaurant and back. It kept us awake,
but made for a long walk. Needless to say, we crashed pretty early
that night.
Sunday
After sleeping in as much as we could, we headed downstairs for
breakfast. The lady who owns the hotel was making traditional
English breakfasts : bacon, eggs, toast, beans and fruit. Really hit
the spot and nice talking with her while we ate. After breakfast, we
headed to Victoria station to get on the Underground again. We
headed down to the Tower Of London, an amazing conglomeration of
buildings that contained a lot of history of London and the monarchy. It is best known as the place where Henry VIII beheaded his wives.
It used to be surrounded by a moat until it was decided to be a
health hazard and was drained. We had to wait in line a little while
for tickets and then joined a tour group led by a Yeoman Warder, military personnel with 25 years of service who live with their families in the Tower (also
known as “Beefeaters”). The Yeoman told great stories of the Tower
and the famous people imprisoned and sometimes executed there. You could really get a feel
for how grim it must have been here during cold damp london winters.
The Tower from the Underground
station
The grass is where the original moat
was
The bell above the entrance
gate
The gate under the Bloody Tower for
entrance into the inner courtyard
The Yeoman telling tales to the
group (Tower Bridge in the distance)
Explaining the legend of the crows
(on the grass behind)
Guards outside the jewel
house
Also within the Tower is the jewel house, which contains the Crown
Jewels. We couldn’t take pictures inside, but they were simply
amazing.
View above the courtyard of some
Tudor style buildings
After the Tower, we walked along the Thames by the Tower Bridge.
Jill and the Tower Bridge
Keith and the Tower Bridge. Look
fake? It’s not, but heavily edited so you can actually tell its Keith
(bad lighting).
We ate lunch at the pizza portion of Dickens Inn by the Tower.
Good pizzas and we really ate our fill. Very nice looking building
and area too, but it was pretty cold outside and we were not looking
forward to going back outside after lunch.
Dickens Inn by the Tower
After lunch, we headed back to the Underground and took the train
to see and shop at Harrods. Unfortunately, they were not open on
Sundays (strike against Frommer’s) and we went to Harvey Nichols
instead. Interesting department store, but we weren’t ready to spend
a thousand dollars on a single outfit :), but Jill did use the free bathrooms. We then grabbed the train
to the British Museum.
The British Museum was much more than we expected. It is
absolutely huge and is even free, although almost everyone drops a
contribution in the lobby. The exhibits were well laid out, and
there were many sections of the museum covering different parts of
the world throughout history.
These types of large exhibits are
throughout the museum
The Rosetta Stone (the key to deciphering heirogliphics)
Stone decorations from the Parthenon
in Athens (sold to the museum by the Greeks(
After the museum, we were pretty tired and stopped across the
street in Starbucks to warm up and rest a bit before hiking back to
the Underground. We went back to the hotel, rested a bit and then
walked down the street for dinner at Olivo, a small, trendy Italian
restaurant. The food was very good (olives and bread and even the braised oxtail!), but
there was not a non-smoking section and we made a hasty exit when the
couple next to us started chain smoking just as we finishing desert.
Monday
Another great English breakfast in the hotel and then we started
out on a pretty good morning walk. We started by walking up to
Buckinham Palace.
Jill at the gate to Buckinham
Palace
Buckinham Palace
The Eye, created for the millennium,
was visible across the ground and the Thames
Keith in front of, umm, some
memorial to some queen with Buckinham behind
From there, we WALKED to Harrods, with a stop back in Harvey Nichols for the free bathrooms. Harrods was about the largest
and coolest department store we’d ever seen. After strolling through
some of the jewelry and other expensive stuff, we spent the rest of
our time there wandering through the many, large food areas. You
could buy just about anything. We picked up some chocolate, tea and
lemon curd. Jill even got to use the normally $1.40 bathrooms for free, as the English are very sympathetic to expectant mothers although the attendant had to be very tactful in asking if Jill qualified. We then grabbed a train to North Sea Fish Restaurant,
recommended by Frommer’s as a good place for fish and chips. We had
the Cod and the Halibut and they were both good ( and a pint of local
beer for Keith). We headed from there to Leicester Square to pick up
our tickets for the show that night. At Leicester Square we finally
see the seedier, rougher tourist side of London. We didn’t stick
around long, although we did learn that McDonald’s bathrooms are free and Burger King’s are not…
We again head to the Underground and to Westminster Abbey. Just
outside the Underground station is Big Ben and the parliament
buildings.
Look kids, Big Ben!
Westminster Abbey is interesting, but mostly because you wander
through walking on the tombs of many, many people including kings,
queens and other famous people.
Westminster Abbey
Jill outside Westminster with Big
Ben in the background
Houses of parliament, with Big Ben
on the left
By this time, we’re pretty sick of walking, so we grab the train
back to the hotel for a bit of a rest. At the last possible moment,
we drag ourselves out for our pre-show dinner at Rules, famous for
their versions of standard British dishes. Somehow neither of us is
in the mood for Roast and Yorkshire Pudding, so we both have the Fish
and Shellfish Pie ( and a pint of local beer for Keith 🙂 From there
we walk to the theater to see Les Miserables. We are surprised by
how close and personal the show is (and by the overwhelmingly
American audience). The show is very good, but we are tired and
ready to head back to the hotel afterwards.
Tuesday
We took our time Tuesday morning and enjoyed our last home made
breakfast in the hotel. We grabbed the train back to the airport and
after spending the rest of our Pounds and a little more on chocolate
and The Body Shop at the airport, we boarded the long flight back to
St. Louis and then to Wichita. |
