London

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.