Category Archives: London

Thursday, June 18, Part One — Time To Head Home!

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As is typical, my watch let me know I didn’t get a good night’s sleep: this time the score was even lower. That came as no surprise since I’m the one who was awake a lot — my watch hardly needed to inform me of that! Part of it, I’m sure, is knowing we had a flight coming up. Part was also the sore throat. This is one persistent bug, and my nighttime throat is bad. (I barely even notice it during the day.)

At one point Dan looked at my open suitcase and said I wouldn’t be able to shut it. Because of that, I shut it. I’m not competitive. I just always win. Shown below is my daypack that will go on the plane with me, and the luggage which, even while it qualifies as carry on, will get checked. (Since Dan has to check his we figure we may as well get rid of mine as well.) And yes, that was all I carried for this 6+ week trip. The only things Dan took for me was my umbrella and my puffer jacket which packs into itself quite nicely. Odds are I might have even been able to squish that in my luggage, but maybe not.

We were ready ahead of time so we checked out and walked to “Dan’s underground station.” Okay, okay, that time I did lose.

Without much waiting we boarded our train. A nice man offered me his chair — wait, do I look old?! — I thanked him but said we would get off at the very next station so I was fine. Rarely has anyone offered us seats, and never have any people in their teens or twenties offered. But I won’t complain because then I’d sound like an old lady and of course I can’t possibly be an old lady. Um. Right?

And then we arrived at Paddington. To get to our next rain was so easy, but first we stopped for coffee. We wanted to use up the last £10 we had. Of course it turned out they don’t take cash!

After coffee we walked to Heathrow Express and got right on the train. Some would say we should take the Elizabeth Line, which perhaps is a bit less, but Heathrow Express is a 15 minute ride and with our “Two Together” card we get a very good price. Besides, it always has plenty of available seats. (Another Heathrow Express was right near us so I took a quick shot. Because.)

To Heathrow we went. Arrived easily, and then did the maze to get to the spot where we check our luggage. Lots of hallways, lots of those moving walkways …

We quickly checked our luggage and made our way to security. They are a bit slower here with the body scanner bit. I purposefully didn’t wear my barrette so I wouldn’t trigger the thing. Both of us remove our watches even though I don’t believe that would trigger anything. It’s just easier than dealing with that trigger possibility! Dan took off his belt (he was actually told to) even though it’s supposed to be the sort (it’s plastic rather than metal) to not trigger anything. Still he triggered the machine. I think it was because of the zipper on his shirt.

From there it was another maze to get to our lounge. Dan said it’s because we actually go under the runway or some such thing. Down a long escalator, then more walking, and then up two escalators.

We went into a store and managed to find a tin box with goodies for exactly £10 that we will enjoy later.

Then to the lounge we went. Dan asked if we qualified for more than this basic United lounge and yes, we did: we could do Air Canada or Singapore. The woman said Singapore was very good for their food, but nixed Canada. At that point, though, we just decided this one was closest to our gate and we were already there so we just went in. We both had breakfasts. I forgot to take a photo of mine, but did catch Dan’s before he dug in. I think Dan might be tiring of yours truly constantly photographing him! Could it be?

With about 45 minutes to go until boarding I went in search of the coffee machine. A cappuccino was made and back to my seat to do a whole lot of nothing. I am very talented at nothing, so I nailed it!

This is my view out the window in the lounge. Thrilling, I know. The United plane you see is most likely not ours — I think we are at the very end of the terminal.

And we are in the plane! I’ll post Part One now and get back to you when we are home. Ciao!

Wednesday, June 17

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So this is it: our final full day in London, and our final full day of our trip. What a time we’ve had!

I woke this morning and took a no-slip shower. (I still say the paper bath mat is not as good a rubber one and it’s definitely too small.)

After showering and dressing I did my finances via Quicken. Yes, I’ve done those nearly every day — I like to know what we are in for when we get home and I have to pay for much of this journey (I love it when I can pay for portions before we get on that first plane as it helps minimize the pain, but we will still have a rather hefty bill, as you might imagine.)

We left the hotel and went back to the same place we went to yesterday for breakfast. The people there are incredibly friendly and, once again, the barista gave Dan TWO little cups! (We later gave him a nice tip. 😊 )

Once we finished our breakfast we got on a train. Today’s first destination was Westminster Abbey. I’d last been to see it all in 1974 and I can guarantee I simply didn’t pay attention to a lot. Dan had only been inside when we went to evensong and we could only see a bit of the place and weren’t allowed to take photos.

Getting off the train, we walked a bit and of course photos were taken.

We arrived early so we walked partway around. (Photos above.)

Then it was back again and after we were admitted to the grounds we first went to St. Margaret’s. Only after we used our cameras did we see the sign for no photography. Oops! I really don’t know why we weren’t to take photos, and I saw others using their phones. I wondered, in fact, if it was a sign left up from a service, as they do say no photography when a service is happening.

Then into Westminster we went. I’m not going to point out everything and/or explain … it’s getting late and I want to get this posted!

(I took a lot more photos of musicians’ memorials, or whatever those are called, but so far they have not drifted from phone to cloud and I can’t get them posted because my phone is misbehaving when I try to post from there. Ah well. Maybe later.)

After we went through it all we did what we had hoped to do at some point: it was afternoon tea time! I had looked up “best afternoon tea” on Google, but gosh it can be costly (as in close to £100 per person costly). This was still costly, but about half the price as the real fancy ones. (And actually we probably didn’t have the right clothing for those in any case.) It was yummy, and much, much more than I needed to eat but I ate it all! (Okay, I ate half of what is pictured: I did allow Dan to have the other half. I’m nice that way.)

From there we went toward Trafalgar Square. There was a anti-Brexit protest going on and it looks to me like it’s probably a daily event. I think a large number of Brits are unhappy with what Brexit did for them. The anti-immigration attitude kind of backfired, eh? Gee, sound familiar?

We decided to go to the National Gallery. First we just sat for a bit (my blood sugar was a bit messed up from the tea), and then we went upstairs. It’s such a fabulous place. We had limited time (I think we got in at about 3 but it might have been even later), so we couldn’t see a ton, but what we did see was wonderful. I took a few photos — it’s never as good a seeing the actual works, though.

We had to leave since closing time was announced, so we then headed to a place for dinner. Our final pub meal was at Horse & Guardsman. I’m sad to say goodbye to pub meals —

but I’m also happy to start to eat more responsibly. Obviously if we lived here we’d not go to pubs nearly as often, but we sure do see a ton of people getting off work getting a pint: most don’t go in to the pubs, but stand outside mingling.

Dinner was enjoyed and that was it for our pub life.

After dinner it was back to the tube, catching the Circle line to Bayswater — Dan’s favorite station and the one I will forever remember since it’s the correct station for our hotel!

A short walk later we were in our room and I began to do a bit of packing. I’m really hoping I can fit my walking shoes into the suitcase and wear my lighter shoes for tomorrow. We’ll see if I can manage. It’s probably going to mean smooshing the luggage down hard with my knee, but I’m pretty determined!

Off with me now!

10,560 steps, 4.11 miles, 7 flights climbed
(Note: it’s so nice being back in a city with good public transportation but it does mean I don’t walk as much. Ah well!)

Tuesday, June 16

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It was a slow start morning — I actually woke up, read a bit, and went back to sleep. When I next looked at my watch it was about 9:00! I guess I needed more sleep.

After Dan showered (no falling for him, but I had left that “bath mat” in the shower) and we both were ready it was time to get our free cup of coffee. Because free. Yes, I have a difficult time turning down free things.

But WAIT! Dan suggests that free doesn’t mean we have to take advantage of the coffee?! Really? Is that the American way?

Well, he was right: we were going to get coffee with breakfast, after all.

So out we went, off to today’s adventures.

Adventure one: coffee and salmon bagels. Dan ordered a single macchiato. The barista made my coffee first (the bigger one) and then did Dan’s. But he had extra coffee. So Dan got two. Perhaps that was the win of the day?

Oh — brief interlude here — weather! I’ve neglected to mention weather! I’m out of my warmer Woolx pants and shirts, and into the lighter things. Yesterday I also brought along my hoodie, but ended up wrapping it around my waist most of the day so I didn’t even take that. Today looked to be as warm or warmer than yesterday (77° predicted which is a tad on the warm side for my taste. I’m sure I’ll be hit hard by the heat at home!) and it was also predicted to be cloudy. That’s good for photography and for a bit of sun protection, but yesterday, even with those clouds, I did manage to get a sunburn which, for me, is rotten because I blister a bit. The sun and I aren’t friends — sun likes my sister much better!) In any case, no rain was forecast for yesterday, and the same goes for today.

After breakfast we caught the tube to reach our destination: British Museum, here we come!

I took a few shots as we got out of the train: I loved the colorful mosaics. Then we went up a long escalator.

From there we saw something we’d seen last time: a huge space with projections on the walls and ceilings.

Then on to the museum we went, passing by the theater where a musical was playing. I haven’t a clue if it’s any good (and no, I never saw the movie). But I liked the shoe (something I wouldn’t ever consider wearing, btw) so there it is.

The last time we were at the museum we had a meet up with Brandon and the line to get in wrapped around the block. We nearly gave up, in fact. This time? NO line. Hm. I wonder what was up with that earlier visit. We entered the library, but we couldn’t get very far in. Then we headed off to see more. I do totally wonder about the influencer types and those young women who dress up to be photographed. (One young woman, seen in the photos below, would have a photo taken, then check to see if it was okay, and this time she required a new shot. The woman with the microphone walked by one sculpture and rested her head on the hand of the thing … apparently “do not touch” is meaningless, as I saw this happen a few times. And yes, I’m incredibly judgmental. Shame on me!) We had the overpriced lunch at the cafe, wandered more, and spent about four hours in the place. Thankfully my back didn’t even ache — that’s rather rare for me!

After the museum we went to a pub (Princess Louise) that Brandon had introduced to us. I loved the small rooms so I wanted to revisit it. We enjoyed our very own private spot!

Then we walked a bit more. That walk included the very crowded and touristy Covent Garden area. We thought better of eating dinner there, though, knowing the tourist bit would mean it would be even more costly than in the neighborhood where we are staying.

Finally, after the tube ride to “Dan’s station” where we are so close to our hotel, we opted for Italian food. Should I have taken photos of the before dishes? Oh, maybe. But aside from the garlic flatbread, as you can see, it was too late!

Back in our room I noticed housekeeping had taken the shredding bath mat but hadn’t left a new one. Dan seemed to believe I could manage a shower without a mat, but no way was I going to chance it so I went to the front desk and asked for a few. (I did noticed someone had fixed a little pice of metal that the shower door fit into — I had knocked it off during my fall and for the life of me couldn’t figure out where it went! I was glad to see I hadn’t done permanent damage to it!)

Per my usual routine I put on pjs and set out tomorrow’s clothes. This time, though, I also set out my clothes for going home the next day. Yep, that’s me in a nutshell.

After that I made myself some strawberry-something sort of “meh” caffeine free tea. Because why not, right? I might have missed the free morning coffee, but at least I got something for free today. After all, Dan got that extra macchiato this morning. Seems only fair, somehow.

Tomorrow. Final Day. Sigh.

10,631 steps, 4.21 miles, 10 flights climbed

Monday, June 15

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If I count days from May 5, when we landed at Heathrow, today is day 42 of our trip. (Obviously if I count from May 4, when we left SFO, it’s day 43. I’m going to bet readers could figure that out too. We are all so smart that way.)

I have to acknowledge that we are a people of privilege: so many can’t manage to do a trip like this. So I must remember to be very grateful. I also have to realize that any trip could our last, as we never know what the next day will bring. So again, I’m grateful.

Acknowledgement over ‘n out. But gratefulness is not over ‘n out. Ever.

Once we were dressed we went upstairs to get our coffees. We won’t pay £17 each for a breakfast here, but the coffee is free all day so that was fine by us. We made them (just one of those automatic machines) and took them back to the room with us as we figured out what we were doing.

Once coffee was done and we’d decided on our agenda we headed out. Dan suggested we grab breakfast nearby, so we did that first. Nothing close to £24!

Then it was over to the tube where we went, with one change, all the way to Richmond to visit Kew Gardens. And yes, Dan figured out the directions. Whew!

The Kew Gardens are huge. We obviously couldn’t see everything there, but we did see quite a bit. We went into most, if not all, of the houses … from tropical (so humid) to desert, and in between. The plant life at the garden is pretty amazing. (But their roses aren’t nearly as wonderful as what I find in San Jose, I must say!) We wandered and wandered. At one point we headed toward the “Redwood Grove”. What we found was one redwood (I think Dan said it was a coastal one). That was it! But there were other large-ish trees around. In any case, we spent a whole lot of time at the gardens, and I will just share photos, a video, and leave it at that.

(I’ve now managed to upload more photos and I think that’s enough. No one needs to see all the photos I shoot!)

We did have a nice, inexpensive lunch at the gardens. Exciting, I know.

From there we walked to where a boat would take us all the way to Westminster. It was a nice, relaxing ride, and it felt good to get off our feet for over an hour. We’d never done a Thames boat ride before, and I’m really glad we did this one. I wouldn’t mind taking another going the other direction, but we’ll see if we can fit that in. And yes, more photos without explanation. (I’m feeling tired and feeling a bit discombobulated right now — more on that later.)

Getting off the boat and heading out into the crowds was rather like culture shock. We had been in nature for so many hours and suddenly we could barely move. I’m so glad we aren’t staying anywhere near that area.

It was time for dinner so we went to a pub we’ve now been to twice already. I wanted to be able to go to the bottom floor (two flights down) because I had great memories of eating there on our first trip together to London: that time we met up with Jan and Greg and ate at the same pub! Yummy food was enjoyed.

Then back to the tube for an easy ride and short walk (because we went Dan’s way!) to our hotel.

But now for the tired and discombobulated bit. First of all, we did walk a lot, so of course I’m tired. But when we got back I told Dan I was going to take a shower. I had noticed a paper bath mat sitting on a shelf, but checking the shower floor I thought it wasn’t too slippery. WRONG. I started the shower and almost immediately fell to the floor. That is one dangerous shower. Fortunately nothing was broken and I got that darn paper bath mat and put it on the floor. What a dumb thing, though: it was falling apart by the time I was done showering. I think they should rethink their bath mat idea!

Now it’s time for me to listen to at least one recording I’m to study, and then off to sleepy land.

15,099 steps, 6 miles, 5 flights climbed

Sunday, June 14 — Moving Day

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Here we go again! Once we lazily got up and got cleaned up we packed. We won’t get breakfast until later: I just won’t pay so much for a B&B breakfast, no matter how good it is. I won’t even do the coffee in the room since it’s instant here … no thanks!

When it was time to leave Dan asked the young woman at the door if she could call a taxi: it’s really too far for us to walk with our roller bags. Would we have walked with packs? Hm. I’m not sure, but I think I would have been willing since it’s maybe a bit over a mile. But anyway, she called. The service they usually use was full, so she called another and we were told 5 to 10 minutes. At over 10 minutes we started to worry so he went back in to ask her about it. She called again, getting no answer. At that point Dan decided to do what we had originally planned and ordered an Uber.

He was shown that it would arrive quickly. At almost the same time both the taxi and the Uber arrived. We hopped in the Uber and let the young woman deal with the taxi driver since he was late and hadn’t responded to calls. Then on to the train station we went.

Having had no breakfast we had a small bite and some coffee. Neither were stellar, but it was no biggie.

I loved that LNER texted me to say not only what platform we were on but where to stand to get in to our car. I wish all companies did that!

We barely had to wait and in to the train we went. We had reserved seats and no one was in them. Sweet! We got situated and I enjoyed some of the scenery but also occasionally just shut my eyes.

After about two hours we arrived. Hello again, London! We got off the train and stood a bit figuring out how to get to the hotel.

I had one route, Dan had another. Me being pushy we went with my route. I was wrong. Dan’s way would have been a much shorter walk. Sigh. When will I learn to let him deal with directions?!

We checked in early and our room was ready, so that was nice. We are in a basement room, but it does have a window so we can watch people’s feet as they walk by. Not that we have the curtains open in any case. This must be a fairly new place as it’s in very good condition.

After sitting a bit we went out to explore the area, and get a bit to eat for lunch. Turned out the “bit” was more than I expected — I thought the pizza slices would be half the size they were. I told Dan we could have shared. He looked at me like I was nuts. Go figure! (Poor shot of where we ate below.)

Then we walked toward Kensington Park. We went in and ambled. We even did a “Sunday in the Park with George” photo. (To those who don’t know, Sondheim wrote a musical by that name and Dan’s first name is George.)

Dan heard music and eventually I did as well, so we went to listen to a brass band play. Memories of muni band (although there were no woodwinds)! I will try and post a video later: so far it just gets stuck near the start and won’t continue to load. (UPDATE: Loaded!)

We then ambled more, ending up at Royal Albert Hall. We have good memories of attending a couple of concerts there, but nothing is happening now that is of interest to us so never mind.

We walked through a flower garden area, but the flowers were mostly behind fences so I didn’t take a lot of photos.

This is our first warm day in eons, and the first one that caused us to stop for ice cream. Well, I wouldn’t have stopped, but someone to my right was sort of pushing me toward the ice cream truck and what was I to do? So ice cream was enjoyed.

From there we wound up at Kensington Palace. Not that we knew that’s where we were going … these random walks just happen!

Finally it was time for some dinner. I ordered a veggie burger and couldn’t come close to finishing. I should have just ordered an appetizer! When will I learn? Can you tell the difference between the veggie burger and the meat one?

Because we knew we had some things to figure out for the next few days we got back to our room and did some research. I also began to listen to some recordings I am to study. And yes, I finished this blog entry.

Stay tuned to find out what we opted for tomorrow!

Cheers!

Wednesday, May 6

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I was so tired by 9PM last night I had to get to sleep. And sleep I did … until about 1AM. Then it was four hours of wakefulness. This wasn’t unexpected, but still annoying! Looking at the bright side, though, I didn’t have restless legs so I could just lie in bed. A dark side? Well, a Traviata ear worm was driving me batty. I think I need to listen to some music today in order to remove that thing. Of course it will just be replaced by something else. I very rarely don’t have an ear worm.

I did get back to sleep eventually, and then woke at 8:30AM. The other traveler here was still asleep, but he’d said to set an alarm for 9:00 so we’ll see if that gets him to stir. I could tell he was awake a lot in the night as well (we never talk — I suspect he feels the same way I do: don’t add anything that might cause sleep to become even more difficult. I’ll have to ask him about that!)

After Dan woke it was shower and pack time. By the time we were ready to head out it was nearing the time we had to check out (11:00 AM), so we did that, left our luggage at the hotel, and went out in search of a spot to eat and get coffee.

As we walked out I spotted a plaque on our hotel wall.

A short walk later we found a nice place, Dolce London, and enjoyed a leisurely meal that should cover us for both breakfast and lunch. (We do try to keep to a two meal plus an afternoon snack plan on these trips.)

Then we walked on one of our random walks. This place caught my eye.

Then, surprise, surprise, we happened upon King’s Cross Central and a lot of new things. We hadn’t heard about this before. Maybe we should have? Dunno. But an old spot that has been completely altered. It was fun to wander through.

And then just a lot more wandering, eventually going over Black Friar’s Bridge (we walked past The Mad Hatter Inn — the place we stayed last time we were here — but I didn’t bother with a photo).

For our afternoon snack, which was mostly about sitting down a bit, we ended up at Black Sheep Coffee (or whatever the chain is called). No coffee for me, though.

At that point we had to decide how to get back to the hotel. We opted to walk a bit further so we could head over the Millennium Bridge. We took a few alley detours as we went, shot a couple of signs for the info they gave, and made a bank visit so we could pay cash for dinner. Then to the hotel we went.

We opted to eat right at the hotel. It was just easy and that’s what we were ready for.

When Dan pulled the cash out (we wanted to get some change which is why we wanted to pay with cash) we were informed that they didn’t take cash. Heh. Shoulda thunk it. This seems to be more and more common.

Getting our luggage we walked to Euston Station for our train adventure. Because we have the sleeper car we could relax in the lounge and listen to far too many people coughing. Oh dear … we’ll see what happens next, I guess. (Dan and I did get a Covid booster before our trip.)

So here we sit. And here we blog. I will post this before I fill you in on what’s next since we haven’t a clue what kind of WiFi we will get on the train. I know sometimes it works. I also know sometimes it doesn’t.

And no, Dan isn’t unhappy. I just caught him looking serious. I think it’s his, “Don’t mess with me,” look. Maybe?

Anyway, stay tuned … just maybe I can post the rest of the story from the train. I can dream.

Well … DUH … we will be on a sleeper train. Hah!

The Flight

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Boarding the plane was pretty darn quick. It was all done by facial recognition … except when it wasn’t. The camera didn’t see to recognize Dan! He had to then have his passport scanned and all was well.

We got to our sets (row 5, Polaris). I know, I know, fancy schmantzy … but these days I just can’t deal with tight spaces and the inability to sleep. Plus I blame my brother Greg who got us seats in business class once. He suggested we wouldn’t be able to go back and he’s mostly right (we do premium economy on occasion).

We were offered a drink. Speaking wine for me, water for Dan. Yep, he lives on the edge. Then it was a bit of sitting, followed by taxiing, followed by taking off. It was smooth until there was mild turbulence, which they apologetically said would delay our meal. Not that we were hungry anyway.


After a bit of time I looked at my watch. 4:20 AM.

No, not in San Francisco. But when I get on a plane I set the watch and iPad to the destination time, hoping it will get me to accept the huge eight hour time change.

I did a bit of a jigsaw puzzle, and read a bit, but my brain really didn’t want to concentrate on anything. I actually wanted to sleep! Sort of a good thing, but there was dinner to eat. What to do? (Some people suggest you do NOT eat meals on the plane: I’ve yet to convince myself to do that.)

What to do was start writing this.

Food was a bit late, due to turbulence, according to the announcement, but eventually we received our drink and warm nuts, followed by the appetizer. That appetizer was lovely, and was enough for a full meal as far as I was concerned. That turned out to be a good thing: our dinners were not quite so appealing.


After dinner it was lights out for the two of us, and we did a good amount of sleeping. Dan is, in fact, continuing to sleep as I type this. But it’s 11:35 AM at our destination so I’d prefer to try to stay awake now. (It’s 3:35 AM at home.)

Where we are:

Breakfast was served near the end of the flight. I would have preferred lunch, since it was lunch time at our destination, but since I only eat two meals a day anyway, I sort of tried to convince myself it was lunch. It was, as usual, too much food and not terrifically exciting.

This flight really flew by. Yep, that’s about how funny I can be! And then we arrived.

Hello Heathrow!

We went through the passport control in mere minutes, but oh all the walking one does before and after that. It’s a great way to get steps in after such a long sit, though!

Then it was Heathrow Express to Paddington Station.

From there we had to find our way to our hotel via the tube. It took a while, but we did figure out how to do that.

Oh … but it DID take us a while to walk from Euston Station to our hotel. One of use (me!) was using a map app and got confused. Then someone else (he!) took over and managed to also get confused for a bit. We figure this is par for the course and today we had a number of “oops!” moments so perhaps we got it out of our systems early. Who knows? but we got there. Eventually.

Side note: we had to opt for roller bags due to the things we (Dan, really) needed. I’m so torn between the roller bag and our packs. My back isn’t great, and I have neck problems, so a pack hurts, but it sure isn’t fun carrying luggage up stairs, and there were a lot of stairs to get from one place in the tube to another.

Our hotel is nothing exciting, but it will suffice: we are only here for one night and tomorrow we take a night train to our destination. London was just a quick stop.

After dropping off our stuff we went to find an ATM and then a pub. Well, except I first realized I’d left my phone in the room so we had to go back. Another mistake!

ATM was found, money was pulled from there, and off to The Lamb we went. Dan ordered fish and chips and I had a chicken and leek pie. Both were yummy pub food and just what we wanted for our first night here.

Cheers!

On our walk back to the hotel we went past this interesting building.

And then it was time to finish this blog, post my daily flora photo, and hit the hay.

I’m not sure I will be able to post every day: it will depend upon time and internet access. But I will actually write every day so I can post later if things don’t work.

For now … cheerio!

And Now Our Final Full Day

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The last day is always a bit of an interesting day. We do less most of the time, as I think our brains are busy thinking about the travel day and our bodies really let down because we know we are nearly done.

As is always the case, it was breakfast first, and then after getting ready, heading to the tube. It was Jubilee to Westminster this morning. We then walked over to Westminster Abbey: there were no (expensive) tours today since it’s Sunday, but there was Matins scheduled at 10:00 so we opted for that. Worship services are always free, and it was nice to worship on a Sunday in London! This time we were wiser than we were in York, got there early, and had lovely seats where we could see and hear better. It was all quite beautiful.

The formality of the service is, of course, not what I experience at home. I really miss a bit of formality so I enjoyed it. This was not a service with a sermon, but it was music, scripture, and prayer. I was moved.

No photography was allowed in the service, understandably, and it did make me realize we should someday pay the whopping amount they charge if we really want to see the entire building. I was ogling the markers for various famous musicians as we walked in and a guide came and clearly wanted us to move on.

On the way out people did pull out cameras, so I felt comfortable taking a few shots outside of the actual church.


From the church we ambled a bit, checking out some nearby spots.

After that we headed toward Trafalgar Square. When we were here the first time we met up at the Square with Greg and Jan and from there we walked to a nearby pub. Dan thought he could locate it and he did! All I remembered was that we got to go down two flights of stairs which I loved — it felt so private.

It hadn’t yet opened, so we continued our walk toward Trafalgar.

There was a huge area fenced off. Hm. And why might that be? Baseball. The Phillies & Mets are here to play, wouldn’t you know? So this was some sort of spot where they had a huge screen and I could hear someone talking and music playing. We weren’t interested in going in, so we continued to walk.

Eventually it was time to get back to “our” pub. It just opened, and the person opening it told us to go on up to the main floor. Ah well. We didn’t opt to ask if we could go down, being the shy retiring sort of folks we are. Today is Sunday so the menu was different … it’s roast time. Dan had chicken and I had some sort of plant-based nut roast. It was all quite tasty. (I think the roasted potatoes won the day, though!)



More time to walk, and we were on Fleet Street. You know what that means!

Okay … it doesn’t really mean “The Amicable Society of Lazy Ballerinas”. (I looked it up: it’s a wine bar.)

But this …

We headed to St. Paul’s.

I wasn’t interesting in paying £22.50 per senior to go in, nor was Dan, so we just wandered around it a bit and then went to the Millennium bridge, which took us toward our hotel. A quick climb up some stairs later and we were back.

On the Millennium Bridge.

Eventually it was time to head to Holy Trinity Church. Greg (one of my brothers, for those of you who don’t know) had mentioned that Gesualdo Six would be singing there and I was so glad he did!

The church is in Chelsea. Some restaurants were quite posh, and clearly the area is that way as well.


We found a more affordable place to dine, and then we headed around the corner to the church for the concert.

First a choir from Birmingham, Alabama sang, then Gesualdo Six joined them for one song, and then the Six sang an absolutely exquisite half. For both the choir and GSix I had to pull a tissue out. There is simply nothing like the human voice, and the music hit me in the way I love. If you ever have a chance to hear the Gesualdo Six I highly recommend that you do!


Finally it was another train “home” where I’m writing this and we will spend our last night. Our flight tomorrow doesn’t leave until 4:15 PM, but we will take our time packing, and head over to the airport which is a bit of a distance. But hey, the flight home is only three hours! We arrive at 7-something PM. Yep, I’m still funny as can be. Or not.

Some views from the Blackfriar’s Bridge: we crossed this bridge a number of times.

So this is it. End of vacation. Maybe I’ll post when we get home (if I have a brain left), and I’d like to post some thoughts on what I’d do differently next time. Having the Great Glen Way walk added to this trip did make it difficult to pack lightly, though. I’d love to see if there would be a way to do that despite doing a walk. (And honestly I think I’d see if these less expensive trekking poles we bought would make it through in carryon. If they took them away I’d just sigh and deal.)

Posting these blog entries has been cumbersome and I need to find a better way to upload photos, but that will wait for another day. For now it’s close to slumber time, and then let the packing begin!

Ciao!

Up Early & Off We Went

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So yeah … I write “early” and that just means we had to get our breakfast by 8:00. Not really early, I know, but for Dan and me, well, we’ve been taking it awfully easy.

After breakfast we took the Jubilee to Baker and the Bakerloo to Paddington.

I write that because I think it makes it sound like I know what I’m doing now.

Then we had a bit of time before we caught the GWR at Paddington Station.

What a crowded train it was. Fortunately I had reserved seats, but some people had to stand in the aisle the entire hour.



And we were going to … wait for it … wait … wait ….

Okay, don’t wait. We were going to Oxford.

Aside from some slow delays, we had a short ride. We exited the train station and really just followed other people to get where we were going. First up was a bit of lunch since by this time it was near noon.

Then it was more walking and we saw some cool buildings, went into a church, went to the river where we observed a few people punting, and then rambled more, including entering Trinity College. I’m just going to paste photos below and leave it at that.

There had clearly been a wedding somewhere nearby.
More of a wedding party.
There was a tour guide talking at one point, explaining that to get married here one has to get a reservation seven years in advance! Someone had done that and she still hadn’t found her guy, but she still has two years left in which to find him. Heh.
All the doors had these signs and they explain who they beat and in which year.

After Oxford time it was train time again. NOT a crowded train at all, plenty of empty seats, and an easy ride.

Back to the Bakerloo to Baker, and the Jubilee to Southwark. Into our hotel, dropped stuff off, and went downstairs for dinner. I had fish pie, Dan had chicken pie of some sort, and we shared sticky toffee pudding. Surely that must be good for our health.

The Cheshire Cat agrees, no doubt.


One more day in London and then home we go. Do I want to go home? No, not really. But I know it’s time.

Nearing sleepy time ….

Happy Friday in London

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Not a lot to write about or post today, really.

Breakfast. Check.

Tube to Embankment. Check.

Walk to the British National Museum. Check.

Meet up with Brandon again. Check.

Stand in line for eons. Check.

Go through security where they didn’t confiscate my cookies (whew!). Check.

But these days I don’t really take photos at museums, so we wandered, we ate lunch (where I did take this one photo)

… and we wandered more. The museum is so much about antiquities (obtained, I am guessing, in less that admirable ways sometimes). I confess I’m more of a painting person, but there really is something about seeing things that are so amazingly ancient.

From there we walked to a close, very old, pub. Also turned out to be incredibly noisy due to one group of guys. Go figure. I must say I’m enjoying the 1/2 pints I get, and all with lower alcohol content. The smaller beer works for me: I so frequently can’t even finish the pints!


We decided to head back to our hotel for a bit of a late night, nearly 5:00 siesta.

Brandon contacted us some time later, saying he was just across Blackfriars bridge so we walked back over to meet up and have dinner at the pub. We had a great time. It’s our last meet up with him and I’ll miss him a ton.

After dinner it was back to our place — and hey, the elevator was working! Earlier today it said it was out of order … I’m glad it’s fixed because I’d have hated to lug our stuff down stairs on Monday when we head home.

Tomorrow we are taking a short train ride to another town. We have to set our alarms, in fact, because we are going to have to get things done earlier to make the train.

Night!