Minding the gap in London

London Bridge photo courtesy of Wikipedia

I know you were wondering why we didn't have a picture of London Bridge in yesterday's blog.  As you can see above, it isn't very picturesque.  The pretty bridge is actually Tower Bridge, pictured below. 

Tower Bridge

I'm finding I can't write very well when my feet hurt.  And boy, do they hurt!

The weather was beautiful and warm, so we decided to take a hop-on hop-off bus tour first thing in the morning.  This would save our feet, right?  We caught a tour called The Original London Sightseeing Tour.  The advantage of these tours (there are a few companies doing the same thing) is that you can literally hop off along the tour route to spend extra time in a place and then hop back on to continue the tour.  The buses for this company stopped at their designated stops about every 10 minutes, so we never had to wait long for the next one.

The tour happened to stop near the Imperial War Museum, and Rick, Tim and Linda decided to go see that.  I chose to ride the London Eye, also within a short walk of the bus stop.  The Eye is a gigantic ferris wheel, with enclosed pod-like compartments holding 25 people each.  It takes about 40 minutes to revolve once, so it's moving very slowly.  From the Eye I had a great view of the city and the Thames directly below. 

One of the pods on the London Eye, high above the city.

It moved so slowly that even people with a height aversion like me could enjoy it.

While we've been in London the ParaOlympic Games have been going on.  I noticed lots of handicapped athletes in the area around the Eye.  Many were in wheelchairs and many others had artificial limbs.  They were often wearing jackets or jerseys indicating the country they represented.  It was very exciting to see all of these competitors out and about, since we hadn't been able to see any of the games in person.

The rest of my group found the War Museum interesting.  There were some impressive displays of weaponry, tanks, artillery and planes used during World War II.  It was a somber reminder of difficult times and the sacrifices of previous generations.  The museum included a holocaust exhibit which Tim and Linda walked through and found especially moving.

We grabbed a quick lunch of pizza and beer, and hopped back on the bus to continue on the tour of the city.  Big screens were set up at a few locations around the city for watching Olympic events.  Sadly, one of the screens was right in front of the lions at Trafalgar Square, essentially blocking them.  Visitors often climb up and sit on them for photos.

Trafalgar Square during the ParaOlympics

We're seeing Starbucks coffee shops all over town.  Since we're from the Seattle side of Washington, it feels kinda like home.  Except of course they'd be on every corner at home, not just every other corner.

Our next stop was the Churchill War Rooms, where Churchill and the rest of England's leadership strategized during WWII.  The war rooms have been maintained just as they were during the war.  Maps are still on the wall in the conference rooms, and sleeping quarters are still furnished as they were in those days.  It was another sobering reminder of what happened in Britain during the war.  We thought some of the display was a bit hard to follow, but the essential elements were very interesting.

From the War Rooms we walked over to Harrods.  It's a must see, I think, just for the opulent displays in the food area.  Beautiful fruits, veggies, meats, and many other food items were displayed as though they were fine gems.  We were drawn to the chocolates and bought a box, hand selected, for the equivalent of about $30 U.S. (That was for 10 pieces.)

Photo courtesy of TripAdvisor

We also had to see the memorial to Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed, with her engagement ring on display, on one of the landings between floors in the store. 

Every afternoon we stop at a local wine shop to buy a few bottles for Happy Hour in our tiny hotel rooms.   The sign below was displayed in our neighborhood near Victoria Station.

Dinner that night was at a great little place in the neighborhood.  It was our second time there, since we'd stumbled on this place our first night in town.  About Thyme is a bar and bistro with a friendly manager, Issy (Isidoro), who hails from Spain.  He knows good food, and we had some great fish, rabbit, duck, veal, lamb, pasta, and even calves liver over the two nights we dined there.  On our second night we started dinner with stuffed zucchini blossoms, which were very tasty.  Beet flour gives them their red coloring.

Zucchini blossoms stuffed with fresh mozzarella

We tasted some Spanish liqueur the manager brought out, and enjoyed the great desserts.  We'd definitely go back.

What we learned today:

Dessert is called pudding.

Whenever you exit the subway, a recorded voice says, "Mind the gap!"

When exiting a crowded subway car you probably shouldn't say, "Thank you all for bathing."  (Don't ask.)

Our time in London is at an end, and we've only just scratched the surface!



London Bridge Looking Good (Not Falling Down!)

Photo courtesy of Fodors.com

We all arrived in London safely.  Rick and I flew British from Seattle, and hey, it's a 9-1/2 hour flight to London from the west coast.  Not a trip for wimps.  I don't like to fly AT ALL, but I guess I have to deal with it if I want to travel.  The flight was uneventful, thankfully.  Tim and Linda flew Air France through L.A. and Paris, and had a much longer day because of expected layovers and unexpected delays.  They finally arrived all in one piece.

Transport from Heathrow into London was fairly easy.  There are a few options, and the guidebooks explain cost and transit time.  We took the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station, then the Underground from Paddington to Victoria Station, near our hotel.  The Express train was quick and comfortable, but 19 b.p. (British pounds) per person.  The Underground services Heathrow also, and is far cheaper, but it takes much longer to get into town that way.   Tim and Linda took this route, and had no complaints about the service or time involved.

The best thing about mass transit now in London is the Oyster card.  It allows you to ride on the Underground and the buses using a pre-paid card.  You decide how much money you'd like to load on the card and can re-load easily as your trip goes on.  The cost per trip is greatly reduced when using the Oyster card, and machines seem to be in every Underground station to allow for the initial purchase and re-loading as needed.  At the end of your trip, you can turn in the card at a ticket office for a refund.

We're staying at a cute little place about 1/2 mile from Victoria station.  The Luna Simone hotel has been in business for about 40 years, and is run by twin brothers.  Nicely updated, and very friendly, it's a good deal in a good location.  Rooms are small, but there are some nice amenities - free breakfast, wi-fi, flat screen tv, in-room tea service.

I wish I had taken a photo of the basic breakfast option there:  fried egg, fried bacon (more like ham), toast and pork and beans.  Nothing like some good beans for breakfast!  They also had some other options, like cereal and fruit, or granola and yogurt.

There is so much to see in London, but we knew we couldn't see much of it in just a few days.  Our top priority was the Tower of London, and we also had an interest in seeing the London Eye, The War Museum, The Cabinet War rooms and spending a few minutes in Harrods.  We would have liked to see Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral, but felt like the cost to enter them ($20-$25 each) was prohibitive. 

The Tower of London was a great first stop.  We arrived there about 9:30, and saw the crowds increase dramatically as the morning went on.  First priority was to see the crown jewels.  No photos allowed.  Sorry!   They looked amazingly sparkly, and astoundingly heavy.  How those royals can hold their heads up with all that gold and jewels to balance on top I don't know.

Next we took a Beefeater tour.  Beefeaters are the guards who work at the Tower, and also live on the grounds.  They do an amazing job of bringing the history of the Tower to life.  I was glad to have read some books and watched some movies related to the events during the time of Henry VIII, as his beheaded queens and former compatriots are buried here and there in the chapel.

Beefeater playing tour guide

We walked the ramparts and saw some other fascinating stuff.  The sign below was my favorite:

A local pub was recommended by one of the employees at the Tower.  We especially enjoyed the side of "mushy peas" served with the fish and chips.  Mushy peas seem to be canned peas, you guessed it, mushed up!

 
For the rest of the afternoon we walked along the Thames.  There are so many new and modern buildings in the city that from across the river the Tower looks wedged in, and rather insignificant.

Dinner that night was at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen.  We love the concept behind this place.  He employs street kids who don't have much of a future and provides the training they need for jobs in his restaurant.  I made reservations online 3 months prior to our visit, and the only disappointment was that Jamie wasn't in the restaurant that night.   Rick and Tim especially enjoyed the fish stew.

Here's Rick with his dinner.

One of the great desserts we had - a semifreddo with strawberry sauce, lemon sorbet and baby basil leaves.

Tim and Linda getting cozy in a traditional British phone booth. This could be the movie set for Dr. Who or Harry Potter, not sure which.  Nice lady to the left is waiting patiently for the picture to be over so she can actually make a phone call, not descend to the Ministry of Magic.

We had a great first day, and can almost understand English being spoken by English people.  Stay tuned for more....