London

We arrived in London tired but doing well. There is a six hour time difference so instead of 4am it was 10am. We proceeded through immigration, gathered our luggage and found the train station to head from Heathrow Airport to our hotel. What an adventure. We each had two suitcases and our backpack. Bob carried the two larger suitcases and I did the carry-ons. We didn’t take the best route to the hotel (we went through Paddington Station) as we had to change too many times and that meant up stairs, down stairs, through the tunnels to more stairs. Since I had trouble carrying both suitcases there were a couple of times someone else volunteered to help. The rest of the time I went up or down with one suitcase, Bob then carried a couple, leaving one at the bottom of the stairs and then he went back for the other. Needless to say we arrived quite tired and hot and sweaty at the hotel. It was about 1pm and we were very thankful that the room was ready. Then it was nap time (2 hours), shower and clean up and then we started to explore a little.

The first two nights we stayed at the Renaissance Chancery Court Hotel on Holborn near the Covent Garden area and all of the theatres. The next 7 nights we stayed at the Marriott Park Lane Hotel which is right across the street from Hyde Park. The tube station was right there and was great except they were making improvements and the very long flight of stairs down was a walk down, not an escalator. I can’t begin to tell you how many flights of stairs I walked up or down during our time there. We had some really special times but overall I really did not enjoy London. We spent time on Friday at the British Museum and that I found very interesting. Friday night we saw Carousel at the Savoy. It was wonderful and of course I cried.

Saturday we moved hotels and went to 221B Baker Street. Since the flat is made to look like what is really just a fictional book we did not pay to tour the flat but did enjoy the gift shop and the outside. We walked by Madam Tussaud’s. We also encountered a huge crowd of fans cheering for their team (Chelsea) which was in the finals of something for football (soccer).

Sunday I discovered that our towels were hanging on a heated rack and that the center part of the bathroom mirror does not steam up because it is heated also. Pretty cool I thought. We attempted to do the city tour by bus. It was rather a mess but we did see some things even though we got dropped off twice at a dead end and were told to walk to another bus. (And I thought I paid for a bus tour, not walking!!!) It just wasn’t quite what was advertised. There was a tour guide only on the yellow route and if you don’t do the blue route early you won’t get to finish it because it stops earlier than the others. Of course we weren’t told any of this and did everything backwards. We did take a walking tour with a guide to watch the changing of the guard at the Palace. It was fun, we learned a lot but it was a LOT of walking.

Monday was our 41st anniversary. I slept till noon and my wonderful husband went out to get some fruit and brought me some beautiful pink & white tulips. I was thrilled. We took the tube and grabbed a pasty to eat. We went to the London Bridge Experience and the tombs complete with a scary maze and awful ghosts. We stopped to do the Tower of London but the girl said it would take 3 hours to do so we went on a river cruise down and back the Thames from the Tower of London to Greenwich and back to Westminster. As we disembarked the bells in the clock tower were chiming 7 p.m. We learned that Big Ben is the large bell not the clock.

Tuesday we got up early and went back to the Tower of London. We saw the crown jewels there. We then walked through All Hallows Church where John Quincy Adams was married and proceeded to tour St Paul’s Cathedral. It took us exactly 3 hours and 40 minutes to do all of it. We spent an hour getting to Shakespeare’s Globe Theater only to find we couldn’t see it. So we hurried to the National Portrait Gallery and viewed some of the items there. We made a quick stop at the Southwark Cathedral on our way. We got back to the hotel at 5:15, tired and very exhausted. Most things are only open from 10 to 5 so by each evening I was quite drained.

Wednesday was a much more enjoyable and interesting day. We went to Kensington Palace and toured it. There was an audio to listen to that explained what you were seeing. This is where Queen Victoria was born. There were also quite a number of Diana’s dresses on display. We stopped at the Build-a-Bear shop in Covent Garden, ate lunch at the White Lion and headed to the Lyceum Theatre. We saw Lion King and it was sooo good. The theatre was built in the 1830’s and was very ornate.

Thursday was another day that I was just too tired. We finally managed (1 pm) to go to Wellington Arch and then the Apsley House. These were well worth seeing and very interesting. The Apsley House was owned by the Duke of Wellington who gave it to the government in 1947 I believe. It still contains many of his items and there were an unbelievable number of beautiful paintings on the walls. We also had an audio guide through it. We hopped the tube to Covent Gardens for dinner and then back to the hotel.

Friday the weather changed. It was hot and sunny the rest of the time and most folks were having a rough time with the unseasonable heat. Friday the cool and the rain came. We took the tube, train and then the bus to Richmond and out to Hampton Court Palace. We really enjoyed this tour also. We saw the area where William and Mary stayed and the kitchens of Henry VIII. There was a great audio guide for this palace and it was very informative. I really enjoyed seeing the rose garden which was huge, awesome and in bloom. Oh was it beautiful. You could smell the roses as you walked into it. This palace was huge and I got too tired to see all of it.

Saturday was moving day and leaving London day. I saw some interesting things in London but unless I want to do the theatre I never intend to come back. Bob enjoyed it a little more than I did but I think it is over rated. Bob picked up our rental car and we headed north out of London and into the country. How glorious and wonderful. Our internet connection is not great so I will try to post pictures later.