Travel Journal Entry May 30, 2012 or London in a nutshell
After a rough night of sleep – D and I both slept well until 3ish, but then we were up. We both managed to go back to sleep around 4 after closing the window – not that it seemed to help. It wasn’t good sleep though and it is hot and muggy here.
I tried washing clothes last night. Surprisingly my pants dried better than the shirt and underwear should have. Yes – hind sight says I should have washed last night, but I wore the clothes for 2 days essentially and I thought if I did more washes of smaller loads, it might work better. A work in progress.
Okay – back to yesterday. We landed at 6:20ish, got out bags and got on our way to the train. That was interesting. So much people need to tell you. Got our passes validated for the flexipass. Got on the train, which was busy (oh – and for short people – it’s a bit of a step up). There is a place at one end for luggage or between seats. People sit in odd ways, so feel free to ask if an unoccupied seat is taken – it often isn’t. It is an easy 30 minute ride – no stops – from Gatwick to Victoria Station.
Then to get out – you need to fill out the date on your pass and show it to the guards at the exits. Yep, they have people manning the exits. Fascinating. And very kind. :)
It was an interesting walk to our hotel – which is quite close to Victoria Station. But with D getting little sleep on the plane and ‘leading’ from the back – we argued a few times. We arrived quite early at the hotel – guess D forgot to tell Simon (Editor’s note: Simon was told, he just forgot), but we were able to leave our bags, after reorganizing, and off we went.
Our goal – get our Londong passes with the travel pass. What really happened: As we walked past Buckingham palace, there were tons of visitors and lots going on. The Jubilee is this weekend. We ran into a nice man who identified us as tourist and proceeded to tell us where we should go to see the practice parade. He gave us some history and tips along the walk.
The practice parade was fabulous – 4 regiments, each with a pipe band to lead them. The Irish regiment also had bagpipers and a wolfhound. Supposedly the Mounties did fascinating things last weekend. We ended up following them to the square and got to watch them as if the Queen was coming in on her carriage. Fascinating! Nothing like watching the show early and being able to ignore the real thing.
After we found the pass place (OMG – what a hassle to find it – we walked around and around Trafalgar square before we found this short round building in the middle of the sidewalk. It was interesting – a very tight spiral staircase into a very small room). Passes in hand, we went to the Covent Gardens for shopping and lunch (which turned out to be at a breakfast place). Good shopping. The buskers were great. We walked back over to the national Portrait Gallery, then to Piccadilly Circus, Piccadilly alley, and Burlington alley. Then back to the hotel for a nap – well, D had a nap, while I organized.
Supper was at Garfunkel’s where I had the Cajun chicken burger and blackberry/apple crumble. D had the club sandwich and London’s Pride beer. Then it was bed time.
Notes from May 30
- Bridge only opens now 5-6 times per week. Use to be 30 times a day. (Editor’s note: it opened the day we were there – whoot!)
- Mud based river, but it is clean. Let stand for 1 hour and the mud will settle and it will be perfectly clear and safe the drink.
- London bridge – opened in 1973 – last one sold to American company who shipped it brick by brick.
- Millennium Bridge – originally wobbled over a foot to the side when it was opened. They had to close it for 10 years to fix. When asked what went wrong, the architect said nothing is wrong with the bridge, it is the way people walk in London.
- St Paul’s Cathedral – 350 ft tall – 1 foot for each day of the year
- Lady’s bridge was built during WWII by mostly women
We walked to Westminster Abbey, but viewed St Catherine’s abbey instead (less people) (no pictures allowed though). Interesting fact – A bomb went off blowing out most of the windows; these were replaced with rather plain looking windows. Then we went to the Jewel tower. Interesting fact – the records were stored here for a number of years; in fact, because the records were stored here, most important documents were not lost during the great fire and the government was able to continue working.
Walked past the Parliament building and look kids, Big Ben! We crossed the bridge to the South Walk where we stopped at the Film Museum. Fascinating – highly recommend going! Lunch was at Giraffe where I had the BBQ chicken quesadilla and D had the chicken and prawn salad. I had fresh lemonade and D had 2 sprites (and learned they charge for each glass). We continued down the South bank, where I got stopped by a busker who made me a pretty friendship bracelet and then tried to convince me it was worth 12 pounds. He got a 5. We were tired of the buskers and walking, so we hoped on the Thames Cruises from the Eye pier to the Tower pier. We then visited the Tower of London (fascinating history, though the British don’t really do torture, so that section was very brief). From there we went by the Monument and across the bridge to the London Bridge Experience. This was a fascinating live actor lesson in history. There is a second half where they scare you, but we copped out and left. We got back on the Cruise to the Westminster pier. Due to our exhaustion, we grabbed the underground to Victoria; hence using our travel passes a whole one time! (Editor’s note: if you are doing the London pass for just a couple days, save some cash and don’t get the travel pass, especially if you get a hotel near Victoria station or near the Tower. You will be able to walk or cruise your way to most locations and thus the travel passes are not nearly as useful.)
Supper was at Café La Rouge – A nice French restaurant where D had the Chicken baguette and the 1664 beer. I had the soufflé fromage and crème brulee. I drank an Apple-tiser (editor’s note: an appletiser is essentially a sparkling apple juice – it is very very tasty!). OMG –the food was delish!
I tried washing clothes last night. Surprisingly my pants dried better than the shirt and underwear should have. Yes – hind sight says I should have washed last night, but I wore the clothes for 2 days essentially and I thought if I did more washes of smaller loads, it might work better. A work in progress.
Okay – back to yesterday. We landed at 6:20ish, got out bags and got on our way to the train. That was interesting. So much people need to tell you. Got our passes validated for the flexipass. Got on the train, which was busy (oh – and for short people – it’s a bit of a step up). There is a place at one end for luggage or between seats. People sit in odd ways, so feel free to ask if an unoccupied seat is taken – it often isn’t. It is an easy 30 minute ride – no stops – from Gatwick to Victoria Station.
Then to get out – you need to fill out the date on your pass and show it to the guards at the exits. Yep, they have people manning the exits. Fascinating. And very kind. :)
It was an interesting walk to our hotel – which is quite close to Victoria Station. But with D getting little sleep on the plane and ‘leading’ from the back – we argued a few times. We arrived quite early at the hotel – guess D forgot to tell Simon (Editor’s note: Simon was told, he just forgot), but we were able to leave our bags, after reorganizing, and off we went.
Our goal – get our Londong passes with the travel pass. What really happened: As we walked past Buckingham palace, there were tons of visitors and lots going on. The Jubilee is this weekend. We ran into a nice man who identified us as tourist and proceeded to tell us where we should go to see the practice parade. He gave us some history and tips along the walk.
The practice parade was fabulous – 4 regiments, each with a pipe band to lead them. The Irish regiment also had bagpipers and a wolfhound. Supposedly the Mounties did fascinating things last weekend. We ended up following them to the square and got to watch them as if the Queen was coming in on her carriage. Fascinating! Nothing like watching the show early and being able to ignore the real thing.
After we found the pass place (OMG – what a hassle to find it – we walked around and around Trafalgar square before we found this short round building in the middle of the sidewalk. It was interesting – a very tight spiral staircase into a very small room). Passes in hand, we went to the Covent Gardens for shopping and lunch (which turned out to be at a breakfast place). Good shopping. The buskers were great. We walked back over to the national Portrait Gallery, then to Piccadilly Circus, Piccadilly alley, and Burlington alley. Then back to the hotel for a nap – well, D had a nap, while I organized.
Supper was at Garfunkel’s where I had the Cajun chicken burger and blackberry/apple crumble. D had the club sandwich and London’s Pride beer. Then it was bed time.
Notes from May 30
- Bridge only opens now 5-6 times per week. Use to be 30 times a day. (Editor’s note: it opened the day we were there – whoot!)
- Mud based river, but it is clean. Let stand for 1 hour and the mud will settle and it will be perfectly clear and safe the drink.
- London bridge – opened in 1973 – last one sold to American company who shipped it brick by brick.
- Millennium Bridge – originally wobbled over a foot to the side when it was opened. They had to close it for 10 years to fix. When asked what went wrong, the architect said nothing is wrong with the bridge, it is the way people walk in London.
- St Paul’s Cathedral – 350 ft tall – 1 foot for each day of the year
- Lady’s bridge was built during WWII by mostly women
We walked to Westminster Abbey, but viewed St Catherine’s abbey instead (less people) (no pictures allowed though). Interesting fact – A bomb went off blowing out most of the windows; these were replaced with rather plain looking windows. Then we went to the Jewel tower. Interesting fact – the records were stored here for a number of years; in fact, because the records were stored here, most important documents were not lost during the great fire and the government was able to continue working.
Walked past the Parliament building and look kids, Big Ben! We crossed the bridge to the South Walk where we stopped at the Film Museum. Fascinating – highly recommend going! Lunch was at Giraffe where I had the BBQ chicken quesadilla and D had the chicken and prawn salad. I had fresh lemonade and D had 2 sprites (and learned they charge for each glass). We continued down the South bank, where I got stopped by a busker who made me a pretty friendship bracelet and then tried to convince me it was worth 12 pounds. He got a 5. We were tired of the buskers and walking, so we hoped on the Thames Cruises from the Eye pier to the Tower pier. We then visited the Tower of London (fascinating history, though the British don’t really do torture, so that section was very brief). From there we went by the Monument and across the bridge to the London Bridge Experience. This was a fascinating live actor lesson in history. There is a second half where they scare you, but we copped out and left. We got back on the Cruise to the Westminster pier. Due to our exhaustion, we grabbed the underground to Victoria; hence using our travel passes a whole one time! (Editor’s note: if you are doing the London pass for just a couple days, save some cash and don’t get the travel pass, especially if you get a hotel near Victoria station or near the Tower. You will be able to walk or cruise your way to most locations and thus the travel passes are not nearly as useful.)
Supper was at Café La Rouge – A nice French restaurant where D had the Chicken baguette and the 1664 beer. I had the soufflé fromage and crème brulee. I drank an Apple-tiser (editor’s note: an appletiser is essentially a sparkling apple juice – it is very very tasty!). OMG –the food was delish!
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