London Leaving

(there just aren’t enough ways to mimic London Calling)

 

Kate and I have returned from four/five fun filled day in old Londonium.  We began on Thursday morning (GMT) by dropping stuff off at the hotel before we could check in and running around for five hours.  We began with Westminster Abbey, and looking at Big Ben (I nearly went crazy hearing Clark Grizwald tell his family “Look kids! Parliament, Big Ben!”).  Poet’s corner was cool, but the problem I had with the abbey was understanding how many people were actually buried there, and how many were buried somewhere else.  It was interesting seeing a building that is slowly become more bones than brick.  It also got me into Monarchy mode.  I finally, after 25 years, finally see the interesting thing about having a royal family.

 

From there we walked.  We saw Downing Street (which is cordoned off since IRA threats against Thatcher in the 80s), got some excellent Fish and Chips and Shepherd’s Pie at the Red Lion, saw Green Park (it was green), Buckingham Palace, a WWI memorial, and Hyde Park Corner.  From there we went to Harrod’s (big expensive shopping), and got some wine, cheese, and bread for dinner. Then went to the hotel and took a little 2 hour nap.  Then woke up and got a cork screw from the nearby grocery and sat around for the night.  Lovely.

 

Day 2 began with an early morning wake up with croissant and a underground trip to The Tower of London.  Luckily Kate and I avoided the masses, and managed to have the tower mostly to ourselves for about an hour or so.  It was interesting, but most of it was rebuilt in the Victorian age, so it was tough to get into the idea of how old the place was.  (This brings up the major difference I noticed between Spain and London, besides the country vs. city thing, is that Spain is old, and the UK is old, but the blitz blew it all to hell, so it’s largely rebuilt, it seems.)  From there we took a tube trip to St. Paul’s and saw the steps where the little old bird lady sells bird food for toppins’  (‘Mary Poppins’ buffs will understand).  From there it was a short walk to the Tate Modern and Shakespeare’s Globe.  The Globe was really quite interesting, and even though it was also (quite recently) rebuilt, it was apparently rebuilt using the same means that they would have had in 1580s or so.  The tour guide was also awesome.  Then three hours in the tate with lots of modern art. A short walk to Bar + Kitchen for starters and wine, then another walk to the Saatchi Gallery to even more modern art (the Sensations artists went to Saatchi after the moved around apparently).  Then on home for loud neighbors, closed bars, and a late sleep.

 

Day 3 started off with Benjy’s English breakfast.  D-Lish-Us.  Then to Piccadilly circus, a quick walk through Soho, and several hours at the British Museum, another walk through Soho (Like New York City but English)… and I’m blanking on what else happened there.  AH ha.  We went to the Troubadour, a neat little pub where Dylan and Lennon both apparently played back in the day.  Neat but there was a private party with a band downstairs that caused a lot of disharmonious music, which, sadly, cleared the upper level out pretty well.  Then back home for a somewhat early night.

 

Day 4 started late, with another English breakfast at the Patisserie near Gloucester Road Underground Station.  From there we went to Greenwich, saw the Royal Observatory, and did the ever so tacky stand in two hemispheres at one time.  Then saw very very cute Greenwich.  Went shopping in a little market there and did some book shopping (Found The Alchemist, then finished it the next day).  Fun times.  We found our way home, went to a few places to eat for lunch and dinner (two places in particularly, but nothing super) then to bed for an early departure the next morning.

 

Day 5 We came home.  1130 GMT departure from Heathrow, then a 1230 GMT or so landing an Heathrow as we lost an engine on our accent, and needed it fixed.  We finally took off again at 1030 EST, and landed several hours late.  Welcome to the USA.

 

Twas a great trip, massive fun, but I think I’m just not city folk.  I liked London, but by day three I wanted to get out into the country and do some driving.  My shin actually hurts from walking interestingly enough.  But I’d do it again…