A visit to London

The four of us (Eric, Diana, and us) left Paris at 9 a.m.,took the TGV (fast train) under the English Channel , and landed in the heart of London 2 1/2 hours later. How easy can it get?

London is expensive ($2.00 equals 1 British pound!) so Penny the "frugal" travel agent, perused dozens of hotels and bypassed the ones downtown for an average of $300 to $400 a night, and chose a small boutique hotel in South Kensington. We got on a crowded "Underground" subway, and lugged our luggage up and down dozens of steps, and landed at our destination.

Somehow, Eric and Diana got lucky and were one the top floor in a spacious suite. We had a comfortable, but smallish, room with a lovely view. Lyle kept humming "chim, chiminey, chim, chiminy, chim, chim, cheree...."

A little tired, we hit a pub for lunch, and then walked through nearby Kensington Gardens and got a glimpse of Kensington Palace, where English kings and queens have lived for the past 300 years, including Princess Diana. After seeing luxurious French castles, we opted to not tour this rather plain-looking building, but walked around the gardens for a bit instead, which are surrounded by Hyde Park.

That evening, we went to the Apollo Theater and saw the play, "Wicked". We thought this would be a good opportunity to dress up a little, so Diana and I put on our heels, we all took a cab, and entered the theater. It was FULL of students.....and we were a little overdressed, to say the least! Being used to fashion-conscious Paris, we were shocked at the dress that included flip-flops, halter tops, jeans, and shorts. So much for dressing up...... But the play was a lot of fun and we thoroughly enjoyed it!

The next day, we decided to give our feet a rest and take a hop-on-hop-off bus tour of London, where we were in time to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.....

........Westminster Abbey, the tower of Big Ben.......

(the usual tourist stuff)! The tour included a river ride down the Thames so we could see the London Bridge and Tower of London. Being a little "toured out" we decided to maybe see the inside of the Tower some other time!

Instead, we hopped on the bus and Diana and I took a look at Harrod's, but decided everything was too expensive to buy. We enjoyed a steak dinner that evening instead~

We said our good-byes to Diana and Eric that evening, as they were heading for Norway the next day, and we were taking a side-trip to Bath (more on that in the next blog).

When Lyle and I returned to London, he was a little worried about the next place I had booked. Well, I kind of warned him that we were going to a B&B,, but a different kind of B&B. We knocked on the door of a townhouse south of Victoria Station in Pimlico, and a kind man around our age, answered the door, and showed us to our room.......a guest bedroom on the second story of their flat! It was a cozy room, but Lyle was a little leery about the TV missing a remote, no internet or phone, and a bathtub down the hall where you had to be on your knees to take a shower.....

"What is wrong with the Marriott, or the Hilton?", he says. I tell him, he stays in enough of those places when he travels for business. This is the way we can get to know the PEOPLE! Hmmm.....well, our host couple were a lovely, professional couple who gave us the keys and we could come and go as we pleased. They served us a nice breakfast in their dining room each morning, even though we both struggled with the boiled eggs. We enjoyed talking to them about the English economy, royalty, and all sorts of controversial subjects..... I told them if they were ever in Eagan......

The highlight of our last two days in London was going to the Royal Albert Hall for the opening night of the Proms. Lyle and I have been watching these concerts on PBS for the last few years (Lyle even longer) and were glad that the timing worked out so we could enjoy one. The Hall is a beautiful and impressive place with awesome accoustics. The crazy thing about it is that anyone can come and STAND in the center or at the highest level for only 5 pounds! We had tickets, though, and my feet thanked me after walking from the Tube for countless blocks!

The weather was cool, and we hit a bit of rain once in awhile, but we did get to the British Museum....

....watched a "Jesus concert" at Trafalgar Square....

.....and went to church on Sunday morning at St. Paul's Cathedral (which was like a high mass at a Catholic church in the '50's, Lyle told me!)....

We both had a great time and were good tourists this time. Now, if they would just start driving on the right side, they wouldn't need to tell us where to look for traffic at the intersections!