Trip Update.
I've been woefully neglectful of this, but I've just been busy and tired. Here's a summary and I'll update more later.
MONDAY
Flight from Nashville to Chicago. I slept at the airport and the entire way to Chicago. Short layover there--like 2 hours. Uneventful, if cramped, flight to London.
TUESDAY
Arrival at Heathrow. Waited about 30 minutes in Passport Control and then on to baggage where our bags were all waiting for us. Quick trip to the loo to change my clothes and we were off to Heathrow Connect to travel to Paddington Station. While there, we hit the ATMs for some pounds and EAT for some lunch.
Arrived in Paddington with our piles of luggage (as God is my witness, I shall never travel with a big suitcase again) and grabbed a cab to take us to the flat's check-in site. We were there at 11.30 and couldn't check in until 2.00, so we dropped our bags and went out--after I changed clothes yet again because I was FREEZING in a skirt and tights.
We walked up and purchased our Travel Cards to use while there--23.10 (so 46 bucks) or so each. The good news is that Five is able to use a child's 1 pound card for all day travel, so that sort of balances out. Once we had our travel cards, we headed over to Oxford Street for some shopping at Primark. Then we took a bus up to Westminster so that Five could see the Abbey and Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. He was suitably impressed. Rode the bus and got an idea of what was where.
Back to the office to check in. The trek from the office to the flat was hellacious, to put it mildly. Did I mention that I am NEVER taking a big suitcase to London again? We were nearly dead by the time we arrived. The flat turned out to be lovely--small, but it's a studio in London, so we expected that.
Once we had settled our stuff in, we headed up to Tesco Express on Queensway for groceries--ended up stopping at a Spar (?), too. Bought milk, water, butter, juice and the like. Early night that night--we were all half dead--ate leftover sandwiches and Five made mac and cheese (we brought from home).
WEDNESDAY
Five and I were going to go on a Beatles tour while Mom checked out the National Gallery, but I'm a bonehead and didn't check the brochure, so we were at the right location, but three hours too early. Ooops. He took it well--we're going next Wednesday instead. We had three hours to kill before we were meeting Mom, so he and I made it to Trafalgar Sq. from Tottenham Ct. Rd. via Leicster Sq. and Chinatown (there was preparation for a movie premiere going on in the square at the Odeon, which was cool to see). At Trafalgar we took pictures at the foot of the Nelson Column with the lions, then we decided to head down to see Buckingham Palace--we walked the Mall. Not a short walk, but not too terribly painful, either. We wandered around there for a bit and then walked on up to Victoria Station to catch a bus back to Trafalgar. Went into the station just to check it out, grabbed a snack from Starbucks and hit the bus. When we arrived at Trafalgar, Mom was waiting for us, so we all went over to the Pret there for lunch and then back for an hour to look at the pictures. Five was fairly bored, but did find some that interested him. I cannot for the life of me remember what we did that night--I'll have to check the pictures and figure it out.
THURSDAY
Big touristy event day: Tower of London in the morning and British Museum after lunch. This? is a helluva lot of walking. I mean a HELL of a lot. Feet were screaming by day's end, but we had a great time at both places. Excellent guide on the Yeoman Warder (Beefeater) tour--Paul. Spent a lot of time in the Egyptian exhibits at the museum. After all of this, we decided to make our way to the Eye for them to ride. I waited and read the paper--they enjoyed it. Only abouta 30 minute wait from ticket queue to getting on the ride.
Dinner in the pub.
FRIDAY
Leather lane
Silver Vaults
Borough
St. Paul's
pizza
SATURDAY
Portobello Rd
Camden Town
Kensington Gardens and Broad Walk
Waffle House in Bayswater
London Walk Ghosts of the Old City
MONDAY
Flight from Nashville to Chicago. I slept at the airport and the entire way to Chicago. Short layover there--like 2 hours. Uneventful, if cramped, flight to London.
TUESDAY
Arrival at Heathrow. Waited about 30 minutes in Passport Control and then on to baggage where our bags were all waiting for us. Quick trip to the loo to change my clothes and we were off to Heathrow Connect to travel to Paddington Station. While there, we hit the ATMs for some pounds and EAT for some lunch.
Arrived in Paddington with our piles of luggage (as God is my witness, I shall never travel with a big suitcase again) and grabbed a cab to take us to the flat's check-in site. We were there at 11.30 and couldn't check in until 2.00, so we dropped our bags and went out--after I changed clothes yet again because I was FREEZING in a skirt and tights.
We walked up and purchased our Travel Cards to use while there--23.10 (so 46 bucks) or so each. The good news is that Five is able to use a child's 1 pound card for all day travel, so that sort of balances out. Once we had our travel cards, we headed over to Oxford Street for some shopping at Primark. Then we took a bus up to Westminster so that Five could see the Abbey and Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. He was suitably impressed. Rode the bus and got an idea of what was where.
Back to the office to check in. The trek from the office to the flat was hellacious, to put it mildly. Did I mention that I am NEVER taking a big suitcase to London again? We were nearly dead by the time we arrived. The flat turned out to be lovely--small, but it's a studio in London, so we expected that.
Once we had settled our stuff in, we headed up to Tesco Express on Queensway for groceries--ended up stopping at a Spar (?), too. Bought milk, water, butter, juice and the like. Early night that night--we were all half dead--ate leftover sandwiches and Five made mac and cheese (we brought from home).
WEDNESDAY
Five and I were going to go on a Beatles tour while Mom checked out the National Gallery, but I'm a bonehead and didn't check the brochure, so we were at the right location, but three hours too early. Ooops. He took it well--we're going next Wednesday instead. We had three hours to kill before we were meeting Mom, so he and I made it to Trafalgar Sq. from Tottenham Ct. Rd. via Leicster Sq. and Chinatown (there was preparation for a movie premiere going on in the square at the Odeon, which was cool to see). At Trafalgar we took pictures at the foot of the Nelson Column with the lions, then we decided to head down to see Buckingham Palace--we walked the Mall. Not a short walk, but not too terribly painful, either. We wandered around there for a bit and then walked on up to Victoria Station to catch a bus back to Trafalgar. Went into the station just to check it out, grabbed a snack from Starbucks and hit the bus. When we arrived at Trafalgar, Mom was waiting for us, so we all went over to the Pret there for lunch and then back for an hour to look at the pictures. Five was fairly bored, but did find some that interested him. I cannot for the life of me remember what we did that night--I'll have to check the pictures and figure it out.
THURSDAY
Big touristy event day: Tower of London in the morning and British Museum after lunch. This? is a helluva lot of walking. I mean a HELL of a lot. Feet were screaming by day's end, but we had a great time at both places. Excellent guide on the Yeoman Warder (Beefeater) tour--Paul. Spent a lot of time in the Egyptian exhibits at the museum. After all of this, we decided to make our way to the Eye for them to ride. I waited and read the paper--they enjoyed it. Only abouta 30 minute wait from ticket queue to getting on the ride.
Dinner in the pub.
FRIDAY
Leather lane
Silver Vaults
Borough
St. Paul's
pizza
SATURDAY
Portobello Rd
Camden Town
Kensington Gardens and Broad Walk
Waffle House in Bayswater
London Walk Ghosts of the Old City
Labels: travel, what i did
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