TravelStream™ news feed for member pathfinder35 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/pathfinder35 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:01:38 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1257352618/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1257352618/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1257352618/tpod.html Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:01:38 -0500 Jolly ol' London - Fall 2009

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London, England, United Kingdom

Our final day. But there was still so much to see in London...we picked the final 2 museums on our list that left enough time to pack and shop for some final mementos of London.

Our 1st museum was the Sir John Soane Museum (free entry). He was an architect that collected architectural items, sculptures and paintings and had a bill passed that he would leave it all to the government as long as the home and contents remained as closely as possible to the way he left them. So it's a jam packed house full of interesting items as well as an interesting designed home. He had so many paintings, he created 'walls' of paintings behind walls. The walls are on hinges so he could open them up like a door if he wanted to view the hidden sections. He even has a sarcophagus and a mummy in his basement! We enjoyed that house/museum.
We had lunch at Eat - a chain of fresh food/sandwich shops. They are quite popular along with Pret-a-manager and Pizza Express chains, based on the number of stores we've seen.

We headed over to Hyde Park to walk up Wellington Arch. It was only 3.50 gpd (2 for 1 coupon) and it was worth about that. I was expecting better views, although I did get some good pictures of Hyde Park gate but didn't spot any royals in the Buckingham gardens or playing tennis..

Apsley House (5.70 gbp - 2 for 1 coupon) was just across the street. It was owned by the Duke of Wellington - famous for winning the battle of Waterloo of 1815. That victory changed the course of history for Europe. The other monarchs or heads of state honored the duke by giving him dining serving sets and other gifts which are displayed in the plate room. The duke also had a painting collection which he displayed in the Waterloo gallery - a wing of his house he had added so he could entertain and host hundreds of people properly.It is a beautiful house but the rooms are pretty 'stuffy' and audio guide was boring. I think we could have skipped this museum.

Well, we always have shopping - back to Leicester Square and pick up some final touristy London t-shirts. We also walked down past Piccadilly Circus and Carnaby Street which had some very nice shops - too bad the pound/CDN dollar didn't have a better exchange rate or we could have picked up some nice clothes.
And yes, for dinner we went back to the Crypt. What can I say - we like it. The special tonite was spiced pork breaded escalape served with honey and chili carrots and mustard cream baby potatoes with red wine and brown chicken reduction. Sounds good, eh? It was. (7.80 gbp)

And to end our stay in London, we went back again to Priscilla musical. We had to get the memory of Jersey Boys out of our heads so we bought the cheapest tickets for Priscilla. We had box seats but on the the 2nd balcony level to the side of the stage so we had to lean out over the ledge to see the performance and the stage lights that were positioned in our box were burning the back of my balding head! We moved to the main seating area at the intermission as there were open seats toward the back. It was a great way to end our trip.

So we're packed up, ready for the 5am wake up buzz to catch the subway and train back to Gatwick Airport. We did catch a bit of a cold (no, not swine flu) on these last 2 days but we always travel with cold medicine after geting colds during last year's European trip.

We're had great weather - only 1 day of rain out of 10 - above average or normal temps for London in late Oct which is way better than Regina's average temps!.
The dollar had averaged at 1.80 cdn to the pound on the credit card which is the best it's been in some time.
We manged to see or visit so much in 10 days - from palaces - Buckingham Palace, Hampton Court Palace - to museums - V & A, London, Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Churchill Museum and War Cabinet Rooms, Tate Britain, Maritime, British, Sir John Soane House, Somerset House and Apsley House - to historic monuments and places - The Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Nelson's Column, Jewel House, Wellington Arch, The Great Momument and the Royal Observatory - to churches - St Martin-in-the-field Church, Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral and markets - Portobello, Spitafields, Camden, Greenwich and Harrods.

And London itself is a clean, safe city (with no homeless person on every street corner) with courteous citizens and an efficient transportation system. It just cost us 60 pounds on our oyster card to get us everywhere we wanted - no taxis used (except we did have to buy a single train ticket to Hampton Court).

And we still had so much we could have seen - Royal Albert Hall, The London Eye, Shakespeare's Globe Theater, Kew Gardens, Camden Lock cruise, free city walks, Highgate Cemetery (and many more musicals...) - the list just goes on and on...

Until next time - a final quote -
"when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford" - Samuel Johnson ...


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1257206289/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1257206289/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1257206289/tpod.html Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:27:32 -0500 Jolly ol' London - Fall 2009

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London, England, United Kingdom

They say you can go to a different museum in London every day of the year. I'm beginning to believe it. And today we're going to the biggest museum there is in London - the British Museum.
First I will note that the breakfast room in the Luna Simone hotel today was full. We got the last table at 8:15 a before people had to wait (it seats about 35-40 people). The owner/manager half jokingly mentioned that he'll have to 'ring peoples' rooms to get them down stairs earlier'....Breakfast is only served 7- 8:30am - I guess he doesn't believe in late mornings - even for tourists!

Onto the British Museum - it had over 7 million objects and begin over 250 years ago. You better have good walking shoes before you go it is huge!Hilights would be - seeing the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon Stones but there are so many notable objects to see - the Lewis Chessman, an Easter Island statue, the Sutton Hoo ship burial. The mummys are hugely popular (we avoided them - too many kids...) and the building itself is quite something - the Great Court was created in 2000 (see pics) when they glassed over the courtyard creating 2 acres of covered area. It's an amazing space.

We spent 2/3 of our day there and then figured we have to go to Harrods since we're in London and we like shopping. Luckily it rained while we were in the museum and it was clearing when we came out and headed to Harrods. In Harrods, we browsed thru the floors - the food hall has an amazing range of prepared food. Of course, I took a picture of the Diana and Dodi memorial...
We stopped in the nearby Zara store which is a clothing store we're familiar with from our Spain trip. The prices are also more to my liking...

We finally found the Marks And Spenser store near our hotel. It is like a Sears store....Andy found a few shirts to buy at a near reasonable price. We were shopped out and went back to hotel (via the bus - too tired to walk the 1 bus stop to our hotel!)

For dinner, we went around the corner of the hotel and ate at Grumbles. It's a nice little cafe with a pub atmosphere. We had the special - chicken breast topped with asparagus and wine cream sauce with baby mashed potatoes. It was pretty good (10 gbp). We thought we had lots of time to get to the musical for the nite - Jersey Boys (1/2 price tickets in the balcony) - but of course, tonite the bus was late - it's suppose show up every 5 minutes but didn't for 15minutes. We just made the curtain call at 7:30 pm. As for the musical, I must say I was disappointed. It seemed like the show had ADD - there was a scene change every minute for the 1st 15 minutes and there wasn't a full song sung until about 30 minutes into it. I just was expecting more after having seen 2 very good (and 1 great) musicals in the last 8 days. The crowd was also very much older and not very animated about it all - Andy said it seemed like a crowd from one of our Celebrity cruises! I wish we had bought cheap seats to see Priscilla again...
And to top it off, our bus driver on the way home announces that he will ending the route at Victoria station so we have to walk the final 4 blocks home. We could have gotten a transfer for the next bus but given our luck with buses tonite, we decided to walk...
Oh well, it was a beautiful clear crisp night for a walk...
We have only 1 more day...


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1257148123/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1257148123/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1257148123/tpod.html Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:35:07 -0500 Jolly ol' London - Fall 2009

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London, England, United Kingdom

Today was a beautiful sunny day with a high of 14 degrees so instead of going to the British museum, we went to the Tower Bridge and took in the view from it.
At the Tower Bridge (7gbp - 2for1coupon - ya!), they have a display in the old Engine room wehre you can view and read about the machinery that lifted the bascules of the bridge when boats needed to pass. I just enjoyed seeing the bridge closeup and the views from the top walkway.

Next we walked over to The Monument (cost 3 gbp - no 2for1 coupon). It was built in 1677 to commemorate the the Great Fire of 1666. It's 202 feet high, the exact distance it is from the original fire source in a baker's shop. It is the 'tallest free standing Doric column in the world' - probably not a lot of competition for that title!
There are 311 steps up to the viewing platform but it was sort of worth it for the views (we had just seen almost the same views from Tower Bridge).

Finally, we travelled to Somerset House to view art at the Courtauld Gallery, famous for its Impressionist masterpieces, with paintings from Botticelli, Manet, Cézanne and Van Gogh.
And since we arrived Monday morning, it was free (saving us 5 gbp each). They have an inner courtyard which usually has a large fountain going but at this time of year, they setup a skating rink (it wasn't ready yet so we couldn't go skating...) The impressionist paintings were nice to see (you all probably would recognize 'Van Gogh with a bandaged ear') and the Renoir paintings were beautiful. The 'house' is pretty impressive too. Elizabeth I used to visit here with diplomatic suitors, according to the literature...

Enough art and history - we next headed to Covent Garden Market to do some shopping. But we didn't buy anything except Andrew bought a cd by the string quartet we heard in the courtyard.
The Apple and Jubilee markets were interesting to walk thru - lots of used silverware, broaches; you know - bric-a-brac. Enough for the day - time to nap and get ready for dinner...

We again went to St Martin in the field Crypt to dine. We like the homemade feel of the dinners, the cafeteria style dining (ie.no tipping) and being able to read the headstones on the floor as we eat (see pictures). For dinner, we had breaded turkey escalloped with zucchini and baby potatoes (7.80 gbp).

Tonite was our 3rd musical - Priscilla - Queen of the Desert. We had seen it in Melbourne during that cruise and loved it so we had to see it again. And we loved it again. we had 4th row seats (don't ask how much they cost - it's like front row seats at a Calgary Flames game) so we could see every expression on the performers and the beads on every costume or grab a ping pong ball if we wanted (but we didn't - you have to see the movie or musical - I won't explain). The costumes are something else - from dancing paint brushes to twirling cupcakes to 7 feet high wigs with a riot of colour on each - and so is the music - from Gloria Gaynor, Petula Clark, Cynda Lauper and Dionne Warwick to name just a few..
When it starts in Toronto next year, we'll be sure to see it there as well.
Well, only 2 more days left - Sir John Soane's Museum and maybe the British museum tomorrow...



]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1257062187/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1257062187/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1257062187/tpod.html Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:58:39 -0500 Jolly ol' London - Fall 2009

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London, England, United Kingdom

Well it was bound to happen - it's raining in London! We've been pretty lucky that we made it to day 7 with no rain.
Today is another shopping day - no old dusty photos of ancient buildings and monuments - the oldest thing we found today were leather jackets from the 80's...

We donned our rain jackets and headed out to go shopping at 2 Sunday markets - Spitafields and Camden Markets.
When we got to the tube stations, we found out that weekends are when planned (and unplanned) subway lines and station closures occur. We managed to figure out how to get to Spitafields and luckily, it was covered (the walk to it was not - we were soaked - how could I forget to pack umbrellas on a trip to Britain?!?)
Spitafields was smaller than I expected but Andy did find a casual suit jacket to buy for 19 gbp. (Not the one in the picture!)...
We then headed to Camden Market, again taking some time to figure out how to get there with partial and full line closures on the tube.
Camden Market is the 4th most visited attraction in London, according to it's website. There are a whole series of markets - the 1st one we headed in was the Electric Ballroom - because it was covered. I found a leather jacket for 65 gbp - and according to the saleslady - I won't find it anywhere else as a friend brought 10 of them back from India and they were specially made for her. So I better not see any in Regina!
Another market is the Stables - very large with all kinds of goods for sale - mostly items for women, purses, clothing, jewelry, etc...Used leather goods were also popular - seemed like every other stall offered used leather coats for 10 gbp.
The Stables actually used to house over 400 horses back in the 1800's when they were needed to haul/pull goods along the canal. If it would have been sunny, we could have went for a ride on the canal.
We stopped and had a slice of Hawaiian pizza (very good) for 1.80 gpd under a covered bench - it was still raining but letting up... We wandered thru various other markets/stalls - it's really huge...
One last note: We arrived via Camden Town station but they close it at 1pm and only allow people to arrive via it due to congestion problems - sort of 'hotel California' like - so many coming and going are not good so we had to walk up the street to Morningstar Crescent stn..this allowed us to browse even more shops ( 2 name brand dress shirts for 15 gbp)...
Finally, we headed back toward home ( I won't mention how we spent an hour trying to get to Smithfield Market only to realize it's not open on the weekends...) At least it had stopped raining and I even took off my jacket as it was very pleasant weather wise...

For dinner, we went to Nando's - a South African chain restaurant in the UK - 'the home of Portuguese flame-grilled PERi-PERi Chicken'. They're like a fast food chain in that you order at the counter but you are first seated at a table when you enter. You also select the 'heat/flavour' of your 1/4 or 1/2 chicken - either lemon and herb ( I ordered this) to Mango and Salsa (Andy ordered this) to hot or double hot with side dishes such as corn on the cob or ratatouille . They feature African art in their restaurant - the food was good and the bottomless soft drinks were appreciated.Total cost - 22 gbp.

Afterwards, we decided to walk to the nearby area of Vauxhall and explore this area - only 20 minute walk across the Vauxhall Bridge and Thames River from our hotel. The evening was dry but windy - the new leather coat came in handy. It was very quiet as it was Sunday evening - we stopped in a local bar (Bar-Code - get it?) and had a drink and headed back home (on the subway - no more walking!) ...tomorrow is back to history viewing - the British Museum and maybe Tower Bridge...


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1256942896/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1256942896/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1256942896/tpod.html Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:55:45 -0500 Jolly ol' London - Fall 2009

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London, England, United Kingdom

Today is our 1st real shopping trip. We went to Portobello Road Market right after breakfast. The weather was overcast with damp in the air - no rain, no mist, just wet streets and well, dampness.

Getting there was suppose to be easy but one of the tube lines - Circle - was closed down so we had to figure out a new route. Andy did that manually because on the iphone app, you couldn't tell it that a line was out so it kept choosing the circle line. (App needs a upgrade...).

Portobello likes to call itself the world's largest antiques market.I'm not sure if it's true but it is large. We walked down the street for over an hour, browsing the shops and stalls. All the antiques we liked were too big to fit in our suitcase!
Andy did find a leather coat he liked. And I bought some shirts (as Andy doesn't think a person is enjoying themselves unless they buy something...)...

The market had used goods, new goods, fruits and vegetables, take-away food - you name it, they probably had it...

We decided that we had lots of time left to go to the Greenwich Market in Greenwich and also see the Royal Observatory there. The only problem is that it's a long (by London standards) way there - 1 hour by tube and DLR (Docklands light rail - basically above ground subway....)

Once in Greenwich,we ate at the french themed Rouge Cafe. It was very good - Andrew had the French Burger (ie. no bun) and I had the rib-eye steak sandwich. (21 gbp)
We found the market, which was relatively small, containing mostly stalls of arts/crafts merchandise - and mostly for women.

So we quickly made our way to the Maritime Museum, The Queen's House and Royal Observatory (all free of entry). The Queen's House (built 1635) was closed for a kids halloween party - the nerve of them kids. And the museum seemed mainly geared to kids so we headed up the hill to the Observatory. The Observatory dates back to 1675, when Charles II appointed John Flamsteed to the position of Astronomer Royal.

You get a great view of Greenwich from the top of the hill and the pièce de résistance - the prime meridian. Well, I was excited. It is just an imaginary line but everyone wanted their picture taken with it. They need a longer line marked thru the grass - there were over 30 people waiting for pictures. So we just took our pictures behind the sculpture that everyone else was standing in front of. At the shop, I bought a hat that has '0 0' 0 0''' on it (it looks good - really....)

We headed down the hill to the Greenwich Pier to take a river cruise boat back instead ot the train (And I had 2 for 1 coupon - 8.40 gbp). The boat would only take 1 hr 10 minutes, just 10 minutes longer then the train.
The views of Tower Bridge were great from the boat! The bridge is so iconic and it seems you can't take a bad picture of it.

For the evening, we went to Leicester Square again. We ate at a small cafe that I forgot to write down - Andy just had a chicken Caesar salad and I had Cod and chips (20 gbp). These fish and chips were much better than the ones we had at the Tower of London.

We did manage to take in the sights of people in Halloween costume. The subway, square and streets were packed with people, some in costume but I think Halloween must be bigger in North America than England. It was just a regular busy Saturday night...
Of course, if we could stay up past midnight, we might have spotted more costumed people!



]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1256856818/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1256856818/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1256856818/tpod.html Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:46:34 -0400 Jolly ol' London - Fall 2009

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London, England, United Kingdom

Today is Westminster Abbey day. Since it is only 15 minutes away on foot, we walked to it. Of course, Andy used his directional skills to actually find it (and he's been to see it before...)

It is a spectacular building with a thousand years of history.(but no 2 for 1 coupons - 15 gbp each) Inside, it seems more like a cemetery than a church - there are over 3000 thousand people buried or memorialized within it's walls from Edward the Confessor and Geoffrey Chaucer to Charles Darwin and Issac Newton.
Of course, no pictures are allowed so you have to imagine or visit it yourself!! It was great to see Elizabeth I and her half sister Mary's coffins (Mary is buried below Elizabeth). We also viewed St Edward's Chair, which has been used at every coronation since 1301.

We spent all morning at the abbey and then exited to St James Park to find food. It's a beautiful park with a cafe called 'Inn the Park' located - in it. It was packed with families and screaming kids(why arn't they in school?). We had sandwiches and then made our way to the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms (2 for 1 coupon - Ya! - 13 gbp)

The rooms were used by Prime Minister Churchill and his staff during World War II. The rooms are just as they were during the war with maps on the walls and old fashioned telephones on the desks. It was very interesting as was the Churchill Museum which documents his life. Most interesting, it has an interactive display, the world's largest, that covers the events of his life.

Next was the Jewel House (only 3gbp - 2 for 1 coupon). It's a small building that was built in 1365 to house King Edward III's treasures. Other than being very old, there isn't much to see. It has a small exhibit explaining the evolution of British government thru the ages.

Finally, our last bit of history was the Tate Britain Art Gallery (free). It contains British painting and sculpture from 1500 to present day. We were too wiped to really appreciate the art so we walked home - only 10 minutes away.

For the evening, Andy had bought tickets for a concert of Mozart and Handel music by the Belmont Ensemble of London at the St Martin-in-the-fields Church at Trafalgar Square.

We decided to eat at the Crypt in the basement of the church again as had the 1st day in London (nobody was buried under our table this time). I had the grilled pork chop special (7.95 gbp) and a glass of house wine (3.45 gbp) and Andy had the vegetable lasagna (7 gbp) and salad (3 gbp). The baby potatoes served along side were very good

As for the concert, the music was good - Handel's Water Music suite was very good - but there was opera thrown in and we can't stand opera.

Afterwards, we walked to a pub - Admiral Duncan - so I could have a local beer - Stella.. I like Canadian beer better. We then walked to Piccadilly Circus so I could see how busy it was there compared to Leicester Square. It wasn't as busy but it did have lots of video billboards like New York's Times Square.

That was enough for us as tomorrow is a big shopping day - Saturday and the outdoor markets.

.


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1256842375/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1256842375/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1256842375/tpod.html Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:48:53 -0400 Jolly ol' London - Fall 2009

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London, England, United Kingdom

Today we took the train to Hampton Court Palace - famous for being the palace of Henry VIII.

We took the subway to Green Park and then transferred to line running to Waterloo. From there, we bought Southwest train tickets (9.80 gbp) to the palace. It was a 1/2 hour ride with about 6 stops along the way - the most famous of them being Wimbledon.

We spent almost all day there as the grounds and palace are huge. I've uploaded alot of pictures so I can't really add much that the photos won't tell other than to say it was well worth the trip (and I did get to use my 2 for 1 coupon so the entry was only 14gbp)...It was surreal to be walking where Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn and his 5 other wives walked and his only son was born .....

For dinner this evening, we went to an Italian cafe in the SOHO/West End district (not sure which area we were in - it was near Leicester Square). The risotto with chicken and saffron dishes we had were ok but again the service was poor - a 12.5 % service charge was added on automatically.
We wandered around the area taking in the sights - this is one very popular area of London as the streets are always busy.
There aren't too many American tourists - we probably have heard more Germain accents than American ones. And Brits love to smoke but luckily they can't smoke in bars and cafes.

I did get to do my 1 other wish on my must-do-in-London list - ride a red double decker bus!. The number 24 line bus stop is right outside our hotel door so we caught it at Leicester Square and rode it back to the hotel. You do get nice views from the top level and the ride goes by Trafalgar Square and Westminster Abbey.
The oyster card (the London electronic travel card) which we bought for the underground can also be used on buses so we didn't have to buy additional tickets.

By the way - the weather has been unseasonably warm - highs of 17 and just overcast in mornings, giving way to sun. Ya!


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1256774193/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1256774193/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1256774193/tpod.html Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:51:51 -0400 Jolly ol' London - Fall 2009

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London, England, United Kingdom

We finished our beans and egg quickly today (well, I did - Andy forgo the beans today...) and rushed to St. Paul's to beat the crowds. Again, we were able to use my 2 for 1 coupon so that made my frugal heart very happy. But the early morning crowds on the subway are something else. We passed on a subway train and waited for another as we didn't want to be pressed cheek to cheek with that many people! (And with thoughts of swine flu in our heads...)

The church was very beautiful and serene as we did beat the crowds.
We walked up the 500 or so steps to the Whispering Gallery, the Stone Gallery and finally the Golden Gallery. The day was overcast but the view was still most excellent. And the temp has been above normal for this time of year so hardly a coat was necessary.

Because of the view atop St. Paul's, we decided to walk across the Millennium Bridge to the Tate Modern Gallery. The walk offered great views along the Thames and of St. Paul's.

We went into the Tate but didn't stay too long. Modern art just isn't our thing. Viewing art of spotches of paint for a painting and a coiled piece of rope for sculpture just doesn't seem like art since I could do that! The building is immerse and interesting, though, as it used to be a power plant.

We then walked back towards The Museum of London. On the way, Andy stopped into the Church of St. Mary Aldermary as he saw a sign advertising Roman coins for sale. We were led into the verger's office where the verger retrieved the coins from inside a large wall mounted safe. Andy wanted a Hadrian coin but the verger had just sold the 4 he had. Instead , Andy bought a Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus coin.

We did go to the Museum of London but it was an old style museum - lots of static displays with kids running around. It's in the midst of a big renovation (like most of London for the 2012 Olympics) so maybe it will be better in the future.

We headed back to hotel to get ready for the 2nd musical we bought tickets to - 'Avenue Q' bought also at the tkts booth for 1/2 price (30 gbp). Avenue Q is about five 20 something adults trying to find their way after college. The twist is some of the characters are muppets (with the performer onstage in ful view speaking the part). It was strange to hear muppets swear but the story was very touching at times and the actors were very endearing. A very different musical but very simple and cute and the singing, especially by the lead, was great. Andy liked it so much the 2nd time (he had seen it in T.O) that he bought the cd recording.


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1256270307/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1256270307/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1256270307/tpod.html Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:20:44 -0400 Jolly ol' London - Fall 2009

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Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Well, the beginning of our 10 day trip to London....I booked our flight thru Toronto for 2 reasons - I could get a flight for $585 including taxes and we could stay over and visit Cathy, our friend who traveled with us on our cruise last year to New Zealand/Australia.

I also had found out a new musical was opening in T.O. called 'The Toxic Avenger' which I thought might be fun so Cathy picked up tickets for us.
We ate across the street from the theater at a cafe called the Mambo Lounge. It specializes in tapas so we had 4 (for $21) and a green salad. The tapas were plantain slices, Cuban style omelet, spicy chicken drumettes and goat cheese with bread. They were very good and the food arrived fast which was beneficial as we only had 75 minutes for dinner before the show started.

The Toxic Avenger started slow and the sound wasn't the best - I hate when the orchestra drowns out the performer and you can't understand the words. And it was beneficial to hear the words for songs such as "Choose Me, Oprah', Thank God She's Blind', 'Evil is Hot' and 'Bitch, Liar, Slut, Whore'. (that last one may be Liar, Bitch, Whore, Slut - I don't think it really matters...).
The actors/singers worked really hard - 5 of them playing all of the parts - but I think Jersey Boys would have been better. But we only paid $25 for the tickets so it was worth that ...

We went back to Cathy's and had her chocolate brownies and lemon pudding. She's become quite the cook in the last 6 months!
Sunday morning, Cathy made us apple cinnamon strata for brunch. It was very good...

We helped Cathy with her fall weather tasks - tarping her patio furniture - and installing a remote sensor to tell her when her garage door is open.

We said our goodbyes and she dropped us off at the airport. Air Transat wants you to check in 3 (!) hrs before their London flights.

Air Transat is similar to Air Canada - very basic service - no extras or flair or smiles...

We travelled 5744 km at 850 km/hr at a of height 36000 feet, Andy and I paid $30 each so that we could have advanced seating - seats 29 a and c - a row of 2 seats so no-one in the middle. But we just can't sleep in those airplane seats so after 7 hours of tossing and turning and watching the very bad movie "Land of the Lost', we arrived.

Gatwick Airport isn't as big as Heathrow and there is direct train line to London Victoria station which is just a 15 minute walk from our hotel. We took the Southern Train instead of the Gatwick Express train because I read that Southern train tickets qualifies you for 2 for 1 tickets at many attractions in London and I had printed off a bunch of the in the hopes it will save money. And the Southern train is just 5 minutes slower than the Gatwick Express. The tickets were just 24 pounds each including return.

We got a little lost leaving Victoria Station - turned left instead of right - but we soon righted ourselves - using the Maps on the Iphone and Andy's great sense of direction.
And it was a great day for a walk - 15 degrees and sunny.
Our hotel - Luna Simone - is highly rated on TripAdvisor.com and is centrally located to most of the attractions we want to see. And it has free wi-fi! And includes a full English breakfast - the downside being only until 8:30am so we have to awake early to take advantage of it.

We ended up falling asleep when we hit our hotel room which 'the experts' say you shouldn't do as you should try to get on London time asap but we were so tired.

After our snooze, we wandered the streets - taking in Buckingham Palace,(not really much to see other than a fence and a big building) Trafalgar Square - very impressive with Nelson's Column and St Martin in the Fields Church. We actually ate lunch/dinner in the Crypt of the church. It's like a cafeteria with the big difference that there's dead people bured under the floor of the cafe. We had leek and potatoe soup, and a 'high tea' plate of clotted cream, scone with jam and chocolate cake. This included coffee (Americano) for me and a soft drink for Andy for 14 pounds. The soup was excellent.

We wandered some more - to the Thames River and passed the long line for the London Eye. It was dark already at 6pm and Big Ben and the parliament buildings looked great...

We decided to get our subway (the 'tube' in London speak) tickets - an oyster card - and ride back. We have apps on our Iphones to tell us exactly which lines and stops to take to get us from point A to B. They worked well although Andy didn't really need help as he has been to London twice before - but the last time was 14 years ago.

We were beat and decided to just get some snacks from the local supermarket - Sainbury's - and call it a night. And we also have to decide which sites to visit tomorrow...

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1256595509/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1256595509/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pathfinder35/5/1256595509/tpod.html Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:55:49 -0400 Jolly ol' London - Fall 2009

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London, England, United Kingdom

I'm been so busy exploring London that I've haven'thad time to update the blog. But I'm gonna try now...
On Day 2 (Tuesday), we awoke to the smell of the English breakfast that the Luna Simone Hotel offers its guest in the basement breakfast room. You get a plate full of beans, bacon and an easy over egg along with toast, juice and coffee. It was most satisfying although I'm not sure about beans for breakfast! There are 2 (identical) brothers running the hotel and they keep things running pretty smoothly. The only problem is that breakfast is served only until 8:30 am so you have to be up early (for a vacation) to enjoy it....

We decided to go to the Victoria and Albert Museum - it has arts/crafts and the finest 'things' ever created by humankind - from silverware to snuff boxes to sculpture to stained glass etc...
You could spent days in it looking at stuff but we tired after 3 1/2 hours.

By the way, the app on our iphones for determining your route on the London subway - the tube - is working very well. Even I can figure out which train to take!

We headed next to the Tower of London where we did the unthinkable - we had lunch from a fast food fish and chips place! We should know better - it wasn't very good but we wanted to get into the lineup for tickets asap. The place was filled with tourists - I'd hate to see it at the height of tourit season...
At least my train ticket and 2 for 1 coupon paid off - we only had to pay 17 pds for 2 tickets.
The Tower was very interesting - the biggest lineup was for the torture tower 'The Bloody Tower', The White Tower and the Crown Jewels. The lineup was too long for the jewels so we skipped it. You're on a moving walkway so you can't view them too long and there are no pictures allowed.

We did get into the 'St Peter in Vincula'' chapel where Anne Boleyn is buried - you had to join a beefeater tour to see it (Andy hates tours but he waited for this one as he really wanted to it...)
They also have a very nice glass sculpture on the spot where the people such as her and Jane Grey were beheaded/ executed.

After the Tower we stopped by Leicester Square and picked up half price tickets to the musical 'La Cage aux Folles' for that evening at the 'tkts' half price booth (only 30 pds each for Dress Circle seats). We ate an early dinner at The Italian restaurant - I had lasagna and Andy had 4 cheese pizza. It was just ok and service was what you expect when the service charge is included on the bill - not too great...

But the musical was great - John Barrowman - the actor from tv series 'Torchwood' tv series - was the main performer and he sang beautifully.All of the performers were top notch. I would say, after seeing it, you haven't seen a show until you've seen a London West End show.

It was a great end to a very exhausting first full day of London.


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