London Hotels
Tracystravels's travel blogs:
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London at last!
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I took the red-eye out of Newark on the 31st of August and upgraded to Economy Plus on my Virgin Atlantic flight....almost an essential I found out after seeing the economy or should I say 'sardine' class at the rear of the plane. I was greeted with a glass of sparkly when I sat down in my seat, which was followed by wine and Baileys over ice after dinner. Virgin's personal TV/entertainment system was great. I watched two shows: Dave Chapelles Block Party...shot in Brooklyn and 30 days as a Muslim which was narrated and produced by the same guy that starred in Supersize Me. The point of the show is to 'walk in someone else shoes'. In this segment a devout Christian man goes to Dearborn MI and spends 30 days within the Islamic community He learns about Islam, grows a beard, wears traditional clothing, learns some Arabic words and lives and prays with a Muslim family and experiences discrimination while in airports while traveling as a Muslim and when he goes to another city trying to get people to sign a petition outlawing racial profiling.
Overall, it was refreshing to see individuals of different faiths engaging in dialogue and learning from each other not always agreeing but gaining new understanding about each other's religion and culture..something I am really looking forward to doing while on my travels!
Back to the plane, I was struck by how courteous the flight attendants were...they provided excellent service and were so friendly...maybe it was just the wine?!? We arrived at Heathrow early circled around over London proper before touching down right on time. I got a great bird's eye view of the city and the Thames. After an arduous wait at customs I tracked down my car service and went directly to Surrey where my college friend and sorority sister, Staci and her family live. They just moved to London after spending a number of years in Singapore. Her husband, Joe's, job provides international employment opportunities and this is their second foreign country assignment. Staci and Joe have three boys who are such fun. We all played with Lincoln Logs the other evening and their two oldest sons, William and Nicholas each built these impressive log structures!
After sleeping most of my first day, we enjoyed a walk in the evening around the ponds near their house picking blackberries and a yummy home cooked meal in the back yard. Today Staci and I took the train into Waterloo Station in London. We met a nice older woman who gave us some tips and showed us how to get to the Hungerford Food Bridge where we crossed the Thames and then walked up to Trafalger Square and visited the National Gallery. We then walked over to Covent Gardens where we had lunch on a bench listening to street performers. After lunch, we walked around and then had a drink at this wild restaurant called Sarastro where the interior decor outshined the food unfortunately. Staci and I finished our flat cokes and then hurried over to the Theater Royal on Drury Lane where we saw a matinee of the Producers. The show was hilarious...very well done.
After the theater, we walked over the Waterloo Bridge and back to the train station. We washed up at home and then had fantastic Spanish Tapas at this local restaurant....lots of yummy food and Sangria. The next day, Staci and I went to Windsor Castle to see the Queen...or at least her pad. Unlike our day in London, which was cold and rainy, our day in Windsor was in the 70's and clear. We explored the castle and the grounds listening to audio tape tour while we went. The chapel was closed but we enjoyed the exterior of it. The interior of the castle was elaborately decorated (no cameras allowed). Lovely tapestries, paintings, sculpture, I bought some postcards and was looking for some stamps. I saw a sign in the giftshop: Postage at the Till. I asked this lady in line at the 'register' where the till was. She laughed and said she was waiting in line for it! The 'till' was the 'register area'. It was almost a blond moment...but not quite since I was in a foreign country!
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