London

LONDON

April 2004

Saturday, April 3:

          A typical Saturday: take trash to the dump, vacuum, Marjorie at the fitness center, call Mom . . . leave for London!  On the road listening to “Chris Warren” (the nom de radio of Marjorie’s boss who moonlights as a DJ).  Cold & rainy here lately, snow forecast for tomorrow, but nicer today and more spring buds in NYC; we hope that foreshadows London.  Hangin’out at son Matt & Anthea’s with cat Lucy until Matt finishes a rehearsal to drive us to JFK.  We got air/hotel package thru go-today.com, a Frommer’s favorite.  We’re on our own this trip, no accompanying family and friends  ̶  hopefully we’ll get along OK.  At JFK an attendant helps w/ our first effort to check-in on a computer screen w/ e-tickets.  United flight leaves a little early at 9:15pm.  We start daylight saving time while in-flight.  I suspect there might be a “rip in the fabric of time” over the mid-Atlantic; Marjorie rolls her eyes.  We’re a bit worried when a large group of kids boards the plane, but they’re well-behaved, it’s an uneventful flight.  We’ve become pretty blasé now about trans-Atlantic flights.

Sunday, April 4:

Early into London Heathrow about 10:15am, beautiful view coming in of Tower Bridge, Parliament, Big Ben.  Sunshine, spring flowers and buds more advanced here than NYC.  Customs guy tells Marjorie there’s lots of shopping in London  ̶  like she didn’t know that!  But it’s expensive (1 pound=$1.80), as we particularly notice in meal prices.  Transfer ride to hotel yields first sights of London traffic, classic cabs & double-decker buses.   

To our Queens Park Hotel, on Queensborough Terr. off Bayswater Rd., above Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park.  We learn later Marjorie’s British co-worker Emma stayed here recently.  On a nice street w/ mix of small hotels and apartments, a good location w/ “underground” stops (aka the “tube;” “subway” here refers only to underground pedestrian walkways) 2 blocks away on Queensway, which also has lots of shops & restaurants.   

A very tiny (and very slow) lift to our tiny room, just big enough to maneuver single file past the bed, where Marjorie settles in for a brief nap.  Room’s on the 5^th (top) floor, view below of pretty gardens and a pool with big koi fish.  The hotel has mix of young people, families, older couples, and tour groups (mostly German).  We know we're in Europe: showers are a challenge (this time too much hot water!) and no washcloths.

A bit blustery with mix of sun & brief showers, about 50°, as we begin our adventure w/ a stroll thru Kensington Gardens and Palace grounds.  Princess Diana Memorial Playground, with Elfin Oak that has interesting figures carved into very old trunk.  Many flowers & trees blooming in the gardens.  A little English robin hops up to greet us.  

 Into Orangery restaurant for soup & scones (Marjorie relaxes her Atkins diet strictures about carbs).  

Over to ornate Albert Memorial; Albert was Victoria’s “consort” and is memorialized in many places.   

Pretty Peter Pan sculpture.  We learn forsythia is named after William Forsyth, past superintendent of these gardens.  After heavier rain in early evening, over to Queensway w/ its many ethnic restaurants.  Turkish for us tonight.

Monday, April 5:

Lots of birds chirping in the AM.  News today: is soccer star Beckham's marriage on the rocks?; and it’s the 30^th anniversary of ABBA singing group (now memorialized in “Mama Mia” show) taking Europe by storm after winning a song contest.  We start each day w/ included continental breakfast of cereal, fruit, breads; we supplement from local stores: excellent yogurt for Marjorie (including rhubarb flavor!) and granola to mix in for me.  Still chilly and a bit breezy today, mostly cloudy & occasional showers.   

Our 1^st tube ride to Victoria Sta. to pick up Visitor Travelcards; these must be purchased back home ($30 each), give unlimited use of public transport for 3 days in 2 central London zones.  We make good use: about 20 times each on the cards thru Wed., and additional rides purchased the last 2 days.  All told, we ride 7 of the 12 different lines in the system.  It’s very convenient for navigating London, and, contrary to what we'd heard, no major crowding or stoppages.  Good updates about any problems (we generally have "Good Service"), you can actually understand announcements on trains, and we "mind the gap" when getting off.  Riders are more polite than NYC, actually waiting to let people off instead of shoving onto trains.  Lots of walking, escalators, lifts in traversing stations and transferring between lines. Got on the wrong train only once; realized it right away and hopped off before it pulled out.

A 1^st stop on a bridge over the Thames to view Parliament and Big Ben.  Impressive, even tho construction work on the bridge.  Anti-Iraq war protest in the park outside Westminster Abbey.   

Into the Abbey.  We’d expected more wide open spaces, based on memories of events here. But it’s more crowded, many tombs, chapels, sanctuaries, memorials (especially in Poet’s Corner).  

After leaving, a bobby motions for us to wait at an intersection.  A police motorcycle passes followed by a car not 10’ from us w/ the Queen in the back seat (wearing one of her little matching hats, of course)!  A man next to us says “I’ve lived in London 70 years and never seen the Queen!”  We learn later she was headed to Paris.  All a’twitter, we head up Whitehall, attending to the “Look right/left” instructions on the pavement (reminding us they drive on the “wrong” side over here).  

 Past Downing Street, gates and guards with machine guns by the Prime Minister’s residence  ̶  a sign of the times, but much more security than for Her Royal Majesty.  Colorful changing of the Horse Guards nearby.  

Onto Trafalgar Sq.: impressive w/ tall Nelson Column, huge lion monuments, fountains.  
 

 Into St. Martin-in-the-fields and its “Cafe in the Crypt” for soup & yummy “bread and butter pudding.”  Briefly up to Leicester Sq. w/ ticket booths for stage shows, but unable to get good discounts on a show that would interest us.   

Back to St. Martin for an organ recital.  This wonderful venue has offered a variety of free lunchtime concerts for 60 years.  

The Tube to Covent Garden.  The old market now houses upscale shops, cafes, street performers.  We have a snack and Marjorie gets a pashmina scarf, which seems the local fashion statement for bundling up on a chilly day; she later buys more for people back home, and discovers the pants press in our room works very well on a scarf.  M gives me a hard time for not noticing a man in a chicken suit, but my head must still be spinning from HRM.  

 Back to Trafalgar for a quick look into the fine art collection of the National Gallery (one of many fabulous free museums).

Onto our first double-decker bus (these will go out of service later this year  ̶  what a pity!) to Westminster Abbey for Evensong.  A nice respite in the sanctuary w/o the bustle of tourist activity: beautiful singing by a male chorale and of course prayers for the royal family.  We can hear heavy rain on the roof, but some sun when we leave so over to “Eye in the Sky,” a very large ferris wheel along the Thames w/ panoramic views over the city.  

Tubes are now very crowded  ̶  a breakdown somewhere.  AM & PM rush hours here occur a bit later than back home.  A good Indian dinner on Queensway, then finally back to the hotel to relax.  A very busy day!  We got our money’s worth in the underground, plus lots of walking.  A hot bath for Marjorie to unwind.

Tuesday, April 6:

          Similar weather continues most of the week: clear overnight, AM mix of sun and clouds, cool & breezy PM with brief showers.  BBC news: “cracking down” on junk mail from overseas (Belgium, of all places).  We head for the Tower of London, which is actually many towers, plus incredible crown jewels, Beefeaters, armor, torture instruments; some prisoners stayed here years in relative comfort, like Sir Walter Raleigh, tho his 2^nd stay ended w/ execution.   

A nice guided tour of simple Norman chapel.  By noon it’s becoming crowded, light rain & some hail.  It lets up enough to allow a photo of Tower Bridge from the ramparts, but wet & blustery continues on & off the rest of the PM.  Tube plus long walk to transfer between lines to reach St. Paul’s.  But first to nearby St. Mary-le-Bow and “The Place Below,” another crypt cafe (seems the thing here  ̶  are we on a “crypts tour”?).  It’s billed as “London’s top vegetarian restaurant,” Marjorie gets recipe info for the wonderful tomato soup (today was the first time they’d made it); this makes us think of vegetarian niece Annie.  I enjoy apple/pear crumble w/ clotted cream.  Briefly into “Chocolate Heaven” store (just looking!). 

Then into St. Paul’s, a Christopher Wren masterpiece; no photos allowed, which seems common here.  Work being done on interior & exterior, but very impressive nonetheless.  More open & ornate than Westminster Abbey, w/ gilded ceiling murals.  Not good weather for hiking to the dome for the view.  We’re both feeling worn down by the blustery weather, and very dark clouds discourage us from crossing the Thames to Tate Modern (art museum).  Instead back to the hotel at about 4 to relax.   

           Marjorie explores Queensway shops and especially likes 2: Marks & Spencer has all kinds of stuff from clothes to groceries, Boots is mostly health & cosmetic products but also "all my emergency needs"  ̶  a battery for M’s camera and an inexpensive watch when the battery in her Swiss watch (from our trip there) gives out (and battery replacement seems very expensive here); so there are now 2 entries in M's International Got-A-Good-Deal-On-A-Watch Collection.  To nearby Notting Hill, a pretty area but no restaurants catch our fancy, so back to Queensway for Lebanese dinner. 

After dinner we take advantage of our Travelcards to do our own “London by night” tour: riding in the upper deck of a bus from our hotel thru Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Sq. to Westminster, off for views of floodlighted Parliament and Big Ben from across the Thames, then tube back to hotel.  Snacks in the room while we warm up  ̶  it was a very cold evening!

Wednesday, April 7: 

          Off a bit later today at 9, catching the crowds of rush hour.  Calmer today, partly sunny AM, nicer PM than the last 2 days, not so blustery & no rain.  An enjoyable stroll thru St. James/Mayfair area.  Burlington Arcade, London’s 2^nd-oldest covered shopping “alley,” w/ fancy shops & beautiful decorated windows.  Fortnum and Mason, a fancy department store w/ big chocolate Easter eggs in the windows.  Other nice stores to look into: an English teddy bear shop and Japanese confectionery.    

Disappointed that St. James Piccadilly Market (arts & crafts) is closed today, but we go thru the pretty Christopher Wren church; small & very simple, quite different from the huge size and opulence of his St. Paul’s.   

          

          We watch part of the guard leaving St. James Palace, then changing of the guard from a distance at Buckingham Palace.  Very pretty, but hard to tell who’s doing what.  Surprised to hear show tunes: “There’s No Business Like Show Business.”  Guess it’s not all pomp. 

Short walk to Apsley House, the Duke of Wellington’s “orgy of opulence,” as described in our tour book.  

On to the British Museum, another fabulous place (similar to NYC’s Metropolitan Museum), and another freebie.  After soup in the cafe, we sample some of the immense collection.  Beautiful Reading Room, an impressive listing of historical figures who’ve had reading privileges here; Marjorie impertinently asks if any of my books are here.  Interesting “Living and Dying” exhibition of cultural variations in handling the human experience.  Beautiful Japanese art exhibit.  And, of course, what would a British museum be without mummies.

          For the evening we head to South Kensington, starting at Harrods, the “royalty” of department stores.  An extravagant, casino-like opulence: fabulous food hall, mind-boggling Egyptian escalator, and a kind of creepy memorial to Dodi & Princess Diana.  Prices for “celebration cakes” rather higher than Marjorie charges for her birthday & wedding baking.  Customers are treated like royalty.  M asks about buying decorative Easter eggs that were part of a display.  After some discussion between 2 clerks, it’s determined they’re not for sale, but they apologize for the “controversy” (and M finds an egg for her collection elsewhere in the trip).  

 We treat ourselves to a pub meal in one of the many restaurants in the store: English cheese platter (“ploughman’s lunch”) and “bitters” for me, shrimp salad plate for Marjorie.  

Continuing the evening’s opulence theme, to the Victoria and Albert Museum (the “V & A,” as Londoners know it), yet another fabulous & free collection of decorative arts: a beautiful Chihuly blown-glass sculpture in the entry hall, interesting exhibits of lighting sculptures and fashion trends over the years, galleries of English period decorations.  Musicians performing in a couple of areas.  Back to the hotel, plenty tired but Marjorie manages another trip to Queensway stores for some goodies to take back to folks.

Thursday, April 8: 

         A gerontological note: the 3^rd-oldest Brit is 110 today.  Another nippy AM but not windy, mix of sun & clouds.  Very sore calves from all our walking the past several days, but we strike off thru pretty neighborhoods to Portobello Market.  Oops  ̶  nothing seems open, not even the fruit/vegetable market.  Marjorie notes my failure, but lucky for me her sister is the one who’s an antiques hound. 

           So off we go on our longest tube ride to the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, a World Heritage Site.  We begin with interesting and amusing tram ride around the grounds, meeting “George” the food-beggar peacock and seeing a variety of ducks, geese, guinea hens (who always chase the tram).  So this is something of a wildlife sanctuary (even badgers!).  Also the last Concorde plane, in pieces on a barge waiting for higher tide to float downriver.   

Vegetation is sort of mid-spring: we’re too late for the “crocus carpet” and before the bluebells; but lots of daffodils, magnolias, camellias.   

And beautiful conservatories, including Temperate House w/ every continent represented and a unique Evolution House tracing the emergence of plant life.  A nice lite lunch in the cafeteria.  Lots of Mums with kids bundled up in little stocking hats.  It’s quite cold, probably high 40s, mostly cloudy w/ occasional sprinkles.  

 We decide it’s not the best day for a boat ride back to the city, so stroll back into the pretty village for coffee & scones in a cafe, then tube it back with views of outlying areas of London.  

 Continue to King’s Cross Sta. to see Platform “9¾”  ̶  Harry Potter’s Hogwart’s Express must really exist!  And we’re not the only goofy people taking photos here.  We complete the day with an excellent meal at the Black Lion Pub near our hotel: cottage pie, salmon, apple/berry crumble w/ “pudding” (kind of a thick cream, very yummy!).

Friday, April 9:

          Very clear, bright AM.  Hotel breakfast not served until 8 today, since it’s a “bank holiday” (but any worries that shops will be closed prove unfounded).  We can’t wait, so croissants & yogurt in our room.  To Victoria Coach Sta. to connect with 8:45 Evan Evans bus tour.  We’re ready to be driven and led, a good way to finish the week.  Evan Evans is a major tour company here, many different excursions to choose from.  Ours, reserved ahead via londontown.com, will take us 60 mi to Oxford, then north thru the Cotswolds to Stratford-upon-Avon.  Tour guide Mark is informative & funny, in both English & Japanese.  

 Off we go, with, Mark says, “a palpable sense of excitement.”  London info as we drive out.  Views of “Mary Poppins” chimneys; air is much cleaner since they banned coal fires.  A pretty drive thru the countryside: lots of sheep, hedgerows, some thatched roofs.  Clouds & haze after leaving London, but sunny again by Oxford and the rest of the day, temps reaching about 60°; the best weather of the trip.

          Oxford is wonderful!  We tour Brasenose, 1 of 39 colleges under the Oxford University “umbrella”: beautiful buildings, courtyards, chapel.  Some of Harry Potter was filmed at another college here.  

Some free time in a nice area of shops before driving thru the Cotswolds, more info about history, geography, agriculture.   

Stratford proves to be much more commercialized.  Imagine, Shakespeare was born in the midst of a pedestrian shopping district!  (Tho I suppose the shops were added more recently.)  We get “take-away” sandwiches from Marks & Spencer to eat by the river.  Amid the many shops I spot the 2^nd “Jessops” photo shop of the trip, a nice reminder of the travels and photography of our own Jessops (my mother & stepfather). 

On to pretty Anne Hathaway cottage and its beautiful flowers, away from the bustle of town.  A chat w/ Mark about why England uses miles instead of kilometers leads to his memories of weird measures learned as a schoolboy.  Light traffic back to London, we’re dropped off near our hotel about 6.  Italian buffet for dinner.  We use our last tube tickets to go to Piccadilly Circus and its Trocadero Centre of shops & amusements.  Many people much younger than we spending their evening and money.  This is London’s counterpart to Times Square, but seems not quite in the same league.

Saturday, April 10:

          Rainy night & AM, the best sleeping of the week for both of us.  Marital issues of Beckham & wife “Posh” (a former “Spice Girl”) still front page news.  NASA spacecraft spies storms on Saturn.  Closer to home, weekenders to Spain & Italy face torrential rain and unseasonable cold.  More seriously, there’s increasing chaos in Iraq.  Looks to be a drizzly day here, worst of the week.  But we’re headed home, burdened with candy bars, scones, and other goodies.  Van driver points out a police “bomb wagon” at Heathrow.  We share scones surrounded by the multitude of shops in the terminal.  Takeoff a little before 1:30.  Disappointed when we get middle seats in the airplane’s center section, but discover these have 5” more legroom.  A pretty good dinner (plus later snack, as on the flight over).  Karen Carpenter singing on the audio; I’m still trying to get her out of my head.  Early into JFK before 4.  Things move right along: quickly thru customs and baggage, cab gets us to Astoria by 4:35!  Marjorie goes upstairs to call Matt while I wait with luggage on the sidewalk; I’m approached by an older neighbor woman regaling me in Greek (I think).  She says it means something like “waiting is like death.”  We have quite a conversation  ̶  she’s 90, left an Adriatic island in 1945 to flee Tito and come to the U.S.  [We had been noting that London’s a very international city: many people from countries of the former Empire and Commonwealth; strong German, Italian, etc. presence from the European Union; and the ever-present Japanese tourists.  But this shows that NYC’s pretty international too!]  Turns out we have to wait for Matt to bring our car back from Albany (he & Anthea were doing wedding planning, his car wasn’t up to the trip).  We share sandwiches when they arrive, then hit the road, back to Albany about 11.  Marjorie has to do most of the driving, as I’ve “hit the wall.” 

          It was a great week!  London has so much to see and do.  The weather was generally cooperative; a bit chillier than we’d prefer, but didn’t get the fog & drizzle we thought we might face.  Our tour guide Mark had said in England you can experience all 4 seasons in a single day.  We covered a lot of ground (and underground) in London, plus some of the countryside.  We missed a few things: no fish & chips, no classic cab ride, never heard “Cheerio” or “Ta-Ta.”  But we did see the Queen!