London - Day 3

I had decided not to run this particular morning as I knew my legs would be tired from the run the previous day as well as all of the walking we did in the city. So, I woke up leisurely, read a bit in bed and then proceeding to get ready for breakfast.

Once we met up downstairs, we each decided we would try the buffet. Pretty tasty. There was plenty of traditional English breakfast items: black pudding, baked beans, sautéed potatoes, sautéed mushrooms, porridge, along with the standards of eggs, bacon and sausage. I didn't try it all, but what I did eat was good.

So good, in fact, that I was stuffed. I definitely ate too much and I knew we were meeting up with family friends for lunch, so I was hoping that we would do enough walking to help my digestion.

After the debacle that was mom and I looking everywhere for the Tardis at Charring Cross (aka the wrong station) back on day one, we ventured out again, this time in hopes of actually locating the item in question. Earl's Court Station is located on the Piccadilly line and that's where we had to go. The Tardis was supposedly located out on Earl's Court Road. And wouldn't you know it, it was!

Mom and I each posed next to the Tardis and went on our merry little way. I did knock to see if the Doctor was in...he wasn't. I knocked four times...and nothing. ;-)

We then headed back to the hotel to pick up my dad. He said he wanted to take the tube to Covent Garden (where we were meeting up with friends for lunch) but mom and I weren't too sure about that. The tube is the underground and there are a lot of steps and it's a lot of walking...things dad isn't the best at. But we found a way to not change trains so we headed to the Hyde Park Corner Station (Marble Arch was technically our closer station, but we would have had to change trains once) and we took the Piccadilly line to Covent Garden. It was a bit slow going, up but eventually, we got him there.

We all met up outside the Royal Opera House and proceeded to walk to a restaurant called Brown's. Everyone seemed to have something different: linguini, flatbread, fish and chips, salmon cakes. I had a chicken and avocado sandwich on focaccia with chips and it was delicious. Very light, especially after the large breakfast.

Once we were all satiated, we headed back to Covent Garden to walk around and see all the crafts, street performers and high end stores.

Apparently we had worked up enough of another appetite (so not true) that we headed into a place for tea and dessert. Everyone else got tea, but I had the Belgium hot chocolate. Delicious. I also had not planned to eat anything, but when the scones with jam and cream came out, they were massive and I was asked to share one. So...I took one for the team. Again, delicious. These were not traditional scones as they were more like biscuits in consistency, but they were still good.

We took a cab back to the hotel and I snagged an hour nap before mom and I headed out to dinner (geez, massive amounts of food today). We had reservations at The Wolseley, which is a higher end restaurant near Piccadilly Circus.

We took a cab but the traffic was so bad, we were dropped off on a street corner near the restaurant. Sadly, we ended up walking the wrong way so we got a bit lost, but after asking a shop clerk (or two), we finally found it.

It was a lovely dinner. There was plenty of fish options, but unless it was fried, I probably wasn't going to eat it, so I chose the filet and it was so good. A chocolate éclair for dessert rounded out my meal. As we left the restaurant, we decided to go next door to the Ritz Carlton London for an after dinner drink. We were sat in one of the lobby parlors and while the others had a glass of port, I enjoyed a Bonaparte Mule (aka a Moscow Mule with rosemary instead of mint) in a copper mug. It was refreshing and light.

Finally, we hopped in a cab and made it back to the hotel. As I hopped into bed I realized how much I didn't want to get up in the morning to run...

London - Day 1

When we touched down at Heathrow, I was very excited. We had flown in over London and could see everything from the London Eye to The City (aka their downtown) itself. It had been just shy of ten years since my first and subsequently only trip to the UK capital, and I was just as excited, if not more, than the last time.

Stepping off the plane and into the terminal was a bit eerie. Remember that scene from 28 Days Later, when the main character (the actor's name escapes me right now) wakes up in the hospital and starts wandering through the abandoned city of London? That's what it was like. At 7:50am, the London Heathrow airport (at least terminal 1) was deserted.

However, the site that made me giggle: a Ben & Jerry's ice cream vending machine. No joke.

Anyway, we made it to baggage claim, after walking what felt like at least a mile of walkways (again, no joke) and all of our luggage arrived. This felt like a good omen for the rest of the trip. When I was last in London, I was to be there a month and it doesn't bode well for your month-long trip when your luggage doesn't arrive until 4 days after you do.

Luggage in hand, we pop into a taxi and into the city we went. Granted, it was morning rush hour traffic, so it definitely took longer than anticipated, but as we got closer to London, I was beginning to recognize areas and landmarks. We drove passed the Royal Albert Hall and along side Kensington and Hyde Parks (where I would be continuing my marathon training) and then we finally made it to our hotel, The Grosvenor House. Beautiful hotel. What was even better, we were able to check into two rooms upon arrival, which allowed for showers and a bit of a rest prior to a day in London.

I walked into my room. Damn. Way bigger than my last hotel room in London. King sized bed (it was a twin ten years ago), ample space to walk around (Harry Potter's cupboard under the stairs was bigger than the previous room) and a glorious bathroom (I don't recall much about the last bathroom, other than washing clothes in it).

And while we are on the topic of bathrooms, let me make mention of the bathtub/shower. I don't think I've ever seen as many levers as were in this shower. One to turn on the bath, one to adjust the temperature, one to turn on the shower, one to turn on the handheld....and if you didn't do them in the correct order or didn't shut of the correct ones, the whole system didn't function properly. And no, there were zero instructions, so it became a process of trial and error.

But the waterfall shower head made it all worth it in the end.

Ok, so, we got cleaned up and dad took a nap. Mom and I knew that we couldn't sleep yet (though we severely wanted to) so we headed out in search of our London Passes and a fish and chips lunch.

Picking up to the London Pass - good
Finding a pub for fish and chips - good
Going in search of the Tardis - bad

I got it in my head that the Tardis (aka the blue police box from Doctor Who) would be at Charring Cross Station and relatively easy to find. WRONG. Yes, a big blue box should be easy to find....if you are looking in the right spot.

We began by heading south to Trafalgar Square (the London Passes were picked up outside the Leicester Square tube stop).

With a quick photo op with the lions at the base Nelson's Column (sorry, those are in mom's pictures), we continued down in search of Charring Cross Station.

Once we reached the Horse Guards and Downing Street, we knew something was wrong...ie we had gone too far. With a quick look at the map, we determined that instead of going straight, as we had from Trafalgar Square, we should have made a left.

So, we looped around at Embankment and discovered Charring Cross. Great! Now we just have to find the big blue box. Simple, right? WRONG AGAIN!

We made a complete circle around the station. I knew it was on a major street, and not one of the cobble stone alleys, based on the Google Maps locator. Granted, I didn't have cell service in London, so unless I could hook into a wifi network on the street, I was out of luck searching via Google Maps. Finally, we gave up. We were tired, and we still had a decent walk in front of us to get back to the hotel, via Buckingham Palace. Defeated, I located our next route (on an actual map) and we headed out in search of the Queen's home.

The walk was lovely. The weather was nice; chilly but sunny. The leaves were turning slowly into the pretty fall hues I've grown accustomed to in the northeast and it was the ideal setting. The number of runners out and about was phenomenal. I want a job where I can go for a run in the middle of the day.

While at Buckingham Palace, there was no changing of the guard ceremony happening that day, but we did witness the changing of both sets of guards. No pomp and circumstance, but it was entertaining nonetheless, and not from a regal standpoint. Mom and I were giggling most of the time, making up what they were saying to each other and watching them have to shift by the quarter of an inch at a time based on the head movements of their leader/commander, etc. Fascinating.

 

 

Continuing on our walk, we reached Wellington's Arch, located at the southeast corner of Hyde Park. Mom and I went our separate ways here, she to Harrods and myself to the hotel. I got to the room, set my alarm and took a 30 minute nap. I swear, mom knew about this and right at the 30 minute mark, she called me. She, having just gotten back from Harrods and realizing dad was still asleep, said we should go downstairs for tea. We ended up having coffee/hot chocolate from the coffee shop off the lobby and got onto the wifi to check mail, say hello on Facebook and upload pictures.

It was here that I discovered that the Tardis was NOT at Charring Cross Station, but at Earl's Court Station....in the complete opposite direction of where we had been. Ugh. So...the Tardis would be located another day.

Once we were done in the lobby, we headed back to our rooms once more to get ready for dinner as we planned to meet up with some friends at a pub down the street from the hotel, The Audley. We met at 6 and finished dinner around 7:15pm.

 

By 7:30 I was back in my room and passed out.