London Recap
So as I mentioned earlier, Kate and I had a pretty good time overall in London, with just a few unfortunate events popping up.
We arrived at Dulles Airport well ahead of time on Monday (about 4 hours early). There was no one in line at the British Airways counter, so we just walked right up, dropped off our bags, got our tickets, and headed towards security. Security was also a breeze, taking only about 15 minutes to get through. From there on we sat down to a leisurely meal in one of Dulles' restaurants, and waited on the boarding call. The plane was a bit late in boarding by about a half hour, but this was fine as I was enjoying watching Monday Night Football. As for the plane ride itself, it was a bit cramped back in coach, and the flight was a bit shaky, but otherwise everything was fine, and I was even able to catch an hour or two of sleep on the 6 hour flight to London. Once we landed at Heathrow we got through customs pretty quickly, picked up our bags, and hopped on the tube (subway) into the city.
At this point it was about 11:00 in the morning London time. The tube ride took about 45 minutes with one train change to get to Trafalgar Square, where we easily found our hotel, The Trafalgar (owned by Hilton, though I don't recall ever seeing the Hilton brand name). At this point it was about noon, and our room was not yet ready, so we dropped our bags and wandered across the square to the National Gallery where we wandered around for a few hours. Around 2:00 or so we grabbed a quick bite to eat then headed back to the hotel. Our room was ready and our bags had already been taken up and we spent the next few hours napping. Around 5:00 or so Dad and Jean (who had been in the city since Sunday) called to let us know what time they wanted to meet for dinner (6:30), which gave us time to grab a quick shower and clean up before heading out. Dinner was at an Asian restaurant called Yauatcha which was quite good, although Dad had been under the impression that it had a sushi bar which it didn't.
Wednesday was the big sightseeing day for Kate and I. We slept in a bit, still tired from the long day before, and hit the streets around 11:00. We ended up taking six or seven mile walk through London hitting as many of the major locations as we could in one swing. We started from Trafalgar Square, crossed Hungerfood Foot Bridge to London Eye, then headed down to Westminster Bridge, crossed the river again, wandered past Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, through St. James Park, around Buckingham Palace, up through Green Park, past Lancaster House and Jame's Palace, up St. James's Street, through the Piccadilly and Burling Arcades, then back down to Trafalgar Square via Regent St. By the time we were done wandering around, it was around 6:00, and we had an hour to get ready for an evening showing of Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theatre. The show was fantastic. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip. Afterwards we had dinner at a pseudo-French place called W'Sens. The food was pretty good, but the service was absolutely terrible. There's just no excuse for having to ask your waiter three times for a bottle of water. When we got back to the hotel we decided to have a drink at the bar before calling it a night, and at some point Kate sneezed and her glasses came off, causing one of her screws to slip and her lens to pop out. We found the lens, but never did find the screw. Of course nothing could be done until the next day.
Thursday (Turkey Day) started off with Kate and I going in search of a glasses shop where we could get a new screw for her frames. We found one a short distance up Regent Street, and they were kind enough to fix her glasses and clean them real well free of charge. Afterwards we had a quick lunch at Cheers: London, then hopped the tube up to the British Museum where we wandered around for the remainder of the afternoon. That evening we met up with Dad and Jean again and went to Rules, London's oldest restaurant. Dad had arranged for them to have turkey on the menu for us, so we had something of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, complete with pumpkin pie for desert. Our reservations were for 7:30, and we stayed well past midnight enjoying quite a bit of food and drink. One of Dad's coworkers who lives near London even came and joined us. Although he and his wife were late due to trouble with a flight out of Amsterdam earlier in the afternoon (apparently their plane blew an engine on the way home, and they had to turn around and get on a later flight). Regardless, it was still a pleasure to meet them, and the whole evening was just a blast.
Unfortunately the next day was not nearly so pleasant. We were scheduled for a bus tour down to Salisbury to see St. Paul's Cathedral, then over to Stonehenge. We boarded the bus early in the morning and worked our way out of the city through rush hour traffic. After about an hour, Kate got sick and threw up in the bus. The driver pulled over at a rest stop nearby, where I was ready to call a taxi from the city to come and pick us up. However, the driver suggested we hang on until we got to Salisbury and he'd drop us off at the train station, which would be significantly cheaper than what a cab would cost to come 30 miles out of the city and back. Kate was okay with this, and she managed to hold on the rest of the way. The bus driver dropped everyone at the Cathedral (which we were able to briefly see), then took us over to the train station, where we hopped the next available ride back to London. The train took about an hour, and was actually a quite pleasant trip. It dropped us off at the Waterloo station, and we decided to walk to mile back to Trafalgar Square as Kate didn't feel she could handle the tube. Upon reaching the hotel we pretty much called it a day, with one brief run out for food later that evening.
Kate was feeling better on Saturday, though still a little queasy, so we decided to take things one at a time. I had been hopping to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, so we headed over for that. Unfortunately it was closed due to the weather, which became quite severe as we stood outside the entrance. Kate's umbrella broke in the wind, and we ended up pretty thoroughly soaked, even through our raincoats. It was a quick storm though, and it cleared up after about 15 minutes. We stopped in a small cafe near the palace to grab some food, then decided to brave Harrod's Department store. To call Harrods massive is an understatement. It is basically an entire shopping mall crammed in to one building, and then some. Anything you could possibly want can be found somewhere on its seven floors. Clothes, food, jewelry, shoes, furniture, books, electronics, appliances, sports equipment, pets... the list goes on. They even have multiple restaurants and live entertainment inside. Unfortunately our visit was marred by yet another problem. We had been wandering around the store for about five hours when we stopped for a bite to eat. It was at this point that I noticed I was missing one of my credit cards. To make matters worse, it was the same credit card that my British Airways tickets were on, and I would need to have it to get home (they actually never asked for my card on our way home, but at the time I figured they would ask me for it just like they did in the States). Kate and I began to think of all the places we had visited in attempt to narrow down where the card might have been lost. We finally figured that our best bet was W'Sens, where we had ate after seeing Phantom. Granted this was several days ago, and I probably should have noticed earlier, but we had been paying everything in cash up until that one meal at Harrods. We made a few last minute purchases, then grabbed a taxi back to Trafalgar Square and walked the last few blocks to W'Sens. Fortunately we were right, and they did indeed have my card. Along with about a dozen other folks if the stack was any indication. I was incredibly relieved. We headed back towards our hotel, stopping to buy a few trinkets at a gift shop, then had a few drinks and dinner at the Sherlock Holmes Pub.
Sunday was practically a nightmare. Our checkout time was noon, and our flight was at 5:00. Being Sunday, there were very few things open early enough to bother going to, so we slept in a bit, packed out things, and headed to the airport around 11:00, arriving just a bit before noon. Heathrow was chaotic, to say the least. The amount of time that passed from when we got in line to get our tickets to the time we passed through security into the main terminal? Three hours. I was not amused. To top it off, they didn't even have our gate assignment up on the departure board until roughly twenty minutes before we were scheduled to take off. And of course the gate was one of the farthest ones away from where we were, so we practically ran the whole way, only to arrive at the gate and have no idea what to do because of the massive number of people milling about. Apparently our flight and a delayed flight to Newark were leaving from two gates right next to each other, and the entire section of the terminal was just a mass of humanity. After about 10 minutes or so we heard our boarding call and hopped on to the plane. Due to the heavy volume of flights, we were delayed getting off the ground by about an hour and a half. On the bright side, the flight back was pretty smooth, and I was able to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, and Cars (as well as that Top Gear episode I mentioned earlier). We had been scheduled to land at Dulles at 8:00, but didn't touch down until a little after 9:30. By the time we got through customs, grabbed our bags, called Mom to come pick us up, and arrived home, it was well after 11:00. Kate had been smart and taken Monday off work to rest. I had not. Though in my defense, I only have a half day's vacation left for the remainder of the year.
So there you go. The entire trip in a nutshell. A rather large nutshell I suppose. It was a good trip and we got to see a ton, but things could certainly have gone better. Maybe we'll go back in five years or so.
- T
We arrived at Dulles Airport well ahead of time on Monday (about 4 hours early). There was no one in line at the British Airways counter, so we just walked right up, dropped off our bags, got our tickets, and headed towards security. Security was also a breeze, taking only about 15 minutes to get through. From there on we sat down to a leisurely meal in one of Dulles' restaurants, and waited on the boarding call. The plane was a bit late in boarding by about a half hour, but this was fine as I was enjoying watching Monday Night Football. As for the plane ride itself, it was a bit cramped back in coach, and the flight was a bit shaky, but otherwise everything was fine, and I was even able to catch an hour or two of sleep on the 6 hour flight to London. Once we landed at Heathrow we got through customs pretty quickly, picked up our bags, and hopped on the tube (subway) into the city.
At this point it was about 11:00 in the morning London time. The tube ride took about 45 minutes with one train change to get to Trafalgar Square, where we easily found our hotel, The Trafalgar (owned by Hilton, though I don't recall ever seeing the Hilton brand name). At this point it was about noon, and our room was not yet ready, so we dropped our bags and wandered across the square to the National Gallery where we wandered around for a few hours. Around 2:00 or so we grabbed a quick bite to eat then headed back to the hotel. Our room was ready and our bags had already been taken up and we spent the next few hours napping. Around 5:00 or so Dad and Jean (who had been in the city since Sunday) called to let us know what time they wanted to meet for dinner (6:30), which gave us time to grab a quick shower and clean up before heading out. Dinner was at an Asian restaurant called Yauatcha which was quite good, although Dad had been under the impression that it had a sushi bar which it didn't.
Wednesday was the big sightseeing day for Kate and I. We slept in a bit, still tired from the long day before, and hit the streets around 11:00. We ended up taking six or seven mile walk through London hitting as many of the major locations as we could in one swing. We started from Trafalgar Square, crossed Hungerfood Foot Bridge to London Eye, then headed down to Westminster Bridge, crossed the river again, wandered past Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, through St. James Park, around Buckingham Palace, up through Green Park, past Lancaster House and Jame's Palace, up St. James's Street, through the Piccadilly and Burling Arcades, then back down to Trafalgar Square via Regent St. By the time we were done wandering around, it was around 6:00, and we had an hour to get ready for an evening showing of Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theatre. The show was fantastic. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip. Afterwards we had dinner at a pseudo-French place called W'Sens. The food was pretty good, but the service was absolutely terrible. There's just no excuse for having to ask your waiter three times for a bottle of water. When we got back to the hotel we decided to have a drink at the bar before calling it a night, and at some point Kate sneezed and her glasses came off, causing one of her screws to slip and her lens to pop out. We found the lens, but never did find the screw. Of course nothing could be done until the next day.
Thursday (Turkey Day) started off with Kate and I going in search of a glasses shop where we could get a new screw for her frames. We found one a short distance up Regent Street, and they were kind enough to fix her glasses and clean them real well free of charge. Afterwards we had a quick lunch at Cheers: London, then hopped the tube up to the British Museum where we wandered around for the remainder of the afternoon. That evening we met up with Dad and Jean again and went to Rules, London's oldest restaurant. Dad had arranged for them to have turkey on the menu for us, so we had something of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, complete with pumpkin pie for desert. Our reservations were for 7:30, and we stayed well past midnight enjoying quite a bit of food and drink. One of Dad's coworkers who lives near London even came and joined us. Although he and his wife were late due to trouble with a flight out of Amsterdam earlier in the afternoon (apparently their plane blew an engine on the way home, and they had to turn around and get on a later flight). Regardless, it was still a pleasure to meet them, and the whole evening was just a blast.
Unfortunately the next day was not nearly so pleasant. We were scheduled for a bus tour down to Salisbury to see St. Paul's Cathedral, then over to Stonehenge. We boarded the bus early in the morning and worked our way out of the city through rush hour traffic. After about an hour, Kate got sick and threw up in the bus. The driver pulled over at a rest stop nearby, where I was ready to call a taxi from the city to come and pick us up. However, the driver suggested we hang on until we got to Salisbury and he'd drop us off at the train station, which would be significantly cheaper than what a cab would cost to come 30 miles out of the city and back. Kate was okay with this, and she managed to hold on the rest of the way. The bus driver dropped everyone at the Cathedral (which we were able to briefly see), then took us over to the train station, where we hopped the next available ride back to London. The train took about an hour, and was actually a quite pleasant trip. It dropped us off at the Waterloo station, and we decided to walk to mile back to Trafalgar Square as Kate didn't feel she could handle the tube. Upon reaching the hotel we pretty much called it a day, with one brief run out for food later that evening.
Kate was feeling better on Saturday, though still a little queasy, so we decided to take things one at a time. I had been hopping to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, so we headed over for that. Unfortunately it was closed due to the weather, which became quite severe as we stood outside the entrance. Kate's umbrella broke in the wind, and we ended up pretty thoroughly soaked, even through our raincoats. It was a quick storm though, and it cleared up after about 15 minutes. We stopped in a small cafe near the palace to grab some food, then decided to brave Harrod's Department store. To call Harrods massive is an understatement. It is basically an entire shopping mall crammed in to one building, and then some. Anything you could possibly want can be found somewhere on its seven floors. Clothes, food, jewelry, shoes, furniture, books, electronics, appliances, sports equipment, pets... the list goes on. They even have multiple restaurants and live entertainment inside. Unfortunately our visit was marred by yet another problem. We had been wandering around the store for about five hours when we stopped for a bite to eat. It was at this point that I noticed I was missing one of my credit cards. To make matters worse, it was the same credit card that my British Airways tickets were on, and I would need to have it to get home (they actually never asked for my card on our way home, but at the time I figured they would ask me for it just like they did in the States). Kate and I began to think of all the places we had visited in attempt to narrow down where the card might have been lost. We finally figured that our best bet was W'Sens, where we had ate after seeing Phantom. Granted this was several days ago, and I probably should have noticed earlier, but we had been paying everything in cash up until that one meal at Harrods. We made a few last minute purchases, then grabbed a taxi back to Trafalgar Square and walked the last few blocks to W'Sens. Fortunately we were right, and they did indeed have my card. Along with about a dozen other folks if the stack was any indication. I was incredibly relieved. We headed back towards our hotel, stopping to buy a few trinkets at a gift shop, then had a few drinks and dinner at the Sherlock Holmes Pub.
Sunday was practically a nightmare. Our checkout time was noon, and our flight was at 5:00. Being Sunday, there were very few things open early enough to bother going to, so we slept in a bit, packed out things, and headed to the airport around 11:00, arriving just a bit before noon. Heathrow was chaotic, to say the least. The amount of time that passed from when we got in line to get our tickets to the time we passed through security into the main terminal? Three hours. I was not amused. To top it off, they didn't even have our gate assignment up on the departure board until roughly twenty minutes before we were scheduled to take off. And of course the gate was one of the farthest ones away from where we were, so we practically ran the whole way, only to arrive at the gate and have no idea what to do because of the massive number of people milling about. Apparently our flight and a delayed flight to Newark were leaving from two gates right next to each other, and the entire section of the terminal was just a mass of humanity. After about 10 minutes or so we heard our boarding call and hopped on to the plane. Due to the heavy volume of flights, we were delayed getting off the ground by about an hour and a half. On the bright side, the flight back was pretty smooth, and I was able to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, and Cars (as well as that Top Gear episode I mentioned earlier). We had been scheduled to land at Dulles at 8:00, but didn't touch down until a little after 9:30. By the time we got through customs, grabbed our bags, called Mom to come pick us up, and arrived home, it was well after 11:00. Kate had been smart and taken Monday off work to rest. I had not. Though in my defense, I only have a half day's vacation left for the remainder of the year.
So there you go. The entire trip in a nutshell. A rather large nutshell I suppose. It was a good trip and we got to see a ton, but things could certainly have gone better. Maybe we'll go back in five years or so.
- T