Hats off and on
So here in London....wow, not that I never expected to travel anywhere outside of US. Just had not planned on you know, near future trips until John got invited to Dragonmeet.
Anyhow, plane trip....will bore you. Suffice to say it was a long flight or pair of flights as the case was. Me and wickedthought watched Mamma Mia and other stuff to pass time as we could not sleep in plane.
First thing we did after settling luggage (John's missed the connection in Toronto so was late and we didn't get delivered to hotel until 6pm or so), customs (the lady was very nice and amused as all strangers seem to be by me and John's conversation style), and hotel (errr...nothing very British other than the accents of staff, I mean its a basic hotel after all). Oh yeah, first thing was a trip to 221 Baker St. Squee. We got pics of us in bowler and deerstalker's hat. we're mailing our dads postcards from there today.
Then John had to take a nap, jettylagged, so I went walking. Since I did not take the tubes (oh so nice way to get around and I'm getting the hang of them quickly enough) I didn't get to any landmarks or such. Just walked the shops along Kensington High Street where our hotel is. I did follow a tour group for fun into a church that was on the corner. Turned out to be St. Mary's and had neat gravestones inset into the walls so I took pictures of that (all pics will be forthcoming in later posts).
Then we organized and went out for dinner. At a little pub called Prince of Wales among the shops I had walked earlier. John had fish and chips so I snagged some...mmmmm and mushy peas. As a waitress, the thing that struck me most was the different tone of English food places. They like you to sit and enjoy, no rushing so far as we've found yet. Outback is so in and out, table turn over based. It could just be the chainstores versus mom and pop really. And I know from having visited my uncle in San Diego that places there have more character and personality than the most places in Phoenix. Thankfully me and John are focused on finding the smaller holes around where we live (mmmmchinobandido). Anyhow, they also have a lot of snackerstands, like the pasty place right outside the tube near our hotel. Meat and potatoes in pastry bread....mmmmm. Yeah I'm a foodie without being a snobby one, right?
Finally, we came back and got some sleep but not for long.....woke up at 3 am and we were both wide eyed and alert. So we went walking in search of food (my stomach was insisting loudly). It was fun walking the same shop sidewalks as earlier in a different time of day. Drunk kids (well, maybe my age but I call even older than me kids when they live the collegiate/high school life) outside some sort of club. A guy in a spiffy red lined coat walked by and told John his hat was one of the best ten he'd ever seen, we're pretty sure he was drunk too. Then we found a little mart called Crispins open 24 hours. They had chips unlike ours, potato chips done in steak and onion and roast chicken. My mother would love the differentness of these so might bring some back for her, heh. Lots of jammy cookies as well, but I stayed away from those for now. I've been reading some Tanith Lee but I think its about time to wake John from his second nap today and see if we can't get going on sightseeing. The Tower, St. Paul's and Whitechapel are on list, as well as Big Ben if we can and I noted a few other interesting places on tube map. I can hear them running along the tracks outside our window so off off and away......
Anyhow, plane trip....will bore you. Suffice to say it was a long flight or pair of flights as the case was. Me and wickedthought watched Mamma Mia and other stuff to pass time as we could not sleep in plane.
First thing we did after settling luggage (John's missed the connection in Toronto so was late and we didn't get delivered to hotel until 6pm or so), customs (the lady was very nice and amused as all strangers seem to be by me and John's conversation style), and hotel (errr...nothing very British other than the accents of staff, I mean its a basic hotel after all). Oh yeah, first thing was a trip to 221 Baker St. Squee. We got pics of us in bowler and deerstalker's hat. we're mailing our dads postcards from there today.
Then John had to take a nap, jettylagged, so I went walking. Since I did not take the tubes (oh so nice way to get around and I'm getting the hang of them quickly enough) I didn't get to any landmarks or such. Just walked the shops along Kensington High Street where our hotel is. I did follow a tour group for fun into a church that was on the corner. Turned out to be St. Mary's and had neat gravestones inset into the walls so I took pictures of that (all pics will be forthcoming in later posts).
Then we organized and went out for dinner. At a little pub called Prince of Wales among the shops I had walked earlier. John had fish and chips so I snagged some...mmmmm and mushy peas. As a waitress, the thing that struck me most was the different tone of English food places. They like you to sit and enjoy, no rushing so far as we've found yet. Outback is so in and out, table turn over based. It could just be the chainstores versus mom and pop really. And I know from having visited my uncle in San Diego that places there have more character and personality than the most places in Phoenix. Thankfully me and John are focused on finding the smaller holes around where we live (mmmmchinobandido). Anyhow, they also have a lot of snackerstands, like the pasty place right outside the tube near our hotel. Meat and potatoes in pastry bread....mmmmm. Yeah I'm a foodie without being a snobby one, right?
Finally, we came back and got some sleep but not for long.....woke up at 3 am and we were both wide eyed and alert. So we went walking in search of food (my stomach was insisting loudly). It was fun walking the same shop sidewalks as earlier in a different time of day. Drunk kids (well, maybe my age but I call even older than me kids when they live the collegiate/high school life) outside some sort of club. A guy in a spiffy red lined coat walked by and told John his hat was one of the best ten he'd ever seen, we're pretty sure he was drunk too. Then we found a little mart called Crispins open 24 hours. They had chips unlike ours, potato chips done in steak and onion and roast chicken. My mother would love the differentness of these so might bring some back for her, heh. Lots of jammy cookies as well, but I stayed away from those for now. I've been reading some Tanith Lee but I think its about time to wake John from his second nap today and see if we can't get going on sightseeing. The Tower, St. Paul's and Whitechapel are on list, as well as Big Ben if we can and I noted a few other interesting places on tube map. I can hear them running along the tracks outside our window so off off and away......