Back to the Beginning
I’m nearly 13 days into my vacation and I’m just now finally able to blog about what I’ve been doing. Oy vey.
Let’s go back…way back. We left Boston on Thursday, May 24th and arrived in London on Friday morning. Randy got us bumped up to business class and what a difference that makes! The seats were wide, there was leg room enough to practically lie down, they serve alcohol (free) before the flight even took off, and you get a 4 course meal instead of the grub you get in coach. You even get to order your dinner off a menu!
Oh, and the funniest part was that our flight attendant was the same flight attendant I had on my first trip to Paris nearly two years ago. Back then, he gave me and Brad a bottle of wine. This time around he gave me two bottles! WOO HOO.
Upon arrival at Heathrow, we took the subway into town instead of the Heathrow Express train (which we discovered would only have saved us about 10-15 minutes in the long run, yet would have cost $30 more to ride).
Learning that wet and windy weather was expected for much of our trip, we took a brief nap then headed out to explore London in dry air. We went to London Bridge, Tower Bridge, London Tower, the Gherkin, Lloyd’s of London, some church near there, and to my favorite London lunch place: Pret a Manger (one of the only affordable places in the city).
The next day we toured Greenwich: Royal Observatory, Queen’s House, Greenwich Park (straddling the Meridian), and viewed the Cutty Sark – which had burned down just a few days before (we got to see and smell the charred remains). Later in the afternoon we headed into the heart of London and walked along St. Paul, the Millennium Bridge and finally to Tate Modern Museum.
By afternoon, it was raining.
…and it didn’t stop until we left 4 days later. The temperature also dropped into the 40’s and the wind was also approaching the 40mph mark. Oh yeah, sinct last year it was 95+ degrees and humid, I didn’t pack a jacket this time. Needless to say, it was miserable.
But we continued our London adventures over the next few days: Victoria and Albert Museum, National Portrait Gallery, Trafalgar Square, Soho, Picadilly Circus, Oxford Street, South Kensington, Buckingham Palace, and of course, Harrod’s: the most ridiculous place I’d ever seen. It’s like Vegas in London. Tacky as all hell…with statues of Dodi Al-Fayed and Princess Diana as angels or some such nonsense in the elevator vestibule. Then there’s a statue of Daddy Fayed as a Pharoah in another escalator vestibule. In the men’s department there’s another statue of Daddy just standing in a suit. It’s the silliest thing (and the place is way over-priced – $80 and up for a single pair of underwear).
But that’s par for the course in this most ridiculously expensive cities – where it costs $4 to go one subway stop and Thai food for three people (without drinks) costs you $75.00.
Long story short – I was eager to leave London. This was my second visit there and this was the second time I didn’t really like it. Ít’s too dirty, too crowded, and too expensive. Most museums are free (a definite plus), but everything else sucks your money away in no time. I wanted to give it a second chance and like to think that I went into it with an open mind….but London now has two strikes against it. Is the third time the charm? Who knows….I suspect it will be a while before I return, though.
However, Randy has been a great travel companion and his friends (who we stayed with in London) were wonderful.
It’s funny, London seems like a distant memory at this point since we left it over a week ago. But here are a few of my photos from that portion of the trip. As always, Randy’s photos will be better and I’ll eventually post all of the photos in my Yahoo Photo Gallery in the future. These are just a sampler. Oh, and I’ll write about Prague tomorrow.
Here is London Tower….the day before the monsoons
And here is the Gherkin…I kinda’ like it.
These are the stairs inside the Queen’s House in Greenwich. I’m rather fond of how this one came out. You’re not allowed to take photos in there…but I did anyway. Shhhhhh!
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So Jason was working the flight, eh? And two bottles of champagne this time? Clearly, I was a hindrance when this happened before. 🙂 As for London, sorry you didn’t have a good time (again). It’s really a lovely place, but being an anglophile that adores the history, my focus is probably clouded by being in a place that has so much royal heritage (regardless of the cost). Does that make me a princess geek?
How hysterical that it was the same attendant – fate! Did you get his number? Kidding! Isn’t the Tower of London cool & fascinating? And Tower Bridge beautiful? Oh, I love London and nothing you say will change my mind! Though it wasn’t so crazy expensive when I’ve been there. That is a gorgeous photo of the staircase. And didn’t I tell you to carry a jacket w/ you on the plane????