Leaving For London

Aug 26, 2012

I write this from Wales in the United Kingdom on Day 6 of our European trip. We left the States on the 21st of August with friends, Jane and Mark, and flew to London. There we would stay two nights at the Hilton in Heathrow. After landing and spending the night at the hotel we started out, via the Underground, for a day of walking around the historic center of England's capitol city.

Mark, with his laptop and mobile, at Newark as we waited to board our plane for London. 

We boarded the Underground at the airport and took the Piccadilly line to Hyde Park. It took us about an hour, door-to-door. When we emerged, we were at the southeast corner of London's beautiful central park. It was very exciting, cars, double-decker buses and bicycles whizzing by around us and the peaceful and quiet oasis of the park beckoning us inwards.

Stacey in Hyde Park's Rose Garden. Stunning!

We strolled around an extraordinarily beautiful rose garden for a while and then headed eastwards through the posh neighborhood of Mayfair. Wending our way through streets, both small, quaint and quiet and then noisy and teeming, we made our way eventually toward Piccadilly. 

At a pub for lunch.

We were getting tired of walking and also started to talk about lunch so we found what looked like a nice pub where Jane and Stacey tried the traditional fish and chips. Mark had a hamburger and I had a Ploughman's platter of bread and cheese. We all had some proper British beer as well. 

We kept on our long march and made our way Trafalgar square. With its tall column surmounted by Lord Nelson and its extraordinary lions which served as the perfect backdrop for posed photos, it was a real center for meet-ups and hang outs. The sun was shining brilliantly, people were everywhere: standing or sitting on steps and ledges. It was quite beautiful and very popular.

Posing for pictures in Trafalgar Square. Smile! You too, Leo.

We ended our one-day, whirlwind walking tour of London town at the Thames, down on The Embankment. We took a down-and-dirty circular boat ride up to the Tower Bridge and then back down, ending at Westminster and its famous tower with the Big Ben clock at its top. What a great way to see the old city and its skyline. We passed under many bridges. Here was Blackfriar's Bridge and London Bridge. There was Christopher Wren's St. Paul's Cathedral and finally the famous Tower Bridge (thought by many of us Americans to be London Bridge). On the way back up the river we passed some of London's new architecture, including an awesome building that looks like glass needle (said to be the tallest building in western Europe), the Tate modern art museum and the famous London Eye which is an enormous, slowly-rotating wheel which one can ride around for fantastic views from aloft.

Tower Bridge.

The London Eye

We finished our boat ride at Big Ben. It was after five and the streets were crowded with after-work walkers, bikers, cars and buses. It was quite frenetic. People were standing with friends and beers outside of pubs for a bit of after-hours socializing.

We made our way northwards again, not knowing whether we should  pick up some take-away (as they say here) for a dinner in our hotel room. But it was so late we figured that we wouldn't end up eating "dinner" until nine o'clock what with an hour Undeground ride back to Heathrow and our hotel. So we opted for Indian food on a Yelp-recommended restaurant on Denman Street. The only problem was, we couldn't find Denman Street. In trying to locate it, we happened upon Chinatown - we didn't even know it existed! But it was filled with lots of restaurants and lots of Londoners and other tourists. We were so tired, we picked one that looked good and, guess what? It was!

Hanging out after work at the pub. Chatting outside with a cold one.

Bikers rule! Lots of  people on bicycles and this is rush hour after work!

After our really good Chinese dinner.

A good dinner, an hour train ride home and a good night's sleep ended our first full day in the U.K.

An interesting side note: our niece Marlo was in London as well - she was here to promote her Thro products that manufactures and sells. She was going to be live on QVC, the sales channel but we couldn't get it in our room. Stacey cajoled the hotel staff to turn it on on the telly in lobby (without sound, however). And we watched Marlo live on UK television - grand!

         I filmed Marlo live on QVC - right off the hotel lobby telly. There's no sound though.

Tomorrow, we pick up our rental car and head to Oxford and the glorious British countryside in the Cotswolds. We'll see you there. - Matt

If you want to see the rest of our London walking tour photos, just CLICK HERE.