London - Day One
Day One of the London odyssey proved long and almost painful at times. It started off well enough. The anticipated rain didn't seem to be coming. The sky was a brilliant blue. I was up early (having the sun up and bright around 5 a.m. still throws me off)and we got to the train station in plenty of time. We wanted to change our seats, so we'd be near each other. But we couldn't, because we were too close to our departure. The guy at the Virgin desk (who really was not very nice at all) said we could just switch seats once we were on the train, provided empty seats were available.
What the guy did NOT tell us was another train out of Lancaster had been cancelled, and our train now had two trains full of people heading to Birmingham. So not only were there no extra seats available - OUR seats weren't available. Luckily, a very kind young man offered me his seat and Alicia lucked into an empty one nearby and we were able to sit for the 45 minutes it took us to get to Crewe. We switched trains there and, luckily, had a minimally booked train for the remaining 90 minutes to London. We were able to sit next to each other, although we didn't talk that much. Alicia was doing sudoku and I was dozing. Trains tend to make me sleepy.
Once in London, we began the long slog through the Underground to Ealing. Although we only had small cases, we had my laptop in one of them. Alicia got stuck with it, because her bag was big enough to accomodate it. So we're schlepping from Euston to Tottenham Court, where we changed from the Northern to the Central Lines. Then the long haul to Ealing Broadway. Once there, we got a taxi to the hotel.
The Grange Lodge Hotel is a lovely place. It's a converted house nestled in a picturesque and quiet neighborhood. Our room is a good size. We actually have a triple, although I only booked a double. This works out well, because now we have our own beds. I initially booked the room figuring it'd be just me.
Once we got settled, we decided to go the National Archives and get our cards taken care of. I had a list of over two dozen documents to view and we worried that it would take all day. If we could get the administrative stuff done and get the documents ordered in advanced, we'd be able to hit the ground running Tuesday morning. Well, we got the cards no problem. But the computer system inside the archives is different than the one I access from off-site, so I didn't know my way around it. Plus,it was nearly closing time and the document request desk was closed. So I didn't get a single document requested. We felt a bit like we had wasted a trip, but tried to content ourselves in the knowledge that we had our reading cards and knew the general layout of the National Archives.
We had reservations on the London Eye for 8 p.m. so we rode the Tube into central London. We exited at Westminster Station, so Alicia could see the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Cathedral, and the other points of interest along the Thames. We were also starving, having eaten pretty much nothing since toast that morning, so after exiting the tube station and walking along the Westminster Bridge, we turned back in search of food. That was a mistake. The Tamil Tigers were protesting recent developments in Sri Lanka and had staged a massive sit-in around the Houses of Parliament. Dozens of police vehicles ringed the general area, and probably a hundred or more police officers were trying to keep the chanting crowd of over 500 protestors contained. A helicopter hovered above St. Stephen's Tower.
Seeing the number of police officers and feeling the rising tension, I urged Alicia to snap a pic or two of Westminster Cathedral and suggested we make a hasty retreat from the area. We walked along the road for a few blocks before turning back toward the Thames. It was a strange experience finding oneself in the midst of all that.
We went to the south bank of the Thames, near the London Eye, and grabbed a meal at a Chinese buffet. The London Eye was not very busy, so we didn't have to wait for our reservation time. We boarded around 7:15 or so and had an enjoyable half hour looking over the city.
As we dragged our tired selves back across the Westminster Bridge toward the tube station, Alicia spotted something she wanted to buy from a street vendor. She inquired about the price of one item and the guy said "Seven ninety-nine." That was a bit more than she liked, so she then asked the price of a smaller, similar item. He replied, "Two fifty." That was a fair price, so Alicia picked one and waited for the guy to finish haggling with an Asian family. When he got back to us, Alicia handed him two pounds fifty. "What's this for?" he asked. "This," Alicia replied, showing him her purchase. "That doesn't cost two fifty," he declared. "That's six pounds." Alicia retorted, "You told me two fifty when I asked before." To which he replied, "I was talking to someone else." Sensing the scam, Alicia said, "Well then," as she took her money from his still oustretched hand (he expected her to pay the balance) and deliberately put the item back in its place. Lesson learned: Don't think it's possible to get a fair price from a street vendor in London.
After that, we made the long ride back to Ealing (it takes about 30 minutes or so, I guess). We were looking forward to retiring for the night, and I was anxious to talk with Steve and tell him about my day. We've spent so much money on text messages to each other, that I really had to limit how many I sent. Not only was I paying 20p per text, but Steve was paying for both the texts he received from me and the ones he sent. Our text plan doesn't include international, so he was paying about 50 cents each time I texted and he replied. Texting was proving expensive, so Skyping was now my main way to communicate with Steve. And I was anxious to share my day with him and see how his day went.
Much to my dismay, when we got back to the hotel around 9, the internet wasn't working. So my plans to chat with Steve were dashed. It was with a very heavy heart that I finally went to sleep, leaving a long, tiring Monday behind me.
What the guy did NOT tell us was another train out of Lancaster had been cancelled, and our train now had two trains full of people heading to Birmingham. So not only were there no extra seats available - OUR seats weren't available. Luckily, a very kind young man offered me his seat and Alicia lucked into an empty one nearby and we were able to sit for the 45 minutes it took us to get to Crewe. We switched trains there and, luckily, had a minimally booked train for the remaining 90 minutes to London. We were able to sit next to each other, although we didn't talk that much. Alicia was doing sudoku and I was dozing. Trains tend to make me sleepy.
Once in London, we began the long slog through the Underground to Ealing. Although we only had small cases, we had my laptop in one of them. Alicia got stuck with it, because her bag was big enough to accomodate it. So we're schlepping from Euston to Tottenham Court, where we changed from the Northern to the Central Lines. Then the long haul to Ealing Broadway. Once there, we got a taxi to the hotel.
The Grange Lodge Hotel is a lovely place. It's a converted house nestled in a picturesque and quiet neighborhood. Our room is a good size. We actually have a triple, although I only booked a double. This works out well, because now we have our own beds. I initially booked the room figuring it'd be just me.
Once we got settled, we decided to go the National Archives and get our cards taken care of. I had a list of over two dozen documents to view and we worried that it would take all day. If we could get the administrative stuff done and get the documents ordered in advanced, we'd be able to hit the ground running Tuesday morning. Well, we got the cards no problem. But the computer system inside the archives is different than the one I access from off-site, so I didn't know my way around it. Plus,it was nearly closing time and the document request desk was closed. So I didn't get a single document requested. We felt a bit like we had wasted a trip, but tried to content ourselves in the knowledge that we had our reading cards and knew the general layout of the National Archives.
We had reservations on the London Eye for 8 p.m. so we rode the Tube into central London. We exited at Westminster Station, so Alicia could see the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Cathedral, and the other points of interest along the Thames. We were also starving, having eaten pretty much nothing since toast that morning, so after exiting the tube station and walking along the Westminster Bridge, we turned back in search of food. That was a mistake. The Tamil Tigers were protesting recent developments in Sri Lanka and had staged a massive sit-in around the Houses of Parliament. Dozens of police vehicles ringed the general area, and probably a hundred or more police officers were trying to keep the chanting crowd of over 500 protestors contained. A helicopter hovered above St. Stephen's Tower.
Seeing the number of police officers and feeling the rising tension, I urged Alicia to snap a pic or two of Westminster Cathedral and suggested we make a hasty retreat from the area. We walked along the road for a few blocks before turning back toward the Thames. It was a strange experience finding oneself in the midst of all that.
We went to the south bank of the Thames, near the London Eye, and grabbed a meal at a Chinese buffet. The London Eye was not very busy, so we didn't have to wait for our reservation time. We boarded around 7:15 or so and had an enjoyable half hour looking over the city.
As we dragged our tired selves back across the Westminster Bridge toward the tube station, Alicia spotted something she wanted to buy from a street vendor. She inquired about the price of one item and the guy said "Seven ninety-nine." That was a bit more than she liked, so she then asked the price of a smaller, similar item. He replied, "Two fifty." That was a fair price, so Alicia picked one and waited for the guy to finish haggling with an Asian family. When he got back to us, Alicia handed him two pounds fifty. "What's this for?" he asked. "This," Alicia replied, showing him her purchase. "That doesn't cost two fifty," he declared. "That's six pounds." Alicia retorted, "You told me two fifty when I asked before." To which he replied, "I was talking to someone else." Sensing the scam, Alicia said, "Well then," as she took her money from his still oustretched hand (he expected her to pay the balance) and deliberately put the item back in its place. Lesson learned: Don't think it's possible to get a fair price from a street vendor in London.
After that, we made the long ride back to Ealing (it takes about 30 minutes or so, I guess). We were looking forward to retiring for the night, and I was anxious to talk with Steve and tell him about my day. We've spent so much money on text messages to each other, that I really had to limit how many I sent. Not only was I paying 20p per text, but Steve was paying for both the texts he received from me and the ones he sent. Our text plan doesn't include international, so he was paying about 50 cents each time I texted and he replied. Texting was proving expensive, so Skyping was now my main way to communicate with Steve. And I was anxious to share my day with him and see how his day went.
Much to my dismay, when we got back to the hotel around 9, the internet wasn't working. So my plans to chat with Steve were dashed. It was with a very heavy heart that I finally went to sleep, leaving a long, tiring Monday behind me.
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