Drove from Salisbury to London -- again, heavy trafic, but we made it, checked into the hotel and and headed off to explore the nearby neighborhood. It became apparent that London is very much a multi-cultural city with a very heavy middle and far eastern influence. It is also a very much "alive" city with people out in the evenings walking, shopping in neighborhood stores, socializing, sitting in the parks, eating and drinking -- many of the pubs looked to be wonderful places to be if you were in your early twenties with people spiling out into the streets late into the evening with drinks in hand, laughing, talking -- just having a good time.
Tired from the drive, we washed-up and went out walking the streets of the neighborhood looking for a place to have dinner. Plenty of choices -- a couple of traditional pubs (really busy), a Chinese restaurant (booked until after 10:00pm), pizza places and a slew of "hole-in-the-wall' places -- we ended-up at a small middle eastern place having halal chicken with fries (strange combination) -- it was pretty good.
The next day we headed off on our own, braving the Underground to central London. Walked across the new London Bridge (the "real" one is in Arizona -- AZ got the better of that deal!), explored some of the old streets, alleyways and market places, saw Sir francis Drake's boat, the Golden Hind (looked authentic but found out later it was a replica), strolled along the Thames riverwalk to Tower Bridge (the real one) and across it -- very beautiful structure -- part of the "romantic" allure.
Unfortunately, it became obvious very quicky that London is now a modern city, glass and marble-faced skyscrappers, much like you'd see in New York City or Los Angeles -- for the most part, the romantic "days of yore" are gone, faded into the mists of history. There are scattered enclaves from days past that are fantastic, but today, they're surrounded by everything new, and to me, that was a shame.
London is also a "walking" city -- highly congested, no parking -- to see things, you have to use your own two feet -- fortunately, most of what there is to see (from an historical perspective) is in a relatively compact area.
That night found us eating dinner at an authentic pub near the hotel -- mostly guys in their fifties drinking pints of beer and watching games on the sports channels -- atmosphere and good food.
Next day we received an invitation from the Queen to attend the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace (along with two to three thousand other people!) -- what a "mob" scene. The Horse Guards ride from their stables to the Barracks to "pick-up" the guard and accompany them about a half mile down a major road to Buckingham Palace where they go through an involved ceremonial changing of the guards -- interesting for the pomp and ceremony! Seems the reason they go through this exercise is that over a hundred years ago, then Queen Victoria came back to the Palace one afternoon to find none of the gates gurarded -- all of the guard were drunk and sleeping it off -- so she ordered a formal ceremony be held every day for the next one hundred years to make sure it didn't hapen again. Now they do the ceremony every other day and it's a tourist thing -- the Queen wasn't even there!
Later that day, we signed-up for a bus tour, which in theory, is a great way to get yourself oriented to the layout of London and decide what attractions you want to come back to on your own and spend more time visiting.
In reality, it doesn't really work all that well -- not because of the tour buses, but because of the one lane streets and massive congestion in the area -- London is a modern city laid-out on a medieval road footprint. As with Gilligan, the Skipper and the Minnow, our "three hour orientation" tour didn't go quite as planned -- actually took two days to complete (they comped us the second day). It was fun riding on a double-decker bus, having a great view of the sights (Hyde Park, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Marble Arch, Big Ben, Sean Connery's house, etc...), taking photos, relaxing, and getting "oriented" -- but you could have walked to places three times faster.
Another issue was that the buses stopped running at six in the evening which means if you didn't plan well, you could be a couple of miles from where you needed to be with the only options being: 1) find an Underground station and figure out how to get from point A to point B (to me, NYC's subway is much easier to figure out); 2) try and hail a taxi and spend a small fortune; or 3) walk -- unfortunately, London's streets are more like a rabbit's warren than a grid system, twisting and turning and ever-changing their names -- in three blocks a street will typically be called by three different names -- you literally could walk in circles without realizing it (we found out the hard way -- a supposedly five minute walk turned into a forty-five minute hike, and at times we were less than a block from our destination without knowing it).
After walking around part of Whitechapel (AKA Jack the Ripper's stomping grounds) but now all modern buildings and none on the charm, we decided to take a river cruise down the Thames. I'm not big on "river cruises" -- pretty hokey -- but this one turned out to be quite pleasant.
We hopped on on one of the tour buses that promised to drop us close to our hotel -- it was almost 6:00pm and it was the last run of the day okn that route. Got on, settled in and proceeded to sit in unbelievable traffic for over an hour going maybe two or three miles. At that point, the driver pulled to the curb, announced that the bus was out of service and that a replacement bus would arrive shortly -- and away she went.
There, we were engulfed by a human tidal wave -- hundreds of people moving down the sidewalk and out into the street. I've spent quite a bit of time in New York City at rush hour and never experienced anything like this -- for more than forty-five minutes it was an unending fast-flowing river of people, shoulder to shoulder heel, heel to toe flowing around our little island of stranded passengers, bumping and joustling -- unbelievablle! Finally a bus arrived and we continued on -- exhausted. Oh, did I forget to mention that it was the hottest day in London in fifty years in the mid-90's? You get the picture!
That evening we treated ourselves to a couple of English style hamburgers and a bottle of wine!
Next day it was up early again -- Cindy's last day in London and there were still places we wanted to visit. Westminster Abbey was first on the list still a functioning church, parts of it date to the 1100's. Almost every famous name you can think of from English history is buried there -- with the requisite statues, plaques and side chapels, etc.. -- overwhelming!
Then back on the tour bus to our last destination the Tower of London which isn't actually a towere but a complex of building that contains a number of towers, one of which is infamous for the numerous royal murders occuring there over the centuries. The Royal jewels are also kept in the complex and we took a quick look -- a lot of "bling"! For the most part, the jewels are embedded in the crowns the kings and queens of London have worn over the last few centuries -- not individual pieces of jewelry.
Then it was back to the hotel and a final meal at a nearby Italian restaurant. That's when Cindy got a text from American Airrlines informing her that her flight back to the States the next day had been cancelled and they had rebooked her for the following day -- no explanation or offer to help. Fortunately, my plans had been to stay at the hotel for one additional might so she had a place to sleep or it could have ben interesting.
Decided to take advantage of the "bonus" day in London and visit the National Gallery's art collection and then the British Museum -- Egyptian statues, mummies, artifiacts -- and the Rosetta Stone. Then off for a final dinner back at the pub.
Up early the next mornign, took the Underground to Heathrow, saw Cindy off on her flight and then headed out of London myself -- two hours in bumper to bumper London traffic -- on my way to Cambridge.
London was kind of disappointing but the company was wonderful!
