Last Night in London, Day 7: March 28, 2006

Today I was late getting out, but the sky was blue for the first time in days! It was great. I walked through St James Park over to Buckingham Palace to watch the Changing of the Guard. It didn't start yet, so while waiting in the windy cold I watched the clouds racing in and out of the blue sky. The daffodils have started blooming in the park; I really enjoyed it.

I wanted to see a show tonight, so I decided to try "The Producers" because it's been highly rated, and I figured we could see "Mary Poppins" when the girls come in August. I went to the theatre to buy tickets. "What's your cheapest ticket for tonight?" £20 for full view. "What about restricted view?" £10. So I took it and was excited about going to a show in the original Drury Lane Theatre, the oldest and one of the fanciest.

When I got there tonight, I found that since my seat was in the 3rd balcony, we didn't even get to enter through the regular theatre. I was late and had to run up through a separate entrance leading up 7 flights of grungy stairs with peeling paint, no carpet and an old iron handrail! The top balcony actually has no access to the rest of the theatre! Is this a class mechanism intended to keep the riff-raff separated from the richer people?

My "restricted view" seat had to look between the railings on the very end of the row, so I just took another one several rows further up, because there were a number of empty seats up in the rafters.

The musical was supposed to be funny and flashy and politically incorrect. I can say that it had a good sound system. The plot had promise: a show was intended to flop so the producers could raise $2 million from backers, put it on for $100,000, fold it, and not have to repay the backers. It started flashy and fun, but I didn't enjoy it because of constant innuendoes and finally hiring a whole gay production crew and worse. I noticed I was not applauding when everyone else did. At intermission I sat there wondering whether it was worth it to invest the time to see the rest of the show, because I needed to got to an internet cafe to send this e-mail and repack all my stuff. Then I thought, "What would Heavenly Father want me to do?" That was an easy answer, so I got up and left immediately. I thought that show would be safe enough, but I was wrong!

Most of today I spent on shop-till-you-drop research. I headed north to Camden Town Market; supposedly the kids will think it's great. It sure is different from the department stores I've been seeing! Let's just say that the word "sleaze" does not adequately describe it! Studded leather belts and body piercing, tatoo parlors and T-shirts with vulgar sayings . . . I also found some cool things like a canal with a lock in the middle of it all, and an African drum shop and a place to buy 3' X 5' flags of other countries. The smell of incense was everywhere.

They have what they call "vintage" clothing around here. That means "used." There's lots of it at this market. I suppose you could find some really cool stuff if you could stand to go through the racks and racks of junk! It started to rain, so I ducked into this covered area called "The Stables," and bought some sweet and sour chicken from a Chinese girl in one stall , while others called me to buy theirs. I sat down to eat by a balding, bearded Scotsman from the Outer Hebrides and a couple from Berlin. I think the husband was of Indian ancestry. We all actually conversed, due to the gregarious nature of the Scotsman!

I'd had plenty, so I decided to chuck the rest of the flied lice and get back to town. A fellow in another booth noticed and heckled me saying something about "It's not good? Why you throw it away? Come buy from me!"

I went to the high-class shopping area in London around the intersection of Oxford Street and Regent Street. I was looking for stores with the kind of stuff teeage girls would like. I found 2 branches of H & M, Top Shop, and some others. I found a store in the coolest old half-timbered building called Liberty. It's got balconies up 4 floors on the inside and kind of unique furniture and wierd expensive clothes for rich people.

I have a new favorite store! It's called Hamley's and it's a toy store. It claims to be the best in the world, and it just might be. It's on 5 or 6 or 7 levels, and it has some of everything. Jared, it has a whole section devoted to Thomas the Tank Engine! It also has a Steiff section and sections for Barbie and costumes and games and everything else you can think of. But the best part of all I only found by accident just before I left. It's a "Chronicles of Narnia" staircase. In one corner of the building, it goes up for 7 flights of stairs, and the whole staircase is decorated like "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." Heidi, you'd love it. You even enter through the bookcase. I was beat, but I climbed to the very top. The whole place is full of shoppers, but none of them seem to even know it's there. I guess that's why it's a secret. I was the only person on the staircase. It was very cool.

Well, I've done lots this trip, but I definitely haven't had time to just wander. I'll be glad to be home tomorrow night and see my family and let my feet rest. It's been a productive trip.

London Day 6: March 27, 2006

Today was my most unproductive day ever. Aargh! I was going to try the shopping places I'd read about. What a fiasco! My first goal was Harrods'. Should have been simple, no?

I wanted to ride the bus, because you can see more and it's a prettier view than the tube. So I walked to the bus stop, about half a block, and waited for the bus. And waited and waited and 3 of every other bus that uses that stop came and went but not my bus. In London, 25 minutes is 3 times as long as normal to wait for a bus, and in the cold wind it seemed like forever. When I finally got on, I asked the driver if he went to Harrod's. He looked at me funny and said yes. At the bottom of the road, I thought he should have turned left, but he went right.

I figured that was because of all the one-way streets. At the next corner and the next and the next he didn't go the way I thought he should. I knew he was heading out of town, but the only other person on the top deck of the bus with me was a pretty girl yakking away on her cell phone in German. I finally interrupted her to ask if the bus went to Harrod's and she said, "No, you are going the wrong direction!" so I quickly jumped off and ran across the street and up a block to catch the bus going the other way. It took forever, but we finally came right past the same stop where I got on ( a one-way street) and at the bottom of the street, he turned left! So it took me an hour to get there, and if I'd taken the tube it would have been 10 minutes! That's why this pretrip is so valuable . . .

At Harrod's I was very impressed with all the ceilings, which are fabulous. There's a picture of one below. In every room they are different. You have to see the Egyptian Staircase to believe it! There's a big statue of Dodi & Princess Di and a realistic wax statue of his father, who owns Harrod's. It looks like he's really there, greeting you from his pedestal. There are fabulous food courts and a whole room devoted to chocolate! You see me there in chocolate heaven at the top of today's blog post.

I bought 2 blue & white Spode mugs on sale for £6 (about $11) each. Now I have to carry them all day and my suitcases are getting really heavy! Harrod's has pretty good prices for china. I've seen the same mugs in the States for $18.

So, like I was saying, today has been fairly unproductive! The computer I was using in Burger King in Piccadilly Circus cut off after only 30 minutes. It wasn't a very new computer, so I just thought it gypped me. When I went to buy more time, I noticed it was £2 per hour, twice the rate I've paid everywhere else! So now I'm over on Charing Cross Road, past Leicester Square in a combo patisserie/internet cafe run by Indians. As in, from India.

So Harrod's was a really impressive version of ZCMI, someplace you have to go to say you've been there, and to buy chocolates or china.

Since I've heard that Harvey Nichols (Harvey Nick's) is the best department store in London, I went there next, only a block away. I think their buyers have lots of style. They sell expensive clothes, very cool, none of which I would wear. All their evening gowns and wedding gowns were strapless, but cool colors and fancy designs. Nothing at all for the teeny-bop set or anything Heidi would wear. Great makeup try-on area, though. So that was a bust.

Next I lucked onto a store I had actually planned to look for, Shanghai Tang. I expected an oriental-type Chinatown market. It's oriental, all right, with lovely atmospheric music going; but quite small and so upscale they only have a few things set out. Everything was beautifully displayed, of course. I saw a way cool brightly colored vinyl bag with matching wallet, and asked the price. (I should know, no price tags is never good.) £98! That's the equivalent of $175.00 American! I very meekly said thank you and left!

So then I caught the bus for Sloane Square where I planned to find a shop called Jo Malone where they make great bath and beauty products for half their American price. When I got off the bus it was raining, so I ducked into this old church. To eat the chocolate eclair I bought at Harrods' I would have to sneak it. I went up to the front and sat down as far as possible from the guy watching at the entrance. Probably he thought I was praying or admiring the church or maybe I was just one of the old people about to have a heart attack in the church, I don't know!

So it was still raining and blowing while I walked all around the square, asking people where Jo Malone was. No one knew. I finally found a lady who pointed it out to me. It was just on the other side of the church where I got off the bus!

Jo Malone is also very small and upscale. They make their own perfumes etc. A small bottle costs £50. That's 90 bucks! A very nice African lady in a navy suit kept trying to persuade me to accept the free hand massage she wanted to give me. I said no, figuring she'd expect me to buy something. Another bust and another bus outta there!

I'd been counting on the 2:00 "London Westminster Abbey Walking Tour," but I arrived at 1:00 and it was too cold to wait outside, so I ducked into a little church just beside Westminster Abbey. More time lost! At 1:50 I went back to the tube stop to join the tour. A mob was there already, all trying to pay for the tour. I think I was almost the last person they let come. Cost me £14 instead of just £9 to get into the Abbey. So this "great tour" I'd read so much about lasted 2 hours while the guide lady with an Oxford accent told us about every statue, memorial and person buried in the whole dang place. I was so bored I could die. I would have left the tour, but I paid that £14 and I was going to get my money's worth if it killed me, and it almost did!

So then I thought it was probably my only chance to get into Parliament to watch a session, so I went to the gate and asked. The lady advised me to go have a "cuppa" (hot tea) and come back in 45 minutes, when there would be no line. So the serendipity was while I waited, I wandered around the far end of the wall and found a great view of Parliament and a nice statue, which I took a picture of together. Then I went around the statue and read the inscription. "Burghers of Calais" by Rodin! And I almost missed it! And then I remembered Kim told me about this, and I found it by accident! That was so cool!

So I went back and had to wait in not one, but 3 separate lines, one after another. I did get in to see the House of Lords in Action. We sat up on the highest balcony, in the "Strangers Gallery" and had to fill out a form and sign a thing saying we wouldn't make any noise, chew gum, smoke, eat, talk, or cause any disruption whatsoever. Lord Somebody was giving what seemed to me an intelligent set of comments about the European countries all becoming dependent on Russian oil, the war in Iraq, and a few other topics. A few members were scattered about on the seats below, listening respectfully. Then Lord Somebody Else got up to talk, and his English was even more blue-blood than the first guy. It was amazing. Here is the old aristocracy, still the most educated and playing their part, but the people don't really allow them much power. The House of Lords has no say whatsoever in financial matters, and simply acts as a check on the House of Commons. The Commons isn't nearly as well behaved!

After 10 minutes of observation, I was antsy to get back to my hotel and pick up my suitcases for the trip across town to the next hotel, where I will stay for the last 2 nights. So after waiting 45 minutes and observing for 10, I left. Back in the hotel basement storage room, I packed everything, including my purse, into the 2 suitcases and set off for the tube. By this time it was 5:30 and the tube was so packed it was hot and steamy, but I squished up against the end of the car and talked to a young French-speaking Swiss man and a recently divorced New Yorker. They were quite pleasant. The guy from New York was going to see the new production of "Mary Poppins" which I also planned to see.

By the time I finally got to my next hotel (St. Margaret's in the picture at left) and got situated, it was after 7:00. I beat a trail back to try to get into the show, but I turned the wrong way coming out of the tube station, got thoroughly turned around, had to backtrack several times, and by the time I got to the theatre, the box office was closed. Another bust! So I walked back to Leicester Square and over to Picadilly Circus and bought a piece of pizza and looked for an internet cafe, which is how I ended up in Burger King.

It seems to me there are 3 kinds of people here in London: tourists, immigrants, and native British people. They are about equally divided, too! All of the hotel personnel in all 3 hotels have been immigrants; Pakistani, Polish, Indian. Chinese maids, Brazilian. I have not had one native Brit except for the tour guide. Remind me not to do that again!

London Day 5: March 26, 2006

Today I attended church in the London Hyde Park Ward. London must be by the most international city I have ever visited! Testimonies were borne by single adults from Brazil, Czech Republik, Canada, USA (2) Australia (2), New Zealand (2), China, and England (2).
On the street I hear French, German, Spanish and |Italian, but those are in the minority. More common are other languages I don't recognize. Some of them are Japanese and Korean, but others seem to be Eastern European and Arabic languages.

Hyde Park Ward is located right next to 3 of the biggest museums in London, so after church I spent a couple of hours finding my way around the Victoria and Albert Decorative Arts museum. It was SO interesting! They have made plaster cast replicas of the most famous statues in the world, including several I saw in Italy last November. There was a full-size David and several of the other Michelangelo statues. There was a replica of the Doors of Heaven which are from the Baptistry in Florence.


There is a huge copy of Trajan's Column from Rome which they have cut in half to make it fit into the room (ceiling only about 75 feet up.) That was really good for me, because in Rome I couldn't get close enough to see the original because it's too high and it sits in the traffic around the Wedding Cake. So I really enjoyed the museum.

By that time it was 3:00 and I was starving so went back to the hotel to change and eat and take a break. Then off again!

Hyde Park Speaker's Corner has been calling me, but I wasn't sure anything would still be happening over there because it was getting toward 5:00. I loved it! There were several crowds gathered listening to people on boxes or folding step stools just like mine in the laundry room. Bring your own box. The louder they talk, the bigger the crowd they draw. If someone in the crowd heckles them, they get a bigger crowd. I kind of felt sorry for the ones I saw with a step stool but no crowd. One was a lady who looked like a homeless person I saw the other day(?)

Headed over to Covent Garden to se if anything was still happening over there, and found street performers even in the rain. Heidi, I know how you love them! I bought you all the coolest bath bombs! They fizz and make a spa bath. Men too! I'm so proud of myself. They are homemade by Lush. Lush makes a whole line of beauty products that are organic and you buy them by the gram like vegetables and keep them in the refrigerator. Go to www.lush.com

Rick Steve's walks seem to be right on, so I decided to do another, this time the West End walk. It wandered through the Theatre district and Soho, which is not a G-rated place!

Tonight I wanted to find which bus goes from the hotel to Victoria station, so I rode it clear over to the station. I got the same African immigrant driver coming back, and he kept me from getting off too early because he remembered where I got on! His excuse for not noticing me earlier was that "All people look alike!" I laughed a little inside because of that.

In the morning I have to move to my next hotel. The purpose is accomplished in acquainting me with several neighborhoods, but it's aggravating in that it takes 2 hours of my precious time! I will not have enough time to check out everything I want to do here this week.

Well, they are closing, so I must send this.

London Day 4: March 25, 2006

This is going to have to be fast because I decided about 30 minutes ago to walk up to the half-price ticket booth in Leicester Square and see if I could get tickets to "Whistle Down the Wind," which is the latest Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. They didn't have any, so I walked a few blocks to the theatre itself and asked for the cheapest seat for tonight. I got a ticket for £10 and it starts in 35 minutes!

First thing this morning I had to check out of my hotel by Victoria Station and take all my suitcases on the tube to my next hotel. I wanted to get to know several areas of London, and so chose hotels in 3 different areas. This one is the Rushmore and I like it. I think I will put my Moms & Daughters tour here in August. The last one wasn't really nice enough, although the location was terrific for what I needed.

It was too early to get into the room, so I decided to find a bus to the Portobello Road Market. Bus took forever in traffic, and then the street market wasn't all that easy to find. At any rate, I finally found the street market, and it was pretty extensive and lots of fun. There were lots of antique booths and clothes and ethnic food stalls selling Greek and French foods and olives and vegetables. There were even street performers, which I did not expect because it's winter and threatening rain. I bought (what a surprise) a blue and white dish.

Took the tube back (faster though there were delays because they are working on it) to put the dish away and check into the room. It looks like a tiny version of something out of Mary Poppins. The ceiling is high and it has a tall window. The room is, like every other room in London, just big enough to turn around.

Off again to finally get into St Paul's Cathedral. Cost me £9! That included the climb to the dome, though. Way the heck up 500+ stairs, but at one point you can see down into the church. that's the shot you see at the left. I was way high up iin the dome. At 2 higher points you can see all over London. There is an American memorial in the apse paid for by the people of Britain. I wa quite touched by that. I went down in the crypt and saw where Sir Christopher Wren (architect who built the cathedral) and Lord Nelson and Lawrence of Arabia are buried. In the gift shop I finally found my first 2 decent posters of London. While I was there the organ started, and then a church service with a choir processing in, all boys and men in white robes. The music was fabulous! Another lump to the throat . . .

By this time it was raining, so I hopped a bus toward home. Since it was only 5:00 I didn't want to quit yet, so I got off and took another bus going the other way. By Westminster Abbey I got off and wandered around the statue of Churchill, and then walked up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square. On Whitehall are all their power offices: the Foreign Office, their Pentagon, 10 Downing Street, the Horse Guards, the Welsh and Scottish offices, and the Banqueting Hall (first of the new white classical style by Inigo Jones in 1620). I cut through the block and found the Cabinet War Rooms where Churchill ran the war and a lovely park where the daffodils are starting to bloom.

At Trafalgar Square I wandered around the fountains you see in the picture, and then came up here to the theater district. Got to go; the show starts in 17 minutes and it's up the block. I love the theater here!

London 3rd Day: March 24, 2006

Today I ran out to Stratford on Avon to see how much trouble it would be to get there. Boy was I glad I did THAT on my own first! The 2nd time will be lots easier!

I was in a big hurry to get out this morning, because I knew it would take over 2 hours to get there on the train. I took the tube to Oxford Circus, changed tubes, went to Marylebone. Found the place to buy a ticket for Stratford OK, but the next train did not go for 1 hour. I found out later that 9:00 is the first direct train of the day, so it would not have done me any good to get there earlier.

After wandering around the Marylebone station for awhile, I remembered that Dad's people come from Marylebone, so I decided to go find the church. It was only a few blocks away, so with my trusty maps, I walked over and found it. That's what you see in the picture at the left. I could not get in; it's not really very big or fancy, and all doors were locked, though I could hear someone in there working. I took pictures (of course.) I did find two schools next to it, and wondered if any of Dad's ancestors went to those schools.

On the train I quite enjoyed seeing the English countryside again, with hedgerows and sheep and rolling hills. As you get farther away from London, the trees start to leaf out; must be warmer out of the city going north?

Train stops on the way included very familiar names: High Wicombe, Banbury, Warwick, and a bunch of others. The ride was really quite smooth with nice blue plush seats - lots more room than an airline!

In Stratford, I walked half a mile from the station into town and bought a ticket for the bus that runs you around to all the Shakespeare Trust properties. I hopped on and found that it drives right past the train station on the way out to Anne Hathaway's house. I could have saved myself the walk. Aargh!

I liked all the houses, but Mary Arden's home was the very best. It's the girlhood home of Shakespeare's mother. It's several miles out of town in a little old village, and they have a working medieval farm with several barns and 2 houses. There are rare breeds of sheep and "longhorn" cattle and all kinds of hawks. I watched an owl with orange eyes fly and catch a piece of a yellow baby chick and eat it all, even the beak! All the birds started squawking when a heron flew over and the owl ruffled out his feathers to make himself look bigger.

The Shakespeare Trust had an embarrassing moment in 1999 when they discovered that the house they'd been telling people for over a hundred years was Mary Arden's house, actually wasn't! The real one was next door. Fortunately they had bought the right house in 1966 to prevent new development next door. So now you get to go through both houses and several barns, and there is even a nice walk out through the pastures in back, which I did of course take.



Back in town I went into the village church where Shakespeare is buried and then walked all along the River Avon. There are houseboat-barges tied up there and swans and it's really quite colorful and picturesque. After waiting around in town because my train back to London didn't go until 5:40, I discovered the last bus back to the station had gone at 4:00. Aargh again! So I had to walk probably a mile back to the station. That's what the British call "a short 10-minute walk." It actually took me about 20 minutes.


On the train home I was so tired I kept falling asleep. Home by 8:45.

London 2nd Day: March 23, 2006

I didn't make it out this morning until 9:00. Then I remembered that my all-day bus tour was still good until 9:45 this morning, and it had a free boat ride on the Thames on it. I wanted to take the Thames River Cruise; get on by big Ben and get off by the Tower of London. I wanted to be there early because I'd read that the crowds were worse at the Tower after 10:00.

So I hopped on the Tube over to Westminster and came out a little tunnel right by the docks, just in the bottom right of this picture. Worked like a charm. I was there by 9:20, just in time to get on the boat. Not . . . so fast! the window wasn't open yet. So I stood around and talked to several other people who were waiting. All Americans, 2 couples and a single guy. At 9:45 the window opened, but it was not the company with the free boat ride. "Two windows down, probably open in 5 minutes." So I wait while the wind is blowing and I'm freezing (wearing full thermals) but at least the sun is shining.

At 10:00 the next window opened, so I tried; but no, it's still the next window. Probably open around 10:30. So I decided not to wait around; instead skip on over to Parliament a few hundred yards away and see if I can get in to watch the MP's in action.

The Union Jack was flying over Parliament, which means it's in session. So after asking a bunch of questions I finally found the right door to get in where people were queueing up. It would be at least 30 minutes before I could get in. I decided to go back to the docks and try the boat again.

The window was still not open, so I talked to the single man again. He mentioned his boyfriend, but it was too late; I was stuck as his friend. About that time I noticed that the correct company that I'd been waiting for all this time only did non-stop circle trips from this pier. Aargh! I decided to walk downriver to the correct pier.

It was lovely walking along the Thames. Breezy but sunny, only a few blocks. As soon as I got there and showed my voucher, the ticket lady said to just go on up those stairs and down to the docks! Finally! She didn't even give me grief for having an expired voucher. Hallelujah! The only trouble was the boat had just left and the next one would be along in 45 minutes. Oh well, at least they had a glassed-in place on the docks with a great view of the London Eye, but out of the wind. Soon the single guy showed up again, and we ended up talking together even after we'd gotten on the boat.

The boat ride was quite nice; had a local young boatman pointing out the sights, kind of a breath of fresh air, so to speak. I ended up finally getting to the Tower of London at noon. This is SO why I am doing this pre-trip! This morning would have been a fiasco if I'd had a bunch of paying customers following me!

I took the Beefeater Tour at the Tower. Those guys seem to enjoy what they do, and they are the real McCoy. Afterward I went in to see the Crown Jewels The new arrangement is better because as you wait in line to get in, you watch these multi-screen videos of the queen's coronation and all about the jewels and it has uplifiting-type music and it's really quite cool. There wasn't a big enough crowd to make us really have to wait in line, but you want to see the video. People just keep watching when they should move ahead, so you can just pass them if you want. I liked it so much I went through again later, skipped the lines and just went round and round the jewels on the moving walkway.

I wanted to get up on top of the walls to walk around. Every set of directions I got, I could not follow. Remember British directions? Well, you can't miss it! Turns out there are 3 places to get up on top of the walls, and 2 of them are closed. I finally found the last and it was worth it, because it took me to a nice little exhibit in a corner tower about how they cut the world's hugest diamond into 3 pieces. The biggest piece is in the queens' sceptre and the next is in the queen mother's crown.

There are lots of very tight circular staircases in the castle, doubtless for defense. There are also 2 moats. Did you know the Thames used to be a lot wider than it is now? The water used to come right up to Traitor's Gate.

Next I went into the White Tower which is an armament museum. The most interesting thing there is the armour worn by Henry VII with interchangeable parts and his horse armour. That's the armour he wore while riding a horse, and the armour for the horse! There is also a set of armour for a man 6' 8" tall, said to be for John of Gaunt (he is supposedly in our genealogy) but it was actually made in Germany 200 years after he lived.

I also ate lunch in the cafe in the wall. Cost me £6.50 which is about $11 for a foccacia sandwich and 2 bits of salads. The salads were very interesting. One looked like a normal fresh green salad, but I kept chewing and chewing on my first bite. Something had the texture of shoe leather. I pulled it out to look at it, and discovered it to be a tomato! It must be one which had been dried and the rehydrated! Tasty, when you get used to it. The other salad was shredded raw carrots with sesame seeds and watercress and black olives. Not bad.

By this time it was 4:00 and I wanted to go to St. Paul's. I hopped a red double-decker city bus and was there in no time, but it had already closed for the day.

So I walked across the Millennium Bridge to the south Bank, thinking it was too late to get into the Globe Theatre (new reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe) but I could see there were people over there, so I just barely made it in for the last tour for the day. I really like the Globe. I think I 'm going to try to get us "groundling" tix (£5 for standing room only, right down in front) for a play there. That's cheaper than the tour and you get to see a play to boot.

From there I went next door to the Tate Modern Museum which is interesting because it's housed in an old listed power plant. It closed right after I got there, so I had to find a bus on the South Bank to take me to Waterloo Station.

My goal at Waterloo was to find out what it would take to get the Chunnel tix for the group. I spoke to an info officer and found that I should but them on April 10 to get the cheapest price, and be sure to buy a round trip ticket, because it's less than half the cost of a one-way ticket!

I walked across another pedestrian bridge toward the London Eye. Since it's so expensive at £13 I did not go up, but checked it out thoroughly and took lots of pix. At night there are blue Christmas lights in the trees around it, and it's stunning!

Walking home over the Westminster Bridge was really cool and atmospheric, because the city is all lit up and you can see Parliament across the river. The picture below doesn't really do it justice. I can't wait to show that view to my people in August!

There were delays on the tube, but I made it home in time to ask the info booth in the main train station about best way to get to Stratford-upon-Avon tomorrow. I think I will not take a guided tour from here, but just do as planned and take the train myself and find my own way. This plan doesn't let me see Oxford or Stonehenge or Bath but it's way the cheapest.

This has been a really full, productive day. Someone else wants the internet. I have to go. . .

End of First Day in London, 22 March, 2006

This first hotel is just tiny with about 10 rooms. It's really narrow and maybe 4 stories tall. There's a funny little cubbyhole in the hall outside my room with free internet for the hotel. My room and the teensy little office and the stairs make up the ground floor. My room is 9 feet by 10 feet, which would be an OK size, except there is a third of it occupied by the bathroom.

Today I did get up to the British Musem to see the Rosetta Stone. That's the actual real Rosetta Stone in the picture. It's black and only about 4 feet high, with tiny writing finely engraaved all over it. I expected it to be bigger, just because it was so important. I guess history doesn't always go by size!

I also saw what used to be called the Elgin Marbles, but now they are called the Parthenon Frieze. It's actually carved marble decorations stolen from the Parthenon in Greece. Greece wants them back now. . . Museums all around the world are having similar problems now.

There were also some headless Greek statues that I thought were really wonderful; lots of motion in the stone and swirl and action. I guess medieval folks who watched them get dug up in Rome thought it was pretty wonderful, too. The "new" Greek sculptures had so much more life than the stiff straight up-and-down medieval style, it fit right in at the beginning of the Renaissance. The word "Renaissance" refers to the rebirth of Greek and Roman ideas.

I walked around Trafalgar Square and went into St. Martins-in-the-Fields church. (The picture below has the National Gallery on the left and St. Martin-in-the-Fields in the center.) This church has their own chamber orchestra and make world-famous classical recordings, even have their own label. The organ started playing, and the acoustics were wonderful: warm and round and it just seems to envelop you. That was quite treat.

Troy, I remember when you came home to England, just after your mission, sitting on the steps of the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square. You were too zoned with culture shock to appreciate the art.

I found the half-price theater ticket booth in Leicester Square that everyone talks about. I also found at least 3 others claiming to be the "official" half price ticket booth! London theatre is really big business; you see adverts for it everywhere. I want to go to a show while I am here, but thought tonight would not be good because I kept drifting off just sitting on the bus.

I rode the double-deck tour bus all over, and it was really cold, but you can see better from up top. So that's where I was most of the time.

When I was almost home, I got turned around by Victoria Station. I keep forgetting that it has 5 sides, not 4! But I got OK without too much trouble.

Did you know, you can take a round trip bus ride from here to Paris for only £29, but it takes 10 hours each way and it's a red-eye! That's why people are willing to pay £129 for the Chunnel - you get there in 2 hours and 20 minutes!

An interesting fellow sold me the ticket for the bus tour. He looked straight out of Dickens, complete with tweed jacket, big gap in his teeth, unshaven, and funny little cap. I can't decide if it was a costume. I know the teeth were real!

I must look like a helpless tourist, because all these bus drivers and other men keep calling me "luv," and take my arm and walk me to where they can point me in the right direction. I'm not used to quite that much British help! I do appreciate it, though.

Boy, am I tired. It's 9:00 at night here, only 2:00 p.m. in Utah, but I had very little sleep last night. I'm going to bed. Goodnight!

London I Got Here Safe, Mar. 22, 2006

I got here quite safe and quickly, only about 13 hours from SLC to London's Gatwick Airport. Took the train from Gatwick to London's Victoria Station. Weather was bright but very cold and breezy. Nice look at the countryside. I had forgotten how most Brits live in dingy-looking brick townhouses all conected to each other with a little narrow back garden.

Found the hotel just a couple blocks walk from the train station. I was turned around, so asked the proprietor which direction was North. She had no idea. I guess only Utah people tell directions by the actual directions!

Bought a hop-on-hop off bus tour on a red double-decker bus. They actually do use red busses here, and they go everywhere, as you can see in the picture. After 2 hours freezing up top, I moved down below where I couldn't see as well. I finally decided I had to come back to the hotel and get another layer of thermals on. I am wearing thermal tops, thermal bottoms, a turtleneck shir, a sweatshirt jacket, and my raincoat with gloves and the head thing. At least it's not raining today!

I saw lots of famous things today that were in the slides from my powerpoint. It was too cold to get off and go see them, but I want to go see the Rosetta Stone this afternoon.

I am leaving again to go do another round on the red double-decker. I've got it for free transportation for 24 hours, but it quits at 7 tonight.