Every day really is a new experience here and I am so excited that Lynette has arrived to explore with me! We have been busy so let's back up to Wednesday for a minute.
Lynette has been traveling for like 13 hours. When she finally lands at Heathrow the customs process is a breeze and she has her bags before you know it. As she exits the baggage area she is expecting to see me waiting with a big smile on my face but NO! My train was held up due to a signal problem at a station along the way and then rerouted through what seemed like the entire English countryside before arriving at Paddingdon (that's right - not at Heathrow) 3 hours later. Along the way I have left phone messages for Lynette, which she never received, and had the train dispatch a message to US Airways to track her down and give her the news (again, never received). Thankfully she got over her feelings of abandonment and set off in search of a computer to find the information I had sent her with my UK phone number in the event of an emergency. What a relief to get that call from her as we were pulling (finally) into Paddingdon Station. Being the independent, resourceful woman that she is, she adjusted her plans and hopped on the Heathrow Express to meet me at Paddingdon Station and we were off on our fabulous London adventure no worse for the wear!
I am a fan of big, long naps to overcome jet lag but Lynette was a trooper and insisted that the best way to get on schedule was to push on and so we set out to explore. We started with a walk through Hyde Park beginning at Kensington Gardens, past the Albert Memorial, by the Serpentine Lake and eventually exiting at speakers corner. From there we walked along one side of Green Park and up Picadilly to Picadilly Circus and then towards Leister Square and Covent Gardens. There was shopping all along the way but, to my surprise, Lynette was not to be baited. We did stop for lunch at a very posh hotel with a cafe attached (the name escapes me now). After checking into our hotel and taking a quick cat nap we left in search of good Indian food which we found at a place called Khan. Being an Indian food newbie, we had to order a wide variety so that I could sample several things which led to the need for an after dinner walk through Notting Hill. Unfortunately, we passed a Gelato Shop that was calling our name and we ate even more before heading back to the hotel and sleeping it all off. In our defense, we did walk an extraordinarily long way and more was in store the next day.
Thursday we woke up and hopped the Central Line to Oxford Circus so that we could walk down Regents Street - again, great shopping but surprisingly we could only think about FOOD! We found a great breakfast spot just off the main street that allowed us to watch the people go by and get the protien we needed for what turned out to be a LOT of walking.
After breakfast we went to Leister Square to see what theatre tickets we might be interested in for the matinee but ultimately decided that we might prefer to see something at the Shakespeare Globe Theatre so we continued on to tour Saint Paul's Cathedral. I have already told you all about that from my previous visit but I hope Lynette enjoyed this tour (and the climb to the top) as much as I did.
From Saint Pauls we walked across the Millenium Bridge to the Globe Theatre but the tickets were sold out for that day - press on! We walked along the river walk for awhile and stopped for lunch at Wagamama's which Megan introduced me too when she was in London - yummy. By now, I am the one that really wants to do some shopping so we decided to try Oxford Street. We got off the tube too early and ended up walking there by way of the British Museum. I have to say that Oxford Street shops are not really up my alley - huge stores, huge crowds, not long on charm in my opinion! We did find a pedestrian street and poked in some shops there before collapsing at a cafe for tea - but what we really were looking for was a beer at this point!
We never did find that beer on Oxford Street so we hopped on the tube and back to Notting Hill where we went in the first pub we saw. It was charming and we felt very English with the after work crowd. Lynette mentioned that she loved the movie Notting Hill so we went in search of the Travel Book Shop. Here we are but where is Hugh Grant?
Lynette has been traveling for like 13 hours. When she finally lands at Heathrow the customs process is a breeze and she has her bags before you know it. As she exits the baggage area she is expecting to see me waiting with a big smile on my face but NO! My train was held up due to a signal problem at a station along the way and then rerouted through what seemed like the entire English countryside before arriving at Paddingdon (that's right - not at Heathrow) 3 hours later. Along the way I have left phone messages for Lynette, which she never received, and had the train dispatch a message to US Airways to track her down and give her the news (again, never received). Thankfully she got over her feelings of abandonment and set off in search of a computer to find the information I had sent her with my UK phone number in the event of an emergency. What a relief to get that call from her as we were pulling (finally) into Paddingdon Station. Being the independent, resourceful woman that she is, she adjusted her plans and hopped on the Heathrow Express to meet me at Paddingdon Station and we were off on our fabulous London adventure no worse for the wear!I am a fan of big, long naps to overcome jet lag but Lynette was a trooper and insisted that the best way to get on schedule was to push on and so we set out to explore. We started with a walk through Hyde Park beginning at Kensington Gardens, past the Albert Memorial, by the Serpentine Lake and eventually exiting at speakers corner. From there we walked along one side of Green Park and up Picadilly to Picadilly Circus and then towards Leister Square and Covent Gardens. There was shopping all along the way but, to my surprise, Lynette was not to be baited. We did stop for lunch at a very posh hotel with a cafe attached (the name escapes me now). After checking into our hotel and taking a quick cat nap we left in search of good Indian food which we found at a place called Khan. Being an Indian food newbie, we had to order a wide variety so that I could sample several things which led to the need for an after dinner walk through Notting Hill. Unfortunately, we passed a Gelato Shop that was calling our name and we ate even more before heading back to the hotel and sleeping it all off. In our defense, we did walk an extraordinarily long way and more was in store the next day.
Thursday we woke up and hopped the Central Line to Oxford Circus so that we could walk down Regents Street - again, great shopping but surprisingly we could only think about FOOD! We found a great breakfast spot just off the main street that allowed us to watch the people go by and get the protien we needed for what turned out to be a LOT of walking.
After breakfast we went to Leister Square to see what theatre tickets we might be interested in for the matinee but ultimately decided that we might prefer to see something at the Shakespeare Globe Theatre so we continued on to tour Saint Paul's Cathedral. I have already told you all about that from my previous visit but I hope Lynette enjoyed this tour (and the climb to the top) as much as I did.
From Saint Pauls we walked across the Millenium Bridge to the Globe Theatre but the tickets were sold out for that day - press on! We walked along the river walk for awhile and stopped for lunch at Wagamama's which Megan introduced me too when she was in London - yummy. By now, I am the one that really wants to do some shopping so we decided to try Oxford Street. We got off the tube too early and ended up walking there by way of the British Museum. I have to say that Oxford Street shops are not really up my alley - huge stores, huge crowds, not long on charm in my opinion! We did find a pedestrian street and poked in some shops there before collapsing at a cafe for tea - but what we really were looking for was a beer at this point!
We never did find that beer on Oxford Street so we hopped on the tube and back to Notting Hill where we went in the first pub we saw. It was charming and we felt very English with the after work crowd. Lynette mentioned that she loved the movie Notting Hill so we went in search of the Travel Book Shop. Here we are but where is Hugh Grant? Last stop in London was a walk to Kensington for dinner. We found a really charming place called Maggie Jones just off Kensington Church Street. Their specialty was the meat pies so we decided to give that a try. Lynette ordered Shepard's Pie and I opted for Chicken and Artichoke pie. Both were delicious with a glass of wine. We were perfectly sated and relaxed for our cab ride back to the hotel to grab our luggage and then on to Paddingdon to head home.
So much more to write about but I have hit the wall - must sleep! Look for pictures and more adventures soon...
So much more to write about but I have hit the wall - must sleep! Look for pictures and more adventures soon...
No comments:
Post a Comment