London, Summer 2003 - First Visit

Jeanette’s version

Today is the day Kathy arrives. Emily and I caught the nine-forty-nine am train from Weston-super-Mare to Redding where we transferred to a bus to Heathrow. We couldn't use our Brit Rail passes on the bus even though it was a rail link bus. Every one is out to make the extra buck, or pound as the case may be. We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare so we had time to grab a sandwich before Kathy's plane landed. It also gave us time to find the shuttle service that would take us directly to the Hotel and arrange a ride.

It seemed like forever before we saw her coming out of the swinging door from the arrivals area but we recognized each other instantly. Who would have thought that when I finally met Kathy it would be in London!! By the time we arrived at the hotel and dumped our luggage it was almost time for dinner. We checked with the Concierge and he directed us to a pub just a couple of blocks away. On the way there we noticed that the Gloucester Underground Station was just one block from the hotel, which turned out to be very handy the next day. The Concierge had done very well by us. The Pub was very picturesque and the food was excellent. We all pulled out our cameras and started taking pictures of the food. Is that tacky, or what? Because we were a little earlier than the normal dinner crowd we had the dinning room pretty much to ourselves so at least we didn't make too much of a spectacle of ourselves. After dinner we walked back to the hotel and fell into bed. Kathy was jet lagged and Emily and I were simply stuffed from dinner. I did manage to call Annie before I passed out and we arranged to meet the next day at the Covent Garden Underground Station.

Lucky for us Covent Garden was on the same line as the Gloucester stop so our first venture out on the London Underground was an easy and straightforward trip. There are four or five different lines and you could spend a lot of time changing from one line to another on a trip across London, trudging up and down steps, and jammed in crowed lifts with hordes of pushy, fragrant young persons all shouting and jabbering in some incomprehensible language. I have filed the London Underground experiences under "Adventures" in the part of my mind labeled unforgettable experiences.

Annie looks great! She must be one of those persons who thrive on adversity because she has had one heck of a year. For those of you who do not know Annie, while she was on Holiday in Spain in January of this year Britain experienced a severe cold spell and the water pipes in her attic froze and burst, flooding her house and causing major, major damage. She has spent the last six months fighting with her insurance carrier and trying to get her house repaired and her ruined belongs replaced. She is still living in a hotel. We had a really fun day. We drifted down towards Covent Garden Market, strolled around for while, made a few purchases and then went in search of one of those double decker tour buses.

The tour bus we ended up on was operated by "Big Bus Tours" The price for a 24 hours, on and off ticket was seventeen pounds which Annie and I both considered exorbitant but turned out to be a great value in the end. Kathy and Emily wanted to see the Tower of London so the plan was that they would get off at the Tower and Annie and I would ride around the circuit and then get off and wait for them at the stop where they got off. Two hours later Kathy and Emily were finished with the tour and the tour bus has still not made a complete circle. But in this day and time where everybody has a cell phone we were able to communicate so no one had to worry about getting separated. I had Jenny's, Kathy had rented one, and Annie had her own of course.

When I put my travel journal up on the web I have great fun looking for midi's that fits each individual entry. I kept thinking the song about the guy who was on the Boston subway and couldn't find his stop and ended riding the train forever. Annie and I were starting to feel a little bit like that. But we finally all found each other again and set off in search of food. Annie led us down into an area close to the Tower called St..Catherine's Docks where we found  a restaurant that had lots of ambiance and passable food. Then we all piled back onto another tour bus and set off again and ended up back at Covent Garden where we all got back on the underground. We reluctantly parted ways with Annie at one of the stops and dragged ourselves back to the hotel.

Monday we walked down to the Big Bus stop near the hotel and got on the Blue Line. (We had ridden the Red Line the day before.) Our plan was to ride it all the way around and get off at Harrows. Like most of our plans it didn't quite work out that way but eventually we made it. By the time we got there we were starving so we headed for the restaurant. We took pictures of all the food we ate. People look at us funny when we do this but we don't care. After lunch I returned to the hotel while Kathy and Emily prepared to "shop till they dropped." Since Emily and I had a late night planned I took the opportunity to take a little nap.

Mama Mia was fabulous. The Prince Edward theater is one of those old, plush theaters all decorated in deep reds and gold leaf. It was a pricy evening out but well worth it. We had great seats. We sat in the stalls and were about 6 rows back just right of center. Couldn't have been more perfect.. Emily is now an Abba fan.

Tuesday we left London (and many of our belongings) behind and made our way to Waterloo Station and went to Salisbury, but that is another journal.

Kathy’s Side of the Story

OK, it's Saturday night and I have just arrived in London, England. I had a great flight, nobody at all sat with me and the food was great.

This is a warm country for a cool country. Nobody else is complaining about the lack of a/c (oh if I only knew what awaited me for the next 16 days!) while waiting in line to be welcomed into England, so I keep my mouth shut. I have tossed and turned on the plane over what to list my occupation as on my entry card and I finally decide on, "undecided." I expect rolls of laughter when I present this to the official at the little podium, but I don't hear any laughter....maybe it's just that dry wit thing and they don't want me to get all big headed from being too funny. I remember that Julie told me that they're going to ask me some question about whence I come from (or something) and I am trying to remember the correct answer, not the stupid one (which was obvious to both Jules and me, groan) and the official greeter not only doesn't laugh, she doesn't ask me anything that I can respond to. Harumph. She stamps my passport with a wobbly wrist (wrecking my bragging rights, to be sure!) and sends me on my merry way with nary a "have a nice day" or anything. Hmmmm.... Wiping the sweat from my brows, throwing a tic tac in my parched mouth, and putting a big smile on my face, I go forward to meet my new traveling companions, Jeanette and Emily, hoping the whole while that I am A) recognizable, and B) met with some amount of enthusiasm.

I am! I recognize Jeanette instantly. Whew. She looks just like she does in her picture of her riding her lawn mower in her Little Rock back yard. (Well, minus the riding lawn mower and the lawn.) She is waving and smiling although I don't see Emily with her. Oh no! Has she already lost her, or did Emily, in a teenage tantrum, snort off to go explore London by herself? Naaaa, there she is, with their luggage. Jeanette hugs me right away and Emily says an unenthusiastic, "Hey." Ut-oh, she hates me! (Naaa, you didn't believe that for a sec, did ya?) She is as cute as I pictured her and little did I know how much we three would laugh, snort, and laugh again on this trip.

Jeanette tells me that she's already figured out how we're getting to the hotel. A wonderful van is going to swish in and swoop us up and take us straight to our hotel. All on the wrong side of the street! Yippee! My first Londonism! We just have one small problem...she and Emily don't remember exactly where we're going to be swooped. We go back to where Jeanette's made very best friends with the ticket seller and she instructs us to go to another desk. That desk informs Jeanette to stand against a wall and we'll be picked up shortly. Emily waits about five minutes and then says, "We are in a BASEMENT! How is a van going to come in here and pick us up?" (Remember, she has a charming yet very southern accent that is just too great to hear!) She stomps over to the counter and the woman tells her that it is indeed possible and she should just get over there right this minute because they will be there any second.

Fifteen minutes later, and no van, I ask if it would be OK if I just go and "top up" my phone card so it will work. (Anything to introduce my new lingo into a sentence!) I just knew that if I didn't do what Dan and the Orange (the phone people) company told me to do that the whole cell phone deal would all fall apart. Plus, I wanted to talk to somebody English. (Sneak in a pip pip or Cheerio.) I did, got back, still no van, but we've collected about 10 Japanese people. Ahhh...there's always safety in numbers.

Van comes, we get all our stuff in and whiz off to the hotel. In no time we're there. Funny, though, in those 15 minutes or so in the van, plus the 30 minutes or so waiting for the van, Jeanette, Emily, and I, have all exchanged pictures, life stories, and blood samples (for our best friend vials, of course!).

We get inside the hotel and viola (!) our reservations are mixed up. Or maybe just the fella (bloke...mate?) checking us in is just a little mixed up. We fill out reams of papers, show the passports, and are finally given the keys.

The room is fairly small, but I was warned of that from everyone. It's got a nice window that OPENS (!) and it's double glazed. Now, I have no idea what that means, but it's a huge deal to the British. My fold out bed has no sheets and two surly foreign women come and change it. They are so pretty, but their angry chit chat to each other makes them kinda ugly. At least to me. Anyway, when my bed is out, and Emily's exploded suitcase is well, exploded, right next to it, nobody can get by to the bathroom. Does that stop anybody? Naaaa, you know us...Emily and Jeanette just crawled up, over, and down when they had to use the "toilet." (Tacky word, but when in Rome,etc..)

Holiday Inn, Kennsington

Sometime since we arrived at the hotel, Jeanette has made friends with the concierge and found a great place to eat dinner. It's at a real authentic English pub. I can't wait to get there and we walk the three blocks to it. We're in Kensington and it's full of lively looking restaurants and pubs and stores. Dang if they aren't all closed...well, the stores, I mean. We pass a couple of places that advertise chili and one "Authentic Texas Lone Star Food!" Hmmm...what could this mean? Not to worry, we've cut through the smoking "bar" section of the pub to find the nonsmoking portion of the place and surprise, surprise, we've got it all to ourselves!

The menu is to die for and I decide to go hog wild and order the roasted root vegetables in rarebit tucked into a pocket phyllo pastry. It's divine! (A good sign of things to come!) I have wild berry cobbler for dessert with ice cream. OMG, I am gonna love this trip!

We waddle back to the hotel and I fall into my fold out bed and it feels like the most comfortable thing I ever slept on. But then again, I was dead to the world within two minutes. Window open, wind blowing, me dreaming of my rarebit with roasted veggies! I hope my family did OK w/o me for this first day.

End of Saturday, July 10, 2003, my first day in London.

Street Person outside Covent Garden

Emily’s Side of the Story

Went to the train station...got to the airport...waited for forever for Kathy. Met her...she's a bundle of fun :) really she is...Went to London...got into the hotel room..let me tell you..rooms over here in London are as big as your closet. It is crazy talk. We were all stepping over stuff...plus my suitcase has built-in springs and when you open it, stuff just shoots out in all directions. Hope you all know that is a big fat lie..I am just messy. Something for my future husband to look forward to *winks* That night we went out to eat at this nice pub that the man at the Holiday Inn, 97 Cromwell, South Kensington, England, suggested to us. Went back to the miniscule hotel room, and crashed for the night..slept like 11 hours...wowzers.

Sunday

Tower of London

Got up..met Annie, one of the book club members, in Covent Gardens. Before that though, we were in the elevator and these people got on..and they were from Arkansas..but the son had on this shirt that said "ARKANSAS....WE KILL LIVE DEER." Okay, c'mon now...that makes us look really barbaric, and like that's really something you want your kid to be wearing in a foreign country..some people just stick it all out there. Weirdos :) Anyway, Covent Gardens is AWESOME...I totally loved it. There were people all around that were wearing body paint and there were some men dressed like cats and a lady that was wearing some kind of outfit that looked like it could be from the Wizard of Oz, and there was a man that was dressed like an Angel..it was great. Anyway, we paid our 17 pounds to get onto the tour bus...Kathy and I got off at the Tower of London and the plan was for Grams and Annie to ride the tour bus and then get off at the Tower of London when it came back around and meet up with us. Kathy and I continued on to the Tower and well...its...how can I put this...empty. It sucked. Every single place we went was..empty and we just looked out of the windows. HAHAH..blah. Anyway..saw the crown jewels..and then we met this "Beefeater" named Mick..I just wanted to take my picture with him..and he gave me his card and his email address, home address, and phone number so I could email him a copy of it..but it got deleted. I accidentally deleted all my pictures..I was soo P'Od. I started crying..I had gotten some really good shots too.

Covent Garden

But the next day made up for it. Anyway...then Kathy found a fold up tiara but she didn't buy it, considering she already has 3..lol..rich kid. Left the Tower, made the trek back to the bus stop, called Grams and she said "Well we haven’t even gone all the way around yet, we are still on the bus." It was like the song about the man who was on the subway and never could find his stop to get off..so he stayed on for like ever. It was something out of a bad movie haha. So 6 hours later, they were still on the same tour bus...*smiles* Kathy and I finally got on the bus...went back to Covent Gardens and I got a caricature drawn. It was good. There were this two old guys..well like mid to late 20's...not old..but too old for me, anyway, they were all watching me get my caricature done...and..they were all hitting on Kathy and I..it was creepy. They asked Kathy where we were going later that night and she goes "We are going to meet her Grandma." Haha..it was hilarious, then as we were about to leave the guy like fondled Kathy's boob, and then came up and fondled my bum..ugh! We went BACK to the hotel and conked out.

Touring London

We got up...Got on the tour bus, we still had our tickets. Had to get off and get on another one. 3 hours later we ended up in the same place where we started..so that we could get off for Harrods. So needless to say, we really didn't need to get on the other bus because if we would have just stayed off when they told us to transfer to the other one we would have saved a whole lot of time. All Grams kept saying though was "Well I have seen more of London than I ever have before..these tickets sure were worth it." Anyway though, all the pictures that I had lost off my digital camera from the day before, I got back again and most of them were even better, cause of our bus ride, we went to all the same exact places again :) I didn't get my picture of Mick though :( I will have to email him the bad news..haha.