Connberry2012: London 1-4/2

Wednesday 1/2

Heathrow at 0630. Wow - so simple - through customs, baggage collection and onto express train to Paddington within 15 mins. Taxi to serviced apartment to leave bags & head out exploring on the hop-on-hop-off buses. FREEZING - 0 degrees ! Thermal stress within 20 mins. Back to put on 2 extra layers, thermals, gloves, beanies and out again (London Eye; Trafalgar Square; National Gallery; Hamley’s Toy Store; Hyde Park & Kensington Palace.......) Dinner in gorgeous typical English pub (sausages & mash; curry; fish pie & beer). Bed very, very welcome and sooo warm. Couldn’t live here - too much gear, cold unbearable!

Impressions - coffee a bit better. No bars on windows & electronic gates at shop entries. Sensational public transport. Pretty human stamp - uniform taxis, telephone boxes & bins. Minimal natural beauty but charming, highly attractive streets, shops & architecture. Very, very few English people in service roles (eastern European - Bosnian, Polish....) Inviting, cosy pubs on every corner. Dense human history.

Thursday 2/2

sleep in. Lunch with Rowdy (Jeff’s university mate & longtime dear friend. Settled in London about 2 decades ago, married a local girl to go on have little Rowdies). Walk to Westminster Abbey. Tour on River Thames, bus home from London Tower.

dice roll

Wilsen (best taste) pizza at Serpentine Bar - loved the oregano.

Kel (best man-made) London Eye. I liked how it kept going slowly whilst we hopped on and off. The capsules were a nice egg shape.

Jeff (worst part) seeing Jen almost delirious with cold yesterday. It reminded me of when we were on top of the Thurong la Pass in Nepal some 20 years ago & she got hypothermic.

Jen (best bit in nature) ummm.......ummm.....(not much nature here). Scraping the bottom of the barrel - the bulbs beginning to peek through the lawns of Hyde Park. No flowers yet.

Friday 3/2

another sleep in, onto the Big Bus Hopper to Trafalgar Square where we found the water features freezing,

onto the Royal walking tour and watched the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, then walked down to Westminster Abbey where we did the full tour - amazing how the kid’s interest persisted, then walked back in the cold all the way to the hotel through Hyde Park, past Diana’s Memorial and the Peter Pan statue and via a curry house home to bed.

Saturday 4/2

yet another slow start, woke to find the predicted snow hadn’t arrived. Then had our 1st Tube experience getting to Covent Garden to catch up with Quentin Gallie (sorry Quaent!) (Jen’s 4th cozzie, thrice removed, brother to Phil) and his daughter Caitlin who travelled in from Kent to catch up. Wandered around the “garden” enjoying all the buskers and shops(including the 2 storey Apple Store, coffee in a creperie, and then found a little pub for lunch and more chats.

Left the cozzies and feeling the temp had dropped another few degrees we headed off to a magnificent musical “Thriller Live” matinee which was a great 2 hrs entertainment, really high quality, left the theatre on a high, ventured out into the dark to find it snowing!!! That lifted everyone of us QLDers to an even higher plane of ecstasy. Wandered through China Town loving the spectacle of snow alighting gently through the Chinese lanterns, then jumped the Tube home to the hotel.