London Town

Hi everyone, I am alive and well and in London. I am trying to deal with this UK kb. I know I am supposed to ask for a US one, but they do not have one at the hotel. Oh well, I will spell-check. :)

I left Orlando, delayed about an hour due to a very bad storm. I slept about five hours on the plane which I was happy about. It started out rough until the TV and video games came on, then the little UK tourists got quiet.

I arrived in London at 8AM. It took almost three hours between customs, getting my bags, and travelling to the hotel from Gatwick.

I checked in and took off running. My first stop was to the ATM to convert to pounds. I then was starving since I did not eat dinner on the plane and did not have breakfast. I found a little Italian place called Cafe Uno which had some of the best flatbread pizza I ever had. I could not believe it.

I then started my tour of the city on one of the open air double decker buses. I sat on the top to take pictures and work on my tan. :)

I went to the National Gallery which was very good. I was very Christianed themed with many interesting pieces. Raphael was one of the famed artists I remember. I then stopped at the Covent Gardens which was a very active, fun place. It was a very pretty area near one of the theatre districts. I walked around Trafalgar Square which was another people watching place with some interesting statues and a very bizarre sculpture of a no armed, short legged pregnant woman. Or at least that is what it appeared to be. :) I stopped at Westminster Abbey which was phenomenal. It was so beautiful. The architecture was amazing! In addition to all of that I toured most of London and Westminster and learned a lot about the history of London.

I had a great dinner at a restaurant called Cafe Fish. They started me off with a salmon pate that was unbelievable! I had a very good Monkfish dinner. I would recommend this restaurant. I then went to the theatre and saw a play called Fool for Love with Juliette Lewis (Cape Fear). The acting was excellent and the play was good. I then went to try and sleep but could not fall asleep until after midnight.

Day 2

I started my actual tour today. The day began with a good English breakfast sans the bangers. My group is made up of mainly older people, 8 older people from Reading PA, one young guy from Philly who does not seem to happy with me because I am a Yankee fan, 3 people from Japan, a few from Canada, and three black women around my age from Atlanta. I am sure I will get to know many more as we go.

We did a similar tour today that I did yesterday, but a bit more informative. We went to St. Paul's Cathedral which was beautiful. It is over 1400 years old. The architecture was unbelievable. The mural on the ceiling was amazing in black, white, and grey. There were many people buried in the crypts in the basement, including the Duke of Windsor. It seems many famous people are buried in churches here. There was an American chapel in memorial of the American soldiers who died in WW II defending England.

We stopped at Buckingham palace to see the procession of the horses. There was no changing of the guard today, only on even days in September. There was a beautiful 9-11 memorial in a park near the US embassy.

In the afternoon I went to the Royal Mews which was very interesting. There were only a few of the 28 royal horses there. The carriages were unbelievable. It is funny but he one that carries the crown is bullet proof. However, the one that carries the Queen is not. Hmmm, I guess the crown cannot be replaced, but...

I then went on a tour of Buckingham Palace which was nice. We went through the 14 state rooms that were open. It was unbelievably ornate. The art, gold frames, chandeliers, etc. It was quite impressive. They had a room full of 80 of the Queen's gowns. Some were really beautiful. I think the women enjoyed this much more so than the men. I feel that I am at Disney here with all the places ending into a gift shop. :)

I went to dinner at a recommended restaurant called Maggie Jones. It was exceptional. I had a crab, salmon and greens appetizer that was unbelievable. I then had medallions of venison that was incredibly good. The person I went with had steak with a mango sauce that was amazing. If I had to go back, that is what I would order. I highly recommend this place. It was SERIOUS!!

I spent most of the evening going over the rest of my trip with a nice person I met who gave me some suggestions on the rest of my trip.

Well, here I am now updating my blog. This is work! LOL I hope everyone enjoys it. I am really having a lot of fun and will post again soon.

Have a great 24...Al