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No run this morning. Between worry over luggage, time changes, a different breakfast time, and plans for London today, I just couldn't fit it in. While showering and dressing, I get to see the incredible Olympic men's' team time trial (cycling, of course). Eichimov (Russian) was really something! I also learn that Ullrich got the road gold and the individual time trial silver. I noticed in the films that Jeanie Longo (France) got a bronze medal, but the British announcer ignored that. We did get interviews with the British racers. It is interesting to compare the Olympic coverage in various countries. I do think Lithuania has the best and least chauvinistic I've seen.
Quite a different breakfast this morning: a full English one. We start with cereal (Mom has orange juice on hers because she never could drink milk). Then we have the fried egg, grilled tomato, and the whole works. And the unbuttered toast on a rack, which Mom had only imagined from novels. Now she has eaten it! It looks like a slightly chilly grey day, which seems perfect for our tour of London.
Mom's suitcase also went to Heathrow and should arrive here soon. I wonder where these bags went, really. And did they have more fun between Kaunas and London than we did?
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Mom at the side of Prinsted House. The garden is lovely and full of birds. Although it is so close to Gatwick, there is hardly any noise from the airport. It feels like an ordinary residential street in an English village, although most of the houses on this street are B&Bs. I think that's why I like B&Bs; they really are part of a neighborhood. Unlike a hotel on a highway. |
I had planned to take the Gatwick Express into Victoria Station. But the landlady recommends the local train, and a "cheap day return" ticket, also from Gatwick. She says it's almost as fast. At Gatwick, we actually enjoy the crowds, languages, excitement - because we have no schedules to meet today, and no luggage, and can relax. We reconfirm for tomorrow and head for the trains.
Neat: our train has compartments, so we feel like part of an older mystery novel. We sit with a woman, her son, and her other son's wife (we surmise) and enjoy listening to domestic conversation about shopping, home, and all. And we check for Sherlock and Holmes walking past our compartment to the first-class ones ahead. The local was a great idea. We ride past villages waking up, school children in soccer (football) and field hockey fields, and stations with villagers getting on and off. A real sense of a different, although similar, life.
Victoria Station is a madhouse - and the signs are a tad less than helpful. But we enjoy the chaos and find our way out to the busses, where we then find our way to the stand and buy our tickets for the bus tour. There are a bunch of different companies that do the "Hop On Hop Off" tours; we choose the one that's here. Then to Buckingham Road and the double decker bus. Chuck's brother and his wife used one of these tours when they came here and highly recommend it. I figure it's the best way for Mom to see a whole lot of London, with information and without walking.
This is the long tour that visits all the "major" sights: Victoria, Buckingham Palace, along the Thames, Lambeth, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, the Globe Theater, the Millenium Wheel (absolutely incredible and huge and rather scary for us height-challenged), Southwold, Tower of London, Lloyds of London, Fleet Street, The Strand, Trafalgar Square, Picadilly Circus.... The views are great from up on top, and there's a lot of good information. Thanks for the suggestion, Bob! Although we could get off at any of these places and back on again (thus the name), we decide to just ride and see as much as possible. Which is a lot.
At Picadilly, the bus stops so we can switch to another of the tours. But first, Mom & I poke a bit around the Theater District (we're right in the middle of it). We go about a block, to an intersection. And can't believe the number of theaters with major shows with the big stars - all within sight. And that's only a sampling! And the roads and lanes are full of people out enjoying the first nice week-end here in ages.
We pop into The Blue Posts for halves of Adams Southwold Bitter (very nice) and crisps (potato chips to you Yanks). Sitting on short stools in the front window, by the bar, we watch the workmen inside having pints and chatting. Outside, in a lane that allows traffic but is filled with pedestrians, a rather derelict pigeon who looks half crow pick bits of flattened food. It's a nice rest - and now Mom has even been in a real workingman's pub, not just the one that really caters to Gatwick travelers.
Outside, we get on another bus tour; this one seems more Londoners' London. We pass Mayfair, travel along Hyde Park, into Kensington, by Kensington Castle, through the posh shopping area and past the wild-looking Harrods (and imagine Miss Marple coming out of Marks and Spense), then back through Mayfair to Bloomsbury the British Museum and back to Picadilly Circus. Then we get back on the original tour and see more of the incredible variety of London buildings - from Christopher Wrenn churches to modern office buildings with brass angels to foreign embassies to real townhouses. And back to Victoria Station. I don't think there's any apart of London we would have liked to see but didn't! The size of the city and the animated crowds of so many kinds of people make this somewhat like New York City. But the size of the buildings puts it on a more human scale.
| Mom outside Victoria Station on Buckingham Road. The palace is down the road behind her. The gentleman on the right was very friendly and personable. Like a character from one of the British comedies we so enjoy. |  |
This time our train coach has rows of seat (we face backwards to see where we've been), so Mom has ridden in both types of British trains. I decide to get off at Horley itself instead of Gatwick. We walk through the village station and get a cab. Although it's really only a few blocks to Prinsted House, I have the driver take us by the village center, then around through some neighborhoods, so Mom can get to see how an English village looks and fits together. We look for Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced boo-KAY, of course) but she must be in polishing the countertops. We can imagine her stepping around the corner, by that rose bush, on her way to talk to the Vicar.
We collect Mom's suitcase (looking just too darn smug!) from the hall and go up to clean up and relax a bit. I call Chuck. Gosh I miss him. Then we walk to the pub for dinner. Again, Mom is not comfortable crossing the A23 (even though it is a village road here) with traffic coming from the wrong way, on the wrong side of the road, and often looking like there's only a passenger and no driver! It is a tad odd for us non-Brits at first.
This time we sit in the back room, with the large windows looking out to the stream and the willow. Mom has chicken with bacon (the real English kind), cheese, and BBQ sauce. I have the beef, mushroom, Bass ale pie. Both come with green beans, carrots, and cheddar mashed potatoes. Comfort food. And of course, halves of Fuller's London Pride. We even have Caramel Apple Granny with Custard for our sweet. When in England...
Then we sit on a bench in the cool evening, under the stars, while we wait for our cab. And back to Prinsted to pack for tomorrow. It's been a lovely day, a lovely evening, and a lovely trip. But it's time to go home.
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