Day 20: Sep. 23, 2018 - A Day of Rest

(No pictures in this post.)

Eliot leaves today. I walk to Granier and purchase some goodbye croissants. He leaves us very early, but at least he has broken his fast with some quality pastry.

We decide to have a low-key day. After a lazy morning, I walk to the Walmer Castle Pub and watch the two Sunday matches. Chelsea and West Ham tie 0 – 0. Arsenal dispatches Everton 2 – 0.

For dinner, we give Andina a try. We share the Tuna Tartare. Amy has Roast Chicken, Sweet Potato & Baby Gem Lettuce. I have the Rib-eye Steak. It is all delicious.

Today has helped us recover somewhat from the hectic pace of the last week or so.

Day 19: Sep. 22, 2018 - The Victoria & Albert Museum

[Update:] In the report on Day 14, I forgot to mention that we saw someone famous! We had just left Westminster Abbey and had just crossed Westminster Bridge. We were walking along the south bank of the river towards the Eye when we saw Bill Nighy. You may remember him as the aging rock star Billie Mack from the movie Love, Actually. He was standing there, apparently waiting to meet up with someone. He was tall and dapper, dressed all in Black. It made some sense that he was where we saw him, there just in front of the National Theatre. [:End Update]

Today, we are being led by Sarah. Her two desired destinations are the Victoria & Albert Museum of Art and Design and Harrod’s Department Store. Sarah is an excellent planner and through her use of phone apps, she has determined that the best way to get to the V&A is the 52 Bus from Notting Hill.

We meet at Ladbroke Grove and our bus is there promptly. The trip is pleasant. An added bonus of not taking the Underground is that we get to see the neighborhood from the second story of a bus instead of blindly speeding through tunnels. We see some of the neighborhood south of Notting Hill Gate and West of Kensington Palace, which we haven’t spent much time in so far.

The Victoria and Albert Museum is huge, around 60,000 objects on display. We are disoriented from its size and the hordes of people visiting along with us. We find a map stand and Sarah determines that the best approach is to get a taste: she has a list of the top 8 displays in the museum and we will visit each of these.

It is a whirlwind. We see the Ardabil Carpet from Persia (it is illuminated in its case for 5 minutes each hour), Tipu’s Tiger from the Indian subcontinent:

Tipu's Tiger

This sculpture represents a tiger eating a British soldier. Turning a hand-crank make the soldier's arms move and makes noises come from the device that sound like a man screaming.

We then proceed to a display of European fashion, fabrics and accessories by decades from the late 1750 up to the present. Next we see Raphael’s Paul Preaching at Athens. Next up, the Great Bed of Ware (made in 1690), then Henry VIII’s portable Writing Desk:

Henry VIII's Writing Desk

Next up is the huge Hereford Screen, an Altar Piece made in 1862. We end in the Bollinger Jewelry Gallery. Three rooms displaying 3,500 pieces of jewelry, one of the most comprehensive collections in the world. It is stunning.

A Very Small Part of the Collection

We bid goodbye to V&A and head to Harrod’s, where Amy and Sarah plan to take High Tea again, and the rest of us will search for a place to eat lunch and watch an EPL Match. Harrod’s is crazy busy. Coming here on a weekend day is sub-optimal. The food options are all packed with people. Just getting a pizza looks like it will take half an hour, so Kevin and I head out of the store and cross the street to Paul. We each get a sandwich and eat in the back room.

Hunter, Kevin and I head out to look for a pub to watch a Saturday afternoon match while Eliot, Amy & Sarah take Tea. Our quest takes us into Belgravia and beyond. It is a frustrating quest and we never find a pub with the game on. We end up back in Notting Hill at the Cork and Bottle. As game-time approaches, it appears that this is more of a singles pub than a sports/football pub, and we are among the very few that actually care about watching Brighton & Hove Albion hosting Tottenham Hotspur.

Half way through the match, we learn that Amy, Sarah and Eliot are nearby, at the Walmer Castle. Messaging on the phone is not instantaneous here in London. We sent them several texts, but they get all of the messages quite a bit later than when we sent them, which explains why they never showed up at the Cork & Bottle. We join them at half-time and watch the rest of the match, which Tottenham holds on to win 2 – 1.

This is the last day that we will see the kids, and we head home and part from them, sad that they are leaving, but happy that they could enjoy time with us here.

It has been a slightly challenging day, but another good one.

Day 18: Sep. 21, 2018 - St. Paul’s & Shakespeare at the Globe!

We rise to another beautiful day. We have two destinations for today: St. Paul’s Cathedral and the re-creation of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre near the Southwark Bridge. We meet most of the family at the underground station (Eliot has been to St Paul’s on an earlier trip and will meet us later at the Globe). We enter and head for the church.

The interior to the church is as grand and vast as I remember it. We take a hasty tour of the first floor, stopping to admire the Wellington Memorial. Both Wellington and Nelson are buried here. Dan Brown must love this place, there are Christian and British symbols everywhere.

We head for the stairs to experience the whispering walls inside the dome. Once there (after 378 steps), we test the acoustics. We never quite hear one another, as other people are talking at the same time. We do, however, clearly hear the steward who is monitoring the dome’s interior space.

We head upstairs again to get to the top of the dome, the Golden Gallery, another 150 steps. We will climb hundreds of stairs today (my fitbit later says 42 floors worth). Much of the climb is in very small, tight interior spaces. We arrive at the top and are rewarded with great views.

The City from the Top of St. Paul's

The Thames and the Shard from St. Paul's

We descend, returning to the main floor. We exit and head across the Thames via the Millenium Bridge in search of lunch. Kevin, Sarah and Hunter want to visit the Borough Market, so we part ways, giving them their theatre tickets.

Amy and I patronize the Swan at the Globe for a traditional British Lunch:

Lunch at the Swan

We have a tasty and relaxed meal, Amy has a chicken and mushroom pie while I have the fish & chips. We are enjoying all the sitting we are doing. It might have been a mistake to climb all those stairs in St. Paul’s on the day we are seeing a Shakespeare Play from the Yard (the standing room area in front of the stage)!

As 2:00 approaches, we wonder when we should give up our comfortable seats and enter the Theater. We finally give in at 10 minutes until.

The interior of the Globe is beautiful.

Interesting note: the Globe scenes of the movie Shakespeare in Love were filmed here.

As the clock ticks toward 2:00, trumpeters announce the start of the play. We are subsequently held in rapture as the fine cast, led by Mark Rylance as Iago and Andre Holland as Othello, give an outstanding performance of this tragedy. I can tell that we are rapt because rain falls for some of the time but we hardly notice. More than other performances of this play that I have seen (most recently at Seattle Shakes in the Cornish Theatre, 2017?), I get an intense feeling of the great despair that Othello feels as he strangles Desdemona.

Drained (well, I am; I’m not sure about the others in our group), we exit the theatre in search of a place to sit and recover. We look for the Oxo Tower, but before locating it, we find Doggett’s Coat & Badge, next to the Blackfriars Bridge over the Thames. We enjoy a baked Camembert and bend the elbow a bit, discussing the play and enjoying the moment and the company.

We eventually discuss the rest of the evening (dinner) and wonder whether the Oxo Tower has available seating. After finishing our drinks, we wander towards it and discover that they have room for us! This is a wonderful surprise. The tour books are correct; the views are spectacular. We enjoy cocktails while the sun is setting. As our food begins to arrive, a pair of musicians arrive at the piano next to our table and he starts playing the guitar while she starts singing. Their repertoire is pop songs of the last 30 years or so. The have talent! The music is really wonderful, as is the food.

We really lucked out wandering in here. The restaurant is a little noisy, but it is lively. Everyone has a great time. After dinner, we head back to the flat. This has been a really special day.

Day 17: Sep. 20, 2018 - Covent Garden & The Emirates

We rise to a bit of rain in the air. We all meet for breakfast at the Farm Girl on nearby Portobello Road. We decide it is a good day for us to go our separate ways. Amy and I head to Abbey Road.

This is a pop culture shrine. Ten or 15 people are here from all over Europe & North America. Even some fans from other parts of the world. The album and the band are truly beloved by so many. Fans are lined up to recreate the famous album cover picture. Traffic is clogged on this otherwise innocuous road.

Tourists Recreating the Album Cover Photo

We depart the area, heading back to the St. John’s Wood Underground Station. We head to Covent Garden, where we will do London’s City Walks 7 & 8. Lots of really interesting shops. The area is quite a mix of new and old shops all in very old buildings. There is some replacement of these buildings happening, but generally, it seems that they are left as is with new stores and living spaces being built in place. One of my favorite stores that we visit is Stanford’s, a travel map and book store.

Back Door of Stanford's Travel Store

Well into the second walk, we visit Rosso Pomodoro for Lunch: Amy has a Pizza, I have the Arrabiatta. Delicious.

We finish the walk and head back to the flat in Notting Hill for a rest. We then head out to Arsenal for a Europa League Match against Vorslava (a Ukrainian club) at the Emirates.

We meet the rest of the family at the Tollington Arms pub, a couple of hundred meters up the road from the stadium. We have pints and Thai food, which is a specialty of this pub. We watch the Chelsea Europa match, and I get shushed by my family when Chelsea score and I cheer. (Something good for Chelsea is bad for Arsenal, apparently. I should NOT show my preferences this close the Arsenal Sacred Grounds.)

First Europa Match over, we head to the stadium. It’s a pain to get in, as our bags need to be scanned and there is not enough capacity. We finally get inside after a 20-minute delay, and wow: this is quite a Stadium!

Arsenal Threatening

The football is good, with Arsenal dominating. They score four goals before Vorslava find the net. One interesting, but slightly tense moment in the second half: we notice several stewards gathering around some fans seated 7 or 8 rows in front of us, but about 6 or so seats to our left. Something unhappy is going on as one of the Stewards is talking earnestly with one of the fans. Suddenly, another fan starts swinging his fists at several of his neighbors. Clearly, there was some unhappy conversation happening. Several fans are escorted by stewards and police out of the viewing area. Fans near us start to yell at the offenders, telling them that if that how is they behave, they should never come to an Arsenal match, no matter how much they like the team (the language was a little fruitier, but that was the gist). Things calm down and no further incidents occur. We never learned anything more about this situation. Probably just as well.

Arsenal plays exciting football, but have a couple of lapses. The match ends 4 – 2, but it wasn’t that close. We join the crowd to exit and march through Arsenal Station to take the underground home. Another wonderful day complete!

Day 16: Sep. 19, 2018 - Windsor Castle, British Museum, Rules

Today will be a busy day! We meet the family early in the morning at VQ (Vingt-Quatre), near Notting Hill Gate Station. After finishing up breakfast, we head to Waterloo Station on the underground to take the train to Windsor Castle. The ride goes through London south of the Thames. There is a lot of building going on here, just like the rest of London. (and just like Seattle!)

We get to Windsor, head up the hill and enter the castle.

Edward IV Tower

We spend a delightful couple of hours touring the castle. This is where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle got married last spring. We tour the state rooms as well as St. George’s Chapel. Lots of interesting things to see here.

After the castle, we are thirsty, so the kids find a quiet local pub, the Horse & Groom! Delightful place to hoist a few. After the refreshments, we head back down the hill to the other train station (to Slough) and head back to London, to Paddington.

Eliot is interested in other things, so goes his own way (he has seen the British Museum on a prior trip). The rest of us head to Bloomsbury to that quintessential British institution, the British Museum.

The British Museum

We take the tourist’s approach and decide to see the top 10 items on display. Our quest takes us to most sections of the museum and we see some really interesting stuff, including the Rosetta Stone and some antiquities from Egypt, Iraq, Greece.

The Lewis Chessmen

After the whirlwind tour, we head back home for a brief rest before dinner. During the ride, we (Sarah, actually) get reservations at Rules, the oldest continuously working restaurant in London.

We meet up again and take the underground to Covent Garden just in time for our reservation. This place has been here since 1798, and the décor looks it! There are mementos from every period on the shelves and hanging on the walls. This place is a real hoot! Hunter orders a Guiness and it comes served in a silver mug:

Guiness Served in a Silver Mug

We all order cocktails/drinks, then get down to business. Our orders covere a wide range of food: Venison Carpaccio, Barnsley Chop, Chicken & Ham Pie, Escalope of Veal, Sirloin Steak, Venison Stroganoff.

This night is a little extravagant, but it is a most enjoyable treat. We all head home stuffed and happy.

Day 15: Sep. 18, 2018 - Kew Gardens

Today we visit Kew Gardens, well to the west of Notting Hill. We meet up with the Kids for breakfast, then head to the underground. We travel via the District Line.

Kew Gardens is the royal botanical garden founded in 1840. However, the site has been a botanical garden since at least 1759. The current mission of the Gardens is to catalog, as far as possible, the flora of Earth. The original goal was collecting strange specimens from all over the British Empire, but that has now expanded. Today, there are over 30,000 species in the 300 acre park.

On entering, Kevin takes command and decides that a good route would be to take the widest circuit clockwise, stopping first at the Temperate House and later at the Treetop Walkway.

Middle Section of the Temperate House

This building has got to be experienced! Different sections of it have different humidity. Going up the spiral staircases is interesting, as well. It gets much hotter as you ascend.

There are all sorts of different plants from all over the world. Most seem to be from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa, but many are from areas that were never subject to the British Crown. Sober panels give grim statistics on the global decline of biodiversity.

We exit the House and search for human food at the Food Village, but it is too late in the season and the BBQ Tent is not open. We head, instead, to the Treetop Walkway. It is quite a different perspective for looking at trees.

We next head for the Pagoda, a really fun building.

The Fam heading to the Pagoda

Dragon on the Pagoda

Leaving the Pagoda, we continue on our loop, seeing vast stretches of varied flora. We come upon the Great Badger Sett. Yes, there are badgers living in this park. The keepers encourage it to promote natural expanses.

We continue our adventure, taking the Sackler Crossing over the lake in the middle of the Gardens, and arrive at the White Peaks Café for lunch. The food is varied and we enjoy our lunch. We decide we are about done and ready to take the ferry downstream into the middle of London when we get the news: the tide is too low and the ferry is not running at this time.

We take advantage of the situation by visiting the Hive, which we would have missed if we didn’t have to walk back to the Underground Station.

The Hive

We also pass through the Palm House, then exit at the Victoria Gate.

On the way back to London, we stop at the Swan in Hammersmith and hoist a few. Refreshed, we continue our journey back to Notting Hill. We part ways to take a rest, then rejoin to walk to the Cote Brasserie on Westbourne for dinner, about an 8 block walk from our flat.

The food is fine, we all enjoy the meal. We discuss what we should do tomorrow and agree that Windsor Castle calls. Another fine day ends in London!

Day 14: Sep. 17, 2018 - Westminster Abbey & The Eye

We awake to the new day. We head to Notting Hill Gate Station and meet up with the family. Our destination today: Westminster Abbey. After an uneventful underground ride, we arise from beneath the streets and make our way to the Abbey. There has been a Church on this spot for over a thousand years. Finally making it through the traffic (both automobiles and pedestrians), we encounter a long line, but it only takes us 15 minutes or so to get into the Abbey.

Westminster Abbey

This is a massive, but gorgeous building. The crowd inside is impressive, as well. The audio tour is well worth listening too. No pictures allowed from inside the Abbey, so we fall back to being totally in the moment.

There are several monarchs buried here. I’m glad I listened to the Teaching Company's History of England from the Tudors to the Stuarts CD Class, as I now have a little familiarity with the royal succession. As we work our way through the Abbey, Eliot points out the acknowledgement of Noel Coward, honored for his “Talent to Amuse”.

The tour is quite satisfying. After we hand in the audio-guides, we walk through the cloisters. There I find a tribute to Edmund Halley, the 2^nd Royal Astronomer. I learn from the tribute that he sponsored the publication of Newton’s Principia. Quite a gesture, as Newton went to Cambridge and Halley to Oxford!

After so much time inside a church, it’s time for some fun, so we head towards the Eye of London. We cross the Westminster Bridge. As we walk along the south bank of the river, we saw Bill Nighy. You may remember him as the aging rock star Billie Mack from the movie Love, Actually. He is standing there, apparently waiting to meet up with someone. He is tall and dapper, dressed all in Black. It made some sense that he is where we see him, there just in front of the National Theatre. When we finally get near the Eye, we are hungry and go searching for a restaurant. The one chosen, featuring Japanese cuisine, is no longer in business! (Ah the Internet, always up to date a few months ago.) We decide to patronize its replacement, Bao Fa Garden, serving Dim Sum.

The food is delicious and we are all refreshed as we head out. One note: the price for this Dim Sum is the highest I can remember. Generally, I have been impressed by how reasonable meal prices have been in London. This is one of the few places where we could have got a better deal in Seattle.

Our plan for the next hour or so is for Amy and I to wait while the Kids enjoy the Carousel. That’s not their expectation, as they convince me I should join them. Amy is wiser and remains on the ground.

The Eye is not particularly scary, but if one starts thinking that one is in the air and there is very little between himself and the ground, it starts to get a bit unnerving. OK, I’m a coward. Take my advice: ride the Eye, but don’t look down!

The views from the ride are spectacular.

Thames from the Eye

Shard from the Eye

My Fam Enjoying the Ride

After the Eye, we decide to step into the Tate Modern and view some art. The displays are mostly interesting (some are frustrating and/or don’t seem to make a clear point). We spend a good amount of time enjoying many of the exhibits.

After the Tate, we visit the Anchor Bankside Pub to rest our legs and slake our thirst and hunger. The Pub’s food is really good. I don’t remember the food in pubs in London being very good 25 years ago. It seems they have really stepped up their game.

We decide to split, going our separate ways. Amy and I head back to our flat and the kids, who have more energy, head out on their own. For us, it’s been another satisfying and enjoyable day.

Day 13: Sep. 16, 2018 - We Find a Great Polish Restaurant

We wake to a new day. Eliot arrives today! We meet Sarah, Hunter and Kevin at the Electric Diner on Portobello Road. Breakfast is hearty and delicious.

We wait for Eliot to land at the kids AirBnB. When he arrives, we head out to give him some space to recover from the flight. We decide to take a walk in Green Park near Buckingham Palace. We find ourselves back at the Queen Victoria Memorial Fountain: time for a group pic:

The day is fine and later Eliot, recovered, heads our way. He suggests The Three Tuns, near Marble Arch and we take our leave of the Park and head there. Sarah navigates and does an excellent job. We sit together for a while, having pints and enjoying a rousing game of Wizard.

Game over, we go in search of an early dinner. Sarah has suggested Ognisko, a Polish/Baltic resto near the Victoria and Albert Museum. We take the moderate walk there and enjoy a sumptuous repast. We share Pelmeni and Pierogi. We each order from the menu, casting a wide net over the offerings: Kopytka Dumplings, Chicken Kiev, Pork Schnitzel. It is very good food.

Our table is on the back porch area, looking out on the Prince’s Gardens. The setting matches the food.

After dinner, we head back to Notting Hill. The first day with our whole family has been wonderful. What will tomorrow bring?

Day 12: Sep 15, 2018 - North to Newcastle

Amy and Sarah stay in London while Kevin, Hunter and I head north to watch the match between Arsenal and DeAndre Yedlin and the rest of the men from Newcastle United.

We rise early. I head to Ladbroke Grove Stations to meet up with Kevin & Hunter. We then head to King’s Cross for the 3-hour train ride. A slight catch: a section of the Circle line is closed today, so we have to get to King’s Cross some other way. We get off the underground at Paddington and take a cab from there. While waiting for the train to open for boarding, we grab some coffee and pastries.

We board the train and find our table. Kevin and Hunter are going to give me some lessons at Wizard. (This will be the only bad/hard part of the trip.) We are in first class and drinks and food are included. Very Nice. Soon after the train takes off, we pass the Emirates Stadium; we will be here for the Europa League match Thursday night.

The train ride is most interesting. There is a group of Arsenal fans in the next seats forward. One of this group is rather drunk. We’ve never heard the terms tosser and geezer in the same sentence before.

Other than the chatter from this group (and the Wizard lesson I suffer through), the ride is most pleasant through beautiful country. We debark at the Newcastle Station and head toward St. Mary’s Stadium. We are looking for a bar that has the early match playing. We find the Shark Club. It’s crowded, but we find some standing room with a good view of a screen. Liverpool are the stronger side today, and prevail over Tottenham 2 – 1.

We leave the Shark Club and march to St. Mary’s for our first in-person EPL experience. The Stadium is grand, as are our seats.

At the Match

Pre-Match Walkout

(If you look closely, you can see Yedlin in the middle of the handshake line.)

Interesting difference from the USA: Beer must be consumed outside the viewing area! You can’t take a pint to your seat! Even worse for Hunter, several of the locals we have met have suggested strongly that in the seats we have, he should keep his jacket closed to hide the Arsenal jersey he is wearing. (Don’t rile the locals?) The away fans are in their own section and it just isn’t done that away fans outside this area are vocal.

Newcastle is the better team for most of the first half, but they can’t break through and the half ends 0 – 0. Early in the second half, Arsenal win a free kick from a dangerous spot and Granit Xhaka sends the ball straight into the goal. Newcastle then lose their spirit and Arsenal scores another through a header by Mesut Ozil. In 2^nd half added time, Newcastle gets one back, but it is too late, Arsenal win 2 – 1.

It has been an interesting and exciting game. We exit with the crowd and go in search of a post-match nosh. While looking, we stumble upon the remnants of the New Castle that this town is named for:

Newcastle Keep

We find “The Herb Farm” and have pizza. Very tasty.

We head back to the train station and enter a pub for a pint. We have an enjoyable conversation with some other travelling Arsenal fans, then board the train for the ride south and another painful Wizard lesson for me.

On the train, we have some more food so that we have no need for a meal when we arrive after 9:00. We quietly head home, a nice day concluded.

Meanwhile, Amy and Sarah have had High Tea in London. They have also seen the musical “Aladdin”. We have all enjoyed the day. Tomorrow, Eliot joins us.

Day 11: Sep. 14, 2018 - Buckingham Palace, the Fam Arrives

Three of our family are arriving today, landing about noon or so. We decide to take a bit of a walk this AM, then, if they want, we will meet Kevin, Sarah and Hunter at Paddington Station to help them take the tube to Notting Hill. We head out for Buckingham Palace by taking the tube from Notting Hill Gate to Hyde Park Gate. We then walk south to the Palace to do the Green Park & St. James Park City Walk (#2).

Buckingham Palace

The Palace is much less crowded today than when we were here a few days ago. Probably due to no guard change on Sunday. We enjoy the Queen Victoria Memorial Fountain.

We then head into St. James Park. We find the St. James Café; a perfect spot for a cup of tea and a pastry.

Refreshed, we finish the City Walk. Passing the Prince Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens.

We finish up at and return to our flat to wait for news from Heathrow. The kids arrive and we join them at Paddington. We all journey to their flat and they get settled in.

Later, we join them at the Eagle, a Pub a couple of blocks away. We have a nice pub dinner and make plans for meeting in the morning.

Day 10: Sep. 13, 2018 - Canary Wharf

We want to see Canary Wharf. This will be our farthest foray East, except if we get out to Greenwich. We will follow walk #43 of the London City Walks.

It takes a few moments to orient as we come out of the tube station, but we get it figured out. Canada Square is really lovely. With lots of pine trees, it is reminiscent of home.

Our first stop is at the underground shops to pick up some essentials, including some new socks for Amy. As usual, consumerism in London is an interesting experience. After scoping out some of the eating options, we head back outside.

One Canada Square

When completed, One Canada Square was the tallest building in the UK. It is all of 50 stories tall! Several years later, it is number 2, with the Shard being taller by 37 floors. (A few more years, and it will be quite a way further down the list.)

Amy points out the varied artwork, some inside, some out. She really likes it!

Three quarters of the way through the walk, hunger is looming, so we look for “Jamie’s Italian”, mentioned in the City Walk: it’s gone! Being replaced by a soon-to-be-opened BrewDog pub! We continue on – lots of food tents as well as sit-down places on the north dock (the West India Quay). We find the “Sipping Room”. We share the Buratta, Amy has Chicken Pie, I have the Linguine with Crab.

West India Quay

This is an interesting area – there is a lot of financial work going on here. Apparently, this area represents a vast extension of London’s Financial Services industry. We can believe it, with all of the Suits sharing the pavements with us.

After lunch, we head to Chelsea to check out the Stadium where Chelsea FC play. We get on the Underground, then debark at Fulham Broadway. A couple of blocks takes us to our destination.

Stamford Bridge

This stands as quite a contrast to American Sports Venues. The streets around the Stadium are so narrow! Americans like to drive their cars to their sporting events. All the traffic on game day here will be by tube or on foot.

We have one more errand to run: it is on to Paddington Station to claim our printed tickets for our train ride to Penzance when we leave London in a few weeks. This turns out to be exceedingly easy!

We head home for our afternoon rest, then it is over to Portobello Road to Tuk Tuk Stick & Grill for dinner. We share the Tuk 4 Two platter with 6 Chicken and 3 Beef satay. It is very tasty.

This has been another relaxing, interesting day.

Day 9: Sep. 12, 2018 - Errands

We decide to take a break from tourist stuff and do some errands. Chore 1: We need to find out how long it takes to walk to where Sarah, Hunter, Kevin and Eliot are going to stay.

Chore 2: Some background: some time ago, the UK Government decided to upgrade its currency. Out would go the paper 10-pound notes, in would come a plastic version of the note. Partially see-through. Very much harder to counterfeit. We got some of these old notes when we bought pounds in Seattle. Most vendors won’t accept them as of March of this year. So, we need to exchange our “old” 10-pound notes for new ones.

Chore 3: we need to buy some groceries.

After an easy morning, we take the walk to 86 Munro Mews, where the gang is staying. It’s on the north side of the Westway, so it is new territory for us. It ends up being about a 15-minute stroll. Chore 1 done! We then head back to our side of the Westway and the rail lines to Heathrow. We stop in at the Sainsbury and get the groceries we need. Chore 3 done!

Lastly (if only), we stop in at the currency exchange. Slight catch: they will charge a 10% fee to exchange our bills. Our only option is to exchange them for free at the Bank of England in the City. We also decide that this might be a good time to check out the observation deck of the 20 Fenchurch building.

We go back to the flat to drop off the groceries and head to the underground for our first experience with the Bank of England. We also decide that we should check out the Monument: a column built from 1671 to 1677 that commemorates the Great File of 1666.

Into the Underground and out to the Bank Station. We have a moment of hesitation before figuring out which of these impressive buildings is the actual bank, but get it sorted out quickly. We try to head in together, but there is heavy security. Amy must wait for me to do the business. I have to show the guard the notes I want to exchange and my bag gets thoroughly searched. Once inside, they are very cordial, but the security is awesome. Actual automatic weapons are in view. I get all five of the bills exchanged (yes, all this for a whole 50 Pounds), and leave the bank to rejoin Amy.

Chores done, we head to Monument. It’s 200 meters high with 311 steps to the top. Built in 1671, there is no elevator!

It’s a fun climb as there are slit windows every few steps that give a view outside. It’s very interesting as we get near the top and come upon visitors heading down the stairs. Passing as we climb is a little tricky! We arrive at the top and enjoy the view.

Amy and the Shard

20 Fenchurch from atop Monument

We descend and head to the 20 Fenchurch building. Uh Oh! At this time of day, we must have a reservation to ascend! Perhaps we can do this later in our stay…

We head home, get a bite of lunch out of leftovers in the fridge, then enjoy a leisurely afternoon. For dinner, we walk to Hereford Road. A few blocks away, they specialize in local food, mostly seafood. We both enjoy the Dover Sole, perfectly cooked!

A wonderfully relaxing day!

Day 8: Sep. 11, 2018 - Tower Bridge & The South Bank

We greet the day and we are feeling good! We decide today is a good day for a trip to the Tower Bridge and the South Bank of the Thames. We head for the Underground and a very short time later find ourselves trying to figure out what direction we are facing as we emerge from the Tower Hill Station. Ah! We see the Tower and know that the Thames is just opposite.

The Tower of London

The City Walk we are taking goes to the St. Katharine’s Docks, just east of here. As we make our way towards it, we see Tower Bridge:

We walk down to dock area. This used to be working docklands for London, but got pretty plastered during WWII. It was rebuilt as a luxury yacht marina.

We enjoy the stroll through the docks, then ascend the bridge and head to the south bank. (We skip the Tower proper as we will be doing that with our kids next week, maybe.) We cross the bridge and then head west along the river. We stop at a gallery which appears to be a former warehouse that is now a mall. The central area is open, but covered. For lunch, we go French at Café Rouge. We share the Beetroot Tatin and we each get a steak and frites. The steak is a little tough, but tasty.

We get back to the river and continue walking West until we come to the Globe. We pick up our tickets at Will Call (we are seeing Othello a week from Friday).

Back at the River, we enjoy the views of the newer buildings in The City.

That's the 20 Penchurch Building that looks a little like a sore thumb, and the Gherkin with the pointy top. We end our walk by crossing the Millennium Bridge and get a nice view of St. Paul's.

St. Pauls' from the Millennium Bridge

We take the Underground home where we rest up before dinner. We dine locally, at Brown Rice, a Thai Buffet. Very Yummy. Another wonderful day.