London Town

Greetings from London!!! I have taken over 650 photos, so I have to really condense what I post, as long as I can upload them. I can use my little computer
here at our hotel in London. Yay! There is just so much to say to catch up that I have been putting it off. Sorry!! It'll only get worse the longer that I put it off. Dublin was great as was the trip back to Wales and and then England. So far everything has gone well, no big mess-ups or "wrong turns" luckily. It's good to be "home" in London, after 15 years. A lot has changed and yet it hasn't. Oh, but I am getting ahead of myself. We got into Chester and after taking a taxi to our B&B, we walked into the town center as it was raining. We ate at a pub called the Red Lion. I had lamb cooked in a mint jelly sauce with potatoes and steamed veggies, all for about 6.75 pounds. ($13.50) Yeah, things are way expensive. (I spent 12 pounds today to go into Westminster Abbey, or $24.00. Ouch!) After, we walked the rows and saw the Chester Cathedral and Eastgate Clock. Such a cute town, just not much to do after the shops close. And then if you are not a shopper..... Well, we had a family room in The Laburnum guest house, meaning there were 3 beds, 2 twins and 1 double. Nice and spacious. Supposedly non-smoking, there was someone smoking up a storm in the place. We had to put a towel under the door to keep the smell out. The shower also had a bunch of mildew in it. Luckily it was one of our cheaper places. We then went to Stratford-Upon-Avon, on 4 different trains. Whew, we are glad that that is over. It can be stressful to make your connections and get the right platform etc.. And with all our luggage.!!! Our B&B in Stratford was lovely!! The Emsley House. The couple that run it are perfect for their job. Sooooo nice, helpful and personable. And we had another family room in the front of the place. It was great! We decided to do the hop on/off bus again and went to Mary Arden's house/farm and Anne Hathaway's Cottage (Shakespeare's mother's place and wife's home). We had to leave the Shakespeare birthplace for the morning before leaving for Warwick Castle. It was all great. The castle was neat and interactive. Too bad it was drizzling. That night we headed to Coventry because there weren't any places in Stratford or Warwick. (But that is ok because we had relatives from there and Aunt Sharon had wanted to go there anyway.) Whew, 3 cities in 1 day!! We had a wonderful B&B in Coventry, called the Acacia House B&B. It was more like a motel because they had a long wing added out the back of the row house that had about 4-5 more rooms. We were able to leave our luggage there and crossed the ring street to the center of town, the next morning. We saw the old bombed out cathedral from WWII and the new one next to it. And then there was the Lady Godiva statue. We then headed into London via a Virgin train, with our first class pass. There were only 3 of us in the whole car. The bathroom was huge and they gave us a lunch box with a sandwich and all sorts of fun things to eat. And then an hour and a half later another goody box with other snacks. Aunt Sharon loved it all, as did I. Where was this on all of our other journeys??? We got into London Euston station and then got Northern Line (tube) to Central line. We were on the platform when they told us that there was a person on the tracks at Queensway (the exact station that we wanted to go to) and that that line would be closed down. We had to drag our luggage back up top and decide what to do. We got a taxi. Ha Ha! 16 pounds later... well worth it. Our place is right around the corner from Bayswater tube station. Oooh, I pick well!!! But, circle line was closed Sunday and other obstacles with the tube were hindering us. We just had to get creative and find alternative routes, namely the bus. I almost always took the tube when I lived here before so I wasn't too familiar with the buses. But we found one straight to church sunday morning at the Hyde Park Ward and then to the Tower of London last night for the Ceremony of the Keys. (Where they lock up for the night--in a ceremony 700 years old.) We also went to the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square. All these places have been mobbed!!! Everyone is in London this week!!! Today we headed to Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey and the River Thames. We also saw the Millennium Eye (the big ferris wheel across from Big Ben.) After taking a bunch of photos, we went over to Victoria Station to see Buckingham Palace and Westminster Cathedral (not abbey-- where our relative John Southworth is buried.) Thank goodness for Circle Line, we could come back straight to our door, almost. Aunt Sharon has a bad cold and is probably miserable but knows that she will thank me when we get home for "pushing or encouraging" her to do all that we are, even though her feet hurt and she doesn't feel well. Tomorrow we will tackle the big "BM" or the British Museum and St. Paul's Cathedral. Well, I'll see what I can upload now. That is pretty much it for now. It was mid 70's today and might be warmer tomorrow. We are on the 3rd floor of the hotel and there is no air conditioning, but the window opens. It's still hot. Well, ta ta for now.