London by Foot

We arrived early in London, dropped our luggage off at the hotel and headed down the street for a short jaunt to the Tube, London's subway system. Since it was still early in the morning around 8:00 a.m., we stopped for a bite to eat at a local bakery called the Cricklewood Bakery and Deli. The four of us each purchased something different and then we shared with one another so we could have a taste of the

different types of foods. We sampled Cornish pasty, onion cheddar pie, sausage roll, and a chocolate croissant. Each item was a flaky dough with a savory filling (except the chocolate croissant). The Cornish pasty had ground beef with a gravy and other seasonings. The filling actually reminded us of turkey stuffing at Thanksgiving.

Because the rest of our group wasn't flying in until later in the day, we were on our own until 3:00 p.m. We rode the Tube into Piccadilly Circus and then proceeded to walk all over the city of Westminster which is one side of London. We walked over to

Trafalgar Square where the Royal Gallery is located. On  three of the corners of the square is a statue of a one of the kings. On the fourth corner, is a striking bright blue statue of a rooster. Apparently every year, a different statue is selected to be on display.

As we walked up and down streets, I was amazed at the number of statues and plaques there were. It seems that the way England honors its heroes and historical figures is to erect a statue in London. Even benches and buildings had signs commemorating someone. More walking brought us to the Mall which is like the Queen's driveway. It's a long road that has Trafalgar Square on one end and Buckingham Palace on the other end. We got to see the royal guard after it had been relieved traveling down the Mall on horseback. They wore different uniforms and we learned that there are five different regiments that take turns standing guard. This group was called the Life Guard. Along the way we saw another group regiment at other residences. Wherever there is a royal residence, there is a royal guard presence.

There are also a lot of Royal Parks in London, we saw Green Park which is right next to Buckingham Palace and we walked a good distance to Hyde Park which is quite large, so we only saw Hyde Park Corner. Along the way, we notice rows of lawn chairs set out on the lawns of some of the parks. Turns out the Tour de France had come through London just the day or two before, and we think that's what the lawn chairs were for. You had to pay to use them either by the hour or for the day.

Eventually, we met up with our tour group back at Piccadilly Circus. Our tour director gave us the intro speech, and we spent a little bit of time exploring Leicester Square looking for Christmas tree ornaments. Then it was off to dinner at a place that seemed very far away. We took the Tube and then walked a long distance to a little Italian place. We were served Chicken with a sauce, mashed potatoes, a roll and a small sampling of salad. Dessert was a cream puff filled with banana creme and some chocolate sauce drizzled on top. It was surprising since we thought we might get a more traditional meal, but we were hungry and ate it up.

It was time to check into our hotel, so it was another long walk and ride on the Tube. Janice and I are sharing a room. We had been warned that the rooms were small and not as nice, but our room is lovely. The only trouble we had was figuring out how to turn on the lights. A little investigative work and reading the guest relations book and we solved our mystery. You have to put your key card into a slot on the wall to activate the electricity in the room.

Lights were turned off by 10:10 p.m. which was 2:00 p.m. San Diego time. We were exhausted. Not counting the few hours of napping we got on the plane, we had been up for 36 hours. Sleep was heavenly, but the morning would come much too quickly since we had to leave at 8:00 a.m. the next morning.