London Day 7: Greenwich

After sleeping in, we awoke to what was the clearest day of our week in London. We decided to take a city cruise from the Tower of London down to the town of Greenwich. This was a half hour journey on the top deck of a riverboat cruiser. We'd taken one during our first London walk but this was a little different due to the fact that it wasn't raining!!! Under the Tower Bridge, past Canary Wharf and on to the home of the town that we all set our clocks by - Greenwich, England.




W and I visited the Old Royal Naval College, a masterpiece of English architecture originally planned by Sir Christopher Wren as a resource for seamen and their families. In the Royal Hospital for Seamen is found the most elaborate dining hall in the entire world, the Painted Hall. Of course like nearly all British historical sites in the winter, the Naval College hosts an ice skating rink for kids and families!!! After that we viewed the Observatory, the keeper of Greenwich Mean Time and the big red ball that has been dropping faithfully at 1pm since 1833.

Next on to our final pub of the trip, the Spanish Galleon. We finally watched a football match in a pub with the British! W enjoyed a new beer, a Bishops Finger Ale. I finally got out the postcards I'd been carrying around in my backpack all week! After fish & chips, we took the Docklands Light Rail (a driverless subway style train) back to central London and our flat where we packed up. Later that evening, we took our final London Walk, a Ghost Walk! Unfortunately, it was SOOOO cold that the walk wasn't as fun as it might have been. But we got one last look around St. James Park, Buckingham Palace, Whitehall and Trafalgar Square. One last beer at the flat and then off to bed for us. Farewell to London! We've enjoyed every minute!

London Day 6: More rain and more great walks!

New Years' Eve in London 2006

After a late start on Sunday morning, we headed off to the Imperial War Museum on the south side of the Thames. This is a museum we could have stayed in for days, there was so much of interest to see there! Since we had plans to join a London walk in our neighborhood of Little Venice later that afternoon, we stuck to a few main sections. The Childrens' War showed the Second World War through the eyes of British children. The Trench Experience was a walk through recreation of a front line trech on the Somme in the autumn of 1916. It is brought to life with special lighting, sound and smell effects (really). We saw the War in the Air exhibit of large aircraft in the entrance gallery, as well as the Holocaust Exhibition.

After a rather somber morning, we joined Shaughan and about 15 other people for a London Walk through Little Venice, the area around our Elon flat. Were we surprised to find out all that our area had to offer, including a complete canal system that runs throughout Great Britain for over 2000 miles! We passed the hotel where Sigmund Freud wrote upon arriving in England, as well as the former home of poet Robert Browning. Down the street from our flat is the location where Fleming identified the power of penicillin!


Later on a very RAINY evening, we joined up with Femke, Jacob, our tour guide Peter G, two more tour guides and about 110 people for our Auld Lang Syne on Old Father Thames pub walk for New Years' Eve. This was a special walk for the London Walks organization and W and I were not sure what to expect. I think many foreign tourists, including French, Australian, and American visitors, decided to join this walk and see where the night took them. After separating the tour into three groups, Peter took us from Blackfriar's Tube across the Thames, sharing information about the history of London all the way. We worked back in time along the Thames, starting from the youngest pub, the Founders' Arms, and then moving onto some history surrounding the Globe Theatre, and the oldest food market in London, the Borough Market. We also journeyed by the site of London's oldest prison, the Clink, which is now the site of a prison museum. Vinopolis is down the street from all of this fun, one place we didn't make it to but will try to visit upon our return. Peter informed us that London and Great Britain make almost no wines, but drink more wine and champagne than any other country in the world. Next we went to a pub called The Anchor, a lovely spot with large wide wood beamed ceilings and some good ciders. It was a quick stop and off to more history like the Southwark Cathedral. Luckily it had stopped raining while we were in the Founders' Arms, so the whole of the trip was windy but overall pleasant. We finally ended up at The George, the city's oldest existing coaching inn. By this time our tour was finished so our little group of four wandered off in search of food and a place to watch the fireworks. After some rude response to food requests at the Anchor, we found food and outdoor tables back at the Founders' Arms. We enjoyed the company, the drinks, and the hordes of people walking down river towards the London Eye. Eventually we joined the mob and walked down until we reached an empty bench near Waterloo Bridge and a small crowd who could all see the Eye. We could see the crowds of people across the river lined up to watch the events of the evening. Ten minutes later we were treated to a spectacular fireworks show! We ended the night at a Thames side restaurant stand selling burgers and brats (with lots of onions.) Great sustenance for the walk to the Underground later.

To control traffic, several Tube stations were closed and others had traffic control via police on horseback. We travelled with some other smart London folk to St. Paul's Tube station and went quickly home, saying goodbye to our new friends. After calls home to the States, we fell fast asleep around 2:30am.

London Day 5: Sun to Rain and a London Walk or Two

Despite the overnight rain, we woke to sunny skies and promptly go out to Portobello Road Market in Notting Hill. It's a good thing we were there first thing in the morning because by 10am, the area was seething. Notting Hill is a an area made famous by the movie but known best as an affluent and older fashionable area with lots of trust fund babies with an equally thriving "alternative" culture (per wikipedia's description) with lots of second hand clothing and antique stores. On Saturdays (like today), vendors set up stalls with fruits and vegetables, meats, clothing (new and used), antiques, silver, art, accessories and more. All sorts of items were here and mostly divided up by category.

I finally found something affordable to buy in London at Portobello Road, a new cute wrap top for only £10 from a new designer called Emily and Fin. And I tried it on in the market behind a little sheet...in 40 degree weather. As the morning went on, the day became more lovely and the streets of Notting Hill more crowded. We wandered some side streets and took pictures of the multi-colored house fronts until stopping at a bagel store. The English may admire a New York bagel but they haven't learned how to imitate it yet.

More later including our adventures with London Walks in the rain...

London Walks is a GREAT company that provides guided walking tours of London, with very professional, knowledgeable and somewhat theatrical guides. We joined up for an afternoon This Is London! tour with Judy. This is the Flash-Bang-Lightning Highlights tour that includes a visit to the biggest sites that London has to offer including a ride along the Thames, Tower Bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral, St. James's Park, Whitehall, Buckingham Palace, the Mall and Trafalgar Square. What London Walks specializes in is giving you the keys to the areas that you would never find on your own and stories that you will never read in a guidebook. Only have one day in London? This tour is a great introduction.

We liked this tour so much that we decided to take another £6 a person London Walk to the Old Hampstead Village Pub Walk with Peter G. This walk covers the high hill above London, looking at areas where history ranges from Keats and DH Lawrence to Elizabeth Taylor and Jamie Oliver. We punctuated our historical (and rainy) adventure through Hampstead and the border of the Heath, with two great pubs - the Holly Bush and Ye Olde White Bear. At the Holly Bush, we played tour guide for a young man whose wife was taking her mother for a two week holiday in the States. He wanted to know where they might travel between Boston and DC. Funny that we would be very familiar with that area! We were led by the Admiral's House, on top of which are 12 cannons which the original owner used to fire to claim victory in naval conflicts, the inspiration for a certain scene in Mary Poppins. Our travels also took us past the oldest known house in Hampstead - the Fenton House, as well as past the home of the late George du Maurier, now owned by Ridley Scott. We ended up meeting a great couple from Amsterdam, Jacob and Femke and stayed on at the restaurant above the Holly Bush for dinner after the pub crawl. W had his first English sausages and mash! Smoked salmon, salad and crusty bread for me. Butter served on the slide in big slabs like cheese. And the oddest small WC (toilet or loo in the UK) that I have ever seen. Four steps inside the front door including one to get to the commode. And the sink in a corner in front so small and close you could wash your hands while sitting down! I guess fire codes are different in the outer reaches of London, the restaurant / pub had candles sitting open on every other stair up to the second floor.

Finally back to the tube, agreeing to a possible meeting for the next evening's New Years' Eve walk with our new friends.