London: A Quick Trip

You may have been wondering where the heck I have been the past week. Maybe not. Well, it has been a fun and crazy busy week.

Monday we had a rude awakening at 5:30am when the radiator in the bedroom fell off the wall. Three of the four brackets broke off but thankfully it did not break the pipe. Our bedroom has a lane that goes past it.

Well, the noise was such that we thought a car had crashed into our house. It will be getting fixed next week. Although it scared the you-know-what out of us, we are glad that we were here when it happened just in case the pipe had broken.

Because we left Tuesday for London for a few days. Forty-eight hours really. Bob had planned to attend a motorsport conference on Wednesday and had booked his trip a few months ago. I decided a month or so ago that it would be nice to just go wander around London while he worked.

We arrived on Tuesday afternoon and took the train from Gatwick to London Bridge Station. From there we walked across the London Bridge to our hotel.  We stayed at Motel One London Tower Hill. It was a great hotel and only a short walk to the Tower of London which was the only planned tourist thing on my agenda.

Bob had a VIP dinner Tuesday night so I set out to find a good pub with fish and chips. There was an upmarket fish and chips place across the street from the hotel but I really wanted the pub atmosphere. I set off to one and asked the waitress if I could sit anywhere for dinner. She said yes so I took a seat at a table and looked at the menu and chose a wine. I waited and I waited and no one came to take my order. No one else was eating yet so I had nothing to go on as to how things worked. The same waitress came over and cleaned the table next to me and made eye contact and walked away. Okay, maybe my table wasn’t included in her section. I waited a few more minutes and then walked out. I hear a few of you saying ‘why didn’t you just ask’ and well…that is a valid point. But I also thought she should have said to me how this works. I obviously don’t have an English accent so it would be a safe bet on her part that I didn’t know the rules.

Anyway, I walked around searching and finally went back to the hotel for a recommendation and I was directed down the street to The Minories. When I arrived there was a large sign that told you how this worked. ‘Find your table, make a note of the table number, and go to the bar to place your food and drink order.’ WELL! Jeez, that was easy, wasn’t it?! That’s all the waitress or a sign could have told me in the first place.

I actually liked the second place better anyway. I picked a table and went to the bar to place my order. A very friendly lady took my order and she and I chatted to one of their regular customers for a few moments before I returned to my table and waited for my dinner. What a different experience. The fish and chips were FABULOUS!!!! I couldn’t finish all of the fish though.

Wednesday, Bob had to be down the road at the conference at 8am and I needed to be at the Tower of London when they opened at 9am. I wanted to be there when they opened so I could see the Crown Jewels before it got too crowded. I haven’t been to London in thirteen years when Bob first took me but I remember we did the same thing then.

It was definitely the thing to do. Although there was a line (queue) to get into the Tower, most people didn’t know where to go once inside, so I made a beeline for the Crown Jewels. Following that I just wandered around and if I saw a tour heading one way…I went a different way and checked out something else. It was great to visit it again but I did miss having Bob with me. His history lessons while we visit places like that are amazing. I have no idea how he remembers it all. Not just English history either.

I then walked back and forth over Tower Bridge. Such a beautiful structure.

A brief walk around St. Katharine Docks. A bit of music that made me stop and listen.

I then walked to Marks and Spencer on Fenchurch Street to get some goodies for our friend Mark.

It was great just wandering the streets and stopping when I saw something interesting. I tried to take photos of the iconic things in London so I could share them in this blog.

I walked back to the hotel and dropped off the stuff I had purchased and charged my phone before heading back out. One of the other places on my list to visit was a bookstore. Why a bookstore? Well, because I miss wandering around bookstores. Books in English. Like a kid in a candy store, I was. And WOW what a gorgeous location!

Wednesday night we met up with our nephew Stephen and his partner Kath for dinner. I can’t believe I didn’t take any photos! Anyway, it was a lovely evening with them.

Thursday morning we checked out of the hotel and I captured a couple more photos on our walk back to the train station.

We arrived home late Thursday afternoon. Unpacked, showered and off to meet up with Mark and his sister-in-law, Jane (who was visiting from England) for dinner. Then Friday we had our writers’ group in Sitges and then lunch afterward. Grocery shopping on the way home and today laundry and writing. Tonight, we are off to our neighbor’s home for a bit of dinner and movie under the stars.

Phew. It has been a fun week and the trip was great. I need a rest now.