london

SO - we have been in London a couple of days now.....yesterday we spent the day doing the most touristy of tourist, we jumped the on and off bus and rode around the city seeing the sights from the open-air top of the bus. We got off at Westminster Abbey and had intended to go in but balked at the cost of it, £20 ($40) for the two of us to enter ...we decided that it would be more prudent to return on Sunday for services...so that is the plan. We walked around a bit then got back on the bus for the rest of the morning.

We had lunch by the Thames in a very nice park, there was a little restaurant there where we could order inside, then they'd bring it out under the trees. We sat surrounded by statures of all the great English poets, specifically at the foot of Robert Burns.

After that we got onto the River cruise and spent the afternoon gliding along under the bridges enjoying the very nice sunny weather cooled by a nice breeze, passing the Globe Theater and ending up in Greenwich. We were only there a few minutes, but knowing that we had spanned both hemispheres was a moment to remember.

When we returned to shore back under the tower bridge we took the on-off bus again to Harrod's to buy dinner in the famous delis there. I will have to say that I was less than astounded by the famous department store, I think it has become a little full of itself and the security measures taken by its current owner along with the shrines to Dodi and Diana make it all a bit cheap - while the prices a re the only thing breathtaking. Nevertheless, we did choose some nice meat pies, a great salad and some desserts to take back to the room with us.

This morning we got off to an early start and went to Kensington Palace. We had thought of going to Windsor, but because we have spent so much time on trains lately decided to stay closer - and besides it has a tribute to Diana in the main-floor gallery right now, with the clothes that she had auctioned just before she died, and Mary really wanted to see it. The palace itself is interesting, it has been a historic residence for many of the Royals over the centuries, and is one of the older palaces for the family. Because the Queen is in residence at Buckingham palace right now, it is closed to the public, but the half of Kensington not currently occupied is open. We walked through Princess Margaret's apartment, interesting and nice, but it really paints a picture of life for the Royals that is not so enviable - we realized that there was every kind of convenience and comfort there, and she had all kinds of staff running around, but it was so completely cut off from the world, for security, that she and the other Royals are really like well-kept prisoners. It was pretty claustrophobic, really. Upstairs we walked through the state rooms and what had been Victoria's apartment before she became queen. It was furnished pretty much as it had been, including the bed brought back from Buck to the bedroom she had lived in there, just as it had been when she was awakened there to be told she had just been made queen. Interesting.

After lunch we went to Kenneth Grahame's house, the author of "Wind in the Willows". Most of you know me well enough to know that that was "my" book growing up - Aunt Buddy gave it to me when I was about 8, and I always have allied myself with Mole. Standing on the steps of the house was to me like Mole coming home - it was great.

We then went to the Victoria and Albert - this is an incredible museum - filled with old and new, and really more dedicated to the study of design as it has evolved over the past 3000 years from every corner of the globe...an afternoon at the V&A is really invigorating, I can only imagine what it would be like to spend more time there.

We are about to find someplace for dinner, we had thought of taking in a play but I think we are just a little worn out so will probably watch a movie in the room...I had to laugh this afternoon as we got back form these two days of intensive tourism, realizing that we have been having more trouble with communication here in London than we did in either Italy of France; London is such a hub for immigration that many of the shopkeepers speak only broken English, and the mix is heavily Middle-Eastern, Indian, Chinese and Eastern Bloc (lots of Polish) making negotiations very interesting. Both of us are still using a lot of Italian picked up as we traveled from Venice to Rome - it just comes out of us without thinking. So when one of these shopkeepers pick up on that they will occasionally respond in broken Italian making it all the worse. United Nations here we come.

Tomorrow we have plans for Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London and the Royal Mews. And today we found Starbuck's - which I had not had since we left home. Ahhh, civilization at last!

This is our last stop on this adventure - we'll be heading home in a couple of days...it has beebn a great tour, and we had to buy yet another suitcase to bring back all the books and souvenirs we have picked up along the way. I am really glad we discovered Public Porters.