June 26, 2016 by Rae

A Canadian in Belgravia

From the London Eye, I headed back towards the Palace of Westminster to just scope out the area, see what I would come across, and find some lunch. Then, I would head back to Baker Street in the late afternoon to view Madame Tussaud’s, have supper, and then return home.

From the Eye, I headed back towards Jubilee Bridge. The carousel was open.

This Shakespeare quote about the Thames made me laugh.

Final glimpse!

Well said…

Lots of this signage today. I did better today than I did my first day in Glasgow when I forgot to do this and almost got creamed. I had a Canadian flag on my bag and the driver screamed at me to go back to Canada if I didn’t know how to cross a street!

The UK’s 24 Sussex Drive and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. LOTS of security, of course! But as long as you were polite and just taking pictures, the police were cool.

These arches are at the Treasury.

A few people told me to view the Churchill War Rooms, but they’re rather expensive and the queue was almost three blocks long!

Westminster Abbey.

I literally stumbled onto New Scotland Yard on my way to Buckingham Palace.

I got a chuckle at seeing this House of Fraser, a department store. When I was in the larger cities in Scotland, House of Fraser was always my reference point. I would see people walking with its bright red bag and gauge where the store was in relation to where they were coming from, then orientate myself.

Vicky, this will have to do you instead of a map. Get on Google! 😉

Aaaaand Buckingham Palace. Not too many people today.

Looking towards St. James’s Park.

I actually saw the Queen come out of the Palace of Holyroodhouse when I was in Edinburgh! She’s tiny!

I decided to head through Belgravia to Hyde Park.

There is a public transportation stop called Canada Water?!

I had my first 99 Flake! It was £1.50 outside Hyde Park, the cheapest Flake I’d seen yet!

Hyde Park is huge. I just strolled along the edge since I was getting desperate for lunch.

Came out of the park in front of a pub. How convenient! It was the Paxton’s Head in Knightbridge. I was famished and wanted something of the stick to your ribs variety. Their sausage and mash with loads of yummy gravy and sweet onion chutney at £8.99 appeared to be the best value to fill that need. I asked for a beer to go with it and the bartender actually poured me a decent sized sampler! It was a slightly bitter larger I knew would go well with my meal, so I ordered a half pint. Lunch was really yummy. I wanted to lick the plate. 😀

I was fading by this point and almost ready to head to Madame Tussaud’s. I passed a pink cab, complete with female driver, on the way to the Knightsbridge Tube station.

After consulting a map, I decided to make one more stop, Harrods Department Store.

Here is its famous Egyptian staircase. So gorgeous!

The store is very, very, very posh and carries everything you can imagine. My neighbour Caroline joked the other day that the only thing she could afford at Harrods was one cookie. She wasn’t exaggerating! I didn’t leave empty handed, though…

I wanted a Moleskine notebook for travels, but never got around to picking one up. The kind I wanted was £10.95, a better deal than if I’d bought it in Canada! I did comparison shop and was shocked that the next notebook I picked up was priced at over £300 and it was even’t even leather!

Harrods apparently has a strict dress code, something I was not aware of. I must have looked okay in my skirt, sandals, and rain coat. My coat, by the way, is perfect for English weather! I remembered from my time in Scotland that a long-sleeved teeshirt is more appropriate to the climate and that a windbreaker is often all that’s needed versus a coat. This applies to London as well (I’m visiting at the same time of year). Even when the bitterest wind blew off the Thames today, I was very comfortable without having to drag a heavy coat with me.

When I was done at Harrods, I was almost at the end of my energy reserves for the day, but wanted to visit Madame Tussaud’s. I rode the Piccadilly line to Green Park (Buckingham Palace) and then switched to the Jubilee line to Baker Street. If I hadn’t been going to Madame Tussaud’s, I would have continued on the Piccadilly line to Oxford Circle and switched to the Bakerloo line to get me straight to Queen’s Park.

Just in case I had any doubt I came out of the correct Tube station…

June 26, 2016 by Rae

The London Eye

The London Eye is a giant Ferris wheel that was built to celebrate the new millennium. Like the Eiffel Tower, it was never meant to be a long lasting monument that would become an icon of the city. Not being crazy about heights, I did a lot of research before committing to the expense of riding up to the very top and back down again!

Sunday morning felt like the perfect time to ride the Eye. I just happened to be there, the weather was good, and the crowds weren’t massive.

There are a few different ways to buy tickets for the London Eye, each one more expensive than the last. I did my research and learned two things. 1) The Fast Track tickets are pretty much a rip off as the queue is almost as long and 2) The money saved by buying online ahead of time is not worth it if you end up going on a day with bad weather. I decided to just buy a regular ticket when I got there, then ended up combining with Madame Tussaud’s and the aquarium.

I got in the queue around noon and was off the Eye by 12:40. So even if the crowds seem large, they move quickly. Like with all London attractions I’ve visited thus far, be prepared to open your bag and to be subjected to a wand search before embarking. Unless a rider is disabled or elderly, the Eye does not stop and you step on and off while it is moving, which it does at a snail’s pace.

These pods are going up.

I splurged (£1!) on a viewing guide. A lot of people in my pod referred to it and expressed regret at not getting it.

This is it!

Looking northwards to Jubilee Bridge.

M16 headquarters.

Looking west.

St. Paul’s Cathedral to the northeast.

I was starting to get a little uncomfortable here.

The Shard.

Wow! This is iconic London in one shot! Notice Westminster Abbey behind Big Ben.

Almost at the top! I was ready to get off by this point, just a general feeling of malaise rather than fear. I distracted myself by walking around the pod and trying to see as far off in the distance as I could.

This was so worth the price of admission!

To the northwest.

Buckingham Palace.

Another view of the Shard. One thing I didn’t get to see was the Gherkin.

Looking south. The guide barely had anything in this direction even though there is an Eiffel Toweresque structure to the southeast…

The treasury.

These balconies are so precious!

Done!

Riding the London Eye was an unbelievable experience. It is worth the expense and the time spent in the queue. I would love to ride it again at sunset one day. I think that unless you have a debilitating fear of heights, you could manage riding the Eye. It’s easy to distract yourself from how high up you really are.

June 26, 2016 by Rae

Brunch and the London Sea Life Aquarium

The only plan I had for today was to see the Palace of Westminster/Big Ben and then just walk around in the general vicinity and see what came up. I told you, I am not going to go mad trying to cram in a huge list of things to see and do. I never planned to visit London and whatever I see while I’m here is a bonus!

Here’s Kensal Green station, where I waited a few minutes for my train this morning. Those stairs were heavy yesterday with my bags, and there’s another flight after!

Guess where I had to transfer for the Jubilee line?

From the Jubilee line, I got off at Westminster and this was what greeted me when I came out of the station:

I have to say Big Ben is nowhere near as tall as I had expected. In fact, I think Ottawa’s Peace Tower is more impressive. 😀 But wow! Now I knew for sure I was really in London!

First glimpse of the London Eye.

London is super easy to get around in. There are maps and signage galore. I never felt a need to get a paper map, ask for directions, or look up anything on my phone (which I couldn’t do anyway since I didn’t get a SIM card after all).

I was famished by this time so I eagerly looked at restaurant menus trying to find somewhere that would do something I’d actually want to eat for breakfast (ie. savoury and not involving eggs). I came to the pretty Caffe Concerto and was so grateful that I can afford to eat somewhere so pretty and with a menu that appealed to me. I’m being mindful of what I’m spending, but can relax and treat myself within reason. I know I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy London just a year ago. Can you see me in this picture?

I love the combination of teal and orange!

I enjoyed a ham and cheese croissant, perfectly grilled, with a side of mixed spring greens and a ginormous cafe americano that was so good I didn’t need to add milk to it. Note that the bill includes the tax and tip.

I resumed my walk after. Not sure what this is:

Here’s a name I recognise from Mexico! These are bike rentals.

Jubilee foot bridge. The London Eye is on the other side so I decided that with the weather being decent, I would do it then.

Pretty impressive!

Now, that’s a quintessential view of London!

On the other side of the Thames, this made me laugh.

Hee!

I had a lot of time to think as I queued to buy my ticket for the London Eye. You can combine a ticket for it with a few other attractions and save money. I’m still mad about losing all my pictures from Madame Tussaud’s in Vegas and rather wanted to see the museum here. Both attractions combined were pricy, something like £63! But I could do a combo of those two and another attraction for just £50. The only other thing on the list that interested me was the London Sea Life Aquarium, and it would essentially be free, with my getting a bit of a break for the other two attractions. So that’s what I bought. I “look forward” to seeing what that cost me in CAD!

After purchasing the ticket, I got to see the London Eye 4D video, which was a lot of fun. It goes as far as to sprinkle you with water!

You’d think I then headed for the London Eye and you’d be wrong. I was advised to do the aquarium first since you have to book a time slot for it. I went in (it’s almost right next to the ticket office for the Eye) and there was no queue and was told there weren’t many people inside. Sounded like just the right time to visit!

The aquarium was a lot smaller than I expected and not something I’d recommend paying full price for. I’ve just been to so many really good aquariums that my standards are pretty high. But it was interesting. It’s hard to get good pictures in aquariums (dark and glare-y), so here’s what I could salvage.

Jelly fish are very peculiar…

Sting ray.

I liked all the things in this tank, like this skeleton.

I’m a sucker for turtles!

I had fun watching the little guy on the right climb out of the water and then shove everybody out of the way!

There are sewage changes in the works in London. Right now, overflow sewage goes into the Thames.

Later, it will flow into a tunnel under the Thames.

I enjoyed watching the penguins swim.

Gorgeous!

This was good to know.

This was an interesting effect, where the floor would “crack” under you.

All told, I spent maybe an hour in the aquarium. One thing I liked was how they adjusted the temperature to the room. It was hot and humid in the “tropics” and down right chilly in “Antarctica!

The aquarium is basically dedicated to educating visitors about non-sustainable fishing practices and how to eat fish in a more environmentally friendly way. I’m glad I visited, but, again, it’s not worth the price of admission. Only go if you can get a deal or if you haven’t been to many aquariums before.

When I came out, it was almost noon and I got into the queue to ride the London Eye…

June 26, 2016 by Rae

The Regent’s Park and My First Night in London

Being as knackered as I was late Saturday afternoon London time (having been up nearly 30 hours), I didn’t want to do anything that would require a ton of mental energy. The Regent’s Park was on my list of things I wanted to see and super close by. A stroll through a bit of it would kill some time. So I took the Bakerloo line back to the Regent’s Park station.

Gorgeous tiles at the exit to Regent Park’s station.

My plans weren’t too ambitious. I would just walk in a generally westerly direction (ie. back towards Kensal Green) to the Marylebone or Baker Street stations and return home from there. I saw some gorgeous flowers on my walk.

And a lovely fountain.

I found a toilet with an interesting flushing mechanism.

You have to pay 20p to use the toilet. Similar setup and price to Mexico!

I found paradise. What more could a gal want?!

The burger prices were very reasonable by any standard. The hot dogs, though, wow!

Very good soft serve!

I don’t want to admit how long I stood at this map trying to orientate myself. My brain was fried!

Lovely gate.

Then, came the roses, each prettier than the last! I thought these would be my favourite…

What is this bird?! Its feet were really odd.

These turned out to be my favourite roses. Look at their name! I fell in love with them before I saw the sign.

So pretty!

I passed the wedding party that belonged to this monstrosity…

Not sure what church this is.

Out of the park and walking the famous Marylebone Road. I only know how to pronounce it (Mar-leh-bone) because I heard the name mentioned a few times on “Sherlock.”

Madame Tussaud’s wax museum. I went to the one in Las Vegas in ’07.

I was going to end up seeing a lot of this station…

Found a sushi restaurant I want to try…

Won’t be hard to find again as it’s right in front of 221B Baker Street, home of the Sherlock Holmes museum. I’m not a fan of the books (just the modern series) and know the museum is a complete rip off, so I wasn’t temped to visit.

I had reached my limit by this point,so I rode home from the Baker Street station. I got in at 6:30 and promptly went to bed with my computer. By 7:00, I was seeing double and gave up. I shut down and promptly passed out, waking up just shy of midnight.

I ended up being awake for nearly three hours even though I was exhausted. I wound up researching afternoon tea and found one that seemed suitable for me in terms of location, price, and dress code, so I booked it for Tuesday afternoon.

By the time I was ready to go back to sleep, my phone was almost dead, so I decided to try my new power converter, which has a USB port. It works great!

I woke again around 5:30 and then for good around 7:00. It had been a super quiet night (even quieter than at Haven!) and the bed was comfy, but that combined with my exhaustion wasn’t enough for my confused brain to let me sleep straight through. I was still in better shape than I thought I’d be.

I opened the window to get some fresh air, noticed a weird sound, looked out and saw… a fox! Wow!

I have access to the kitchen, but decided to forgo making my own coffee in favour of going out for breakfast. So I hung out for a bit, made a rough plan for my day, and headed back to Baker Street to start on my first day of adventures in London…

June 26, 2016 by Rae

Getting Across London

From Gatwick Airport, I had to not only get to London, but also cross it to reach my Airbnb in the northwest part of the city. I got a lot of mixed information online about the best way to achieve it because being able to use the Oyster card (prepaid public transportation card) at Gatwick is fairly new. I couldn’t muddle through the steps through my research, so I decided to wait until I was on site to figure it out.

I did know that I had to use a train to get to London and those leave from the south terminal while I landed at the north. So I had to take a free tram (trolley? forget what they call it) there (two minutes). I wandered there for a bit looking at signage and finally figured out where I could get an Oyster card (next to the Costa Coffee). There, I learned that the card is £5, which I can get refunded when I leave by turning in my card. I was advised to start with putting £30 on it and see where that got me. If you use an Oyster card, you get a daily cap that’s based on which zones you’re traveling through and the time of day. In theory, sticking to zones 1 (Central London) and 2 (where I’m staying) and only traveling during non-peak hours, my daily cap would be just under £7, but I think I paid way more than that today (Sunday). I will do a separate Oyster post once I understand the caps better.

But from Gatwick, using the Oyster card to ride the train is the best value. Off peak on most trains is just £8 to Central London, while taking the “Gatwick Express” train is nearly £20! My total cost to get to my Airbnb was £10.20.

My first step was to take a “Southern” train to the London Victoria train station.

First glimpse of London.

At London Victoria, I had to transfer to the Tube. I quickly ascertained that the London Underground is just like the Montreal Metro, only much larger. Use colours to identify your line and the station at the end of the line to know which direction to go. I wanted to end up at Kensal Green, on the Bakerloo line. From Victoria London, I had to take the Victoria Line to Oxford Circle, where I transferred to the Bakerloo Line to Queen’s Park. At Victoria London, I was a little overwhelmed by the number of people and the speed at which they were moving, but once I knew where to go, I just went with the flow and it was fine, no worse than a busy day at the Mercado in Maz!

At Queen’s Park, I switched to the London Overground for one more station to Kensal Green.

I couldn’t check in until 1PM and arrived at Kensal Green around 11:30. I spent the time walking up and down the High Street until I found a bench where I could doze in the sun. It might seem like a waste of time, but my luggage was heavy and so I really wasn’t up to sightseeing. I was just glad to be there and certain that I would make the 1PM to 2PM very short window of time to check in. I hadn’t found a Barclay’s ATM in all my travels, so I decided to just pay the fees to use a different ATM so I could get some cash.

At 1PM, I finished the walk to my Airbnb. It’s a quintessential Victorian row house and absolutely no frills (you don’t even get a towel!). But the bed is comfy, the bathroom is clean, and for 50CAD a night and so conveniently located to Central London, it’s a steal. I did really well finding this one!

I had a wash and changed, which renewed me. I was 24 hours without sleep by this point and knew that I had to last until at least 7PM if I wanted to walk up on local time Sunday. So I packed my day bag and set off to find the nearest chippy. There, I ordered a chicken shawarma sandwich, which came with chips and a drink, and set off to find a place to eat my meal. I found a low wall by the Kensal Rise station that was perfect for people watching. The food was good. I like British chips a lot, especially since you get malt vinegar on them! The food really hit the spot and I felt much better after eating. I should have had lunch while waiting to check in, but with the luggage, there was too much to manage.

Then, I walked around the borough of Brent for a bit, eventually, to my immense surprise, circling right back to my Airbnb!

It’s called Holanda in Mexico, but it’s the exact same ice cream!

Just in case there’s any doubt I’m in London.

Still don’t believe me?

Is that a palm tree?!

Am I seeing things?

Approaching this roundabout, I decided that I was done and wanted to go home, but was hopelessly lost. So I was about to ask for help when I realised that it’s the roundabout just before my street!

It was not even 4:00 by this point and I was fading really fast. I decided that I wouldn’t risk going anywhere near my bed, so I decided to go back to Central London!

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A Life By Design

"Sometimes in life, we reach to a right place by departing from a wrong port with a wrong ship!" ~ Mehmet Murat Ildan

A Canadian in Belgravia

The London Eye

Brunch and the London Sea Life Aquarium

The Regent’s Park and My First Night in London

Getting Across London