They're changing the guard at Buckingham Palace. Christopher Robin went down with Alice. (A. A. Milne)

Wednesday, July 7
London, Day 2
We were picked up at 7:30 am by Evan Evans Essential London half-day tour.
We went first to a large bus depot where passengers dispersed to their various tour buses. The last 2 collecting buses came in late, so we were delayed a bit. Our driver was Charlie and our guide was Richard. He was very clearly spoken and well-informed, full of all sorts of stories and history that makes such tours worth the time. This sightseeing tour included major sites in the West End and Westminster (which means "the monastery west of London"). We saw the Albert Memorial & the Royal Albert Hall,

the Houses of Parliament & Westminster Abbey,
and then the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace,

and ended up at Trafalgar Square, which like Piccadilly Circus we seem to keep coming back to - truly the heart of London.
We had booked a tour of the Tower of London on-line to dodge lineups. But decided that we had time to see St. Paul's Cathedral on the way. However, we had to eat first and a window of pastries caught my eye so we stopped long enough to indulge in plates of strawberry short cake with loads of whipped cream. Then we descended into at Charring Cross station, directly in front of the route 15 bus stop. I had pointed out that the bus was direct to both St. Paul's and the Tower, but Jan thought that the underground would be faster: the Northern line to one stop and the Central line to the Cathedral. Hah! I say, Hah!
Well, it was worth the trip. St. Paul's was magnificent and from certain vantage points the intersecting curving lines of the upper architecture were simply quite dizzying. Then there was the opulent iconography, and the carved and gilted woodwork and pillars, the wrought iron gateways, the marble statuary, and the memorials that stretch back beyond the great fire of 1666. Not only were nobles buried there, but also many of the great heroes and thinkers of various times. And a few of their wives. Funny how there are always so few women considered worthy of these memorials. But there were some and I intend to look them up in the book I bought there. After wandering awestruck by the intricacies of the mosaics arching high above us, I sat in the crypt at St. Paul's Cathedral waiting for Jan to come back from climbing the 257 stairs to the whisper gallery

and worrying a little bit that we would not have time for our tour of the Tower of London as planned. Tickets bought online were good for a week, so we could always go the next day. The tower closed at 5:30 and it was already after 3:00. Oh, well. I enjoyed the rest in that the tube had led us through several long walks underground on our route to get here.
When Jan came back, it turned out he had climbed all the way up to the top of the dome, outside!
We jumped into a London cab for the first time to get to the Tower of London too late for the last tour guided by a yeoman. I couldn't have kept up anyway. We quickly found ourselves in the audience for a simulation of soldiers practising with siege weapons prior to a battle with the Scots.
There was an enormous crossbow like weapon
and a thing that looked something like a catapult but was in fact a perrier. Men and women competed on teams to try to fling a (water)bomb the furthest by pulling on a rope and sitting down rapidly. I would have volunteered but they would have had a hell of a time getting me back up off my butt. Lots of fun to watch anyway.
Then up to the top of the walls we went, and into several towers where there were terrific signed and projected explanations and descriptions of the use and history of each space. We looked down into the rookery - amazing birds - and then visited the white tower to see an incredible exhibition of armour. That's where we found the staff starting to shut the place down, which caused us a bit of panic to get to the crown jewels. Wow! Totally did not expect the size of the glittering display of gem-encrusted crowns, septres, gold church and banquet pieces. Worth the visit for that alone.
But I was pooped by the time they were backing us out the gates. We walked along the river to Tower Bridge, up and this time onto the bus to Covent Garden.
Now I knew I was in a theatre district, with restaurants offering pre-theatre specials. I stepped into one to ask if they could manage a special before our 8 o'clock curtain for Oliver. "I thought that was at 7:30," she said. More panic as we raced around the corner to find that she was correct and that Jan did not know where he had put our tickets. Fortunately, once again we found that the staff at the box office were terrific in trying to trace our Leiscester Square discount tickets (which were back at the hotel buried in our pile of receipts). Just before curtain they seated us for what was a wonderful remount of the original musical.
The cast was excellent down to the smallest waif on the huge stage, and the production itself moved along seamlessly. Had a ball, and I am still singing and humming the songs. However, our 1988 high school Fagan, Gord Rand, would have given them a run for their money.

We were starving by the time the curtain came down, but it was still early enough to walk into Covent Garden Market and have a delicious late dinner at Fuel al fresco. The waitress warned me not to hang my bag on the back of my chair when Jan went off to a nearby ATM. Said that there were thieves around there. Jan saw a drunk pissing in a doorway, but otherwise all we saw were lots of people of every age and description eating and drinking and having a great time together. As we did.
Piccadilly Line, change at Earl's Court
(where Jan took pics of the complex wiring and connections that had me expecting undercover to leap out of the woodwork at any moment), and home to the Ibis and to bed. Well, hold on - we might have stopped at the pub. We did stop one night when they were projecting a game between the Netherlands and Spain. But that was another night, I think.

London, Day 1

Tuesday, July 6
Finding Apple to no avail
Breakfast at the Ibis was served until 10 am on weekdays, a civilized hour that nonetheless got us up and out before the day was half gone. Simple but good food, and enough variety to keep it tolerable for the week. We spent the rest of the morning on wifi (£5/2 hrs) trying to get into UK apps store so we could download GPS for England onto this iPad. Jan went out and found a shop that sold time for the cell phone. We also booked the half day bus tour that is part of our package for Wednesday morning, July 7. I called and left a message for Jamie but of course couldn't remember our cell phone #! Hoped he would text back or that I would reach him later. Jamie is a close friend of Erin's and we are going to meet him on the 8th &/or 9th, and we will see the play Money on the 9th at the Shunt theatre where he works.
We finally set off on the tube to Leiscester Square where we got discount tix for 39 Steps for that night at Piccadilly Circus and for Oliver the next night at Covent Garden. Erin recommended the first, and I had to see a West End Musical. Oliver was the first musical I had produced for the arts school in Niagara in 1988, so I chose it. We walked around the square and stopped for lunch at the Moon Under Water pub, sitting at an outdoor table across from the green. I had a pint of cider and Melton Mowbray pie. Jan had a pint of ale with cheese and onion tart. Delish!

After lunch we walked up through Soho - shocking! (ha,ha) - and Carnaby Street and were surprised at how many London streets are malled off. We were in and out of stores a bit, but for the most part we were window shopping, people watching, and gaping at the beauty of the old architecture and streetscapes.




We did visit Liberty to look around, browse through the Hermes scarves in search of a non-existent bargain for my mom, and giggle at stumbling over the champagne and oyster bar in the basement level.

More photos of its amazing exterior.







At last we reached the Apple Store, where Igor was utterly delightful in his efforts to assist (note to self: contact the store and tell them how great he was). We discovered that I could not change location to buy UK apps because I had a balance of $5.32 with the Canadian itunes store. He tried to arrange a new account for me in the UK but I had to have a UK credit card and address other than one week in a hotel. Canadian address and card would not do. Steve Jobs, what is the deal here? We just wanted a UK GPS system. Ah! As Igor so kindly pointed out, the OS GB 250k map of Great Britain functioned with satellite GPS anyway and found us easily so I had the capability to navigate our entire trip. Whew!! Okay, let's get on with it!




Well, we wandered back down toward Piccadilly along Saville Row (oh, the clothes!) and past the Royal Academy of the Arts where we only had time to stick our heads in the door long enough to find out that the Haunch of Venison sign indicated the presence of a large gallery.

Title of photo below: Cath, A Broad :)



By that time we had just enough day left to grab a bite to eat in a convenient Pret A Manger (what a brilliant concept these ubiquitous self serve restaurants are) and get back to Piccidilly in time for 39 Steps. This hilarious play takes one of Hitchcock's early films and with four players on stage, 3 men & 1 woman, presents it as a farce that I think Hitch would have loved. Killed ourselves laughing, and the more you knew his films the funnier the play was as it referenced a lot of them throughout. Brilliant!!!


[Photo: the lift at the Earl's Court Tube Station]
When we got back to the hotel, we just had time to get into its pub, the George & Dragon I think it was, before last call. Now some friends had expressed concern about what I would find to drink over the pond, and I have already mentioned that I tried the cider, which I quite liked. But didn't I find the tube walls plastered with stories of Jack Daniels and how he made his Tennessee whiskey (please note that JD is not Bourbon which is Kentucky whiskey). So I was happy to find it available in every establishment that we visited. A little nightcap and off to sleep.

Arriving in London

Monday, July 5
London, Day 1
Immigration and customs was painless and we were still in good spirits when our City Transfer driver found us. However, he led us a merry chase until he finally figured out where he had parked his car, then bundled us through the streets of London to our hotel. I chatted madly with another passsemger for the first half of the long drive, then slept the other half away.
July 5-12 We stayed at the Ibis London Earls Court Hotel
47 Lillie Road, Earls Court, London, UK SW6 1UD
Phone: 011.44.207.610.0880
How great that we were able to get our room right away. That is, after Jan's Visa got declined and we called the number and they told the hotel it was fine, especially since we had bothered to let Visa know that we would be in England for 2 weeks. Mine worked fine, so we got into the room and just crashed. Got up in an hour or so and took a tour of the neighborhood.
Sample comments heard in passing were colorful. Examples include a youngish blonde hustling along with her cell phone to her ear, caught saying loudly "You are a fat, stupid, lazy, fucking slag!" Wonder who she was talking to. And there was a barrow man shouting his wares, "Strawberries! Fresh berries! Anyway you like 'em. Berries for your belly, berries by the bowl. Strawberries!" Otherwise, we could be in any one of many Toronto neighborhoods with Halal meat markets, coffeshops, and pubs. In other words, I loved it. Even the Macdonalds where I signed onto The Cloud open wifi, although the guys trailing dogs that looked like nasty bits of business made us leery of attracting too much attention with the use of the iPad. It garnered lots of interest whenever we used it. There were also the 'Amusement' venues, for slots and so on, and the off-license betting houses, about one per city block. Odd, that.
This first night we ate at a very impressive neighbourhood pub called The Goose. It was easy to pick out the locals, a diverse lot arguing noisily over everything from soccer to politics. We considered the ease and civility of ordering both food and drink at the bar, so that the waitress need only deliver it and clean up afterward. I think we tried the local version of a burger. Good, but a reminder to me that having gone off red meat for the most part I now have a problem digesting it. No more burgers for me.
Next stop was a series of phone stores, looking for the one that could add time to the UK cell that Jim and Lila had lent us. And for any answer to the question of how we might be able to link our camera to my iPad. No luck, really, although one store thought that they could set up a data plan for the phone if we returned the next day. Back to the hotel where we crashed again for a couple of hours and then decided to try the transit system and have a look at the city. The West Brompton stop on the District or Green line was a short walk in the other direction from the Ibis, where we found a most helpful ticket agent who sold us the Oyster cards (topped up Erin's) with a week of time in zones 1 & 2, enough to get us most places in London. And to be used to discount those zones from train tickets to Salisbury. Hello TTC & GO, are you listening??? Two stops later we were at the Earls Court station to make what became our standard change to the Piccadilly or Blue line for a trip to Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square.


It was a lovely "We're here!" feeling.
















Perhaps because daylight lasts so late into the evening in summertime England, the streets were packed with folks from everywhere as we strolled around, taking pictures of landmarks and architecture.































I was delighted to find a crew from Sadlers Wells setting up an installation for Slow Dance for later in the week.
Back to the hotel for bedtime snacks and it was time to sleep.

[note re iPad limitations: have uploaded these photo images on a laptop and now it is the blogspot composition function that is less than user friendly. However, I am learning and will get better as I go along, I hope.]

Taking off for England

Sunday, July 4
Overnight flight to London
We departed Sunday, July 4, and had hoped to pick up Meghan to drive us to Lester Pearson airport. However, to prove the old adage that if it ain't broke, don't fix it - Jan replaced the old battery the day before we left and then the car wouldn't idle. So Hans drove us to the airport on his way to work in Wasaga Beach. Thanks, Hans! Sorry that Meghan and Erin won't get to use the car while we are away, but dat's da way it is! Left a big "do not drive this car" sign on the steering wheel. Also left the keys with Geoff in hopes that he would fix the car while we were away and the girls would get some use of it. Perhaps Erin could pick us up on our return after all.

At last we were waiting at gate C30 Terminal 3. They were calling the first groups for boarding. We did not buy the Plus package so that would not be us. But I didn't mind. I waited so long for this trip that a few more minutes didn't matter.
Once on board, Erin's observation proved true - Transat does indeed pack every possible seat into their planes, and fills every one. I like a window seat but in fact there was wall beside me rather than a window well, so my space was really cramped. And we had to do quite a dance every time one of us had to move around a bit. We slept fitfully if at all but everyone on board remained cheerful. We departed Toronto via Air Transat TS722 July 4 at 9:55 pm to arrive at Gatwick July 5 at 9:55 am. There is a 5 hour time difference and it was a 7 hour flight.

Taking the Trip to Emgland from the top

Dear Readers
Well, being somewhat on-line and photo challenged through out the trip, I have decided to share my post-trip journals with you. This requires taking it from the top and with apologies to those who have already read my three previous blogs. They will be expanded or repeated on subsequent notes. Still getting the hang of this, folks. I know, you'd think that after fooling about with this blog for the past 4 or 5 years I would be an expert. Alas, not so. What I am going to attempt to do is to post the notes for each day nor part thereof accompanied by the relevant photos - assuming that is possible and that I can figure out how to do it. Worse comes to worse, I will blog the notes, and post the albums on Facebook. Probably have to do that anyway as the notes show up there too, but I do not know whether the photos will accompany them. Okay. Here goes.

Can you say "pie"? How many ways?

This will have to be brief because breakfast is at 8:30 tomorrow morning and we want to be on our way from Torquay to Tintagel tomorrow right afterward so that we can see as much as possible along the way. These comments are coming in no particular order as I have so little time on-line but did want to touch base tonight. We started our B&B tour last night at Amberley Castle near Arundel, just a little northeast of Brighton. That was one amazing experience which I will write about later. My thought had been that we would pop down to Brighton and stop on the way in Arundel to eat at the Black Rabbit, a pub recommended by my friend Scott who grew up nearby. We never made it to Brighton, as we were gob-smacked at our first sight of Arundel, a town of jaw-dropping beauty. There is a magnificent cathedral and other church buildings as Amberley Castle was for centuries a summer home to bishops. However, Arundel has its own huge castle where the current Earl still lives and where the touring company from the Globe will be presenting a couple of plays in August in its courtyard. We did not get to see inside the tall castle walls. Instead we drove around and about the narrow streets gawking at the incredible spectrum of historic architecture seemingly spanning every era of English history. Then off we went along the road to find the Black Rabbit pub, which sits beside the river Arun, with an uninterrupted view across a wide wetlands to a wooded hillside where Arundel Castle rises in all its glory. We sat at a table by the water and stuffed ourselves with the most delicious hot chicken and ham pie on mustard mashed potatoes with fresh veggies. We watched a grebe of merganzer catch and eat a little eel, we think. Jan had a local brew called Lemony Cricket and I had a double JD. I love the old buildings but they do not love me and my allergies required the JD for medicinal purposes as well as for pleasure. Back we went to the Castle at Amberley where I indulged in a deep bath and went to bed much restored. Today was our longest journey through beautiful countryside, above valleys, through the new forest and past small towns until we began to see a change in the foliage (palm trees here and there!) and pastel colours on large Victorian houses and hotels - we had arrived at Torquay on the English Riviera!

Melton Mowbray pie on July 6

On Tuesday July 6 we spent the morning on wifi (£5/2 hrs) & phone putting time on the UK cell that Jim & Lila lent us + trying to get into the UK apps store so we could download GPS for England onto this iPad. We booked a tour for Wednesday. I called and left a message for Jamie but of course couldn't remember our cell phone #! Maybe he'll text back. But I have the number now so can always call him later. Jamie is a close friend of Erin's who we are going to meet on the 8th &/or 9th, and we will see the play Money on the 9th at the Shunt theatre where he works. We finally set off on the tube to Leiscester Square where we got discount tix for 39 Steps for tonight at Piccadilly Circus and for Oliver! tomorrow night at Covent Garden. We walked around the square and stoped for lunch at the Moon Under Water pub, sitting at an outdoor table across from the green. I had a pint of cider and Melton Mowbray pie. Jan had a pint of ale with cheese and onion tart. Delish! After lunch we walked up through Soho - shocking! (ha,ha) - and were surprised at how many London streets are malled off. You know I have lots of notes and observations about this trip, pretty well all positive, but no time to share them. So I am very likely going to remain a day or two behind. Miss everyone, but delighted to be here.

St. Paul's cathedral

It's Wednesday afternoon, and I am sitting in the crypt at st. Paul's cathedral waiting for Jan to come back from climbing the 500+ stairs to the whisper gallery, the base of the dome and the top of the dome! and worrying a little bit that we will not have time for our tour of the tower of london as planned. Tickets bought o line for today are good for a week, so we can always go tomorrow. However, did plan for today. The tower closes at 5:30 and it is already after 3:00. Oh, well. I am enjoying the rest after the tube lead us through several long walks underground on our route to get here. We started at charring cross station, directly in front of the route 15 bus stop. I pointed out that the bus was direct to both st. Paul's and the tower, but Jan thought that the underground would be faster: the northern line to one stop and the central line to the cathedral. Hah! I say, Hah! 

Well, it was worth the trip. St. Paul's is magnificent and from certain vantage points the intersecting curving lines of the upper architecture is quite simply dizzying. Then there is the opulent iconography, and the carved and gilted woodwork and pillars, the wrought iron gateways, the marble statuary, and the memorials that stretch back beyond the great fire of 1666. Not only are nobles buried here, but also many of the great heroes and thinkers of various times. And a few of their wives. Funny how there are always so few women considered worthy of these memorials. But there are some and I will look them up the book I just bought. Well Jan is back. Time to go to the tower.

What I did on my English vacation

So here we are at last, waiting to board our flight to England. The attendant has just called the first group to board. We did't buy the Plus package so that would not be us. But I am content to wait my turn. After all, I have waited this long to go abroad to England. What's another few minutes?