When we got on the boat, everybody pretty much went and stayed in the fully-covered lower deck because of the rain. I gotta say I wasn’t impressed with the interior of the boat, the carpet was decaying, and the seating uncomfortable. But we just made the best of it, sat on the very front and enjoyed the view from the windows that surrounded the deck interior. The trip to Greenwich took a little over an hour, with a complimentary live tour from the boat operator. It was quite nice, and the rain wasn’t so heavy that we couldn’t see the buildings and landmark mentioned on the tour. We stopped at Waterloo, Bankside, and Tower Piers, with only two other people joining us from Waterloo.

Greenwich Pier was near empty when we arrived. We walked to the National Maritime Museum, just a short distance from the pier. Not a lot of people were around, it’s a nice change from the crowded central London. I was surprised to see the Maritime Museum building, from photos I’d seen on the website I got the impression that most of the building was white, instead most of the building was…peach (with sections painted in white). I guess the photographers didn’t set the white balance on their cameras correctly. I think the building looked more cheerful in peach anyway The admission was free, but we still had to get tickets at the front desk. I thought that maybe they just wanted to keep track of the number of visitors, but we had to actually show the tickets after having coffee at the Regatta Cafe. The ground floor of the museum, and the court just above it was bathed in light, spacious and airy. The displays were quite diverse, from figureheads of historical ships to a vortex machine. We moved on from there to the “Passengers” section of the museum, where passenger ships models and interior details were displayed. The boom in passenger travel at sea came during the 19th and early 20th centuries, brought upon by the massive expansion of emigration, and later, tourism. I guess taking a cruise for vacation was much more for the rich back then.

The museum was definitely the husband’s cup of tea, if I didn’t remind him that we couldn’t possibly see everything in this museum we would have missed visiting the Royal Observatory. He finally decided to focus on Nelson’s Navy Gallery and Ships of War, a small gallery filled with models of battle ships. I must have been tired (or bored?) since I dozed off on one of the comfortable chairs while he analyzed every single nook and cranny on the models. Now I know what he must have felt when I examined every single brush stroke on the paintings in The National Gallery. The Nelson Galleries proved to be much more entertaining to both of us. There was a super awesome electronic display of The Battle of Trafalgar with an audio guide describing the progress of battle, complete with the ships’ path that you could see just by touching the surface. The famous uniform worn by Nelson during battle, with the fatal bullet hole clearly visible, was a huge hit amongst visitors. One guy even broke the no-photography rule by quickly snapping a photo of it when the guards weren’t looking. I was reading the notes accompanying the display and got confused by the mention of one Emma Hamilton, to whom Nelson bequeathed his lock of hair (pigtail). My thought was, “Did she not change her name when she married him? How progressive! Or maybe they were just dating at the time?” Let’s just say that “dating” is an oversimplification of their relationship. My partner, who took a naval history course in college and reads books on the subject, never knew about Emma Hamilton and was quite shocked by Nelson’s tawdry affair. We read the displays concerning Emma Hamilton in amazement. There were love letters, caricatures making fun of pregnant Emma (they had a daughter), and the bizarre ménage-à-trois between Nelson, Emma, and her husband. It’s an unexpected side of Nelson that we weren’t aware of. It’s such a contrast from our previous experience, after visiting Trafalgar Square where his figure was immortalized on a monument, and his glorious tomb in St. Paul’s Cathedral with the audio guide’s vivid description of the grand funeral procession. The man was almost godlike, that day we realized he turned out to be a regular man after all, despite all the monuments and memorials.

Up the hill across Greenwich Park, we went to the Royal Observatory, the site of the Prime Meridian. I’ve done my share of visiting geographically significant spots before, like the Four Corners in Southwest US, the International Peace Gardens straddling both Canada and the US, and the equator line in Indonesia. I was happy to add the Prime Meridian to my list. A lot of people flocked to this area on the Observatory, I counted at least 3 French school groups with about 10 students in each. My partner commented on how he thought there’s always at least one geeky kid in any school group no matter what the nationality and he could always spot them. Sure enough, he pointed to a kid wearing thick glasses, quietly reading a book about the Observatory, while his classmates were monkeying around. “How did you know?”, I asked. He replied, “Well, it takes one to know one.” When we entered the building we were required to put our umbrellas in little plastic bags to stop the water from dripping everywhere. Good for the museum, bad for the umbrellas since the water can weaken the fibers thus damaging them. Oh well, they’re cheap enough anyway. Being astronomy freaks, we felt at home in the Observatory. It was smaller than say the British Museum, so at times it was hard to maneuver around other visitors. Regardless, it housed an impressive collection on the history of timekeeping, astronomy, and their ties to the rise of British naval power.

I was very fond of the story of Harrison, and his struggle to solve the longitude problem. The chronological display of his inventions, from H1 to H4 was really inspiring, and in the end H4 was a simple, elegant solution to the Longitude Problem. The human stories behind scientific innovations always fascinate me, because as I know personally behind the cold hard facts, instruments, and long hours in the laboratory, there’s a frail human being with faults and emotions. At one end of the spectrum was the extreme example of the Longitude Lunatics (although they weren’t legitimate scientists), and the other was the more commonplace scientific rivalry between Newton and Flamsteed (with Halley tagging along). We were lucky to catch the beginning of a short presentation by one of the guides. He was quite knowledgeable and entertaining. During the presentation he claimed that the phrase “on the ball” came from the Time Ball that falls back down to the bottom at precisely 1:00 pm (there are others who don’t agree, but I’m not a language expert).

We decided to take a prolonged stroll in Greenwich Park, heading back towards the pier. The rain had subsided, we actually saw large patches of blue in the sky. A few people were out and about, there was a boy playing with his adorable Golden Retriever, it made us really miss our dogs. I wanted to stay a bit longer in Greenwich, but the husband wanted to take a boat cruise back to central London, so we hurried to the pier. This was when Catamaran Cruisers disappointed us. Apparently they canceled a boat without telling us, so a bunch of people were waiting by the pier wondering if the boat would ever come. Eventually it showed up, more than half an hour later and when I complained the staff dismissed me. Needless to say I don’t recommend them and would never use their services again. On the upside, the cruise back was a lot more pleasant since the weather’s cleared up, so we were able to go on the open top deck of the boat. It was nice to catch a glimpse of the Golden Hind, and other landmarks in London we’d never have the time to see up close in this visit. When we arrived we also took a brief stroll around the Embankment, checking out Cleopatra’s Needle and the sphinxes. There were scars on the pedestal of the obelisk and on the sphinxes’ bases, caused by fragments of a bomb dropped by German airplanes in 1917. Afterwards, we went to a nearby Costa Coffee to rest, and to have some cookies and lattes.

We were short on groceries by day 5, so we went to an M&S Simply Food not far from our flat. I really liked the location of our flat in terms of the conveniences. There was a Boots nearby, tons of coffee places, a Sainsbury’s and a Patisserie Valerie. I decided to splurge and spent 99 pence on a bouquet of Sweet Williams…so pretty! M&S had a variety of crisps flavors, many were different than those we found in Waitrose. We bought crisps in small bags for our picnic lunches. Throughout our week in London, I think we only spent one lunch eating out, so we saved quite a bit of money. Most were sandwiches, a few were simple pasta dishes. Anyway, there we were with our hands full, carrying the groceries back to our flat when a tall, large woman stopped us asking for 50 pence in bus money. I gave her a look of disbelief, eyed her up and down: she was a well-dressed woman in her 40s, smoking a cigarette, and sporting a nice handbag. I thought, “OK, this woman is either scamming me, mentally unstable, or telling the truth.” I had exactly 50 pence in my pocket, and thought that it’s not a bad price to pay just to have the experience of giving change to the nicest looking hobo I’ve ever seen. The husband did not approve but hey, stuff like that is what makes travel interesting. The Harrods Hobo as I called her will continue to spice up my London travel stories. I certainly had my share of lunatics that day, from the Powder of Sympathy to solve the Longitude Problem, to a hobo tart who carried a nicer bag than I did.

My elation was slightly dampened by the fact that part of the British Galleries was closed (1500-1700 period). Despite many tempting offers by the V&A, we wisely decided to just focus on the British Galleries. The partial closing was also a blessing in disguise as we discovered how extensive the 1700-1900 period collection was. We entered a small, dark gallery. Such a contrast in experience from the previous two days of sightseeing. There’s no intimidation, pick-your-jaw-up-from-the-floor sense here, just an invitation to look, examine, and discuss. If I could imagine having a wealthy great-grand mother with a collection of antiques she wished to show me, that was the feeling I got. Amongst my favorites were the works of William Morris, the model for The Wellington Memorial at St. Paul’s (it was a bit surreal to see the miniature the day after), Mr. and Mrs. Garrick’s Fashionable Living exhibits, and the “Sleep of Sorrow, Dream of Joy…” sculpture by Raffaell Monti.

Afterwards, we just wandered around the museum, trying to go floor to floor by lifts as often as possible since our legs still felt like having climbed Mount Everest. We adored the gorgeous sculptures in the bright Dorothy and Michael Hintze Galleries. After lingering there for a while, we ordered a couple of lattes from the cafe and sat in the magnificent Gamble Room. There were couple of local families, sitting nearby having some lunch. It seemed that most of them were bringing their children to the Surreal Things exhibition. After coffee we strolled around the beautiful John Madejski Garden in the courtyard. I loved the rows of lemon trees lining the garden, they brought a cheerful touch to the place (not that the courtyard was gloomy). After checking out a few more exhibits, like the Northern Renaissance Europe, we left the V&A wishing we could have stayed longer. We barely scratched, no…more like tickled the surface there. But we enjoyed our pace and didn’t feel like we rushed things. Again, it was so convenient to have the museum right in our door step that we just came “home” for lunch. I was so tempted to take a nap, but alas a London vacation is unlike that of a lazy tropical paradise one where I could just waste the day sleeping on a hammock. Still, it’s hard to beat a place where I could visit Sir Isaac Newton’s tomb (yeah I know I’m a geek).

The mercurial London weather was upon us again as we stepped out into heavy rain and wind. We were determined to go to Kensington Palace by bus, but got lost somehow. So there we were, I don’t remember which street, holding our umbrellas 45 degrees from the ground to repel the windy rain when suddenly we heard somebody yell, “$%#@!*Lovely English weather!!!” in a thick accent that sounded like Groundskeeper Willie’s. We looked behind us and saw a man struggling to put some construction materials into his van, soaking wet, looking pissed off but somehow had managed to retain his sense of humor. When we turned the corner we snuck under a canopy and just burst out laughing. That man just summed up in just a few (quite colorful) words how we felt about the weather that day and during most of our stay in London. A bit of a love-hate relationship if you will. It’s the perfect kind of weather for the lush greenery we enjoyed in parks and such, the slow steady supply of moisture and the way that the streets glistened when wet…but it’s gotta suck when you’re a construction worker trying to get your outdoor job done. The heavy rain didn’t last long, it was soon replaced by the constant light drizzle we both had become used to by then.

We finally found the right bus that dropped us off by the Kensington Palace. Our entrance included the audio tour guide so we thought we were off to a good start. Not so. The first half of the tour, which included the Princess Diana’s (photos, dresses, etc.) and Princess Margaret’s exhibits were mediocre at best. I thought they could have done a better job presenting the displays. Maybe they were in the middle of improving this part of the palace but we found some rooms that were near empty and looked run down. It only got better from there though. There were displays on the dressing rituals of the British upper class and royalty, very elegant yet complicated. The highlight for me was definitely the historical State Apartments. It’s neat being able to visit the place where Queen (then Princess) Victoria received news about her accession to the throne. I was most impressed by the King’s Grand Staircase (the inclusion of the King’s two Turkish Grooms of the Chamber in the huge mural was an unexpected touch), and the Cupola Room (loved the lavish decor and the clock). The story about King George II’s Fat Venus painting was most hilarious, nothing like a little royal domestic dispute to liven up an otherwise studious tour.

After the palace tour, we walked towards The Orangery to have afternoon tea. There was a short queue outside the building and we stood behind a couple of young mums with their strollers. They were very friendly and we chatted about the weather briefly. A couple of people jumped the queue before being redirected by the staff. I guess they didn’t realize how popular this place could be. We didn’t wait very long though, about 10 minutes or so. It’s such a nice and bright space, a bit more modern than I had expected. The husband was not very keen on tea at that time so he ordered coffee instead. I splurged and ordered champagne with my tea, plus the sandwiches and pastries which we shared. It was such a lovely experience, the food was delicious (the smoked salmon sandwich was my fave) and the people around us were interesting. There was a large family seated near us, speaking a different Spanish dialect (perhaps Castilian) than the Latin American one we’re used to. Two very posh-looking women sat in a table in front of us, and from their conversation I gathered that they probably lived in the area. The service was average at best, but we weren’t expecting anything more since it was a casual afternoon tea anyway. Overall I liked The Orangery and would definitely come back on our next visit.

Not long after we started strolling the gorgeous Kensington Palace Gardens we ran into an older gentleman who was sitting on one of the park benches, feeding the squirrels. He struck up a conversation with us and it quickly developed into an amiable chat. We found out that he was a World War II veteran. My partner, being an avid military history fan, was delighted with this chance encounter…asking him questions about certain battles, etc. I noticed tears in his eyes as he recounted the stories. We must have talked to him for almost half an hour before we finally said farewell. When we stood around the Round Pond, watching the various swans and ducks, we ran into a woman with a very friendly dog (Hungarian Vizsla). I happened to carry my cell phone with a few pictures of our dogs. Soon we struck up yet another conversation with a Londoner, and shared stories about our dogs’ hijinks. When we moved on we strolled around the park, before ending up at The Albert Memorial. We’d seen its miniature in the British Galleries earlier. It was such a magnificent structure. On each corner, there are statue sets representing Europe, America, Asia, and Africa. The figure of Prince Albert himself was gilded in gold leaf, along with part of the ornate canopy and surrounding gate. While admiring the memorial the husband turned to me and asked, “When I die, will you build something awesome like this for me?”, to which I replied, “Sure, as soon as the American people anoint me queen.”

We took a bus back to our flat, then freshened up to go to dinner at Roast Restaurant, located above the famous Borough Market. If Rules is a traditional British restaurant, Roast is definitely a much more modern eatery with the same dedication to British cuisine. The diners were decidedly younger, the atmosphere more casual. We were seated at a table with a view of St. Paul’s Cathedral, its grand dome lit up. We shared pressed rabbit with apple chutney for starters. Very delicate with a slight smoky flavor. For our mains I had Roast Suffolk Duck Breast and my partner ordered a Roast Norfolk Chicken, both were excellent. I was pleased to find that the restaurant carried British wines, and ordered a glass of rosé with my meal. The dessert we were sharing, chocolate pudding with rum and raisin ice cream was delicious, although I didn’t think the rum and raisin flavor came through at all since the chocolate pudding was so intense. It might as well had been vanilla. The service was average I’d say, we were brought a second pressed rabbit appetizer which we turned down since we only ordered one (generous portion by the way, sharing one was enough for us). The waiter was more absent than I’d like him to be, but he was very courteous. There were a couple of young guys, I’d say about our age, sitting in front of us talking about world politics. I felt sorry for one of them since the other dominated the conversation. Sitting next to us was a couple with their two very well-behaved teenage kids. The view below us allowed for more people watching. Feng Sushi seemed popular that night. We also had a nice view of people coming in and out of the Wine Wharf. I really liked the fact that the neighborhood was so different than the ones we’d been too…I think it’s gritty and trendy. It’s one of the many London characteristics I like, the diversity of the neighborhoods that make up the city as a whole.

Once we were inside however, the feeling of “uh-oh-we’re walking into a tacky tourist trap” disappeared. There was hardly any crowd, the towers looked so handsome and staggering, and there were Yeoman Warders (Beefeaters) everywhere. Based on tips from guidebooks and travel forums (thank you TALFers) we went straight to the Jewel House to see the Crown Jewels. I didn’t know we had to go through a labyrinth just to get to the them. OK, labyrinth is an exaggeration…but to see room after room filled with bars and small movie screens playing historical features, it was strange. Then it dawned on us that these rooms were for people standing in line to see the Crown Jewels. OMFG! I couldn’t imagine how crowded this place must be during the height of the tourist season. We were so fortunate to have been there with only 4 other people. The popularity of the royal bling was also evident by the automated moving walkway that only allowed us to catch a glimpse of the jewels. Because it wasn’t crowded we just went around and around, even walking in reverse to stay in one place. It was such a privilege to view the infamous Koh-I-Noor diamond,…and not just because we’re Doctor Who fans .

Afterwards, we raced towards the entrance to catch a tour guided by a Yeoman Warder (Beefeater). The tour was very entertaining, I highly recommend it. The Yeoman Warder guiding us seemed to bear a resemblance to Winston Churchill. He was quite funny and animated. There were about 20 other people with us as we walked around the Tower of London complex. Mostly Americans apparently, after the Beefeater took a poll. My favorite part of the tour was when he discussed the tales of the two young princes, and the notorious wife-collecting-executing Henry VIII. Our tour ended at St. Peter ad Vincula chapel, where they found the remains of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard. The chapel is still being used as a house of worship today, and families of Yeoman Warders get to have weddings and baptisms there also.

Our next stop was the White Tower, and the first room we walked into appeared to be an extensive collection of armories. Very impressive, and quite gruesome from some of the descriptions on how a particular weapon was used. I was particularly impressed by the Line of Kings, a magnificent row of sculptured horses and armories featuring 17 kings from William I to George II. However, only Henry VIII and Charles I were represented by their personal armors, the rest were given armors of the Tudor or early Stuart periods, regardless of date. One display amused us, an armor of King Henry VIII (see my Flickr photo). The armor originally formed part of a garniture of interchangeable pieces which could be adapted to different uses in tournaments or war. What we were wondering about was whether the piece that seemed to protect the nether regions was custom-made to Henry VIII’s personal measurements . Armories aside, another highlight of White Tower for me was the Chapel of St. John The Evangelist. I loved the elegant simplicity of the architecture, the space seemed light and airy despite being housed in a compound known for torture and murder.

Having gone up and down the stairs at White Tower, which seemed to be the pattern of the day, we decided to rest on a bench right outside the Tower. It’s people watching time! There were lots of school children, some groups behaving badly, most very well-mannered. The crowd definitely got heavier as the day progressed, with a lot more people in the Beefeater tour groups. The sky cleared up just in time for us to eat our lunch. When we looked up we almost didn’t recognize the bright celestial orb peeking through the clouds . I headed to the ladies restrooms after lunch and was pleasantly surprised by framed awards on the wall announcing “Loo of The Year” 2006 5-star award. How silly I thought, but couldn’t help but smile at the unusual enthusiasm for clean public lavatories. I fully intended to take photos if not for the sudden loud sobbing I heard coming from one of the stalls. Very…awkward…moment, I wasn’t sure what to do but it sounded like an adult lady so I thought well she could take care of herself, and I just left.

The weather was still cooperating, so we climbed the stairs (beginning to see a pattern here?) to The Wall Walk, where we could see the River Thames, Tower Bridge, and the rest of the castle. It was such a pleasant walk, and it was nice to walk in clear weather for a change, however short-lived. We checked out St. Thomas Tower, where the bedchamber of Edward I a.k.a Edward “Longshanks” was recreated. Then we went to the Bloody Tower, where gruesome torture devices were displayed such as Scavenger’s Daughter (no, it’s not a country song title), and the Rack. Later on that night we saw a replica of the Rack in action during one of the scenes in “Elizabeth I” (HBO miniseries).

We didn’t see everything at the Tower of London, there were so much stuff and not enough time since we also wanted to see St. Paul’s Cathedral. When we entered the cathedral I was startled by the contrast between St. Paul’s and Westminster Abbey. True, that both had different architectures (Baroque vs. Gothic), but there was a feeling of vast expanse in St. Paul’s. I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of chapels and monuments in the Abbey but in St. Paul’s I was astounded by the scale of the interior. This was confirmed when the audio guide we rented mentioned Sir Christopher Wren’s plan to make the interior feel so much larger. What a genius, I was so impressed by his brilliant ideas, especially on his insistence to build a dome instead of a spire on the cathedral.

I noticed how so many things in London were affected by World War II, and St. Paul’s Cathedral is no exception. The American Memorial Chapel was beautiful and very touching. There was a case there containing a book of remembrance, the American Roll of Honour, on which 28,000 names of fallen US soldiers were inscribed. When we moved on to the crypt, we saw Nelson’s tomb, the audio guide described the funeral procession quite vividly. Personally, I was more drawn to the Florence Nightingale memorial. I’ve always been a voracious reader since I was a child, and had read her biography along with Marie Curie’s when I was a little girl. Their stories as strong, intelligent women inspired me to do well in school and to always set higher standards for myself.

All the brilliant architectural achievements and inspiring monuments must have really gone to our heads, as we insisted on climbing all the way to the top, from the main floor to the Whispering Gallery, then on to the Stone, finally to the Golden Gallery. All 530 steps. I had nightmares that night of never-ending spiraling, narrow stairs going on and on. The view of The Dome from The Whispering Gallery was breathtaking. The scenes of St. Paul’s life were masterfully painted to look as three dimensional as possible. A number of people were trying out the acoustics of the gallery, to no avail. I didn’t try it myself as I knew that there was too much ambient noise for it to work, there were too many “wall whisperers”. The view that rewarded us in the end, when we reached the Golden Gallery, was priceless. It was a cloudy day but we could see the beautiful city of London properly. There were a number of people up there already, enjoying the well-earned rest and fantastic views. A couple of tourists couldn’t figure out the name of a certain bullet-shaped building, and must have expected a more elegant answer than Gherkin (Swiss Re) from me. They kept repeating the question until I finally just spelled it out for one of them so she could write it down.

We must have been gluttons for punishment because we completely ignored our sore legs and continued on to cross the Millennium Bridge. On the way there I noticed a chalk graffiti on a brick wall saying, “I want a red dress I want it flimsy and cheap.” At first I thought it was just wishful thinking from a teenage girl for her prom dress, but I googled it and found out that it’s a line from a poem by Kim Addonizio. Gotta love a city with poetic graffiti, I mostly see gang insignia in US cities. The walk across Millennium Bridge led us to The Tate Modern Museum. I wish I could tell you that we actually saw some marvelous modern art work there. Nope, not a chance. Our legs finally gave out and we just sat on the floor, waiting for the rain to stop (oh yeah did I mention it started raining again?), with our open wet umbrellas in front of us. We must have looked pathetic. The plan to go to the British Museum most definitely did not materialize. So we just took the bus back to our flat, getting a nice tour of London on top of double decker buses.

We decided to go out for dinner and there was a charming small pub nearby, Bunch of Grapes. The minute we walked into the pub, a wall of cigarette smoke greeted us. Ah, how spoilt are we here in the US with our non-smoking regulations. I couldn’t stand that much smoke, so we went upstairs to the dining area. There we had our first fish and chips in London, with the interesting green concoction called mushy peas (quite yummy actually). We were seated by a large window so the view, London traffic in the rain, was fabulously moody. For dessert we shared a treacle pudding with custard…delicious!. I had a John Smith’s Extra Smooth and my partner had a Kronenbourg 1664. During vacations, I guess I don’t mind the slower pace of food service, as it did fill up our evening quite nicely and we were able to just linger and enjoy the street view. For the record, dinner took almost two hours (three courses, I forgot what we had for starters, probably some soup). We topped off the evening with what else but TV-watching, in bed, resting our hellishly sore legs.

Making our way to Westminster Abbey wasn’t hard, there were clear signs guiding us to the right direction (no, no more silently polite British gentlemen). Again, the initial sight was of awe and wonder as we entered the Abbey grounds. What a spectacular building, I wish I could take a photo of every single architectural detail. We entered with ease as I had printed out the 2-for-1 offer beforehand, and was only asked to show proof that we had purchased 7-day Travelcards. We were pleasantly surprised to find that there were very few visitors in the Abbey. I guess it did pay to arrive fairly early in the morning (they opened at 9:30 am). As we were going through the vast collection of monuments, tombs, effigies, and chapels we were guided by the audio tour. A couple of times as we entered a few small chapels the audio guide would urge us to move along as fast as we could because it might get crowded in there. We looked around us, “What crowd?”. It was very pleasant indeed! As the day progressed, more and more people came in but still no suffocating crowd as we’d expected (this positive experience soon eclipsed by the crowd at The National Gallery). We were interrupted a few times by calls to prayer, which was no big deal as the prayers were short and devoid of evangelical propaganda, i.e. no “Convert to Christianity now, you heathens!”. Instead we prayed for world peace, God bless England, world peace, and oh world peace again. One prayer totally confused us at the end because of a “double amen”, the priest had said amen, we started walking around again, then she continued with more wishes for world peace, finally ended by another amen. I did like the fact that the prayers were announced because they did serve as reminders that the Abbey is still a house of worship and not a religious theme park.

I was so excited when we finally arrived at The Nave, around the area often referred to as “Scientists Corner”. What an honor, being able to stand there amongst monuments remembering Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Michael Faraday, Ernest Rutherford, and Paul Dirac with his famous equation inscribed on his memorial stone. These are the giants whose shoulders I stand on, whose works enable my own work to progress. Along with “Scientists Corner”, my favorites were the tomb and effigy of Queen Elizabeth I (buried on top of her half-sister Queen Mary I), and the dramatic Nightingale Monument. The Cloisters provided an opportunity for me to take photographs, so I was delighted when I found Edmond Halley’s comet-shaped plaque on the wall. The British have certainly made significant contributions to science, and Westminster Abbey can testify to that.

We were starving by the time we’re done with Westminster Abbey. So we found a bench in St. James Park and ate our packed lunch there. It was so much fun to watch people around the park, especially since we were there around lunch hour. There were a lot of people jogging, and we couldn’t help feeling terribly guilty as we were munching on our crisps, watching London workers huffin’ and puffin’ their way through the park, having a much healthier lunch hour than we were. Not everybody opted to sweat profusely as they exercised, there were people in their work attire, wearing their trainers (sneakers), and just walking around the park. Some of them seemingly talking to themselves as they had the Bluetooth headset on.

After lunch we strolled along the park until we reached Buckingham Palace. The Queen’s residence…..quite a disappointment after Westminster Abbey. A bit anticlimactic if you will. I remember thinking that the Queen will more than likely occupy a grander space when she expires than when she’s alive. We didn’t linger here, there was not much to do other than stand by the gate getting soaked by the increasingly heavier rainfall. So we started walking towards Trafalgar Square, again observing some runners/joggers…now soaking wet and looking quite miserable. As we were leaving the Buckingham Palace area, we heard drum rolls and shouts of what sounded like military commands. I still don’t know what this building is exactly but there was a sign that said “Guards Museum” near the gate. From what we saw the guards were practicing but we’re not sure what they were doing other than march back and forth in formation. We never saw Changing of The Guard while we’re in London (on our list but not a priority for us), so perhaps that’s what they were practicing for.

When we arrived at Trafalgar Square the space was noticeably empty as it was still raining. The peace and quiet we enjoyed in Westminster Abbey was not present in The National Gallery as half of London must have taken refuge here during the rain. I couldn’t imagine how much more crowded this space will be during peak season in the summer. As it was I felt that some of the art was lost in the sea of people. Nevertheless, I enjoy art especially paintings and sculptures so it was a treat being able to visit the masterpieces of the gallery. We decided to go on the audio Highlights tour as it’s impossible to go through every single work of art there. My favorites were Holbein’s “The Ambassadors”, Rubens’ “Samson and Delilah”, Wright’s “An Experiment on A Bird…”, and being a fan of the Impressionists…most if not all of Van Gogh’s (e.g. Sunflowers), Degas’ (e.g. Combing The Hair), and Seurat’s (e.g. Bathers at Asnières) paintings. I could go into in-depth analysis as to why they’re my favorites, but this journal entry is going to be twice as long and half as fun to read . So I spare you the details and let’s move on to our next activity: a casual afternoon tea at the National Dining Rooms. In between the queue to see a painting, and gazing of said painting, and gawking at an artist du jour trying to copy one of Rembrandt’s work (“Saskia van Uylenburgh…”), we managed to take a break and enjoy a few cups of tea. We opted for The National Afternoon Tea: Smoked salmon, cucumber, and egg sandwiches, a buttermilk scone with clotted cream and ‘England Preserves’ and a selection of cakes and pastries; Bakewell tart, raspberry tea cake, apple slice, millionaires short bread. Very tasty! I was particularly impressed by the Peyton and Byrne Original tea blend. It’s a black tea with heavenly aromas that I couldn’t pinpoint exactly, unlike the rather singular scent of bergamot from an Earl Grey.

We considered going into the National Portrait Gallery, but decided to just go back to the flat and rest our poor feet. We had reserved a table at Rules Restaurant and needed some time to freshen up. It was my birthday so a celebratory dinner was in order. Instead of being crammed like sardines in the tube (Piccadilly Line, how I loathed thee sometimes), we opted for a London black cab. It was a pleasant trip, with the cabbie recommending a couple of walks. The cost seemed very reasonable, from Knightsbridge to Covent Garden (right in front of Rules) cost us a little less than £9. More expensive than the tube, but we just wanted to experience riding inside a black cab. The restaurant had a very warm, friendly atmosphere, with a decor reminiscent of Antiques Roadshow, but quite tastefully done in my opinion. Most people dressed smart casual, an interpretation taken way too lightly by a couple sitting next to us. The young woman was dressed in a track suit and her companion in polo shirt and jeans. Our waitress was very friendly and accommodating. My partner ordered gull eggs for starters, a brave choice but they tasted yummy (the yolk had a creamier consistency compared to chicken eggs). I chose Stilton and watercress soup….very delicious. For our main entrée, I had the West Devon Lamb and my partner had a venison dish of some kind. He didn’t like his very much (too dry in his opinion, but he’s too polite to send it back), but I liked mine very much. I had a glass of Pinot Noir to accompany my lamb and my partner savored an ale (Fuller’s London Pride), which he then poured into a wine glass and proceeded to educate me on the difference between ale and lager (rolled eyes). For dessert, we dug into the very sweet Sticky Toffee Pudding, decorated with a “Happy Birthday” written in chocolate, and a candle on top. As I closed my eyes and blew out the candle, I can tell you that I either wished for clear skies for the rest of our trip, or…world peace .

Fast forward 10 hours, we landed in Heathrow around 11:00 pm. We headed straight to immigration/passport control and stood in the queue. It didn’t take long at all for us to clear immigration, only 10 minutes. The officials were quite efficient, and apparently most of the visitors were prepared with correct documentation, so the line moved quickly. The two comments we got from the official were, “Your holiday is so short, only one week!” (followed by discussions on the differences between the US and UK in terms of paid holiday), and “Your country is so huge!” (we could only nod and mumble something about how it took us forever just to get out of Texas by car).

We took the tube (underground train) from Heathrow to Knightsbridge, which was so straightforward since both stops are on the Piccadilly Line. I noticed an interesting, unfamilar “smell” being wafted out of the Heathrow tube station as we approached the platform. It didn’t really bother me and the smell seemed to dissipate after awhile, maybe I got used to it eventually. The ride was a blur to me to tell you the truth, mainly because I kept nodding off. I remember thinking that the tube seemed smaller than the NYC sub, but I don’t know that for a fact. I did like the fact that the tube has a priority luggage area so they won’t block the other passengers. When we came out of the underground we were greeted by the shopping mammoth that is Harrods. Our apartment was 10 minutes away from the department store, and yet during our stay we only managed to visit the food halls once for an hour on our last day in London. Harrods just didn’t interest us that much. It’s packed with tourists and the prices were astronomical. I thought that at least the food halls merit a slot in our itinerary, but after having to pick up our jaws from the floor in palaces/museums/cathedrals Harrods failed to impress us.

After weaving in and out of the crowd, maneuvering our rolling luggages around the various bumps on the pavement we made it to our apartment. We immediately liked the space, quite spacious with a British king size bed (American queen size), dinner table, two leather sofas, and a well-appointed kitchen. The neighborhood is very nice, although a tad bit too bourgeois for our taste (it is Knightsbridge after all). I forgot when this incident occurred exactly but one day a speeding blue Ferrari almost ran us over, and I remember us being so dazzled by the car that we almost forgot to complete crossing the street. Also, one time we got lost and took a wrong turn into another street, we noticed a woman standing in the entrance of her flat talking to her husband. Feeling naughty and voyeuristic, we slowed down and caught a glimpse of their flat interior. All I can say is wow! How much are they making, and can we swap places with them for a day? Admittedly our rental flat sits on one of the most expensive addresses in London but the weekly rate was very reasonable (especially compared to most London hotels in the area), and the interior is far from luxurious. It’s clean, modern, and comfortable yes, but nothing like that flat we peered into.

I had planned a nice stroll in Hyde Park the day we arrived. Alas, the weather was dreadful and the husband was nursing a cough. Plus the jet lag was worse than we had anticipated. So we just focused on doing what we definitely needed to do…grocery shopping. So we took the 74 bus to South Kensington and shopped at the local Waitrose there. There were a Sainsbury and M&S Simply Food nearby but we couldn’t resist a chance to ride in a red double-decker bus. The shopping was uneventful, except for the instance when I couldn’t find the eggs. I thought that they’d be in the refrigerated section, but after a lengthy egg hunt and an exasperated, mumbled conversation with myself, a kind woman finally pointed me to the right direction. She basically just smiled and pointed, didn’t say a single word. I guess she took pity on the lost American girl who thought she could navigate the British grocery store easily. I noticed that the Brits were polite and helpful in an oh so subtle manner. We were standing around the tube station trying to find the correct “way out”, when a man simply gave us a “follow me” look and nodded towards the right direction. Either that or he simply had a nervous tick and we were dumb enough to follow a mute stranger…

Let’s talk about the food in the grocery stores. From what I observed the frozen foods in the UK are fancier and taste fresher than those in the US. We picked up meals like banger and mash, also steak, mushroom and red wine pie. Not your average Hungry Man TV dinner. The crisps (potato chips in the US) also came in a variety of tempting, gourmet flavors…Honey Roasted Wiltshire Ham anyone? I almost could have justified extending our trip just to sample all the crisps flavors.

At the end of the day we basically just crashed into our bed (no heroic attempts to see the sights or stay up past 8 pm) after a couple of sandwiches from Patisserie Valerie for lunch, and steak, mushroom, red wine pies from Waitrose for dinner.