London Day 5

We started the day off again with breakfast ... although I'm running a bit slow - I seem to have gotten a cold - mostly post nasal drip so far - let's hope it stays that way ... and that it goes away soon.

I realize I haven't talked about our room yet. We originally ordered a double - but in London that means a double bed - so they gave us a twin - 2 twin beds so we at least have some sleeping room ... we're on the first floor - i.e. one floor up from ground - and we have a balcony wide enough to stand on - at least it's been nice having a door/window to open so we could cool off the room - there does not appear to be an a/c ... something we'll have to remember if we want to do a summer trip sometime - there is a radiator - which of course we have not needed ... anyway, our ensuite bathroom is a ready-made unit that is about 5 - 6 feet long, maybe 2-3 feet wide and about 7 feet tall ... you can quite literally sit on the commode and brush your teeth at the same time - as your legs are under the sink and you can lean over far enough to spit in the sink ... then on the right side is a round shower which is about 2 to 2-1/2 feet in diameter (this is included in the 5-6 feet long of the whole affair) ... i'm about an inch away from all the walls if i stand right in the middle of it ... but it has really HOT HOT water, so this morning i turned the whole thing into my own personal private sauna.


anyway - after breakfast, we were moving a little slow so it was probably about noon when we finally got out of the room ... we took the bus to Westminister Abbey where we bought our 10 pound each tickets to go through the abbey (i swear it used to be free). the building in the picture with mario is the Methodist Central Hall. We didn't tour it, just found it intersting architecturally.



after that, we caught the toob and went to the london bridge stop - being the typical tourists and forgetting that where we WANTED to go was the Tower of London Bridge which was a bit farther down ... but it was a reasonably pretty day to this point so we decided to just walk by the thames to get there ... the wind was picking up and the temperature dropping, i can honestly say i was cold ... it was probably 50. we stopped for lunch at a pub called Horniman's at Hays ... and no, I'm not making that up ... i don't have that much creativity in me right now ... lol .... the building on the far right is right at the tower bridge - i'm not sure what it was - but it was interesting to look at it...



after lunch we walked on down to the tower bridge - we got a little sprinkling of rain - enough to get the umbrellas out - but by the time we were actually on the bridge it had quit raining ... we walked across the bridge


in front of the tower of london - just outside the tube station was this statue - supposedly of Trajan which caught my fancy. then we caught the tube back to westminister where we caught the bus and headed back to the hotel.

our friends miguel and arturo are coming in today from monterrey, but we haven't been able to connect with them yet ... time will tell ... we rested for a bit and then caught the bus to go see wicked ... yes #8 ... as good as always and in some ways even better ... although Mario did point out a MAJOR line gaffe ... there is one point in the show where Madame Morrible (Miriam Margoyles) comes out to give Miss Glinda (Helen Dallimore) her magic wand, and she comes on stage and bellows Miss ELPHABA ... but give Helen credit to not let it throw her and I don't think most of the patrons even noticed ... I knew something wasn't right, but since they didn't skip a beat, I probably would have forgotten about it except Mario pointed it out ...

After the show, we grabbed a bite at McDonalds and caught the bus back to the room - hoping to have a message from Miguel and Arturo - but no luck.

I got online and bought tickets for us to see Mary Poppins tomorrow nite - it has come highly recommended by a number of people - and I managed to get 2 tickets in the center of row B - which APPEARS to be the front row - I can hope ... leg room and all that ya know ... Anyway, Katherine gets in in the morning and we'll be meeting her for lunch after catching the changing of the guard - we hope.... Should be another fun day.

Tonite we just closed the window in the bedroom - it's actually cool enough without the window - at least at the moment ...



Oh, yeah - happy halloween ;-)

Stonehenge / Norton St. Philip / Bath

Today, we got up, went downstairs to breakfast, finished getting ready and headed to Victoria Station where we caught the Premier tour (information included yesterday) to Stonehenge, Norton St. Philip for lunch and Bath.

The bus took us to Windsor Castle first, where we met the main bus. Apparently the tour that does all three starts at Windsor Castle. We had decided that all three in the same day would be too much - and hoped that by only doing the 2 we would have more time to do Stonehenge and Bath. Obviously, that was not true - but I'm still not sure we would have enough time at Windsor to do it right - and it's just a short train trip from London if we decide to do it later in the week.



As we approached Stonehenge, the mist and fog began to thicken. At one point, it was really raining. But as we continued on, it cleared ever so slightly - as if it was important for us to be there. Continuing on, there were a number of small burial mounds - that have apparently been proven to hold only a single person. Although a mound that size could undoubtedly hold the remains of 20 or so. They appeared to be about 20 feet long, 10 feet wide and about 7-8 feet high. When we pulled up at Stonehenge we were given 45 minutes to see it and get back on the bus. The stones DO have a pull to them, and I really DO want the chance to be able to walk through and touch them - so we will have to make an overnight trip at some point to give us that opportunity - as they are still open to commune with on certain sunrises and sunsets during the year. After walking around the stones and getting back to the gift shop, we realized we were already over our 45 minutes. Luckily, Kathy, our tour guide, was waiting there and yelled at us to come on. So at least we didn't miss the bus.



Speaking of Kathy, I found that she reminded me markedly of cousin Sondra Jo Schlotterback from Albequerque. While not an exact resemblance, and I admit, the best picture I could find of Sondra is not the best picture either, it was still close enough for me to think of it and remember that family is never far away even when you're in London.



We ate lunch at the George Inn in Norton St. Philip. Mario had the roast beef and I had the pork roast. Both were good. We had Guiness ... well ... black beer is still gross ... although I DID actually drink it. The picture on the left above is the view from the back of the inn.



Bath is a small town whose claim to fame is the Roman Baths that were there from about 50 ad to 350 ad. We drove around through the town before stopping. One of the things we spotted while driving through town was a pub with the name The Bath Tap. It was significant that there was a rainbow flag on each side of the sign - and sure enough, it shows up on the list of gay clubs in Somerset. Anyway, they dropped us off at the Bath Abbey - with an hour and 15 minutes to see the town before going to the Roman Baths for our private after hours tour. It would have been nice, in my opinion to have had a bit more time at Stonehenge - so we could have at least done the gift store - but then that is the problem with canned tours. Anyway, Bath is really nice and picturesque town, and most all of the buildings are built from Bath stone. Jane Austen apparently grew up in the town - although she apparently had little nice to say about it - the town apparently likes to hold on to her anyway. We need to go back and spend a day or two here on some future trip as well.... I want to check out the NEW baths - which were not part of the tour - and there are a LOT of out of the way shops to be checked out.




We also toured the abbey - and this particular floor stone struck me for some reason. It is a little hard to read, so I'll transcribe it here: "Here lyeth ye body of M. John William Teshmaker late of ye Parish of Edmunton in y County of Midx. Merchant deceased ye 25th of June Annon Domini J 713 Aged 50 yeares he was an afectionate and prudient husband a carfull & indulgent Father Loving & charityable to ye poor to whose pious memory his disconsolared widow erected this tombe. O reader stay one moment with the dead. Have one good thought when thus on graves you tread where now my soul abodes in heaven trust & in bless my bodys hear in drift. O reader go & live & learn & dye like men that have immortal souls & then come hear agen."

We didn't get any really great pictures of the Roman Baths, but it was pretty spectacular. Part of me would really like to see them restore the Baths to their splendor of yore, but I'm sure since that would require a lot of conjecture on the part of the Brits who are VERY history conscience, it would probably never happen anyway. I found it interesting that they believe that the baths were used by both men and women, since there was both an east and west side and history shows that the east side had a tepid pool while the west side had a cold pool and the assumption being that the women would have used the tepid pool to clean themselves and the men the cold one prior to communing jointly in the major pool. The link above contains some pictures of the baths as they exist today.

After bath we returned to London and finally ate some fish and chips. Now mind you, when I was here the last time - some 15 years ago or so - fish and chips were sold in every pub in England - in fact - it was about the only place to get them. But after looking in several pubs - we decided that this too had changed. We had passed a place call SeaFresh several times before after eating already, so we decided today to try them out. Now mind you, the fish was really good - but it was a bit pricey and we realized that we could have gotten food to go next door to the restaurant at their carry out facility for about half the price. (maybe 12 pounds instead of 30).

Prices seem to be holding pretty true to the rule that the numbers are the same between here and the US - it's just that pounds sterling cost 2 US dollars. I.e., a pack of cigarettes here cost 5.40 Bristish Sterling... as opposed to about $5.40 in the US ... but 5.40 Bristish Sterling is $10.80. (And the packs say in 20 point type - Cigarettes WILL KILL YOU)

But we're having fun - and the weather has truly been superb. I just wish I had 10 short sleeve shirts and 2 long ones rather than the other way around. Go figure.

London - Day 3 - Did I say JET LAG?

I thought I had jet lag yesterday - but I MUST have been confused. Today, I woke up about 10 and put the DO NOT DISTURB sign on the door and went back to sleep. We both woke up about 1 this afternoon and finally got out of the room about 3. We took the bus (the bus stop is right in front of the hotel) to Leicester Square where we walked around for a bit before settling on Pizza Hut for dinner. It was near Leicester Square that we found Bear Street - the only picture we took today. Then we went to the Odeon theatres and saw VOLVER which we both enjoyed. After the movie, we went back to the hotel and are settling in for the evening so we can get up and go on our Stonehenge tour in the morning.

London Day 2 - Wicked

We got up this morning and went downstairs for breakfast ... There is a complete breakfast included with the room. It was actually pretty good - really good for free ;-) They had bacon, scrambled eggs, fried eggs (sunny side up), beans (for breakfast - really), something else I didn't recognize, 3 kinds of cereal, toast as well as orange juice (really really bad) and apple juice (kinda bad), tea &/or coffee and water. We ate our fill and will undoubtedly go back again ... Then we went back to the room to get ready to hit the town and I fell asleep ... I think we finally got out around noon... When we're outside, it's a little nippy, but I'm wishing I had 10 pairs of shorts and t-shirts ... With the windbreaker that would be perfect ... One of the subways we were in today was SUPER HOT.

Anyway, we walked over to Buckingham Palace and saw the guards change shifts. We may go back Wednesday for the changing of the guard - but it's every other day this time of year and we missed it today ...


We took the toob out Picadilly Circus where we ate lunch at Biagio Chez Victor (Italian). The menu said it was suggestive only, so we added chicked to something that I cannot remember what they called, but it was green and white noodles with a cream sauce and mushrooms. It was really good.

We walked around a bit more before catching the toob back to Pimlico station and 4 blocks back to the hotel. After resting a bit, we're now ready to head back towards Victoria station and see WICKED.


Wicked, is of course, fantastic as always. Tonight made the 7th time we've seen it - once in New York with Idina playing Elphaba, twice more in New York but without Idina, twice in Houston and once in Atlanta. We'll see it twice more before we leave and have 2 sets of tickets for the Houston run in March. Yes, we LOVE wicked. That is the reason we came afterall - to see Idina in Wicked. There are some minor differences between the London show and the New York show and even the traveling tour. There are a few places where words were changed to make more sense to the London crowds. A set change in the opening act - there's no large hat (that's not in the traveling show either), although they replaced it with the shadow of the witch and a lot of flashy glimmering lights which is quite spectacular. AND no flying monkeys over the audience (again NY only). After the show we were able to get pictures taken with Martin Ball who portrays Dr. Dillamond in the show. (He's a goat.) We have been enjoying his BLOG on the show for several months now, so it was great to finally meet him. We still both get chills when we hear Idina sing the songs. We both get tears in our eyes when Elphaba and Glinda sing For Good - the song where they both express how they have been changed for good because they knew each other, and as long as we both continue to love the show, we will undoubtedly continue to see it.

London - The First Day

After getting checked into the hotel - we're staying at the Sidney Hotel, we headed back out ... We walked back towards Victoria Station because we wanted to pick up our Wicked tickets and see if we could swap the one we got for Katherine for this Saturday for Thursday ... We were not able to, but we went ahead and got her one for Thursday anyway - she'll be in the row right behind us - so that's good ... (She had visa problems and won't be able to get to London until Wednesday).


We bought Oyster cards - the wave of the future with transportation in London apparently - they are RFID cards to simplify the process - and after riding the toob to the London Eye - we were able to ride it with 2 for 1 because of the Oyster. Apparently the tickets to ride the toob run about 1 pound 50 (3 dollars) instead of double that if you buy individuals tickets. Did I mention the London is expensive?


We headed back to Victoria Station and had dinner at a British Pub ... no fish and chips in site - so I guess I'll have to look for those later ... Mario had "Beer and Burger" - the burger by itself would have been 7 pounds - but add a beer to it and it's 5 ... go figure ... i had the Bangers and Mash with green peas - the really big ones that have no taste - which meant that most of my dinner had no taste - but it was hot and thick and stuck to the ribs so I guess thats the main thing ... I decided it was not a good day for black beer - so I stuck to diet coke ... maybe another day ... Mario had Foster's - he said it was ok - but it wasn't black either ...

Jet lag is killing me, so I wound up taking a nap - he decided to go check out a local bar ... Guess that's all for now ... Tommorrow nite we see Wicked the first time - haven't decided what we'll do besides that ...

At some point, i'm sure Mario will add pix to this.

London - The beginning

We just got checked into the hotel room. (We stayed at the Sidney Hotel (Victoria Station). It's about 4 blocks from Victoria Station (south?). Needed to get a message out so everyone would know that we are here and ok. Somethings are very different than from my last trip to London. For one, official taxis are not always black. There was a fuchsia one right in front of us in line. The weather looks nice right now so I think we're going to head out for a bit ... Mario got no sleep on the plane and altough i got about 6 hours - i FEEL like I got none.