Skip to main content

Arrived in the UK!

 It’s been a very long (well, maybe a very short—I DID lose 8 hours overnight) day but all has gone very, very well. The flight was on time, ride was a bit turbulent now and then but I just clutched my pillow and reminded myself that flying is the safest mode of transportation.

UK Customs was very easy, the machine scanned my passport, gate opened and I never even saw a Customs officer. I wonder if all my information had been loaded through my passport; made all Rick and my work on Sunday night at his computer more than worthwhile.

I took the Underground aka Tube into Gloucester Road. It was a long, slightly smelly (the Tube is the same as it always has been) journey but there was hardly anyone on it. Some American girls who didn’t think the “masks are mandatory” sign applied to them but no one came along to check so why should I care? Mine was virtually glued to my face at this point after almost 24 hours of constant wearing. Note though: Wearing a face mask, I actually slept better on the plane with the eye mask; normally the eye mask drives me crazy. Interesting. I did actually burrow under a blanket though as the air circulation in a 777 is super strong and I felt like it was blowing in my ear. It’s also quite noisy but I am NOT going to complain. I got to London safe and sound and that’s all I care about. Arrived at the hotel, they were expecting me, room is very modern and very comfortable. Renovated bathroom with single hot/cold water taps which is a huge improvement over what a lot of hotels used to be like.

I put my cases down, washed my face, put a fresh mask in my purse in case I might need it for going inside anywhere and went off walking. By this time it was about 3:30, sun was shining, it was HOT for London (84º F) so I wore a light t-shirt; thank goodness I had brought a couple for exercising. 

Instead of writing about what I saw, I will post photos and go to bed. Although I tried to get them in order, Blogger uploads them Willy Nilly and it’s hard to change them around using an iPad. 

Hotel Lobby

Room

Front of hotel, across from Gloucester Road Tube

Another view of my room


 

Statue near Brompton Park called The Prodigal”

 





Exterior and Interior of Brompton Oratory

Caffe Concerto interior

I think I can use the USB port and not worry about AC/DC but I’m not sure….

Salmon Nicoise for dinner

Description of the Caffe

Extremely decadent gelato; loads of people in the big plaza, enjoying the afternoon warmth.


Comments

  1. OneKidsMomSeptember 7, 2021 at 3:49 PM

    Looks like an awesome start to your trip. Enjoy! Glad you arrived safely.

    ReplyDelete
  2. RosesareblueSeptember 8, 2021 at 2:10 PM

    Healthy supper and wonderful treat . Enjoy a beautiful trip .

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Life on board the Queen Mary

Passenger's log on the Queen Mary 2: Dec 9th - First Day at Sea Didn't sleep well--think it was the soused mackerel at dinner. Anyway, R and I woke up at about 6:00 am and discussed the order of the day. Quite the swell outside and I can feel the roll of the ship. (No seasickness thank goodness!) Despite the mackerel, I was hungry so we went to King's Court at 6:30 a.m. Buffet with loads of choice of course. We sat in an alcove looking out at the ocean. Our server was from Croatia, Slavan. I asked him my burning question of the day--why did we get a free bottle of wine but a regular bottle of Diet Coke cost $3.75? Diet Pepsi is $1.00 less. Fruit juices are free on tap. Coffee, tea, milk, ditto. But you have to pay for soft drinks. Very odd. Slavan says it is because Cunard can't get a good contract with Coke. Hmmm.... our local School District back in Sierra Vista can negotiate .50 a can for the soda machines in the teachers' lounges but Cunard has to cha...
Post a Comment
Read more

December in South Arica 1977, Part One

 December in South Africa 1977, Part One I had never understood candlelight in quite this way before. Oh there had been candles on the table Christmases past back home in Canada. For atmosphere, for festivity. While the electric crystal chandelier above cast the “real” light on a table laden with turkey, potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce.… But this, this was different. Here in the corrugated iron shack that my friends had referred to as “the cottage”—not any cottage that I had ever seen in my growing up in Quebec—with no other light either inside the cottage nor outside in the black night of the Transkei, I understood how candlelight could draw a world down into the narrowness of those around the light, as if nothing else in the world existed.  I looked at the six faces around the table, illuminated in the candlelight, my own pulsing with sunburn. "Oh you’ll be grand," they’d told me down at the beach that day. "We’ll tell you when to get out of the sun." And toni...
1 comment
Read more

There's got to be a morning after

And today is the fourth "morning after", with each "night before" a little easier, a little more "make the best of it but take care of yourself." Before I move back to writing this memoir style blog--going to continue with the South Africa trip of 1977--I feel I would be shrinking if I didn't say something about how I feel about this week's US election. As of this writing, Saturday, Arizona still hasn’t finished its count—the GOP did a great job of preventing the mail-in vote for being counted early and messing up the ability to use the machines—so I still don’t know if we are going to be saddled with the odious Kari Lake or whether the House is going to be Republican too. Still, it’s becoming more “academic” than visceral for me, if you know what I mean. Necesitamos avanzar. Sera dificil, sabiendo que muchos, especialmente aqui donde vivo, creen en los planes de Trump y Vance. (I have been practicing Spanish in preparation for a 10-day December cr...
2 comments
Read more