I met up with my friend, Barbara Coad, at Heathrow Airport. Her flight, from Los Angeles via Houston, arrived 30 minutes after mine. Barbara and I were met by a hired car and driver. It was nice to not have to worry about how to get to our Airbnb flat in London, specifically the area of Lambeth.
We arrived at our flat at around 3 pm. After taking our bags up the one flight of stairs, we decided to go to a local supermarket and buy items for our Saturday dinner and a number of breakfasts. Being in a flat, it also was good to buy other supplies like coffee, milk, toilet paper, paper towels, and wine!
We had take-away dinner in our flat, relaxed, and prepared for the next day.
Barbara likes to walk like me. So, on Sunday, we walked from our flat to the London Eye on the Thames waterfront. It was about 3 miles. We had 2 pm reservations at the London Eye for a nice special event, the Champagne Experience. About 20 guests were met by a host and he escorted us, with his champagne luggage, to our London Eye pod.
It was a beautiful afternoon to enjoy the 30 minute ride --- and, with a glass of French champagne!
We decided to not walk back to our flat. So, instead, we made our first trek on the London subway, or tube. The closest subway to our place is the last stop on the Victoria Line, Brixton. We were unsure about how to find our way back to 13 Southwell. Conveniently, there was a police station. The kind lady printed off a map for us. Later, we learned how to use the local bus system to get home.
My 2002 Italian foreign exchange student "son" now lives in London. He is a doctor, specifically a radiologist. While Francesco is from Florence, he secured his medical degree in Milan. He then did some of his intern training in London and fell in love with the city. Francesco, and his boyfriend, Thomas, wanted to take us out to dinner at a very special restaurant in central London. So, we met them in Covenant Gardens for a pint of beer and then had dinner afterwards.
The special restaurant they selected is called Rules. Thomas had been there before, but it was a first for Francesco, Barbara, and me. Rules is the oldest restaurant in London --- terribly British for sure! The food was delicious and the decor was wonderful. Barbara is a fan of the television series, Downton Abbey. This restaurant has been used for a variety of scenes.
Thomas and Francesco were so kind. Even though Barbara and I purchased Oyster cards for the public transportation, the evening was long. An Uber driver was hired to take us home. Lovely!
On Monday's schedule was a Breakaway bicycle tour --- the Grand Tour of London. We met at the Waterloo Train Station, met our tour guide, Charlie, and walked 5 minutes to where the bike's were housed. We were fitted with a bike, a helmet, and a rain slicker.
Bicycling in London is something else! While Charlie kept us on side streets for most of the tour, we did have to traverse some big intersections with the double decker buses and London taxis. We saw all the major sights --- from the Parliament Building, Westminster Abbey, changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace,
and St. Paul's Cathedral. There was some "walk around time" where I found a wonderful ol' telephone booth.
Hello? Hello? Hello?
Tuesday, we booked a tour to the Cotwolds. This was recommended to Barbara. I never had heard of this area. But, boy, was it beautiful. We met the tour at Victoria Coach Station. We took a bus up to the area --- about 2 hours north of London. Frank was our tour guide. Our first stop was Burford.
We had about an hour to explore this cute town. Barbara and I walked up to the top of the town and pretended to knock at a couple of the cottage doors.
Our next village was Bibury. The street of Arlington is touted to be one of the most beautiful in all of England. An image of it is also on the United Kingdom passport.
We had a prepaid lunch at the Swan Hotel. Fresh trout is known for this area, so I went for it! I had to fight with bones, but the fish was very tasty.
At least the trout did not come with the head --- like they present fish in China!
There were two other towns that we visited --- Bourton-on-the-Water and Stow on the Wold. Bourton-on-the-Water claims to be the Venice of England, with six bridges.
The last town had a nice hotel with a quaint bar. Many of the bus tour guests went to a restaurant for tea and cakes. But, Barbara and I had a nice pint of seasonal beer at The Old Stocks!
The bus arrived back in London at about 7:30 pm. Barbara and I were dropped off at Victoria Station, where we caught the Victoria Line back to Brixton. Then, we caught bus 35 back to our flat. We have really gotten good at riding the London public transportation!
Wednesday, we had a walking tour, the Secret Food Tour, that began at 11:00 am near London Bridge. Barbara was familiar with this company, as they have food tours in many cities all over the world. We started in Borough Market. With a bacon and egg bap, then award-winning fish and chips.
Mat Bland was our tour guide and he was terrific. He knew how to orchestrate us through Borough Market and collect the various delicious foods --- and poured some Mead wine.
It turned out that four new managers of the Secret Food Tours company were with our group. They were in London for a two-day conference. One was from San Francisco, one from Boston, one from Paris, and one from Rome. Barbara and I joined them for a photo along the Thames River.
We ended the tour at a restaurant called the Chop House. It was right on the river and we were served sticky pudding and tea. Delightful!
After the tour, Barbara and I decided to go to the bar restaurant at the Shard building. I took many pictures of the Shard, as it captured me with its beauty.
We took an elevator to the 32nd floor of the Shard and walked down a staircase onto the 31st floor. The views were magnificent. Barbara and I sat on bar stools and enjoyed a glass of Sauvignon Blanc.
The Shard experience was so civilized. The sky line of London has changed dramatically since I was last here --- August, 2001!
We headed back to our flat, as we were meeting Francesco and Thomas for a second evening of fun at 7:00 p.m. Barbara collects Hard Rock Cafe sweatshirt hoodies from all over the world. So, we set London's Hard Rock Cafe at the meeting point. Then, Francesco made reservations at an Italian restaurant near Piccadilly Circus --- about a 15 minute walk. The name of the restaurant was San Carlo Cicchetti. This time, it was my treat for dinner!
Of course, we completed the meal with tiramisu. It was not Francesco's mothers recipe, but it was good.
It was a long day and a late evening. We arrived back at our flat at 10:30 pm. I set my alarm for 6:00 am. We had an 8:15 am bus tour from Victoria Coach Station Gate 18 --- to Stonehenge and Bath on Thursday. Stonehenge has been on my bucket list for many years.
Barbara and I secured a great seats on the double-decker luxury bus --- front row on the second level.
We pushed off at 8:30 am. It was a two hour drive to Stonehenge. The first sight from our bus was amazing! The bus was parked and we took a shuttle to the site. Nothing like "up close and personal."
We were able to circle the stone structures for about an hour. We had headsets and an audio tour. Barbara snapped a good photo of me!
The tour guide was Mangus Nielson. He was very colorful, but a little too British for me. He was very serious and not very personable.
Our next stop was the city of Bath. It is a large city of about 90,000 residents, but the historic old town was lovely. Our tour included going into the Roman Baths --- about 2,000 years old. These baths are fed by natural thermal spring water.
After visiting the baths, Barbara and I walked some of the city and walked over one of the bridges.
We met up with our tour group at 4:15 pm and were loaded back on the bus.
Friday morning, we went on our last London tour. We met the group at the London Tower entrance at 8:15 am. This was a four hour tour --- the Royal Walking Tour. The tour group was escorted to a special gate where we were met by a London Beefeater.
We walked inside the Tower compound and watched the opening key ceremony. This is where a gentleman collects the London Tower keys from one location and is escorted by four soldiers to open the formal Tower gate.
Next, we got on a Thames River boat and sailed down to Westminster. From this stop, we walked toward Buckingham Palace and saw the changing of the horse guards. We then walked through St. James Park.
The tour's last stop was watching the changing of the guards at the palace. Since we saw this on Monday, we talked to Danielle, the tour guide, and were released.
The Tate Modern was on my list of Top 250 Global Attractions. Although I am not a big modern art fan, I was challenged to cross this off my list. Prior to arriving at the Tate, Barbara and I found Carlo's Kitchen and had yummy sandwiches for lunch.
After spending some time at the Tate, we walked along the Thames River toward Borough Market --- passing the London Globe Theater. We knew that we needed to pack this afternoon. So we purchased take-a-way items at Borough Market. I got the Paella Valencia dish and Barbara purchased the Pad Thai dish. We were set!
We arrived back at our flat at about 2:00 p.m. It was time for me to work on updating my blog and to pack up the two suitcases. Our hired driver was scheduled to pick us up Saturday morning and take us to the Cruise Terminal in Southampton.
Originally, we thought to walk back into Southampton and see some of the city. But, the Cruise Terminal is quite a distance from the historic city center. Nevermind!
This cruise was booked two years ago --- by Richard and Barbara. We originally had two suites, but dropped one of the suites earlier in the year. Suite Class on Celebrity is very nice. There is a private dining room and a private lounge, Michael's Club. In Michael's Club, all of the alcoholic beverages, specialty coffees, and drinks are complimentary. I'll drink to that!
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