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March 26, 2007
Walking and more walking
Tuesday - Today we went down to the south side of the river. Saw the London Eye and walked along the Thames all the way to the Tate Modern and Millennium Bridge (about 1 to 1.5 miles). Went to Saint Paul's for Evensong and met Scott for dinner. We were going to follow the advice of the travel book again and visit a historic pub. The 2 on the list that interested us were 1) closed and 2) unable to find. So we ended up at a random, but nice pub near St. James Park. This was our first encounter with the children in eating establishments problem (more later). The pub keeper was nice enough to let us eat upstairs in the dinning room even though it was technically closed. The food was amazingly good and since we were the only ones in the room it was actually a relaxing meal!
Wednesday - Today we discovered that our Tube passes worked on the buses too. Chanler and I rode the bus around town (Passed - Piccadilly circus, Trafalgar Sq, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Waterloo Station, Etc.) Chanler LOVED it. He had been asking to ride the bus since we arrived in London. I tried to take Scott to a museum this evening because a few of them have late nights tonight. We had Chinese for dinner and some bum lit up and made the whole place stink. Caught the tube and ended up at the Victoria and Albert Museum only it was closed. The late day the travel book had was NOT actually the real late night. Oh well, Scott has been there before I just wanted to see it too. On the way back we rode the bus past Harrods (which I wanted to see but not shop at)
Thursday - More walking and bus riding today. I was planning on going to the London Zoo, but it is TOO cold. Chanler and I stopped at the Princess Diana memorial playground in Kensington Gardens - it is super cool! It is a huge play area that is more landscaped than playground equipment. There is a Peter Pan ship and Tee-Pees etc. Chanler had fun and would have had more except the slides were all wet from the rain. Tonight we had dinner with some of Scott London colleges (and they paid for dinner). Dinner was wonderful and by far the nicest I will have on this trip. We were supposed to go to a great steak place, but couldn't get it - I am (and everyone else was too) seriously bummed. Instead we ended up at a nice Italian place. It was a bit weird going to dinner with Scott's work people and being the only one there who was not affiliated with the company (other than Chanler) not to mention bringing a two year old with me. But it was still nice.
Friday - Not much of a fun day. Since Cisco isn't paying from hear on out, we decided to relocate to cheaper digs. We found a B&B recommended by our travel book. So I took one of our bags and Chanler and made my way across the city. Actually got there without incident and then had to do laundry. What an experience - I guess I haven't done laundry in a public laundry for a long time, but boy was it confusing and weird! The laundry was staffed by a possibly french woman who you could pay to do your laundry (or you could save $$ and do it yourself), there was also machines I had never heard of (a "spin dryer" as opposed to a regular tumble dryer etc.) I was a bit bummed because it felt like a wasted day and because I lost one of Scott's socks and ruined Chanler's sweater while doing laundry. But no more of that on this trip. We search long and hard for a place to eat tonight. The closest places didn't allow children because their dining room was booked for a private function ("it is Friday, you know") so we ended up at a Indian/Tandoori Chicken place. It was good, but not wonderful.
Our room at the B&B is postage stamp size (and that is a generous description) We have the smallest double bed I have ever seen with a 2 foot walk way and then a small single bed and that is about it. We do have a "bathroom" but is isn't much more that a toilet, sink and shower you can't turn around in. But again it is relatively cheap for London and it will do - at least it is pretty clean.
Posted by Jesse at March 26, 2007 1:49 PM