As Joey from friends said, ‘its London Baby’ and here we are! We’ve now settled into our new home in East Barnett, which is about 20 minutes by train into Kings Cross and is the second largest suburb of London. We are playing Doctor DoLittle with a menagerie of animals to care for; two dogs, three cats, a turtle and a corn snake named Siegfried in a really nice character home conveniently located for visiting the metropolitan city of London. It was an interesting ride getting here but we made it and quickly settled into our home for the next few weeks before we fly off to Croatia.
We left in the afternoon on a Virgin Train for London after getting dropped of by our Liverpool/Bromborough home owners Nikki and Paul who were so gracious to give us a lift and warmly send us off. We started our journey in Chester on a comfortable Virgin Train for the 2 ½ hour ride into London. All was well the first half hour, we had a quick stop in Crew when I heard an obnoxious, loud dude boarding from behind me and what luck- him and his girlfriend took the seats adjacent to us. I knew right away they were going to be annoying, he was loudly making stupid talk to his girlfriend and swearing at her. They were decently dressed and didn’t look like trash but looks can be deceiving. As soon as they sat down he opened up a bag and pulled out 4 mickeys of vodka and plonked them on the table, here we go I thought but they weren’t partying for very long. 10 minutes after leaving the station his girlfriend started barfing; on the table, on the floor, down the window, on the carpet. I emptied my muffin and passed her the bag but it didn’t help much by then. Some train staff came by to clean it up and brought her a bottle of water, they wiped things down while sympathizing with the girl. I think they thought she had motion sickness, I would have thrown their asses off the train! Over the coarse of the next two hours she barfed three more times while he blew his nose and spit on the floor of the train, what a piece of work these two were. He was also putting something with a dropper into his drinks, god only knows what that was. She would emerge into consciousness, giggle a bit, hork down some potato chips and then pass out again. He beaked at her all the way, was very fidgety, couldn’t shut up or stay still, it took all the control I had to not toss him out the window. About 45 minutes before our arrival he started getting agitated and talking to himself ‘I don’t feel so good, oh please stop, I hate this train, I’m not good….”. I thought oh boy, he’s going to blow chunks and if he does I just might too, the smell, the noise and I was feeling some motion sickness also. Suddenly he passed out and it was peaceful the last 20 minutes into the train station and the ordeal was over. Now I know why people pay for first class and I’m careful about touching anything. We then had to navigate our way to the underground and caught a tube to Finsbury Park, then an above ground train to our final stop. We had to ask for directions but quickly figured it all out with a map to navigate the underground.
We met our next housesit owners at their home and settled in over a nice dinner with the family. After dinner they hastily finished packing and left us with the house in the evening, they were staying nearby and had an early flight in the morning to Italy. We spent the first day just settling in, a few walks with the dogs at a beautiful park they have across the street and buying groceries at the local Turkish store down the street. Everything we need is just a few blocks away although the owners have left us their jeep to use if we want it.
Day two we navigated our way into London and arrived at the famous Kings Cross train station, made even more famous by the Harry Potter movies and the place to find platform 9 and ¾. We had to zip by for a quick photo and then out into the big city. We wandered a few blocks before finding out that we had about an hour walk to get to all the main sites so we hopped back on the tube and got off at Piccadilly Circus where we began our walking tour. We emerged in the center of London on an absolutely beautiful and sunny, spring afternoon of about plus 18 degrees. We walked miles but managed to see most of the famous sites of London in an afternoon; we walked to Trafalgar Square, along St. James Park and past Buckingham Palace, then by Big Ben, past Westminster Abbey, along the Thames past the Millennial Bridge and Wheel, then through Whitehall Gardens. We were tired and thirsty so we stopped at a pub for some lunch and a beer, sitting outside along the street we people watched while enjoying the sunshine and cold beer. People watching is my favorite past time!
Once we had a glow on going and our bodies had seized up we decided it was enough for the day, we hopped back on the tube and easily navigated our way back home. We amazingly found it so easy getting around all the major cities of Europe as they are so well connected with excellent transportation systems to get you anywhere. I do have to say my dear Janet is a great GPS system even though I’d prefer to turn her to mute sometimes, she’s rather good at getting us to where we want to go!
We can’t wait to head back out for more site seeing, so much more to do. We want to see a London show (debating ‘The Book of Mormons’ or ‘An American in Paris’), we have to see the London Bridge, we want to cross the Millennial Bridge, go to Soho, Greenwich, the fashion district, explore its shops and more pubs…. London’s calling, check back for tomorrows tour! Here is a link to the London pics.
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