Home to New Jersey

Tuesday we did a bit of last minute shopping before checking out of the Winrose B&B and paying the bill. My verdict on the Winrose is cheap, respectable and very basic. The location was good for the buses and underground lines, but if I were a woman alone I'd be a bit put off by all the middle eastern men hanging out in Edgware Rd. But that's just a cultural thing. And we enjoyed the two dinners we had on Edgware Rd....lots of ready middle eastern food.

The 53 stairs up to our top floor room (or 68 from the basement breakfast room) certainly developed our leg muscles on this vacation of steps. I was concerned about this for Mitch, but I was unable to stop him from searching out even more stairs to descend.

The worst things about the hotel were the poor wifi connection and the lack of comfortable seating in the room. So, next time, we're not going to economize quite so much. So, remind us, will you when the time comes that $175-200 per night is the best you're going to do in London.

We added the fare to Heathrow onto our Travelcards and took the Circle Line to Glouster where we changed to the Picadilly line to Heathrow (note for next time: room on the Picadilly line?) We had allowed plenty of time so weren't rushed as we walked the 17 miles of corridors to our gate at Heathrow. Lunch at Pret a Manger and my favorite crayfish and rocket sandwich.

Flight home on American Airlines was uneventful. No frills and $6 drinks, but enough movies and TV selections to keep us busy. I watched PBS' 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles." Depressing! So then I watched Nia Vardalos' "I Hate Valentine's Day." Now that's a contrast!

So we are home and it's rained all night. And we only got 3 drops in London, so I guess we did something right.

Trip Highlights: Southbank Centre with all the free and state-subsidized culture - concerts, theater, etc. Saatch Museum and Duke of York outdoor market. Trip to Oxford and the Cotswold. Travelling all over by bus. Walking across the Thames again and again.

A Beauiful Monday in London

Monday, October 26, 2009
On our last full day in London we had a full schedule beginning with the Imperial War Museum which I thought Mitch would enjoy as he watches all those WWII TV shows. Another beautiful day so each day we leave another layer at the B&B. No more coats for us. We scanned our 7 day Olyster Travelcards and boarded the Bakerloo line directly to Lambeth .

I think Mitch likes this particular station because he insists on walking down 125 + steps. I take the lift.






“The Imperial War Museum is the national museum of the experiences of people who have lived, fought and died in conflicts involving Britain and the Commonwealth since 1914.



It tells everyone’s story: the history of Modern war and people’s experience of war and wartime life in Britain. “ There is a wonderful collection of planes – Sopwith Camels, Spitfires, Messersmidts, ; bombs, tanks, etc., as well as artifacts of everyday life, a simulated blitz experience, and special exhibits. It does not glorify war in any way, and I have to admit we skipped the more horrific Holocaust and conflicts since 1945 section. History from our parents' time is bad enough.






















The museum was getting quite crowded and we were hungry so we ate at the snackbar in the park next door before hopping on bus 360 to the Tate Britain. No way were we going to be able to do both Tates. So the Tate Modern will have to wait until next time for a revisit. We admired the Turners and took a gander at the modern stuff before we got too tired. Sorry, no photos says the guard so you’ll have to check out the Turners online.
Tonight we have tickets at the National Theatre for John Lithgow’s “Stories by Heart.”

Stay tuned







Mitch even insists on walking down the escalator. I've only lost him once or twice, but, as he leaves the navigating to me, most times he waits for me at the bottom.

Sunday in Brighton

Sunday, Oct. 25. London was slightly less bustling and populated at 9 am on Sunday morning as we took a 12 minute bus ride to Victoria Station to catch the Southern RR to Brighton. One of Mitch’s ski organizer friends had set us up with a Brit ski writer, Arnie Wilson, who lives outside of Brighton. And Arnie was going to show us the seaside resort. After a tussle with the quick ticket machine we purchased our tickets at the counter and explored carved-up, fast foodized Victoria Station while we waited for the 10:02 to Brighton.

The trip south was uneventful through suburbs, past Gatwick airport, and a few patches of lovely rolling countryside and took about an hour-and-a-half. Arnie was waiting for us at Brighton’s RR station and off we went, at a very fast clip, following him through the streets of Brighton.

We dashed down North Laine full of retro boutiques and zipped through the more upscale winding Lanes full of little shops including some intriguing antique jewelry shops.

Then a spin round the Royal Pavilion admissions room and gift shop. The Royal Pavilion was originally a simple farmhouse in a fishing village that George, Prince of Wales (later George IV), transformed, with the help of the notable architects of the day, into a very large pseudo Indian, Chinese folly. Now it’s being restored and sports scaffolding and plastic tarps.

A quick sprint took us down to the Promenade which stretches miles along the beachfront. There is no sand, but large pebbles called shingle. Although the sun was warm enough there was a good wind and the sea was so rough it was hard to envision fishermen at any time getting boats launched. There is a small two room museum to fishing and Brighton’s early days under the roadway.

We joined a another journalist friend of Arnie’s for a fish and chips (with mushy peas of a remarkable green color) at the Regency, a very pleasant seaside restaurant full of families having Sunday lunch.
The afternoon involved a another sprint up the beachwalk to see some Regency apartment crescents in Hove and then back down and out on the Brighton Pier – a crowded and noisy amusement park full of arcade games and carney rides and booths. It makes the Jersey shore look pretty upscale.

After a dash back to the station we joined all the returning weekenders in a packed train back to London, rather exhausted, and fell into bed. So that’s why this posting is a bit late.

Saatchi Museum and more Brahms

Now Saturday in London. It started off with a slight drizzle (which never materialized into anything more) as we made our way to the half-price ticket booth in Leischester Square for tickets, but we didn't find anything good so we continued on to the Saatchi Museum at its new location in Chelsea in the Duke of York's Headquarters.

American Art of course, as most art and theater here seems to be American, but a great selection with a fine sense of humor in a beautifully renovated building.

And to make it even better, there was a outdoor food market right there with all sorts of wonderful cheeses and lovely sweets and lots of ethnic food,,,just in time for lunch. I had a quiche and Mitch had a lovely lamb and mint pie from the pieman with a luscious custard tart for his dessert.





Then his refrain for the rest of the day was "I'm never going to eat again."

Back on our trusty double-decker bus and in the "terror seat," we rode back to the Embankment and walked over the Jubilee Bridge

(Mother, I think this replaced the swaying one you remember) to the Southbank Center where they were having yet another food festival - wine and cheese this time- and a free string quartet at 4 p.m. Quatuor Ebene and Brahms’ Piano Quintet.

Southbank is wonderful people watching, and remarkably family friendly with tots and small children running all over the place, and adults chatting and free wi-fi! We considered moving in!

After the concert wewtalked back across the Thames and mounted our trustee double decker again back to Edgward Road and dinner (gyro and falafel) at one of the many, many Lebanese restaurants lining the roads - all with hookah smokers out in front. ..I'll try to get a picture later.

Meat pie with mash

Update to Friday, Oct. 23, entry

We took a good long rest at our minimalist B&B to build up steam again. But dinner, we need dinner even after my breakfast English fry-up, and large prawn sandwich in the crypt at St. Martin in the Field (it's no longer a crypt but a restaurant). And I wanted to photograph at least one of the amusing/intriguing signs we'd seen. Tried to research good pubs for more true Brit food, but the Internet was totally gone, so out we went....unprepared!

We found one of the signs and here it is!

And we were equally successful with the pub. Pubs are not threatened by the fast food invasion and there are still pubs on just about every corner....perhaps not as ornate as they once were and many serving sophisticated food (the maligned "gastro-pub"). So we wandered around looking for the appropriate one serving British food (many offer Thai), and just right for the sedate middle-aged couple we are). We settled on the Monkey Puzzle and had a very delightful evening....first relaxing with beers on the leather couch (beats our B&B hands down), and then progressing to baked camembert with honey and pecans for starters, then pork pie and mash served with 2 perfectly done vegs (besides the potatoes) and a side salad (too much). With just one order we wondered if it would be enough. What do you think? Here is a picture of Mitch's half. And it was delicious!

Cabinet War Room

Today we went to the Cabinet War Rooms, the top destination on Mitch's must-see list, and it was quite good. Supposedly everything was left just as it was at the end of WWII. I'm sending you the link http://cwr.iwm.org.uk/ because I know your Internet connection is better than ours. And of course there is technology to supplement the artifacts - listen to recordings of people talking about working with Churchill, living in the bunker, etc. I don't think one really gets the feeling of too many people in too little space, all smoking like chimneys with no natural light and no flush toilets. And right in the middle of the war rooms is the new Churchill Museum - sort of like a 300 page Churchill multimedia biography. Very well done, but much too much to absorb.

Then we walked up to Trafalgar Square and had lunch in the crypt and a concert at St. Martin in the Field. Young pianist, Beth Chen, played Rachmaninoff, Chopin and Prokofiev. St. Martin in the Field has been renovated and is looking all prosperous and freshly painted, and there was a full house for the concert. I've never seen that before.

We are tired today, so took the bus home through the remarkably congested streets (people and buses)....it's a slow trip, but great views sitting at the front on top of a double decker (Mitch calls the one closest to the side the "terror seat") Don't think we'll do much else today for fear of tiring Mitch too much.

Regents Canal Walk, Regent Park, Ski show, concert

Whew,,,,busy day yesterday and I'm posting fast before I lose this connection. The weather is still mild and although sometimes overcast we have only had about 3 drops of rain. As it was so nice we walked along Regents Canal, past houseboats and then through Regent's Park in the morning.

There are still lots of flower as this climate is damp and mild and plants thrive. It also seldomly freezes and that helps. Then we took a bus ride to the London Ski Show where Mitch talked to people and I got a neck massage.

Home to collapse for an hour or so and then the South Bank to Royal Festival Hall for a concert - Mendelssohn Hebrides overture, Brahms #3 and Brahms Piano Cto #2. Loverly and very Romantic.

Cotswolds and Oxford day trip

We took the Original London Walks guided tour to the Cotswolds and Oxford and really enjoyed it. Walked to Paddington Station where we met the group of 23 others plus the guide Richard at 9:30 a.m.. We took the train to Oxford then a coach (bus) into the cotswold countryside to a couple of very quaint villages. The guide was great - logs of arcane information and British history refreshers for his predominately American audience. I've got what I hope are great pictures...then we drove back to Oxford and toured the University - didn't, of course, see all 38 colleges, but we saw a lot. About 5 pm we got back on the train and back to London. Mitch and I went out for fish and chips to what used to be a simple restaurant but is now quite polished. Food was very good, just not as cheap as the chippie down the street (chippies have given way to fast food chairns so there may not be a chippie down the street)

We have arrived in London

Oct. 19 and 20, 2009 We left JFK on Mon. 19 Oct at 8:20 p.m. on AA flight 104. The traffic to the airport was awful as always but we arrived plenty early and left the car in a lot. The flight left promptly and was uneventful. American international flights are comparable to domestic flights – no frills, but they do feed you. My entertainment console didn’t work, but I planned/hoped to sleep anyway. The flight really isn’t long enough for a real night’s sleep so sleep deprivation/jetlag is inevitable. We arrived at Heathrow at 8:25 a.m. the next day and walked the miles of corridors to baggage claim, customs and the London Transport center where we bought our wonderful 7 day Oyster travelcards. Touching these to the readers in tuber stations and on the buses allowed us unlimited travel throughout zones 1 and 2, and that covers lots.
The Picadilly tube line took us into London and within an hour and with one change we emerged at Edgware Station, the closest to our B&B on Sussex Garden. I asked a passerby for directions and 5 minutes later we had heard all about which plays we should see and how much she loved her winters in Florida, and she did point us in the right direction.
The Winrose Hotel B&B was just off Edgware Rd in an area of row houses all converted into B&Bs. It was a bit more basic than we expected with 53 stairs up to our room on the top floor, but it was clean and mostly quiet, warm and inexpensive for London at $127 per night. The proprietor was very hardworking but rather short on the people skills needed in the hospitality industry.
It was too early to check in so we left our bags and set out to explore the Paddington-Marylebone area after a coffee and sandwich at a Café Nero. Then we came back, checked in and set off to Southwark Cathedral for a 1 pm concert. Hopped on a bus, but it was first caught in traffic and then diverted so then the tube and by the time we walked across the Thames the concert was half over. Still enjoyable and a rest before we walked a bit along the South Bank and then back across the Thames to the Tower of London.
We caught the #15 bus and rode upstairs in the Terror Seat (so named by Mitch because you are high and only separated by glass and millimeters from other passing buses) back to Marble Arch (some #15s only go that far) and then walked north on Edgware stopping at Café Maroush for a very good middle eastern meal before returning to the B&B for an early night.

Oxford and the Cotswolds on Wednesday

We hope to join the Original London Walking Tour's trip to Oxford and the Cotswolds on Wednesday. I took one of their walks and the guides are very knowledgeable and, after reading all those mystery novels, I'd like to see Oxford. We're to met at Paddington Station at 9:30 and then off we go on the train. So it will be an opportunity for some train travel, as well. To go on the Cotswolds & Oxford Explorer Day meet Richard - he of the bright red cap! -at 9.30 am by the main ticket office - it's right by Platform 1 - of Paddington Railway Station. Check the Link for Original London Walks for more info.

Weather in London

It's cool and wet here and it looks like we can expect pretty much the same in London. Perhaps it will be even a little warmer (in the 50's), but it also looks wetter with a whole new vocabulary of weather words...heavy rain shower, sunny intervals

London Transport

As soon as we've landed in Heathrow on Tuesday and, hopefully, collected our luggage, we're off to the London Transport window to buy our 7 day Travelcard...or is it 7 day Oyster card. We haven't figured out what it's called, exactly, but hopefully the attendant will know and we'll be set to jump on and off of tubes and buses for the next week.

Public transportation has a fascination for me so I've been pouring over my bus and subway, opps..underground maps. Transport for London has a Journey Planner on their site and I plan to make good use of it. Someplace in my reading I found a great map for a bus tour using 4 routes to tour London. Now all I have to do is find it.

London, here we come!

Mitch and I are going to London for a week, leaving Mon, Oct. 19 and returning Tues, Oct. 27. This will be our first overseas trip since Mitch was diagnosed with MDS, and started the monthly treatment cycle of Vidasa shots. So, it's a great experiment to test his stamina with the transatlantic flight and long days.

Here is our flight information....after watching fares for a month or more, we gave up and booked frequent flier tickets on American.
American Airlines , flight 104, leaves JFK on MON 19OCT8:20 PM, arrives LONDON HEATHROW 8:25 AM
American Airlines , flight 131, leaves LONDON HEATHROW on TUE 27OCT3:35 PM
arrives NEW YORK JFK 7:45 PM

We'll be staying at the Winrose Hotel near Paddington Station. Accomodations in London are very expensive. The Winrose is inexpensive (c. $120 per night), has free wi-fi, and full fry-up for breakfast, and is well reviewed on Tripadvisor...that website that Mitch loves to hate.

Here is what our room should look like