We planned to go to London and Paris. We went to London in 2019, so we thought it would be cool to take the train through the (English) Channel Tunnel and do 3 days each in London and Paris. Neither of us has been to Paris. Seeing the Eiffel Tower is a bucket list item for me. I have to put my eyeballs on that Iron Giant.
We had about 8 months to prepare, so that allowed for plenty of time to soak in British and French culture in order to be prepared and have the best time possible during the trip. Be prepared, you know, like try to understand these people and how they think. My trip starts when I book the ticket - not when I step on the plane.
I like to be as prepared as possible because travel gives me the opportunity to step out of my ordinary life and escape from the confinement of my daily routine to gain new perspective on the world, sustain hope, and have an adventure.
Amanda is always willing to indulge my pursuits, so here are the highlights for our preparations:
-We listened to a 32-hour audiobook on Napoleon, Frankenstein, and 1984
-I listened to Planet of the Apes on the beach - it doesn't have a shocking twist like the 1968 movie, but it is much different, more sexual
-We watched the complete series of the Crown and all the James Bond movies (more on that later)
-approximately one million YouTube travel videos for tips and information, not even for tips really, although you do come across a gem here and there, but more to get excited
We flew on a really nice Virgin Atlantic plane Saturday night. Huge airplane - we were in row 62 and surrounded by students returning from a school trip. Fortunately, it was a 2x4x2 seating plan not a 3x3. The flight was great. Smooth and fast. We went straight across the Atlantic Ocean . Apparently, to avoid wind. Usually you fly along Canada, Greenland, and Iceland. It is entirely possible that was an optical illusion due to watching a 2D map while the Earth is spherical.
We arrived early and took the Piccadilly Line from Heathrow to King's Cross. It's the cheapest way to get to central London, but it was crowded and uncomfortable. We are staying at the Pullman St. Pancras Hotel, which is 2 blocks from King's Cross, and St. Pancras International - where we will be leaving from to go to Paris on Wednesday. This location was all about convenience. Convenient from Heathrow and taking the train to Paris and then back to Heathrow at the end.
 |
| Hotel view. The train stations are just a block or so away. Convenient. |
We were too early to check in, so so we went to the hotel to drop our bags and attempt to bribe the front desk staff for early access. The gal at the desk was one of many stationed at the front desk, and I only bribe who are alone, so that saved me somewhere between 20 and 50 pounds. I was offered a free upgrade if I signed up for a rewards program so I did it - not because I'm a weirdo who likes filling out forms, but because I thought it would get us into a room faster - we were both exhausted. She said the room would be ready in an hour to an hour and a half. It was only 11 am so this was good news.
We were exhausted and hungry so we walked across the street to the Euston Flyer to get a meal - whatever meal this was considered. We had all the standard meals Saturday, departed Saturday night, ate "dinner" around midnight Eastern Time, ate breakfast in the middle of the night on the plane, and it was now almost noontime GMT, so this was probably brunch. We ordered breakfast food. Amanda had the Eggs Royale (salmon) and I had the Plant based full English breakfast.
After eating we returned to the hotel to be as annoying as possible and find out if our room was ready. It was. We needed a nap, so that we could power through and adjust to being 5 hours ahead. The first day in Europe is always long. I usually don't sleep on the plane, except for a couple of winks, so to adjust we just stay up until regular bedtime. We had a nice view of the city and napped for an hour or two. From the room we can see the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral and the Shard - the jagged looking tall building to the right of St. Paul's. You know, a shard of glass.
 |
| St. Paul's dome in center. |
Summoning the motivation to get out of bed was difficult because we were still tired from basically being up all night, but we managed. We had a booking at 4 for a Sunday roast at the Colonel Fawcett in Camden. Camden or Camden Town? I don't know for sure. We walked about a mile to the pub.
The Colonel Fawcett is cozy pub with an old-timey feel. We kind of expected to have the fire places blazing, but the weather is warm and surprisingly humid. It was 58 degrees Fahrenheit - remember they use the metric system in Europe. but spring has arrived in western Europe!
The owner, or who Amanda thought was the owner, walked by the table and asked me, "Are you all set buddy?" I replied that I was still working on my Mad Goose cask ale. I wanted to be more friendly, so as he scooted around the corner and out of sight, I shouted, "What should I have next!?"
He swung back around and said something that I couldn't make out. Not because I have trouble with British accents typically, more probably because I was tired and have hearing loss and the pub was a little noisy and that gives me trouble hearing - background noise. He left and I was sure that he'd be back with something.
Our Sunday roasts arrived and shortly after that, so did your man with a serving tray with a makeshift beer flight. We couldn't read his writing and he had warned us that was likely, but we pressed on trying to decipher the beer code.
If you like beer then you like beer and you'll probably drink anything put in front of you. I wasn't gaga over anything, but I sincerely appreciated the hospitality and effort to make me feel welcome, so I ordered a Wanna Go to the Sun IPA from him and enjoyed it with our dinner. On his way out he said goodbye, which touched us.
Amanda paid the bill and after seeing the option to buy the cooks beer for 4 pounds each on the menu below the desserts, she exercised that option. Apparently, the barkeep said there's four cooks and told her it would be 26 pounds. Evidently, not a soul had ever made it to the bottom of the menu before. It was such a rare occurrence that somebody fetched an owner/cook from the kitchen for the occasion. After an awkward greeting and thank you, we left.
We walked back to the hotel and followed the canal walkway. The canal walk? It had rained earlier, so the pavement was pretty juicy with water and mud, so I prayed for Amanda's new white Vans. Damn Amanda!
Back at it again with the white Vans!
Back at the hotel - we were both exhausted, but I had to stay up until 1130 because that's the time I've adjusted to taking my night pills. 1130 am and 1130 pm. Not ideal for my sleep schedule, but the easiest adjustment to not have to do an elaborate offsetting transition period only to have to perform that same confusing ritual in a few days returning home to regular time. So, it was around 700 pm and I had a long way to go. My fear was that if I napped then I would not be able to get back to sleep if an alarm went off at 1130.
I tried not to nap, but I was so exhausted that I fell asleep, woke up, went back to sleep, and woke up again. So, I took my pills early and then couldn't sleep. I laid in bed for hours, sleepless, and exhausted.
Amanda woke from my tossing, turning, and going to the bathroom. At one point, I asked her if I was a normal person and asked if I was going insane. She comforted me by telling me that I was just overtired. I certainly was. Eventually, I did fall asleep sometime around 2 or 3 am. Rough first night in London.
Sunday and Monday sort of blended together for me. No rest for the wicked.
Monday morning came quick, but we get up at 530 on weekdays and 7 on the weekends, and we slept until 9ish Monday, so it was definitely a sleep-in.
We booked The Churchill War Rooms for entrance at 1130-12. I took a shower that shook most of the cobwebs off from my night of troubled sleeping. We were late getting going, so we took an Uber to the War Rooms then, because all of the cobwebs weren't shaken, walked to a cafe to eat instead of taking the Uber directly there. Face palm. We ate quickly then walked back along St. James Park. Amanda saw the Royal Swans in the park and made a note to circle back. It was drizzling for part of our walk. I wore my vest and not my really great fitting rain jacket. Probably the best fitting coat that I own come to think of it. I felt like the biggest wanker in London for neglecting to wear my rain jacket.
The Churchill War Rooms were awesome! It was really cool to see the nerve center of the fight against Hitler and the Nazis during World War 2. Churchill led the war against Hitler and we walked through the underground rooms where he did it. Underground is true, but don't get the wrong idea of the location. They are underground, but it's not like they are deep near the center of the Earth. I checked My Altitude (phone app) when we were sitting in the War Rooms' cafe drinking tea and I was still 11 feet above sea level. You only go down one flight of stairs to get down there!
There's offices, meeting rooms, bedrooms, and a kitchen. I saw the great coat Churchill wore at Yalta when he met with FDR and Stalin and I learned that Churchill enjoyed 2 baths a day. Tough to fit in while you're in an underground bunker fighting Hitler and you have the fate of Western civilization in your hands.
Just before the end of the tour we stopped in the cafe for a drink. I wanted to feel what it was like to have a drink down there. It was around noon, so Churchill would have had about 4-5 whiskey and sodas and 3-4 cigars by now and be ready for his pint of champagne with lunch, but I went with a pot of tea. The amount of booze and cigars Churchill consumed in a day was legendary (click the link for a YouTube video of a bloke trying to match Churchill's regimen). And Churchill lived until he was 90! So, drink more, smoke more, take two baths a day and spend a couple of years of your life conducting a war against your enemy in your basement to live a nice long life. If you don't have enemies who pose a threat to the world's stability, maybe just go the basement and argue with people who you disagree with politically on Facebook, X, or Reddit.
After we left the War Rooms, we walked to the Westminister Bridge for a photo shoot of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. Big Ben is the bell inside the Elizabeth Tower behind the Great Clock. Just so we're on the same page.
We were on our way towards Dukes Hotel, which is associated with James Bond author, Ian Fleming and the inspiration for the shaken, not stirred martinis. When we first showed up the bar wasn't open yet, so we went to the Golden Lion to kill some time and take a load off.
We had bit of a rest. It was good to sit. We've been walking everywhere.
The bar at Dukes was now open and full. Of course. The bartender said that we could wait in the lobby. While we waited in the tiny "lobby," I began to feel underdressed. I was wearing sneakers, jeans, and wearing a hat. Everyone else was dressed business casual, minimum. This place didn't cater to to the common man. When enough rage at the snobbery had gathered inside me, I texted Amanda that we had to go. I knew I probably could speak without raising my voice and the doorman was standing next to me. We left and she agreed about the vibe. Fuck Ian Fleming. He is already rolling in his grave because they made James Bond a family man, and killed him in the last film. James Bond stories were defined by J007 saving the day. Here are my Bond movie rankings. From dreadful to pretty decent.
Amanda spotted the Ritz and suggested that we go there instead. As soon as we entered I knew my casual dress would be an issue. Amanda asked a woman where the bar was. She informed us, "It's over there, but we have a dress code. No sports bottoms." Just saying the word sneakers is too common. On the way out I ripped the decorative lights off the steps, but not on purpose. My sneaker got caught on the step because I stepped too close to the back of the stair. Whoops. The doorman gasped in horror. It reminded me of the last time I was denied entry to a bar because of my "sports bottoms." Belfast 2019.
Amanda thought I should have asked if it's because of my Irish background. Her brother texted to confirm his solidarity with #sneakerpower.
We wandered around Westminister and spotted Starman, Had to be connected to David Bowie right? Why find out. We sat at a table with a couple of drinks. I went to the bar to see if they had a phone charger. There was a man and a woman there. He said they had one in the office and she offered to take it and bring it there. Great, these two hip bartenders are working together. I went back to the table. Noticed that we were the only customers in the place. I said to Amanda, "This is the beginning of a horror movie. Separate us from our communication devices then lock us in." I could imagine them being sexy vampires. Vampire musical about alienation in the modern world set to David Bowie songs. I'd see it.
We ordered an epic Scotch egg to snack on. We asked the guy if this place was connected to David Bowie. Evidently, he had shot the cover of the Ziggy Stardust album outside in this alley. The place next door was Ziggy's. We had wandered into a pretty cool spot. Outside we recreated the album cover.
In Soho, we wandered some more in search of a place to eat dinner. We found the White Horse. Then Amanda ran in to a jewelry shop. I waited outside until I became too impatient and hangry. The White Horse was nothing to write home about. Before we walked out, we left the sticky toffee pudding that we ordered for dessert with two bites taken out of it. It was too dry.
We were beat, but managed to find our way home on the Tube, so we headed back to the Underground. King Charles greeted us at King's Cross station when we emerged.
Photos from the Churchill War Rooms:
Chamber pot in Churchill's bedroom.
No comments:
Post a Comment