Well, we are back, and the suitcases promptly barfed all over the living room, as I declined to lug mine upstairs overloaded as it was with goodies and treats best left down. I'm catching up on personal email and determinedly ignoring anything work-related until I get back there tomorrow.
Our second week was more internet-limited, as there were plenty of places to connect in London - for a fee. We declined, and spent the time exploring instead. Our short flight to London was that, very short, followed by an expensive bus jaunt to the "Terminal 5 Travelodge" which was not, as its name seemed to imply, at Terminal 5, but I guess it's price DID imply that. One night there, with one towel between us, and we were off again to mid-city and Hotel California, also budget, but not so bad for central London - right at the King's Cross tube station. It would have been a delightful bargain except for mildew hiding in the corners, as such, it was "bargain" - but traveller beware, if you are allergy-prone. The staff were friendly and the cafeteria-style breakfast was plentiful if not gourmet.
Monday involved much walking, wherein we discovered the St. Pancras Old Church (that's its name) a tiny little still-serving municipal church believed to date from at least the 15th century, surrounded by mostly obliterated gravestones. We also stumbled across a tiny little wetland preserve learning centre right in the middle of the area, too. Evening had us walking along the banks of the Thames, and hopping on a short sighseeing cruise with a sarcastically bored but funny guide who pointed out the sights as we motored from the London Eye to Tower Bridge and back. I forget at the moment what dinner was, but we wandered the vicinity of the Picadilly tube station in the evening for a bit in a fruitless quest for a shop selling Turkish Delight that I remembered from 2005.
Tuesday we also wandered a bit, in the Covent Garden/Seven Dials sections of the city, browsing and shopping for sandals that would not continue to destroy my toes, which by this day were more blister than toe despite having expensive orthotics in the best damn athletic shoes to be bought. A clearance pair of Birkenstocks took care of that, mostly. We then took off to Kew Gardens, based only on what I knew of its reputation, and managed to wander two of the huge Victorian Glass houses (green houses, but palatial ones) before they closed up around us. We took a long wander to the far gate to get out, some of the last to leave. It is a beautiful preserve, and Kew is very involved in worldwide efforts to conserve rare and endangered plants as well as to support more mundane garden conservation efforts. Dinner at a pub ("The Botanist") and then back we went on the tube, hopping off in the Picadilly Circus area again.
On Wednesday we again played stereotypical tourists, and joined the queue for the Tower of London, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of Britain's prize castles/forts/historic sights. I must say, darned good thing we went Wednesday, and early, and that one of the first exhibits we stopped for was the Crown Jewels, as too much later and they were lined up snaking all through the courtyard. The day was kicked off by a short tour with one of the Beefeaters, the Yeoman Warders of the Tower, aka the Monarch's personal (and mostly, nowadays, ceremonial) bodyguards. The gentlman who hosted our walk was a retired military officer, as are all the Yeomen Warders, but an enthusiastic and good-humoured tour guide as well. We saw the (in)famous Tower Ravens get a feeding of chicken legs, visited the memorial constructed on the site of Anne Boleyn's (and others') execution, and toured many of the armoury and treasure exhibits. All in all a sight I'm glad to have seen, though I enjoyed it less I think than the Scottish castles where visitors were more free to roam - the Tower was very very structured in the paths and directions one could take and the exhibits oriented to moving crowds through quickly rather than letting visitors explore every nook.
The night before, we had located London's Comedy Store and I happened to spot that the Comedy Store Players were scheduled for an Improv evening, and Adam had expressed an interest in seeing that, so we had one of our pricier meals at a steak stop near Picadilly again, then caught the show. While it was nothing completely extraordinary to a seasoned improv comedy viewer, the group playing was quite tight and experienced and did a great job for the most part.
On Thursday, we pretty much checked out, hopped a train for Cambridge, and with a short wait at the station, my cousin Patrice picked us up on her lunch, dropped us in town for shopping and browsing, and caught back up with us at 4 to head to her place in St. Ives. That evening we had dinner and headed off to see the "prom night" arrivals for her elder daughter's prom. Her son's had been the night before. It's apparently the thing there for parents and families to attend the red carpet of arrivals, each trying to show up in a more outlandish vehicle than the others.
Patrice does not work on Fridays, so took us out to the country to a small town called Lavenham, known for being the crookedest town in the area (in England?). The architecture is all Tudor-era timber framing, much of it dating from the 1400's and some earlier. Much of it is also appearing to be collapsing, though somehow holding up. I'm sure Adam has a shot or two in his Gallery. The houses leaned and settled after building, though for the most part are solid, though not level.
More in a little bit - I'm off to visit the still-ailing but improving Blue Cat, who has been emailing us her updates via the medium of Dr. Bonnie while we've been away. She is much better, though still on a feed tube, and apparently plotting to take over the clinic.
