2016 European Vacation

July 5, 2016
I mentioned the small size of the room, well that relayed to the restroom and shower as well. To sit on the toilet, a 45 degree angle is needed as there is about an inch between the toilet and the wall. I was able to get into the shower, but getting out was going to be a challenge. I love challenges. Turns out the showers was part of the water main because when I turned the shower on full, it started to flay the skin from my chest. I have never seen so much water pressure in a shower. Firemen would love this kind of water pressure. And hot? I’ve boiled potatoes in colder water. The morning challenge was on! My wife knocked on the door and asked if everything was ok. At least I imagined that level of concern for the screams being emitted from the small compartment in our “quaint” hotel. Turns out I survived the experience and wisely passed on what I learned to my SO. She had a pleasant shower experience. I still wake up some nights grasping my chest and hoping the skin is still there.

Everyone knows about the “Full English Breakfast”! I made sure to include breakfast in every hotel stay so as not to worry about that first thing in the morning. Entering the dining room, we see a buffet of meats and eggs and cheese and meats and beans…. Mmmmmmm. Ok, this hotel may not be so bad anyways. “You have your vouchers?” “Yup!” I say back with a little drool running down my chin. “Yes, these are for the continental breakfast, follow me.”

We walk past the beautiful buffet of everything wonderful towards the far end of the dining room where 3 gypsies had made a little fire next to their wagon and while the fourth sat with his hat out looking for scraps. A starving dog looked haggard next to him with his large puppy dog eyes begging for anything to eat. “The full breakfast is £5 more.”

Before us lay a serving table with toast, jams, some kind of runny orange egg product, Nutella (Nutella owns Europe. It is literally everywhere.), some small, somewhat ripe fruits and a small container of orange drink. A wolf howled in the distance. As I ate my soggy, cold toast and orange drink, I assured my family we would eat better later.

In all seriousness, this was the absolute worst breakfast experience of the trip. It really was all the way across the dining room and was actually a bit dingy. I was sad.

We had a lot of ground to cover this day, its good we got up early. We took the subway to Hyde Park Corner and Wellington Arch. We would get to know this location well as we ended up here again later that day. It was around 9 in the morning and we are taking pictures in front of the Hyde Park entrance and Wellington Arch when a small group of mounted guards came out of Hyde Park and through the Arch and down Constitution Hill towards Buckingham Palace. Decided we should go that way as Buckingham Palace was the first stop on the trip today. Green Park is lovely. It never ceases to amaze me when large cities have these absolutely wonderful parks in the middle of them. The trees that sided the road were these enormous things called London Plane (Platanus x hispanica). Just absolutely lovely trees. Getting towards Buckingham Palace the crowd starts to pick up and there are more and more people. Well, I mean, yeah. It’s a big attraction. We take some pictures, weaving through and around the crowd. Turns out the “Changing of the Guard” happens at 11:30. Thus the crowd. We wind around to the back side of the circle, so the Victoria Memorial was between us and the Palace. Looking down St. James Park when the parade of guards comes through. They had a band and 2 groups of riders. It was kind of cool to watch but the crush of people had us out of there.

We headed through St. James Park towards the London Eye (it was a good landmark to head towards) and came out at 10 Downing St. Took some pictures there and then went through the Horse Guards Parade field where we got to see the changing of the mounted guards. To our left was Trafalgar Square… ugh. We could have done this last night… Taking a right then we headed down Whitehall and lo and behold! “Look kids! Big Ben, Parliament…” and Westminster Abbey. Lots of pictures. Also a small park with statuary of famous politicians through the years. Churchill, Gandhi, Lincoln, Reagan… All the big names. Westminster Abbey is expensive to get into so we passed. More pictures though. Crossed the Thames and more pictures from that side of Westminster Bridge. Found a small cart guy that actually had a Fulham scarf, so I picked that up for a friend. Also got a Tottenham scarf for another friend. (EPL Futbol clubs, I follow Manchester United…). Decided we’d have lunch on the London Eye pier at a Fish and Chips place. Cause, you know, England! Did I mention that we were going to do a lot of Walking? Following my nose, we headed towards Waterloo Station and passed a Eurocar place. I stopped in to speak to the guy about our voucher to rent a car. He walked me through everything I had to do and it seemed easy enough.

We decided to take the Subway to London Bridge and got off there… London Bridge… not Tower Bridge… London Bridge is in Arizona now. I wanted Tower Bridge. More walking. Wasn’t horrible though. Walked through a street market that had some cool stuff. Ended up at HMS Belfast and London Town Hall. Better pictures of Tower Bridge and the Thames and just so many things. Tower Bridge is the bridge everyone thinks of. It’s cool to see in person. I thought it was red the last time I saw it, but it was blue now. Walked across, along the Tower of London Castle and decided we would go there the next day. Grabbed the subway at Tower Hill and back to Green Park. Another Hard Rock Café was there. Walked past the Japanese Embassy and had the inspiration to wonder if they would have flags to give away. But they closed at 6… Family getting whiney, wanting food, apps not helping, not many restaurants around here. Decide we may as well eat at the HRC. The line to get in was terrible. But… I am a member of the “club”. 20 minutes. Everyone but me is tired and miserable. Me, I am standing in London Freaking England! Get in, eat, everyone is tired we head back to hotel.

I should remember what HRC stands for but forget, but I again liked your account. I remember a certain twisted toilet seat in Rome, at a hotel I stayed at on two different trips (cheap, now up graded, good location). Same room, once with my husband, once with a friend. So to laugh.. but they were a family place and there were apparent or faux or retouched frescos on the ceiling in the lobby. That part of that trip was a disaster, personality-wise, but she was only there for a short part of the month long trip.

Keep talking, this is fun, nice and real.

You mean they didn't have beans? LOL

Hard Rock Cafe

Ah, we used to have one of those in LA, probably one of the beginning ones.
Thanks, and keep writing .

Didn't some Hollywood 'greats' partner to start the Hard Rock Cafe?

Reading along - great entertainment (even if you do support Man U).

Isn't there a special place in hell for those who support Man U and don't live in Manchester?

(comes from Old Harry's game - by Andy Hamilton)

That was Planet Hollywood. The Hard Rock Cafe in London was the first one of those. They had a cool "vault" in the basement with a lot of old paraphernalia and pictures. Was kind of cool.

The pride of Europe!

Of coarse it was Planet Hollywood. I think I saw one in Barcelona.

Just looked it up, or my memory of there being an early Hard Rock Cafe there -

http://www.feelnumb.com/2009/11/17/the-doors-original-hard-rock-cafe/

Never went to it..

There was a Hard Rock Cafe in Barcelona. I went in, because it's not far from the main pedestrian street, Las Ramblas, which I have walked frequently.
http://www.hardrock.com/cafes/barcelona/

Fun Reading and I really enjoy it.
Have been to London several times and you Writing brings out lots of memories.
Harrods I have been to once and never again. I like Liberty - a store we ladies always liked back to my grandmother.
I prefer to visit Westminster Abbey or St. Paulsor any other cathedral during evening song or churchservice.
I get the best of the cathdral and for what it was intendent for and you do not get disturebd by guides or tuourists.
We have stayed by Russel Square too. A good and central area.
Please write on.

Fun Reading and I really enjoy it.
Have been to London several times and you Writing brings out lots of memories.
Harrods I have been to once and never again. I like Liberty - a store we ladies always liked back to my grandmother.
I prefer to visit Westminster Abbey or St. Paulsor any other cathedral during evening song or churchservice.
I get the best of the cathdral and for what it was intendent for and you do not get disturebd by guides or tuourists.
We have stayed by Russel Square too. A good and central area.
Please write on.

July 6, 2016
Retracing our steps…
Today was going to be around the Tower of London and whatever else we wanted. Originally I had wanted this day to explore the British Museum, but got voted down 3-1. I don’t think they understood what was actually in the British Museum, but oh, well. It is everyone’s vacation and not just mine. Looking around, I realize that I did not have the bag of scarves I bought the day before… where were they?! G&%()_)$#N IT! I left it somewhere… Ok, well those are gone then. We decided to skip the wonderful free breakfast at the hotel and head out for the day.

We grab breakfast at a diner or café down the street from the hotel, it was good. Cheaper than I expected as well as the quality of the food was quite good. Even the beans. I think they were just Campbell’s Pork and Beans which my Dad used to always buy. Reminded me of him a bit. Take the subway to Tower Hill and the day is on! Line wasn’t too bad to get tickets and the last tour led by a Beefeater had just left. Fortunately, we were able to blend into the group as we caught up to it.

Take the tour with the Beefeater. It is a good tour, it’s free and the guide is both witty and charming. They are all retired military that had to show a certain dedication to the crown to be able to have the job they have. Lots of military humor and childishness that leaves you laughing and in a good mood. It touches on all of the main bits of the castle. We also purchased a book about the castle so we could read about what we were looking at. The history of this castle is simply amazing. All the things that have happened there and the people that have been through the gates and the ones that never left… It’s an interesting history to say the least. Toured through the Towers themselves as they are a museum now. Floor after floor of arms and armor and history.

Stood in the line for the Crown jewels, they look rough up close. Built ages ago I think is the main reason. Hollywood could make them better I think. They should update those and sell off the old stuff and pay off some debts. I mean who really needs a solid gold punch bowl? We spent a good portion of the day there. Had lunch and headed out. Where could I have left them scarves?

Head toward the subway and take it to Westminster and the London Eye and where we had lunch. I remember having them in the bathroom after lunch, so I didn’t leave them there… The Eurocar place? We walk there and I go in and ask and lo and behold! Guys pulls out a bag and says, “These?” I must have built up some good karma, because there they were. I gave them to my son to carry as he is responsible. Go back to the Waterloo Station and take it back to Green Park Station… where we again walk past the Japanese Embassy, the Hard Rock Café and the Wellington Arch… For the third time. Ok, getting to be dinner time, let’s see what is there to eat in London. General consensus was a burger. Ok, there is a place in SOHO called “Honest Burgers”. Ok, kills 2 birds. Get to walk through SOHO and get a good burger. Not too far away, easy subway ride to Leicester Square, and a normal walk through SOSHO and then we have to kind of hang out in this ally waiting for a table in this little restaurant that has delicious burgers.

After Dinner, we walked down to Piccadilly and Regent Street which has every store you’ve ever heard of on it. We hiked that until we got to Oxford Circus station where we headed back to hotel to pack for morning train ride to Paris.

I do not like typing so I have been keeping this short and just hitting high points. There is a LOT of walking and just looking at stuff that we do. But, I think that kind of boring to write about. Just assume while you read that we are looking at people and places around us, or at least I am, intermixed with the highlights. I find local color just as intriguing as the architecture, but less exciting to write about.

Thanks again. The Tower of London reminded me about Anne Boleyn, who was executed there, and I still remember the block where they chopped off her head.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Boleyn

Another good one...

You are making me want to post my Italy diaries as a kind of keepsake. I'm on the old side now and I guess I'd like them sitting somewhere else besides my closet shelf. I have a history here of spouting off about my time in Italy, but I don't think I ever added my thoughts re given days. Posting them would take a while, but I may play with it. Trick would be to not edit my stupid confusions, my goofy enthrallment, and just retype what I already wrote in notebooks.

Never mind my stuff, I'm interested in all travel diaries. More should/could start threads.

I'm one who encourages you to post your Italy diaries. As a visitor to Italy several times, I want to see the places you visited to find out whether I was there too, and to see if we have similar recollections.

Did you drive? I'll NEVER drive in Italy again.