Jan. 5 - 6  London

Wednesday was an earlier start because we're off to London on Megabus. This is a very good service, with bright, clean double decker busses with on board toilet. They do express services between various UK cities for dirt cheap, as cheap as a pound for a one way fare, sometimes rising up to as much as 3 pounds closer to the departure date, depending on availability. You can only book them online and there's a 50p booking fee. Take the email or a text message on your phone to show the driver the booking number. We booked two tickets down to London and one back for a grand total of £7.50. National express is now matching some of these deals but I don't know how limited their seating is. I find busses a bit cramped but this was no worse than any other bus. Definitely check it out. In London, the bus arrives and departs from the Green Line coach station, right across from the Victoria coach station.

Aside from one comfort stop, it was an express run and we got to London by about 3:15, right on time. With suitcases in hand, we decided on a taxi to the hotel, the Paddington Hotel on Gloucester Terrace. Nice place. You check in at the Royal Court Apartments across the way. The hotel is on a corner in a lovely building. We booked a double room for 65 pounds a night including continental breakfast. There was a DVD player hooked up to the TV and a small fridge in the room as well which was nice. The shower stall had no place to set your soap or shampoo though so that was a nuisance. Still, good value for money and only a few steps from both the Lancaster Gate underground station and Paddington station.

We checked in and got settled and then headed out again for a get together of more friends at the Shakespeare's Head pub near the Holborn station. We all crowded around a large round table and got caught up with old friends and new. Great way to finish off the day! The next two will be pretty full.

Thursday was another clear day, some cloud cover. The continental breakfast on offer in the hotel was fine. Pretty standard stuff, a couple of choices for cereal, white or brown toast you made yourself, hot water for instant coffee or tea, two kinds of juice and croissants. The breakfast room in the basement of the hotel was adequate, though sound echoed and the wooden chairs were loud scraping on the floor.

There was quite a queue at the tube station and we were told that we could bypass it, be ushered through the turnstiles and buy our tickets at the other end. We did that but then the day pass wouldn't let us out because it hadn't been used to let us in! Oops!

Our first stop today was the Sir John Soane museum, on the north side of Lincoln's Inn Fields. This was the home of Soane, a renowned architect, for awhile in the mid 18th century. He was quite a collector and this house is filled with all kinds of interesting things, artefacts, artwork, antiques, and antiquities. There is a picture gallery but it was closed due to some renovations elsewhere. There is also a crypt where more of the antiquities are including a sarcophagus that was absolutely astonishing.

I've been to the Egyptian room in the British Museum before but I don't remember getting a close look at the sarcophagi. This one was a limestone and covered inside and out with hieroglyphics and an etching of a goddess on the bottom inside of it. Originally the markings were filled with a luminescent blue-green paint and they did have a piece of stone with the painted hieroglyphics preserved under glass. It must have been very impressive when the whole of it was like that.

There's some beautiful antiques and furniture in the rooms where the family lived and entertained. He added lots of wonderful details like hidden skylights and used mirrors effectively. It was interesting to see two small portraits of Napoleon, one as a powerful young man and one at the end of his life, defeated and held prisoner.

It's interesting to see that the walls are painted bright vivid colours. I never think of colours like that being fashionable 200 years ago but they were. Most of the 20th century, here at least, you usually saw pastel colours on walls or wallpaper. I loved the deep crimson in the dining room/library which was lined with old books and glass cases and the bright lemon yellow made the upstairs receiving room very sunny. This museum is free though you must ring the doorbell to get in. There are a lot of research materials available as well. The website has a lot of information on Sir John Soane and the museum's history.

Leaving there, we walked back over to Kingsway. There's a Café Nero and a Starbucks on either corner but beside that, tucked away, is a narrow *real* "caff", Café Don Quixote. Cheap coffee and tea, sandwiches and sweets. Very unpretentious and not trendy in the least. Much more comfortable *and* quiet than Starbucks!

We started wandering from there, into the outskirts of Covent Garden around Drury Lane and Kemble street where we saw some very attractive restaurants and shops. I spotted a big brick building with lots of windows and a large fire escape. It looked somewhat out of place and drear but then discovered that it was the rear of the Waldorf Hotel, which fronts on Aldwych and is very elaborate on the public "face" with gilding and columns and archways.

I needed the post office but first, we nipped into the church that stands in the middle of the road where Aldwych meets the Strand, St. Clement Danes. There has been a church here since the 9th century though it's been rebuilt several times including once by Sir Christopher Wren in 1682 with a tower added on a bit later. It was destroyed in the Blitz in WWII leaving only a bit of the church and tower standing. It was restored and dedicated to the RAF in the early 1950's so it looks a bit more modern inside with dark wood and lovely stained glass. There are regiment badges embedded into the stone floor and lots of Air Force regimental flags and symbols around the church. The Nativity was still set up as well though I'm sure that will be taken down today as it's Jan. 6, Twelfth Night.

Leaving there, I picked up a couple of stamps at the nearby Post office and we changed direction and headed south to the Thames near the Temple station. We poked around on the Embankment taking photos of the London Eye and Parliament over top of Waterloo Bridge and then went into the restaurant that was right there beneath the tube station, an Australian themed place called Walkabout. They had pretty good prices and a convenient combo for a main grill item and a snack so we could share the bill. The snack was more than enough for me, and I decided to try the kangaroo meat pie. They have several kangaroo items as well as crocodile and barramundi on the menu. The meat was tender, and not bad tasting at all.

We walked along the riverside Victoria Embankment, examined Cleopatra's Needle and the Sphinxes and made our way across the Embankment gardens where we saw a good sized fox run across the grass! That's the last thing I expected to see in the center of London!

Up to the Strand and along to Trafalgar Square since Graham wanted to see some of the sights, not having been to London in some years. I have to say, seeing London in the dead of winter is great! No crowds or queues, and even the weather was acceptable. Being from Canada, the temps this week felt positively balmy! (ok, that's not fair to the west coasters where it's temperate most of the winter anyway but most of the country is in deep freeze by January)

En route to Piccadilly Circus, we passed Canada House and saw an ad for a little exhibit on things Canadian by Douglas Coupland so we peeked in, passed through security and had a look. Cushions made of checked flannel, beer cans, hockey gear, Kraft Dinner and old Eaton's and Canadian Tire catalogues! There was also a room exhibiting Canadian design innovations called Red and White. If you are a Canadian citizen, also know that you can go into the Commission and they have some computers set up so you can check your email and communicate with family back home, free of charge.

We walked past Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square where I noticed people standing around holding advertising signs pointing to various venues like ticket sellers, theatres and eating establishments. That has to be a pretty thankless job! We were heading for the tube to go up to Camden.

And what a difference between touristy busy central London and Camden further north! Camden does have tourists, especially on the weekends when the markets are in full force but you still find yourself slowing down and relaxing more. Camden high street is filled with shops both mainstream and alternative. Look up, there is lots of interesting signage and sculpture over the shops. There are street markets and the Camden Stables Market which is a bit less up and coming and trendy than the Camden Lock market where I found a lovely store selling Celtic style jewellery. The Stables Market is much more independent and raunchy, with lights spilling out onto narrow cobbled lanes and all manner of music filling your ears as you pass from one shop to the next, from metal growling to Roy Orbison's soaring voice.

We found a few shops that caught our interest including one that had some really nice Native American crafts and turquoise jewellery, stopped for a cuppa and a shared slice of cake on the high street and visited Resurrection Records. Graham found a few cd's he'd been looking for but still found the prices a bit more than he was willing to pay. I found a couple of silver rings in Wilde Celts and in a shop called Alienate, he bought a round plaque featuring the alien that was later adapted for the movie, Alien. Vive la Difference :)

We were going to go to Oxford Street next to see if any of the Christmas decorations were up. It's late night shopping tonight I think, unless Oxford is always late night, I don't know. We caught a bus but ended up just walking around, not venturing into the stores. We did find some really nice street decorations lighting up Regent Street and Carnaby Street though.

Definitely time to eat, we walked down towards Soho and found a small Italian restaurant on Beak St. called Andrea Doria just at the bottom of Kingly and the parallel Carnaby Street. They had a set menu for £9.95 which appealed to us so we went in. There's a downstairs wine bar section I think but the ground floor restaurant where we sat is very small, only about 6 tables. The staff was excellent and the food was phenomenal! We had a creamed vegetable soup for our starter, with fresh parmesan and pepper. The chicken was stuffed with some sort of pesto that had mint in it and covered lightly in a fresh tomato sauce. Strips of grilled vegetables and small roasted potatoes rounded out the plate. It was delicious! For dessert there was creamy panacetta with an orange glaze sauce.

We dragged our feet back up Carnaby St. to Oxford, got a bit turned around looking for the tube entrance but there we were, back in our hotel room, after a very long day walking around. I can't believe we packed in as much as we did! Tomorrow we're planning to see the Wallace Collection.

Jan. 7

I've been battling a cold all week, starting with a heavy head and now progressing to a chest cough. I haven't felt really ill with it but the coughing is keeping me awake and really annoying me. The bed in the hotel is a bit firm for me so between one thing and another, I'm not sleeping that well so I feel a bit rough in the mornings. Once I get going though, I'm not too bad but I still find I get tired sooner.

We just made it to breakfast this morning. Had a look at the maps and it looked like there was a Toy and Model museum around the corner so we tried to find it. We didn't but looking it up on the web, it's supposed to still be there. I wonder if we didn't walk past it, thinking it was on a street off Craven Hill instead of right on it. We did spot a Chinese restaurant though that we figure we'll try tonight for our farewell dinner.

We headed to Paddington station and discovered that there are no airline check in desks there anymore. Too bad but I think I'll still take the express to Heathrow tomorrow. Our first mission of the day was to figure out the route Graham would take for the coach station tomorrow so we took the tube to Victoria and managed to get there without any wrong turns. We then thought, ok, *I* thought we could walk through the back of Victoria station through to the front but we got turned around in a shopping center when we were looking for a toilet. Things aren't always well signed and I always seem to end up going the wrong way or the long way around and end up walking so much farther then I need to, especially when I'm tired or cranky. Which I was because of the cold. Anyway, we found it and then sat and had a hot drink at a coffee shop in the shopping center before doing a bit more sight seeing. We walked up to Buckingham Palace and then through Green Park. Weather is semi-cloudy and the sun is warm when it isn't windy. Even then it's not really cold.

I was of two minds whether to go to the Wallace Collection at this point. I think my cold was making me out of sorts and I think knowing I was going home the next day and having to leave Graham was preying on my mind too. We found ourselves walking along Piccadilly and looking in the pretty windows of Fortnum's but we didn't go in. I must do that one day. We were looking for a place to have lunch and spotted a café sign up a side street called the Offshore Café (Sackville Street).

It looked like a good menu with fairly reasonable prices for that part of London so we went in. They have a nice variety of items, from all day breakfast offerings, Lebanese dishes, vegetarian options, burgers, salads, etc. The café isn't big though there's some seating at long wooden tables in a plain room downstairs. The main café is very nice with mirrors and interesting artwork and things on the walls. I had a huge jacket potato with cheese and a tomato, fresh mozzarella and avocado salad and Graham had his burger. I couldn't finish mine but I wasn't hugely hungry to start with. I'd recommend the café though and I think I'd like to go there again if I'm in the area.

From there we strolled up Old/New Bond Street, window shopping in the designer and very expensive shops. Bvlgari, Cartier, Donna Karan, Armani, Chanel and Versaci… all the big designer names and then some. And we didn't see anything in the windows that wasn't elaborate, vulgar, tasteless or outrageous and none of it would be anything we'd ever buy even if we had the money. Graham said he preferred Camden High Street! It was interesting to see where London's elite shop just for curiosity's sake. I really did think I'd see all these wonderful things in the windows that would have me drooling. Maybe there might have been some nicer things inside in showcases or something but nothing I saw in a window enticed me into the shop. Isn't that what window displays are meant for?

We arrived back on Oxford Street wondering where to go now. As I said, I had almost decided against the Wallace Collection but we weren't far from it and Graham thought it would be interesting so we walked the few blocks north to Manchester Square to find Hertford House where the collection is housed. This was the home of the 4th Marquess of Hertford who was the man who amassed most of the collection in the mid 1700's while living mainly in Paris. His illegitimate son inherited his father's collection. Wallace was that man's mother's maiden name which he adopted. The house was originally called Manchester House, built around 1778 as a smaller dwelling. It was a French Embassy for awhile in the 1850's and later was expanded to hold the collection and turned into a museum by the turn of the 20th Century.

Entrance is free though if there is a special exhibit, that may cost you. There was one on but we didn't bother with it. There's plenty there in the permanent collections to keep you busy for a few hours. It's an amazing variety of things, far more than just paintings though there's a treasure of Dutch masters including the Laughing Cavalier by Hals. There's a nice group of Canalettos as well that I liked.

There are cases covered with vinyl flaps to keep the light off painted miniatures and miniature wax reliefs that are gilded and encrusted and have amazing detail. Elaborate baroque furniture, cabinets, desks and chairs and one really tall cabinet had an astrological clock in it as well. Plenty of ceramic and china ware, large platters and plates and wine coolers and lots of enamelled things. There were three rooms of armour, though one was closed for private viewing. This was Graham's favourite along with the Hals painting. I am amazed at how detailed some of the engraving and etching and decoration on the armour was and I pity the horses wearing those great, huge plates.

There was so much to look at and you couldn't take it all in after awhile even though there's only two floors. There's a little shop and a café in a sculpture garden in an atrium which would be nice on a sunny day. They also have educational facilities and a library and I think they do special lectures sometimes as well.

We left there near 5 o'clock and went into a café on Baker Street during which time Graham did a quick ink sketch of me! We really didn't know what else to do at this point and we weren't hungry yet so we went back to the hotel to rest our feet for awhile before dinner.

The restaurant was called the Mandarin Restaurant and it's on Craven Hill Road just a few blocks from Paddington station. They do a takeaway as well as eat in. The restaurant is small, and would most definitely be called "minimalist". There was nothing on the walls except a couple of prints that were black with Chinese writing on them. There are about 10 tables with two of them large and round to hold 6-8 people. The waiter that took our order was Italian or Greek I think which was a bit different but he might actually have been the owner. He seemed to approve of our choices and was quite attentive when it was called for. I have to say the service was very good and the food was excellent and I finally got my fix of crispy duck pancake as well :) We rolled ourselves back to the hotel after 9 and spent our last evening together.

Jan. 8

6 a.m. came too soon. We checked out and went to the train station and clung together for awhile before finally parting.

The trip to Heathrow was smooth and quick on the express train, well worth it for £14 without having to worry about traffic or tube delays. 15 minutes later you disembark underground at the train station there. Result! Luggage cards were available and that makes things a lot easier because it is a bit of a hike to Terminal 3. I checked in and then had some breakfast, exchanging tearful text messages to Graham who was now on the megabus back to Manchester.

I did a bit of shopping, spending my money in the Harrod's outlet this time and picked up a DVD of Shirley Valentine in Virgin. It seemed to take longer than usual to get a gate assigned. The flight was supposed to leave at 11:30 a.m. but there was no gate on the board by 11. Turns out the plane was late arriving due to the usual traffic over Heathrow. We finally got boarded by about noon but then got bad news number 1. The flying time to St. John's would take an extra hour because of high winds and you always fly into the wind coming west across the Atlantic. I hoped it wouldn't mean extra turbulence (it didn't, thankfully). Bad news number 2… the luggage containers had some problem, or the mechanism to get them through to the plane was broken. Anyway they couldn't get the baggage loaded on the plane until it was fixed which they did finally do after about an hour.

By then, Air Canada decided that the plane would not land in St. John's after all to make up some of the time so then we had to wait a bit longer to take on extra fuel. They were not taking the chance of stranding 200 people in St. John's if there were any further problems as AC only had a ground maintenance crew of 1 there, where Halifax had a full crew. There were a few upset people but AC accommodated them very well by putting on an extra aircraft to take people back to St. John's, and they also held a flight to Montreal for quite a few on our flight who were connecting. They also had to reschedule other people for connections as well so they earned their crust that day.

We sat in the plane at the gate from noon until 2 p.m. At one point they did announce that you could use mobile phones so I called Graham who had arrived back in Manchester by now, and asked him to email my parents to keep checking the arrival time as it would be late. The flight itself, when we finally did take off. Was fine. Movie was crap so I didn't watch it. They did show a second one, the animated Shark Tale but I didn't have headphones because mine had been broken and they never did get around to bringing me new ones. Never mind.

We landed in Halifax only an hour later than scheduled because of bypassing St. John's but it was a long day and the trip ended all too soon. It was a very happy New Year though, seeing it in together for the first time. Next visit will take place here on my side of the Atlantic and I can show him around my city and province and to some local traveling. Stay tuned….

Photo Albums for this trip: People photos and Places