Time to Move On

Moving day is always a bit of a test.

We had breakfast in a local pub then left the Hotel George about 11:00 and headed up and around on
the Underground, the Circle Line to be precise, to Liverpool Station where we had to catch our train at 7:32 so lots of time to kill. We checked out bags for the day and wandered off to Spittlefield Market.

I could have spend a lot of money there if we had any extra room in our bags. Neat stuff. Some very cool t-shirts. On Saturday there was a whole section dedicated to vinyl and small booths rented by scores of craft brewers. My favorite name brew name was Tea and Biscus.

We set off lunch determined to find Pitt Cue a restaurant I had seen featured on a cooking show. It was tough to find, even GPS was spotty. After wandering the streets we did finally track it down and it was closed for lunch Saturdays.

We wandered down by the Tower of London for a while then sat out the rest of our wait at the station.  There in London they don't actually post the platform from where the train is leving until shortly before the train leave so everyone stands watching the large departure board then - scramble. The train pulled out on time at off we were to Harwich, about an hour and a half's ride then onto the ferry.

Stena Hollandica

The Stena Line ferry from Harwich to the Hook of Holland is the most direct route to Holland from the south of England. We were on one of the two new Superferries the Stena Hollandica.

We were amazed. It was huge. Our cabin was on deck 11. Our "porthole was about 4 feet wide.  It had several restaurants and lounges. Very new and shiney.  When we sailed at 11 we didn't even feel the ship move nor did we feel and roll or pitch in the night.

Goldfinches — American vs European

We were walking beside the Thames in London when a flutter of European Golfinches erupted from a nearby tree.

As soon as I zoomed in with my camera, I recognized them by their...

Red faces.

These European finches are much bigger than our squeaky-toy-yellow American goldfinches. (Photo below from my Saskatchewan, Canada, bird blog, PrairieNature.blogspot.ca. My thanks to myself for permission.)

It seems odd at first to call these two species of birds by the same name. 

But the European Goldfinch really looks more finch-like to me than my tiny backyard version does... And if you look closely at its picture, or see it in flight, you might notice that its wing bars are bright yellow. 

###

An Amazingly Lovely Afternoon

We got a bit of a late start to the day — we actually slept in, so I think we (well, 50% of us, anyway) have that jet lag thing beat.

We headed back to one of my (Gord's) favourite parts of town, along the river near the Globe Theater. We started at the Tate Gallery then wandered along the walkway, past the Golden Hind and up to Borough Market. I could spend days there. Such great food but still a bit of a zoo with all the tourists.

After a pint in one of the pubs nearby, we walked down by Tower Bridge and played tourist ourselves, taking too many pictures.

But back to the market! So much amazing food! Cheese rounds several feet across. Dried sausages. Heirloom tomatoes. So many kinds of breads. Artichokes, fish — and squid and octopus, too!

They don't mind photos being taken there — advertisements for their wares? So part of the photo-overload may come from knowing that some European markets react in the opposite way to non-buying people with cell phones.

Yum  Supper

London with Shakespeare, Chaucer and John Webster

Jet lag, I know your name. And your nights of 2.5 hours of sleep, when my body thought I was only napping. So we did the logical thing — pack the day with activities so that we'd be far too tired not to sleep at night... A theory that, when tested, works well... For 50% of the sample group.

During the day, we visited the monuments of Trafalgar Square and neaby:

We also savoured the quiet loviness of the Church of St Martins in the Fields (aka, we now know, "the church of the ever open toilet doors" — perhaps too open for some, as the Men's, opening straight onto the café, was handle-free...)

And Westminster Abbey.

I thought I could guess at what Westminster would be like, having seen other cathedrals and abbeys. But no — I was wrong. It was very different from my expectations. The vast open spaces are far away, high above the visitors, heads bent in prayer or towards their audio guides, high at the top of soaring, ornately carved ceilings. At walking level, on the other hand, the Abbey felt like a warren of small prayer and burial rooms, filled with reliquaries, effigies and art.

Overall, it's massive and massively impressive, and houses massive, multiple, beautiful tombs for British royalty and historical figures. Yes, I (Shelley) spent some time at Poets Corner, finding the memorials for Chaucer, Shakespeare, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and others -- including Handel, who was, I know was a composer of music... I missed Sir John A. Macdonald's plaque, but saw the stone for David Livingstone, I presume...

In the evening, we had dinner at The Swan, overlooking the Thames, then went through the connecting passage to Sheakespeare's Globe.  

We saw a candle-lit production of John Webster's White Devil. (By my count, 12 actors, 6 murders, 3 musicians — but I may have missed a strangling/poisoning/stabbing or two.)

We walked back to the Tube across the Millennium Bridge. 

It was a lovely mild, clear night, beautiful with lights sparkling on the river and the dome of St. Paul's glowing before us.

London at Last

It seemed like a very long night but we did arrive pretty much when expected at about 2:00.
We were quick off the aircraft and finally snaked our was through Border Security, met by a customs Officer who after we explained our itinerary said "What a trip. Take me with you."
Then we managed to find the shuttle to the train station, pretty straight forward really, and into the train station. The train was due to leave in one minute and the guard said we were too late. "Catch the next Train"

We asked someone else who said "Run, you can still catch it" We pushed past the guard and down the escalator and there was the train  ready to go.  The doors were closed and we thought we had missed it.. We stood there a minute until we saw someone who  ran up and pushed a button by the nearest door,and the doors opened. It was our "Ah ha  moment." We pushed the button by our car, the door opened, we climbed on board and the train pulled out of the station.
The Gatwick - London Express lived up to its name and was pretty quick into Victoria station.
Off the train and onto the tube and got off at Earl's Court.

Our hotel, Hotel George,  is about a block and a half from the tube station. A lovely Victorian Row house converted to a hotel.

We are in the heart of Kensington, or so they claim. We wandered out for a drink before supper in a neat little pub a block away. We sipped our drinks and watched the bustle of the London rush hour with Double Decker buses, motorcycle couriers, emergency vehicles, cars and pedestrians all trying to claim their space on the narrow road.
It was lovely but  with nothing to eat but a yogurt for breakfast and nothing since, I was really fading fast.

We had a nice meal at Orjowan,  a Lebanese Restaurant and called it a night. By 9:00 I was dead to the world. At 01:00 we both woke up. I think our bodies thought it was just an afternoon nap.