November 24, 2024
Yesterday was a nearly all day travel day from Malta to London. We caught a 9:15 bus for the 40 min ride to the airport. Very easy to catch buses in Valletta and Sliema.
We used our Priority Pass to get to the lounge. This was possibly the nicest lounge we’ve seen. There was a large outside deck area with comfortable seating and views of the runways. There weren’t any outlets for charging but that didn’t matter for us!
The snacks were well done and the bar was self serve. There was wines, prosecco, and liquor. There were lots of juices and other options. We ate too much!!
Our flight boarded on time and off we went. The trip to Gatwick was uneventful. We haven’t flown into Gatwick before but it wasn’t hard to find the Thameslink train into London. We got some advice as to which one to get for our destination post code. The trains were busy and with our connection at BlackFriars it took over 90 minutes to get to the Mile End stop. We had to find the key pick up spot and then find the flat. In the dark it was hard to locate the flat and google has not been up to snuff recently. We walked in circles for 10 minutes or so.
We caught with the family here, three of them also recently arrived from the US for our 10 days in London. We are visiting our niece, with Thom’s brother, wife, and their son.
Sunday, Nov 24, was a full day excursion to Brighton and Sussex with a drive about to see various sights and the white cliffs of the Seven Sisters. We learned these are probably twice as tall as the cliffs at Dover. Who knew?
Paul, our guide was excellent. We had another guide that got us from London to Brighton on the train and then we met Paul and climbed into his really nice large sprinter van/bus., We started out at Devel’s Dike with a geology lesson of the South Downs the predominate the landscape in Sussex. We went to Middle Farm, a working farm, where we had an early lunch.
There was an vast though small farm shop with fresh food, meats, jams, candies, etc. You could spend an hour but we only had a few minute. I sought advice from Paul regarding the now well renown sparkling wine being produced in Sussex. There are awards galore and even Taittinger’s is in on it as climate change is making Champagne production in France tougher,
Paul professed to be somewhat of a champagne connoisseur and when I mentioned we were fans of Veuve Cliquot, he smiled and said he agreed with me!! He recommended the Rathfinny wine. I found a bottle in the shop and proudly showed him it when I returned to the bus.
We continued on to Beachy Head. The wind was blowing. A lot. We didn’t’ get out at Beachy Head as the bus was being blown back and forth in the car park. Paul got out with the Finnish women to get a better look. Paul’s hat blew away. The women’s eyeglasses blew away. Somewhat of a tragic moment. I spotted a live wind reporting app and it reported gusting to 55knots. That’s over 60mph.
Paul drove us through tiny villages and talked about the architecture and the age of some of the cotttages. We pass a working church that was built 1000 years ago. We went down a tiny lane, almost, to stop in front of a chalk etching on the hillside. There are many in England and elsewhere, especially due to the prevalence of the deep chalk layers under the topsoil. We saw the Long Man. He’s very long, tall and on a very steep hillside. Impressive.
Our next stop was the east end of the Seven Sisters. Quite a view. The clouds had barely given way to the sun so it was not the best light for taking pictures. We were also fighting to stay on the ground in the gusty wind. It was worth all the effort though!
Next stop was the far side of the cliffs. We drove through a small town, turning left, right, etc. to a car pack where people seem to come to walk and some exercising their dogs. It was atop a hill, with some hedges along the path areas to the views. If you took shelter behind a piece of hedge you could get out of the wind and enjoy the view. I walked farther along and down to next to the beach. The waves were enormous, and the mist was flying. The wind was intense. I took a few pictures but thought the moisture might be too much for my camera. Also the sun had not performed and peaked out from behind the clouds so once again the photos weren’t all that great.
Once back about the bus we headed to the Brighton train station. It was a full day. The train was about 75 minutes and then the tube ride another 15 minutes. It was nearly 8 when we got back to our flat.
We left the company of our family to go to our flat and order delivery for dinner. We had Indian curry and other yummies. It was wonderful! Busy first day. Hopefully tomorrow will be brighter and less involved.
November 25, 2024
We had a relaxing morning and then a departed our flat a little after noon. We wandered and again got a little lost trying to find niece Charlotte’s flat. Seems it takes 2 failed attempts to get it right.
Wel met up with Thom’s brother and wife and we headed to the tube. Our itinerary started at Picadilly and wandered along main roads to Buckingham Palace and then onward.
We stopped at Westminster Abbey and went in. It’s massive. As you walk along you notice all the recognizable names of those buried underneath. Charles Darwin, Ralph Vaughn Williams, and so many more. Some are very hard to read but it’s a bit surprising to be looking at the epitaph with a 1347 date on it!
We emerged from Westminster and decided to shorten our itinerary to find a place to warm up and have a beverage before meeting others at a tapas restaurant in Leadenhall Market. We walked by Big Ben, the statue of Monty, Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, who was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence and the Second World War. We’ve watched many WWII movies with someone playing Monty so Thom agreed to have his photo taken with him.
We encountered Trafalgar Square with Lord Nelson in the center. And then we walked along the Strand with many shops showing off their Christmas decorations. Our final viewing was of St. Paul’s Cathedral. We located an old pub, Williamson’s Tavern, which turns out to have been established “shortly after the Great Fire of 1666”. We warmed up and had snacks and beverages. The mulled wine was tasty.
After about an hour or so we moved along to our meet up for dinner at La Vina, a wonderful Spanish tapas place with great food and wine.
November 26, 2024
The planned activities for the day were museums or the Winter Wonderland Christmas event in Hyde Park. Some went to the Victoria and Albert Museum, another went to the Museum of Natural History, and we went to Hyde Park.
Hyde Park is approximately 350 acres and feels enormous. In one corner there is the annual Hyde Park Winter Wonderland that is a massive, noisy amusement park attraction with a few components of a winter Christmas Market. We walked amongst the kiosks and little shops and there were more food kiosks than shoppy shops. It wasn’t quite what we expected and there were no local type craft vendors which we thought, for some reason, we would see.
We walked and walked. We found some lunch of a Christmas Crispy Duck “burger” with very tasty and well done (extra crispy) fries. Thom had a mulled wine that was perfect for the cold day that had developed.
After eating we wandered to the portion of the park that was more ride centric. Big things. A Big Wheel. I think all the major rides cost about £9-10. Seems a family would spend a serious fortune to ride a bunch of rides and eat here.
After departing the fairgrounds we weren’t far from Kensington Gardens and Palace. We saw the Round Pond and Diana’s sunken garden. I think we were at the back of the palace which showed little sign of activity within. Not sure if anyone lives there now. I looked at an aerial of the palace and realized it was very large.
We headed back to Kensington and found ourselves at the Kensington High Street underground stop. Near by were several options for groceries so we picked the Amazon Fresh to get some veg, coffee, kefir, etc. We were very much caught off guard after circling around the aisles and gathering up our things to return to the front door with no one around at a check out stand.
We learned from a woman standing by and checking out herself that it’s all done with a UPC code linked to a credit card for payment. The store has dozens and dozens of small cameras along each side of each aisle. They “catch” you making your selections and charge accordingly. I picked up 2 apples from a small bin and the receipt, that was emailed a few hours later, showed the charge for the 2 apples. It was a bit creepy! We picked up 18 items and were charged correctly for the 18 items. Apparently, there’s enough intelligence in the system that if you return an item to the shelf, it sees that. Also, we were told, you can pack the stuff in your bags as you go through the store. You don’t need to wait until the end to “check out”. It was a new experience and probably won’t be long before we see this technology used more and more.
We jumped back onto the underground and made our way to our flat. There were plans to meet up with the rest of the family of takeaway Indian food at our niece’s flat. We had a great time and watched the conclusion of this season’s The Great British Bake Off.
November 27, 2024
Today, Wednesday, was a “free” day to do whatever we wanted to. There was talk of making the trip to Greenwich but the day started with heavy rain.
We ended up making reservations for afternoon tea and walking to the 2012 Olympic area. There’s been a great deal of development in the area, including a very large new mall. As we headed in that direction we stopped at the aquatic center that served to host the 2012 swimming events. It’s a beautiful complex.
At the mall we separated and we went on to Marks and Spencer for some groceries and wine while others shopped or went home to rest before tea.
Tea was at 116 at the Athenaeum and was a lot of fun. There were some in the group that hadn’t had a cream tea before. The sandwiches were yummy and the scones were excellent. The sweet desserts were tasty but all together it was a lot. Seemed like way too much sugar for one sitting. It was a great experience for all of us to do together.
November 28, 2024
HAPPY THANKSGIVING – 2024
It’s Thursday, Thanksgiving in London! It’s also the coldest day we’ve seen so far – 38deg at the start and not too much warming through the day.
The British Museum was our destination and it’s good that it was the only place to visit on today’s agenda. It’s a massive place. We had to walk around from the front entrance to the back entrance as we had not prebooked time-entry, free, tickets. It didn’t really matter as the line wasn’t very long.
I picked up the museum map/guide and decided to focus on the must-see items. There’s too much to see all of it in one day.
There is so much to see – I was most fascinated by the Egyptian mummies. There were a bunch and some were elaborately wrapped and preserved. Each info write-up would often indicate the results of CAT scans and present there was still presence of brain tissue. Fascinating….
I saw a great deal of statuary and found the hall with the Elgin Marbles. There is a great vast exhibit here. There’s also a great deal of controversy as to if they were obtained legally. It was interesting to read the description of a particular plaque, say of a centaur, without its head. The head is somewhere else – one of them is in Copenhagen. It would be nice of bodies and heads could be reunited. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elgin_Marbles
I saw a partial statue from Easter Island and was unexpectedly surprised when I wandered into the Rosetta Stone. At about 3pm I found a place to sit and wait for our group departure for dinner. A text came in suggesting I shouldn’t miss the clock exhibits.
I’m glad I went there. Terrific mechanisms and a good collection of beautiful pocket watches. One is even reported to have been owned by Oliver Cromwell. I sometimes wonder how “we” know these things.
We went to a fun restaurant for our Turkey dinner. It was served mostly on a big platter that had the sliced turkey for 8, green beans, Brussel sprouts, and sausage/stuffing sausages. That moved between the two ends of the table. Separately came mac n cheese, mashed sweet potatoes and creamed corn. Pumpkin pie came for dessert. It was well done. Apparently the dinner pretty much mimics the English Christmas dinner so they couldn’t go too far wrong.
There were some among us who wanted to get back to the flat to watch the traditional Thanksgiving matchup between the Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears of the NFL.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
November 29, 2024
Today was a ramble about, and we headed for the Sky Garden first. This is one of the tallest buildings in London at over 500 feet and has a wonderful view deck and plantings, allowing it to be the tallest sky garden in London. What a view….. Tickets are free, but you have to book them no more than 3 weeks in advance.
We wandered around to get the 360 degree views and then went down in search of a snack/lunch.
We walked toward the tower of London and then over the Tower Bridge. The day was really nice and the blue sky helped enhance the pictures.
We then walked through the Borough Market which was vast, crowded and noisy. We found some beautiful looking locally made cheeses and bought a very ripe camembert to share. We marveled at the foods and meats.
As we had time to kill before our dinner and evening activity we were close enough to the Modern Tate to go there. Some of the group sat in the café and others went to the galleries. I had read of a high balcony but learned when there that it had been closed for 9 months. I headed back to the café by way to the very large turbine hall. The Tate had originally been a power plant so it was interesting to see how it had been converted.
We found our dinner location after a brisk walk and landed in the middle of Christmas festivities on St Martin’s Lane. After dinner we had to make dash to the church, St Martin-in-the-Fields, for a great concert of Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart, and Pachelbel.
November 30, 2024
Saturday – some are off to a “football” match while 2 of us stayed home.
I had decided to make a mincemeat pie! Everyone in the group supported the idea. I headed off for the 20 minute walk to a Tesco for supplies. The flat we’re in is well stocked with baking stuff. I needed to use a cake pan as there was no pie pan but it worked out well regardless.
I tried also to make scones but they didn’t come out too well. They didn’t rise. They tasted great but I need practice! I certainly wouldn’t do well on the Great British Bake Off, which we watched the other night and saw real scones being produced.
To offset some of the eating events we’ve been having I made a large salad and put together fruits, cheeses and salmon, and other little meats. And then the pie!!! Defeated the purpose I guess.
It was fun.
Tomorrow we are going to a Sunday Roast, more eating… but hopefully we’ll get a good long walk in as well.
December 1, 2024
We intended a long walk today in spite of the steady rain/drizzle. It came and went and we didn’t get too wet as we borrowed umbrellas from Charlotte (our niece who lives here!)
After about half an hour we were in the midst of a street filled with vendors selling Christmas trees, wreaths, and lots of other decorations and plants. It was beautiful and the prices were surprisingly low comparted to what we see in the US. A beautifully decorated small wreath for GBP 5-7. A larger one for GBP 10 or a bit more. Trees, good sized ones, were GBP 35+/-.
We turned and walked along the Regents Canal a little ways before entering Victoria Park. Beautiful and in spite of the on/off rain there were vendors selling all sorts of food and walkers, runners, families, etc.
We found our restaurant and had a traditional Sunday Roast though several of us opted for chicken or a burger or even a Vegie Chateaubriand!
I had discovered in the morning that St Pauls was offering their Advent Sunday Celebration and it seemed a good way to see the inside of the cathedral. I was joined by two others and we headed in that direction after our dinner. We got there early but noticed a long line.
I asked what it was for and, though we could barely see the cathedral, it was for the service. It’s good we got there early. The line grew and grew. It took about 20 minutes for us to enter but we were still able to find very good seats under the dome.
What a magnificent building. Beautiful. The service included several hymns or carols, one of which was familiar, and anthems sung by the fabulous choir. The organ played and we were immersed in the music and history of this historic place.
We were told at the start that the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester were present, and we saw them being escorted to the exit when the service ended. The Duke is a cousin of the late Queen.
