The Narrative of Kurt & Becky

Here it is. I will describe our vacation, day by day, in relative detail. I know, John, that it’s been a month now since we left for the trip, so here you go.

Post #1: London

Friday (1 June)
I Graduated. Then we went home, changed, got our bags and left for LAX. We arrived at the airport at 17:25. Stood in line to check our bags. Checked our bags and got our boarding passes. Got through to the gate with more than an hour before our flight left, so we ate at Route 66 at the airport.

Saturday (2 June)
The flight aboard Virgin Atlantic was pleasant. The ten hours passed relatively quickly. We were fed dinner and breakfast, with multiple teas and drink services in between. Each seat was equipped with a separate entertainment system we were able to watch movies and televisions shows as we pleased. As we passed over the English countryside the most noticeable feature was the color. The deep greens and patchwork designs strike our fancy. As we landed the temperature was a pleasant 24 degrees. We arrived at Heathrow on time at 15:00. Got our bags and converted a bit of money for security cash. Walked past baggage reclaim to a sea of people waiting for passengers. Found our driver holding a sign that read, “KUST COOKE.”

He lead us to his car. A black Prius. The drive from the airport went fast, we were scanning the skyline and the next thing we knew he was unloading our bags in front of a tall white block-long building. We checked in without a problem and received the keycard to our room.

We briefly freshened up and left to go on a neighborhood tour. We stopped at a café with trendy seating. We had quiches and a cappuccino. Walked back to the hotel, showered, settled in and went to sleep.

Sunday (3 June)
Woke up and took the tube to Westminster Palace. We walked across the Thames river along Westminster Bridge and enjoyed views of Westminster Palace, the Clock Tower, Westminster Abbey and The London Eye. Walked North to Trafalgar Square and we ended up eating lunch at a small pizzeria. We walked through the Mall and on toward Buckingham Palace.

Enjoyed the view, then we got on the tube to Harrods. Shopped through a good number of the six stories, had a gelato. Got back on the tube to Hyde Park. Walked through the park and ended up at a pub near our hotel. We wanted fish & chips, but they were out. I ordered bangers & mash. Becky got a jacket potato with beans and cheese. After dinner we walked through a nice residential section of Bayswater, and continued on to our hotel.

Monday (4 June)
This was our day outside London. The tour bus picked us up near our hotel and took us to Victoria Bus Station. We boarded another bus for our day-long tour. First stop: Windsor Castle.

It was amazing simply setting our eyes on a structure that had been standing for almost 1000 years. We noticed the Royal Standard was flying when we arrived, so that got us all excited, but we weren’t able to catch a glance of her majesty.

The second stop on the tour was Stonehenge. We were excited to see this structure that has been standing for an estimated 5000 years. We weren’t too impressed. They had given us an hour to see the monument, but it turned out to be too long. We walked around the monument, took a couple of pictures, and that was that. How long can you look at a pile of rocks?

Our third stop was Bath. We booked this tour with the opinion that Bath was a necessary add-on to the Windsor and Stonehenge trip. Our opinion on this issue was pleasantly reversed. First, I must say that I underestimated how far outside London Bath really was. I was made aware of this fact on the ride home when our guide pointed out that we would be able to see Wales from the windows of our bus. It turns out, it is a good distance. The city itself is relatively small, the best figures I can find indicate a population of around 100,000. So a village it isn’t, but it had a very small town sort of feel. We had some time to explore the area, so Becky and I strolled along the streets and patronized a number of shops. At a specified time, we met our tour at the entrance to the Roman Baths. The original Roman Baths were built circa 42, so that’s pretty old. They were built on the only naturally occurring hot springs in England, and all the drainage systems are still functioning.

After the tour, we all piled back on the bus for the two hour drive back to London. The bus dropped us off near our hotel, we walked the remainder of the way, and went to sleep.

Tuesday (5 June)
This morning we woke up, ate the hotel breakfast and took the tube to the British Museum. We saw the Rosetta Stone, frieze’s from the Parthenon and other really old stuff. The British Museum also has a nice collection of Egyptian Mummies. For lunch, we found a café not far from the museum. I ordered an Italian Panini and somehow I got the cashier believing I was Italian. She started speaking to me in broken Italian; I just smiled and said “grazie.” I’m pretty sure she just said it will be a moment for the food. Becky had a cheeseburger and chips. After lunch, we walked up to Piccadilly Circus and walked up Regent Street to the shops.

In early evening, we found as street side café. We stopped in, got some drinks and watched the Londoners go by. After our short respite, it was back to shopping. We stopped in at Marks & Spencer, GAP, Selfridges, and many others. We then took the tube to Notting Hill and found a restaurant for dinner.

Wednesday (6 June)
First thing this morning, we walked to Kensington Palace. Our hotel was super close, so that’s nice. We walked through the palace and gardens and saw the apartments of Princess Margaret, and some of Princess Diana’s gowns.

After the Kensington tour, we took the tube to Victoria station. We walked to the Apollo Victoria Theatre for our Matinee showing of Wicked! Yay! The show was incredible, the end of the first act, Defying Gravity, gave me that feeling in my gut like the one I get while watching Braveheart. Good stuff. The theatre was filled with primary school kids. It was funny because they would scream with joy at the end of each song.
After the show we did some more walking around the downtown area. We found a pub for dinner, The Hog & Hound, ordered us some fish and chips. After our meal we made our way back to the hotel.

Thursday (7 June)
Woke up this morning and took the tube to Wimbledon. At Wimbledon we took a train to Hampton Court. Hampton Court was really an amazing place. Becky and I agree that this was definitely a main highlight, if not our favourite part of the trip. The palace itself is impressive looking, and we were able tour pretty much the entire grounds and interior. We toured apartments that were given to guest of the monarch, given “grace and favour” to live at Hampton Court rent free. Guest included Lady Baden-Powell (window of the founder of the boy scouts) and Michael Faraday (physicist extraordinaire.) We also got to tour the Tudor Kitchens, which showed how the kitchen’s looked in Henry VIII’s times. We also walked through the beautiful gardens surrounding the palace. There was a huge rose garden, a forest, and a giant hedge maze. We also took tea in the gardens.

We took the train back to the city and decided to scout out the Tower of London. It was too late in the day to go inside, so we walked around it to the Tower Bridge. We walked all around the Thames area of the Tower Bridge & London Bridge. Finally took the tube back to our hotel. Rested a bit then we had a lovely dinner at Gourmet Burger Kitchen. Both of us enjoyed extremely tasty food. After our meal we went to a local convenience store for some snacks, and we went back to the hotel.

Friday (8 June)
Today we toured the Tower of London. This was pretty impressive. It looks like what one would imagine a medieval castle should look like. The inner tower, The White Tower, was built circa 1080. Inside they have a good display of medieval weapons and armour. While we were at the tower, we were also able to see the Crown Jewels, so that’s pretty nice.

After the Tower, we walked to the new Globe Theatre and ate lunch along the Thames. Following lunch, we started into the Tate Modern. This museum boast an impressive collection of works from the 20th century by artists such as Pollack, Warhol, Picasso, Magritte, Miro, Monet and others. After the museum, we walked over the Thames on the Millennium Bridge toward magnificent views of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Took the tube back to the hotel and started a couple of loads of laundry. Doing laundry made us both aware that we overpacked, but not too badly. We finished the washing and drying and said hey, let’s go eat at a pub. It was like 20:30. We walked over to the King’s Head pub. This was a legit pub with regulars. They welcomed us, and the service was nice. We both enjoyed our last dinner in London, and we walked home, went to sleep and were getting mentally ready for leaving and moving on to Paris.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 11th, 2007 at 15:10 and is filed under Daily. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.