Sally and I have been saying we have all day Tuesday to continue our
exploration of London. But now that the day is here it isn't free. The
trip has changed tenor. We don't have an open ended agenda. We don't
have unreserved days in front of us. The end of the day sees us
winging home and because of that all has changed. We must be
responsible again. We must meet someone else's time table. However
small, freedom has been deminished.
We started the day on a lazier note. It took us till 10 to get out of
the hotel. We could have left our packs at the hotel for a two pound
per bag fee, but that meant we would have to walk the three blocks
back to the hotel to retrieve our bags before riding the tube to the
airport. Instead, we opted to lock them in lockers at the train
station, as we did in Munich. When we arrived at the train station we
found the lockers were considered a terroist threat and in their place
a bag check stood. You turn over your bag like you would check your
coat at a hotel, take a ticket and reclaim it when you are done. One
difference. They X-Ray your bag before they place it on the racks to
make sure no bombs exist. Price? 8 pounds per bag. Rather than lug
them back to the hotel to get the cheaper price, we checked our bags.
Rode the tube to Notting Hill stop and walked to check out a street
side market called Portobello. It was a nice walk, and the shops were
interesting.
We walked back, took the tube to Hyde Park, walked through it and
caught the bus on the opposite side to Trafalgar Square with the
intention of walking to the Eye of London for a ride, a 400+ foot high
Ferris Wheel like viewing machine. We hoofed it to the base, looked at
the hour and a half line and decided it could wait for our next visit
and an early morning crowd beating start.
So, we found a place for lunch on Whitehall Street with a cute,
energetic, young Italian waitress (yes, she caught my eye). We
decided that anything else we pursued would be non productive, so we
returned to retrieve our packs and headed for the airport.
A little tenative after our last experience at the Virgin Atlantic
Airline desk, this time our reservation was confirmed and we were
issued boarding passes. The only hitch; Orbitz still had us booked on
tomorrow's flight as well as today's. To the end they could not get it
right.
I am writing this somewhere over the Atlantic. I have watched one
movie, started another, and have slept about half an hour. It is
12:50AM according to my body and London, but we will land in Newark at
11:00PM Newark time. I hope to get some sleep then.
It has been fun to record this trip each day. It afforded me a chance
to review each day and relive the main events. I hope those of you
that have plowed through all the episodes have not suffered any blunt
trama injuries from suddenly falling asleep at your monitors. No
cracked keyboards. No shattered mice.
One more day to go. Should be a lazy day waiting for a flight then six
hours across the country.
Chuck
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