London 21 – 22 Sep 2011

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21 Sep 2011 Wed London
Barry and Sally have gone back to work this morning. Sally gave us an Oyster card to catch the train to London Waterloo station. No real fixed plans other than to sort out our Europe train tickets, and then to go on the London Eye and/or to one of the Museums.
Our first stop was to be the Eurostar office to change our tickets and buy some more for Spain. Number 1 Regent Street but where is it? Regent Street numbers start from 50 at Piccadilly Circus and the street on the other side has a different name. It is now drizzling and after pondering over unhelpful maps for some time, we decide to head down Regent St and see if the numbers restart. Somehow, we ended up in SOHO in Carnaby Street. So we stopped for coffee and some directions as our patience was a little frayed. Pam was disappointed as there was no decaf, no toilet, and no number 1 Regent St. Eventually, we got a few things sorted and headed back along Regent St in the direction from which we had started all the way back to Piccadilly Circus. Still no 1 Regent St. Pam found an “I” man on the street corner – his coat had an ‘i”on it like the Information Centre does. He said our problem was a very common challenge. The street bends around at Piccadilly, so that the continuation of Regent is at right angles to the section we found. This used to be called Little Regent. We successfully found the Information Centre and Eurostar office at last. It only took an hour!
We were close to Trafalgar Square so meandered up there to sightsee. It is different since last time either of us had been there. There was an exhibition of guns with knots tied in their barrels – a protest against gun violence. Each gun was painted by different artists and we saw one that was a work in progress. There was also a giant screen size painting which was actually a picture made of plants to depict a scene of meadows and a river. And a giant bottle with a boat inside it.
We were also close to Big Ben so headed that way, but stopped at a pub for lunch, The Lord of the Moon. Pam had Jacket potato with chilli con carne and Dave had steak and kidney pie. We then walked on to Big Ben with the usual tourist crowds. We passed a changing of the guards, so took a picture next to the horse and guardsmen next to the big sign saying the horse may kick and bite. Pam didn’t stand there long! By now, the clouds and haze had cleared so we decided to go The Eye to see how bad the queues were. There were queues but not too bad, so we bought tickets, queuing only for about 30 minutes all up. We enjoyed the views of London in our Eye pod (no not ipod).
We decided to go back to Wimbledon to get changed and rest for an hour before meeting Barry and Sally for dinner and a show that night. Sally decided to come home first, so rang to say to wait for her, but then got stuck in a traffic jam. Despite leaving much later than planned, we made it to the restaurant to meet Barry only 15 mins late. Dave and I would never have achieved that with our fledgling knowledge of the train, tube and London streets.
We had a fast service pre-show dinner at a French Restaurant called Cote Brasserie in Tavistock Place. The food and service was very good, and Barry had anticipated our arrival by ordering drinks in advance. We had Moules Frites (mussels in a white wine sauce), Poulet Grille (chicken) and a green and tomato salad.
From there, it was only a short walk to the theatre. The theatre was old and small, smaller than our Playhouse theatre or the Regal. Ruby Wax and her friend did a stand up show about Ruby’s life and dealing with Black Dog depression. Although a serious topic, she led us through her life with lots of funny sections. It was basically an “alternative” stand-up comedy show with her friend being the straight guy and playing short interludes of piano music. I particularly liked the description of marriage and husbands. After the interval, it was an opportunity for a Question and Answer session which was quite serious about her experience in depression. All through the show, we had some nutters in the row in front of us. One of the guys jumped out of his seat and swung around to his three guests every time he thought something was funny so he could see whether they also thought it was funny. The guy next to him clearly didn’t find it amusing.
After the show, we caught the train back to Wimbledon, which was just as well as we were quite tired by then.
Sally stayed up late being an absolute champion sorting out tickets and places of interest etc for our trip. Sally is about to finish work and to study Upholstery full time at Uni. She is hoping to find a part time job, and we all thought that a London tour guide could be a great solution. Sally certainly has the flair for it.
We said our goodbyes to Barry and Sally until we return to London on the last day of our trip.
22 Sep 2011 Thurs London
We had an early start as the train to Paris was at 10:15 and we needed to get to St Pancras well before then.
All went smoothly. It was a hugely crowded train station and a very long train for Paris. There seemed to be lots of Americans in the departure lounge.
Pam slept most the way totally missing the Chunnell altogether.

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