First Day in London

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Well the flight was long and rough. We departed at 6:25 PM and flew through the night to arrive at Gatwick at 7:20 GMT. I didn't sleep a wink but I did watch a couple of movies. Amanda watched The Hunger Games and slept about an hour and a half.

By the time we arrived we were both feeling rough. Customs was quick and the Gatwick Express was a nice quick ride to Victoria Station. Here is where the fun began!

You actually use your ticket as you LEAVE the train to enter Victoria Station, so after some fumbling and a little confusion, we were able released into Victoria Station to then determine which of a myriad of ticket booths and kiosks would offer tube tickets for the remainder of our journey. Since I had worn shorts and a t-shirt on the plane, the 50 degree temps weren't ideal for my attire. Luckily Amanda had the foresight to have me carry a fleece which came in handy.

After several failed attempts we finally decended into the belly of the beast to the tube station and located a kiosk that would dispense the tickets we needed. We only had a few choices...day pass, season pass, zones 1-3, 1-4, 1-5, 1-6, 1-7, 1-9...based on some very foggy reasoning, we were off to switch trains and schlep our luggage up and down multiple flights of stairs, down long pasageways and through the city streets until, without the aid of navigation (no wireless service of any kind), we were able to locate the hotel.

The hotel is super-nice and the location is perfect. I'm REALLY happy that we had all of those Hilton points to use. 7 nights at the London Waldorf for £234 is awesome, and the executive lounge access with breakfast, tea and cocktail hour is pretty cool too!

Since check-in isn't until 3pm and we arrived around 10am, we checked our luggage with the concierge and headed to the executive lounge. Thanks to my Hilton status, we at least had access to that amenity. After loads of coffee and some late breakfast, we decided to meander out for a bit. Boy did we underestimate our energy levels!

We walked along the Thames down to the Westminster Bridge. Thanks to the cool, sunny weather; that area was packed! There were hundres of people packing the sidewalks snapping photos of Big Ben, the river view, etc. I really got overloaded and we finally headed out. We decided to jump on the tube and head back to Covent Garden but with construction on the line, we could only go one more stop to the east and ended up at Trafalgar Square. After numbly wandering around the National Gallery, we stumbled back to the hotel and waited another eternity for our room.

Once we were finally able to get settled, shower and get into a new change of clothes, we both felt much better and headed out for some dinner. We wandered down a few nice cobblestone streets filled with the Saturday crowd just standing around outdoors, each with a pint in hand. Upon sighting a small sign for the Lamb and Flag pub, we squeezed throguh an impossibly narrow breezeway to find a great little courtyard full of more imbibers. We headed upstairs to a dinner of sausages and mash for me and fish and chips for Amanda.

Amanda was really pleased to find the nice stock of ciders in the pubs here. Shehad the Ty Gwyn with dinner and Apples and Pears when we stppoed at The Globe on our way back to the hotel. I have been enjoying the ability to find good cask beer at every stop.

We finally headed back to the room and flopped into bed around 7pm London time and after almost 13 hours in bed with a few minor disruptions, here I am at breakfast writing while Amanda is still upstairs snoozing.

I'm really looking forward to heading out to Hyde Park today and having a picnic lunch and some afternoon wine in the park! We should be able to post some photos to the blog today.

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