Your Palace is Denied!

Wed, Oct 10 Your Palace is Denied!

This morning I went to the local Sainsbury's and got some cold medicine, cough drops, and water, and asked about a place to eat. I was pointed to a simple little cafe nearby. For £5.20 I had a nice hot English breakfast consisting of two fried eggs, a large sausage, two slices of English bacon, some baked beans (I passed on the stewed tomato) and four slices of toast with butter. I had to leave the last slice of toast, just couldn't do it. After that, I crossed the street and paid the driver to essentially take me up one stop (I didn't really have my bearings yet). I discovered that there is a large shopping center between two roads, and last night I walked all the way around it. This morning I discovered I can just walk right through the middle and end up at the train station (Stratford).

I bought a Day Travelcard for £7.70, which gives you unlimited riding on both trains and buses for a 24 hour period, well worth it as I discovered in Edinburgh. With a little help, I figured out I needed the red (Centeral) line west to Bank, then change to the yellow (Circle) or green (District) line. Looking at the map now, I'm not sure but I think Bank and Monument are in the same complex, because otherwise I don't know how I made that jump. Anyway, I took yellow/green to the Victoria station for Buckingham Palace. Once at the station, I got my bearings, looked for a public toilet, paid 30 pence to use it (sheesh), and got on Buckingham Palace Street. When I was in London before, I came down one way by bus, left the opposite direction in search of food, and today came right at it from the third direction. I was immediately bothered by the lack of people and the amount of construction going on. There were still hundreds of people milling around the gates where the guards are, and of course behaving as cattle not wanting to even MOVE so people behind can see. I found a policeman and asked him what I already knew the answer to: was the palace closed? He said yes it is...until next year. Apparently, Buckingham Palace is only open in August and September, so this one year re-admission I have is technically good for a year, but not for the next ten months. So, strike one on my list.

I'm struggling with what I had for lunch. I remember at the train station buying two small apples for emergency...ah yeah, I remember. Not time to tell yet though. My next goal was to get Wayne my barber his souvenir. I had looked up the London Dungeon tour which includes Sweeney Todd, and found that they were within walking distance of Tower Bridge, which was my third place. So I got on the train back to Monument station, then changed to the Northern Line (black) south one stop to London Bridge.

The first thing I did was go to the wrong place. I didn't even read the sign, but there was a woman at the box office making eerie sounds and had fake blood on her face, so I assumed that's where I wanted. It turned out it was a different exhibit and she pointed me just down the street. Down there, fortunately they let me enter the souvenir shop at the end, without having to take the (£24 yikes) tour. I looked around a bit, it was mostly gimmicky stuff, but I found a decent postcard that was descriptive without being too gross, of a barber standing with a bloody razor in one hand, and at his feet a basket of Mrs. Lovett's Meat Pies. I'm going by memory, but that's essentially it. I think Wayne will get a kick out of it.

Then I walked up the other direction of the street to London Bridge. I had heard before that London Bridge and Tower Bridge are not the same. The first tour I went on in London confirmed that. I took plenty of pictures which I will share, but London Bridge is really not that impressive. It's a foot bridge over a street, giving pedestrian access to a street above and the train station below. It's not long. It has a row of shops along it.

From there I went BACK down to the dungeon tour and kept going, and within a couple of blocks I could just see Tower Bridge in the distance. I passed through a pedestrianized business district, and grabbed a cold sandwich (turkey and raspberry) and a water at a place called "EAT.". I practiced my Edinburgh accent with a couple of friendly women in line, just bantering a bit. I ate outside at a table, and three older people asked to join me. Then they jabbered in French the entire time, about the prices they paid, what they were eating, etc. I wasn't picking up much. I thought about telling them to have a good day in French as I left, but it would have been too forced so I let them continue to not pay attention to me. The little business area was nicely kept, and had an interesting waterfall; actually it was a trough of water flowing down the middle, and the whole area was long thin paving stones. I watched a guy uses a long handled hook to scrape grass out between them and then he or someone else came back with a broom and dustpan and cleaned it up.

The bridge was at least a good half mile away. Traffic is too steady to cross it, but there are stairs on either side that let you cross underneath. The bridge can be raised to let tall ships through, but something I read indicated that due to the stress of the mechanics, they require 24 hours' notice. There is an exhibition there, but I was anxious to get back. This cold is sapping my strength. I got turned around and took the long way back to the London Bridge train station, but getting back was easy: black line to Bank, change to red line and take it straight to Stratford. Then I hopped the 25 bus and took it to the grocery store past my hotel for a few bottle of water. I don't like the taste of the water in my hotel.

Dinner tonight was a chicken club sandwich and a couple of little pastries from Sainsbury's. I think for tomorrow I'll have breakfast again at that cafe.

I've already paid up, it's just a matter of finishing packing, checking out, and leaving. I was told to allow an hour and a half to get to the airport by subway. It should be very easy: Stratford to Holborn (where I was near before), change and go to the airport. There are three Heathrow Airport stops, but it's probably Terminal 4, not 5 or 1/2/3. Trains run literally every 3-5 minutes, so it's easy to correct. I made one purchase that qualifies for a VAT refund, so I need to get that processed; get security screened, go through customs, and whatever else. I guess I'll eat at the airport. My flight leaves at 2:25 pm and lands at 7:05 pm. I'm flying standby again, so there's a chance I could get bumped, but the last time I checked there were at least a couple dozen coach seats available, so I'm fairly confident I'll get on.

As for this blog, I still intend to post pictures, and lots of them. I also want to focus one post on my thoughts about accents I've encountered, and a timeline post of what all I did, and a Lessons Learned post. I think then I'll be able to call this adventure done.