London - Day 6
(Posted by Allan) The four of us: Steve and I and Peter J. and his partner Steve C. took the Eurostar to London today. It is a high-speed train from Paris to the Chunnel (about 90 minutes), then 20 minutes in the tunnel, then another 90 minutes or so to London on the England side.
The first thing I noticed about England was how incredibly verdant the countryside is, even more so than the Northwestern United States. Very green and lush. Must be all of that rain... Anyway it was beautiful, with lots of gently rolling hills dotted here and there with trees and sheep. Lovely.
We rolled into Waterloo train station around 2:00 and made our way into the station to get tickets for the "Tube", London's subway system. There was some confusion at the ticket machines but we got our tickets and headed for the Jubilee Line to take us to Green Park and then from there out of the station and into the Mayfair District. Mayfair is a very upscale part of town with many upper-end shops, hotels, and restaurants. Our hotel: the Chesterfield Mayfair, was only about six blocks from the tube station. The weather was glorious, clear and slightly brisk and we found our way to the hotel with no trouble and got settled into our rooms.
We met downstairs in the lobby after a bit to go grab a spot of lunch. two blocks from the hotel was the most fantastic Lebanese reataurant! I wish we could have made it back there later, but alas - no. I had a scrummy wrap with spiced chicken, tomato, and pickle and we all shared appetizers of hummus and lentils with rice. The place was very small - only about six tables, but the staff were very friendly, attentive, and quite attractive as well.
After lunch we walked down to Buckingham Palace through Green Park (?) and took lots of pictures. The light on the trees in the park was so beautiful Steve almost had to drag me out to get me to stop snapping pictures. The palace was fun but not that interesting. Lovely gilded gates though... We walked around through Kensington then split up from Peter and Steve and decided to meet up with them t 6:00 for dinner before going to the theater to see Mary Poppins.
Steve and I did a bit of shopping, saw Harrod's (fabulous!), then made our way back to the hotel.
Once in the hotel and on the way to the elevator my eye kept being drawn to an exquisite pair of cufflinks in a display case next to the elevator. They were square, about 1/2 an inch wide, and inlaid silver with Lapus, Rhodium. and Onyx... More on those later. :-)
We went up to the room for a short rest. Steve went to take a bath and I checked out the "internet on tv" service. The connection was very speedy, but wow! trying to read text on a standard tv screen really sucks (eyestrain bigtime). I did manage to check my mail etc., but was unable to get into the blog and add anything. Oh well...
We all met down in the lobby and walked down the block into Shepherd's Square to one of the Indian restaurants there. There was only one other table occupied in the very small restaurant. An older Indian gentleman came over to give us menus and take our drink orders. I'm not going to go into great detail here, but let me say that this was probably our worst meal in London. We did have lots of fun speculating on why the older man that originally served us kept leaving the restaurant. We thought maybe he wasn't really all there and he was going into the other places down the street and taking orders in those restaurants as well... :-) We beat a (fairly) hasty exit and rushed off to the theater district for our date with Mary Poppins.
After a bit of stress and confusion trying to find the theater we got in and came to find that we had fabulous box seats in the mezzanine on the right-hand side of the theater. The place was a bit of a barn but it was lovely inside. Before we knew it the lights went down and the music came up... and we were transported...
I think it's probably fair to say that Mary Poppins was the best show I've yet seen. Of course I've seen very few - but really, this show was fabulous! The sets, the stage direction/choreography, the performers; it was all truly magical. I really hope they bring this show to Broadway because America would surely eat it up - with a spoonful of sugar! Fantastic.
The first thing I noticed about England was how incredibly verdant the countryside is, even more so than the Northwestern United States. Very green and lush. Must be all of that rain... Anyway it was beautiful, with lots of gently rolling hills dotted here and there with trees and sheep. Lovely.
We rolled into Waterloo train station around 2:00 and made our way into the station to get tickets for the "Tube", London's subway system. There was some confusion at the ticket machines but we got our tickets and headed for the Jubilee Line to take us to Green Park and then from there out of the station and into the Mayfair District. Mayfair is a very upscale part of town with many upper-end shops, hotels, and restaurants. Our hotel: the Chesterfield Mayfair, was only about six blocks from the tube station. The weather was glorious, clear and slightly brisk and we found our way to the hotel with no trouble and got settled into our rooms.
We met downstairs in the lobby after a bit to go grab a spot of lunch. two blocks from the hotel was the most fantastic Lebanese reataurant! I wish we could have made it back there later, but alas - no. I had a scrummy wrap with spiced chicken, tomato, and pickle and we all shared appetizers of hummus and lentils with rice. The place was very small - only about six tables, but the staff were very friendly, attentive, and quite attractive as well.
After lunch we walked down to Buckingham Palace through Green Park (?) and took lots of pictures. The light on the trees in the park was so beautiful Steve almost had to drag me out to get me to stop snapping pictures. The palace was fun but not that interesting. Lovely gilded gates though... We walked around through Kensington then split up from Peter and Steve and decided to meet up with them t 6:00 for dinner before going to the theater to see Mary Poppins.
Steve and I did a bit of shopping, saw Harrod's (fabulous!), then made our way back to the hotel.
Once in the hotel and on the way to the elevator my eye kept being drawn to an exquisite pair of cufflinks in a display case next to the elevator. They were square, about 1/2 an inch wide, and inlaid silver with Lapus, Rhodium. and Onyx... More on those later. :-)
We went up to the room for a short rest. Steve went to take a bath and I checked out the "internet on tv" service. The connection was very speedy, but wow! trying to read text on a standard tv screen really sucks (eyestrain bigtime). I did manage to check my mail etc., but was unable to get into the blog and add anything. Oh well...
We all met down in the lobby and walked down the block into Shepherd's Square to one of the Indian restaurants there. There was only one other table occupied in the very small restaurant. An older Indian gentleman came over to give us menus and take our drink orders. I'm not going to go into great detail here, but let me say that this was probably our worst meal in London. We did have lots of fun speculating on why the older man that originally served us kept leaving the restaurant. We thought maybe he wasn't really all there and he was going into the other places down the street and taking orders in those restaurants as well... :-) We beat a (fairly) hasty exit and rushed off to the theater district for our date with Mary Poppins.
After a bit of stress and confusion trying to find the theater we got in and came to find that we had fabulous box seats in the mezzanine on the right-hand side of the theater. The place was a bit of a barn but it was lovely inside. Before we knew it the lights went down and the music came up... and we were transported...
I think it's probably fair to say that Mary Poppins was the best show I've yet seen. Of course I've seen very few - but really, this show was fabulous! The sets, the stage direction/choreography, the performers; it was all truly magical. I really hope they bring this show to Broadway because America would surely eat it up - with a spoonful of sugar! Fantastic.
Comments
OK, I know you're in London now, so English will do from here on.
Anyway, just wanted to say that I've been enjoying your travels, albeit vicariously. Hope the rest of your trip is as enjoyable (and as tasty) as the first part!