London 2009 - Rick and Gail's Itinerary

Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Boarded American Airlines flight 174 from Raleigh-Durham (RDU) to London Heathrow Airport at 9:30 pm.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Arrive in London Heathrow Airport at 9:20 am.

We took the Heathrow Express from the airport to Paddington Station. Then (bad mistake) we took the Underground to Marble Arch. We switched lines at Nottingham Hill Gate. Dragging our luggage up and down stairs at the Nottingham Hill Gate Station was a real chore. A taxi would have been a better choice.

After exiting the Underground at Marble Arch, we had a short walk to the Thistle Marble Arch Hotel on Bryanston Street and checked in. We waited in the lobby lounge having an English club sandwich until 1:45 pm to check in to our room. We were assigned room 715 overlooking the Oxford Street shopping district. Nice room and heated towel rack. Room was warm, so we had to open the windows occasionally.

Later, we walked to the Bella Italia restaurant on Duke Street for dinner.

Thursday, March 26, 2009
Breakfast in the dinning room of the Thistle Marble Arch Hotel. A lot of choices here. There were three different types of meat (foreign to us), poached eggs, fried eggs, scrambled eggs, English toast points, baked tomatoes, cereals, yogurts, fruit bunch, meat and cheese. Their meats were sausage and sliced ham. Their breads were croissants, toasted bread, hard rolls, sweet rolls. Breakfast was the best food in London for Gail.

At 7:55 am we were picked up at the Thistle Marble Arch by Evan Evans Tours for the Discovering London tour. We were taken to Victoria Coach Station to board our bus. From there our tour took us to St. Paul’s Church. The bus was parked and we were given a complete lecture and tour of the church.

From there, lunch at the Silver Cross. The Silver Cross is an old English pub located at 33 Whitehall just off Trafalgar Square. We shared the fish and chips luncheon plate. Great service and reasonable prices (£9).

Then, on to the Tower of London where we viewed the Crown Jewels and several gold crowns used by kings and queens of England. The Crown Jewels exhibit includes the Star of Africa, the world’s largest diamond. It is a 3,106-carat diamond discovered January 25, 1905 at the Premier Mine in Pretoria, South Africa.

The coronation of a new sovereign is one of the monarchy's most glittering pageants, staged in the gothic splendor of ancient Westminster Abbey, where every King and Queen of England, with the exception of Edward V and Edward VIII, has been crowned since King Harold II in 1066. This time honored ritual emphasizes the continuity and majesty of the British monarchy.

The Imperial Crown of State also contains pearls worn as earrings by Elizabeth I, these are suspended from the arches of the crown. Within the wide jewel encrusted band that forms the base of the Crown of State is mounted an enormous diamond, named the Second Star of Africa. This was cut from the famous Cullinan Diamond, the largest diamond ever mined; it was given to Edward VII, who had it set in the crown. This priceless crown contains in all 2,783 diamonds, 17 sapphires, 277 pearls, 11, emeralds and 5 rubies.

Our tour guide described many of the London historical sights we passed on our way to the River Thames cruise. We board a large river cruiser and set out up the river from the Tower Bridge. We could see Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, London Bridge, Houses of Parliament, the Big Ben tower and clock, and Westminster Abbey.

Our tour bus dropped us off at Hyde Park Corner. We crossed under Knightsbridge and walked down to Harrods. This store has everything and seemed to be all the good quality merchandise. We had dinner in the Harrods café; potato soup, water and coffee. A real British dinner.

Taxi back to the Thistle March Arch (£7).

Friday, March 27, 2009
Breakfast in the dinning room of the Thistle Marble Arch Hotel.

We chose to do the “hop-on hop-off” tour to see London sights on our own. We had reservation with the Original Tour and went to Marble Arch to board a tour bus. The Original Tour has many buses and four routes through out London. We boarded the tour bus Original Tour at Marble Arch with a live guide to describe what we were passing.
The tour guide was entertaining and gave us a good understanding of just how old some of these structures and monuments are.

We hopped off at The Original Tour a few blocks from Piccadilly Circus on Whitcomb Street. The tour driver told us we could hop-on another tour bus near the corner of Coventry and Rupert Streets, just a block away. On our way Gail spotted KFC. They had a special lunch for £4.95. So, we stopped and had lunch. There it’s boneless chicken, beans (brown) and fries.

Then onto the bus stop. We boarded the Museum Tour route heading north on Shaftsbury Avenue out to Great Russell Street. We exited the bus at the British Museum.

The British Museum is a grand building spanning one entire city block. All London museums are free to enter. This one, being the largest had too much to see in a short time. We saw the schedule for the day and quickly went to the 5th floor to witness a Japanese tea sipping exhibition. Then, wondered our way through hundreds of exhibits. In the center of the Museum on the 3rd floor is a restaurant. We stopped for coffee and a tart for me and tea and cookie for Gail.

Back to the bus stop, we took the Museum Tour bus out to Bloomsbury and then back to Piccadilly. The tour driver told us to get off at Green Park and wait for the last transfer bus to Marble Arch. We waited for the bus down the street from the Ritz Hotel and across the street from the original Hard Rock Café. Nice neighborhood. The next bus took us back to the Marble Arch just a short distance from our hotel.

Dinner at La Caricatura on Audley Street. We shared an Italian pizza and had espresso.

Saturday, March 28, 2009
EuroStar to Paris. Departed hotel at 5:45 am on Premium Tours bus to London St. Pancras International Rail terminal. We boarded the EuroStar to Paris. We departed London at 6:55 am and were served breakfast shortly afterwards. The EuroStar travels at speeds up to 186 mph on its 2 ½ hours trip to Paris. While on the train our tour guide, Charlotte, showed up and said meet her at the front of the train once we arrived in Paris.

Charlotte took us to a waiting bus and we began our tour of Paris. Upon arrival we were given a panoramic tour of Paris taking in the major sites. From the Gare Du Nord rail station we travelled by the Le Opera and Place de la Concord. Then we travelled up Avenue des Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. From there we went to the Trocadeo and had a photo opportunity of the Eiffel Tower across the River Seine. The bus cruised along the River Seine by the Louvre then turning onto an island in the River Seine right in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral. Then back down along the River Seine by the National Assembly to Eiffel Tower.

We were own our own for lunch. So, Gail and I ate at the lunch café on the River Seine (€10).

After lunch we met Charlotte for a scenic cruise on the River Seine. The cruise gave fabulous views of some of the finest monuments from across the river. The river cruise gave a great view of the Notre Dame Cathedral from the river.

Charlotte arrange for a fast entry group access at the Eiffel Tower. We rode lifts (elevators) to the second level for a panoramic view of the city of Paris. Gail and I walked completely around covering all four sides of the tower. The Eiffel Tower was built for the Universal Exhibition in 1889. This was celebrating the hundredth anniversary of the French Revolution.

From the Eiffel Tower we were bused to the Louvre. The bus parked under the Louvre and we walked into the Louvre at the inverted pyramid and had a fast entry. Charlotte hustled us up stairs to the top floor. We soon became too slow for her pace and opted to go on our own. We spent a lot of time viewing the world famous Mona Lisa. Also we saw Venus de Milo, Borghese Gladiator, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, and many, many French paintings.

In the early evening we headed back to the Gare du Nord for our return trip to London. We had a dinner meal of the return trip and arrived by in London at 9:40 pm. We left Charlotte at the rail terminal and were taken to our hotel by express bus.

Sunday, March 29, 2009
We both awoke late because of the very busy day before. We just made it to breakfast in the Thistle Marble Arch dinning room by 10:30 am.

We did a little shopping at Primark just across the street from our hotel. Sunday is a prime shopping day for Londoners. They must work 6 days a week and shop on Sunday. We bought 3 sweaters and a cap. Primark has reasonably priced merchandise and the prices drew customers. The place was packed and cashier lines were long.

After shopping, we dropped off our items in our room and venture out to Speakers Corner. This is across the street from the Marble Arch and an area where each Sunday people can come and speak on any subject at any length of time. We observed that nearly all spoke on Christianity. There were others there to debate the difference between Christianity and Islam. We never saw anyone exchange blows, but their discussions became quite boisterous.

We purchased a day ticket each to ride the Underground. We thought this would be an adventurous day using the Underground as a way to get around London.

We had read in the newspaper that the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race would be held this Sunday. The start time was 3:14 pm at the Putney Bridge. The race between Oxford University and Cambridge University was the 155th Boat Race between these two universities. The race covers 4 ½ miles down the River Thames.

We made our way from the Underground to Putney Bridge. We crossed the bridge and walked down to the starting line. We had a clear view of the starting area and precisely at 3:14 pm the race was started. Oxford won the Boat Race by 3 ½ lengths with a power surge in the second half of the race. Naturally, we could not see the entire race or the finish. But, it was great to see the start. Television reports had said they expected 250,000 people to line the banks of the River Thames to witness the event. I would expect many were at the start.

Underground from Putney Bridge to Earl’s Court and transferred to the Piccadilly Line that took us to Piccadilly Circus. Riding the Underground became common to us after a while. We searched around for someplace neat to eat. We found the Angus Steakhouse at the corner of Piccadilly and Coventry. Great place for steaks.

Back to the Underground, we took the Jubilee Line to the Baker Street Station to see if the wax museum was still open. Too late. It was closed. Then, back on the Underground to Bond Street and then to Marble Arch. Short walk back to our hotel.

Monday, March 30, 2009
Breakfast in the dinning room of the Thistle Marble Arch Hotel.
Evan Evans Tours picked us up at the hotel at 7:55 am and bused us to the Victoria Coach Station for transfer to Tour 21 to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath. We left at 9:00 am and headed for Windsor Castle first.

Windsor Castle is the largest inhabited castle in the world and, dating back to the time of William the Conqueror, is the oldest in continuous occupation. Built sometime after 1086, the castle's floor area is approximately 484,000 square feet. Today it is one of the homes of Queen Elizabeth II. It houses several painting, artifacts and displays of early rifles and swords. Gail was amazed that there were five Reubins’ in one room.

Inside the walls is Windsor Castle is St. George’s Chapel. It is both a royal peculiar and the chapel of the Order of the Garter. Built is about 1348, the chapel is governed by the Dean of Windsor.

From Windsor, our tour bus traveled down route M3 towards Winchester. We exited the main road and used backwoods highways to reach Amesbury. Just west of Amesbury at a fork in the road lies Stonehenge.

Stonehenge is a prehistoric and mysterious circle of upright stones in southern England about 2 miles west of Amesbury. Construction on the great monument began 5,000 years ago; the famous stones that still stand today were put in place about 4,000 years ago.

The stones are aligned almost perfectly with the sunrise on the summer solstice, and it is almost unquestioned that Stonehenge was built as a spectacular place of worship. Although the faith of the Stonehenge builders predates any known religion.

Gail and I picked up an English pastry sandwich as we boarded our tour bus to Bath.

The Romans came to Bath about 50 A.D. They found spring which was used by local people and built a bath. That’s probably where the city got its name. The water gushes up from the ground as a natural hot spring. At 114° F so it’s hotter than the water in your bath! The water is full of different minerals, even more than the bottled spring water you can buy in supermarkets. The orange color around the spring comes from the iron dissolved in the water.

The Romans probably occupied Bath shortly after their invasion of Britain in 43 AD. They knew it as Aquae Sulis (literally "the waters of Sulis"), identifying the goddess with Minerva. In Roman times the worship of Sulis continued and messages to her scratched onto metal have been recovered from the Sacred Spring by archaeologists.

During the Roman period, increasingly grand temples and bathing complexes were built in the area, including the Great Bath. Rediscovered gradually from the 18th century onward, they have become one of the city's main attractions. The city was given defensive walls, probably in the 3rd century. From the later 4th century on, the western Roman Empire and its urban life declined. However, while the great suite of baths at Bath fell into disrepair, some use of the hot springs continued. The Romans used the bath for about 450 years.

We had a 2 ½ drive back to London. Our tour ended at Victoria Station. We walked into the station and observed that is was a major pickup point for rail and also a transfer station for the Underground. Gail’s watch broke on Sunday and she saw a Swatch watch dealer at the station. Gail purchased a new Swatch watch for herself. She likes Swatch watches.

After a quick bite to eat at a McDonald’s. It was unanimous that McDonald’s is not the place to eat at in London. We took the Underground from Victoria Station to Oxford Circus and transferred to the Central line and exited the Underground at Marble Arch.

Back at our hotel we caught up on the preparations for the G20 conference. We saw a few CNN people that we recognized at the hotel. We packed for the return trip to Fuquay.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Breakfast in the dinning room of the Thistle Marble Arch Hotel.

Taxi to Paddington (£6) and Heathrow Express to the Heathrow Airport (£33).
Exchanged all our British money for U.S. currency.

Boarded AA flight 173 from London to RDU at 11:00 am. Arrived at 2:00 pm and about an hour later exited U.S. Customs. Retrieved our truck from parking lot #3. On our way home we stopped at the Fuquay Dairy Queen for a good old American banana split and chocolate ice cream cone. Home at 4:30 pm.