“There must be quite a few things that a hot bath won't cure, but I don't know many of them.” ― Sylvia Plath

I am crazy about all things associated with a "bath"... Which, all of this thought on bathing reminded me of how happy I was in London when I found that the hotel had an incredibly deep, long tub to soak in ... and this brings me to going back to my posting on Fodors (under my fake name Stephanie) of my first London vacation... and it has made me quite "teary eyed" because it was such a wonderful experience!!!  There is so much enthusiasm - - - and so, I am going to revive it to this blog!

Thrilled to Have Gone to London!!!!

November 29, 2001

_Part One_

My son and I are back from a wonderful vacation to London. We never did make it to Bath,there was just too much to do in London and not enough time. Our first day we caught the Tube and headed to Kew where we met friends that live there and had tea in a little café that was wonderful. We then headed to Hampton Court Palace where I fell in love with England. I knew what to expect because of movies and books, but being there takes your breath away, you can just picture the Royal Barge pulling up on the Thames and Henry VIII standing there larger than life! It is just incredibly beautiful - all the autumn colors were at their prime! I had to take pictures of the statues of greyhounds, as I have something in common with Henry, I too love greyhounds! We took a tour, went through the kitchens, and I must say the men working there in the kitchens were very entertaining and informative (I wanted to stay with them all day)! My son now knows everything about how they cooked, the different spices, sweets, and different wine, ales, Mead, etc....he really thought it was rather cool! Thank goodness for my son’s wonderful sense of direction, we were able to get out of the maze, but when taking the tour through William III’s apartments in the palace he got tangled on the staircase (freak accident) and a very nice American stopped and untangled him!!

That evening - back in London - we hit the streets and started walking, I noticed a little dark winding lane with a neon sign that said Italian restaurant...so we went in to this little hole in the wall and had a delicious dinner (trout putanesca) and excellent service....we watched the football game on tv with others and enjoyed all the attention paid to us (especially kid who was named “Prince” for the evening)! The next day we went to the British Museum, sadly we did not see mummies as Room 60 was closed that day, but we did see the other ancient artifacts, funny how all the PBS shows and Discovery Channel have helped prepare us for our trip through the Museum as we recognized so much and some gave me goose bumps! But talking about goose bumps,the National Gallery! My favorites belonging to Monet and Van Gogh and Renoir!!! Oh how incredible - my nose just 8 inches from the real thing, those beautiful creations. Off to St. Martins to listen to a pianist and sit in the pews with the other homeless people seeking refuge from the bitter cold day outside....then a delicious little light lunch in the Crypt Café -

then hit the streets again - went to Westminster, Big Ben - Parliament, ran across Scotland Yard, the Queen’s guards that are just so pretty on their beautiful horses (wanted to kidnap one, until I saw what baby faces they had, too bad), 10 Downing Street (moved quickly from there due to the American tourists crowding the small space), and of course (not in actual order), Trafalgar Square and we were covered from head to toe with pigeons (fun for kid, not especially my cup of tea - waiting for photos, holding my breath that there is at least one incredible one of kidlet with birds)! We were able to eat at only ONE pub (The Plough) because they could scoot child upstairs to a dining room that was closed to hide him - they took pity on our drop dead with starvation faces, and fed us the best food - he had Fish n Chips with peas, I had a cheddar and apple chutney toasted sandwich - ok was it the hunger or was that the best sandwich I have ever eaten?? That night we hit Wagamamas....it was fun, cool looking, waiter was friendly, but I have a problem with wanting to be neat and clean when I eat and I was feeling rather messy slurping noodles and sloshing broth all over my face - okay the kid LOVED it - he ate all the squid out of my bowl, and then we left just in time for the dinner crowd to pack in. My feet were killing me, so a good soak cured that! Meanwhile we went shopping at Boots (comparable to our Walgreens), the Internet café sponsored by Nestle, and bought fresh fruit from a market on the corner (Oranges from South Africa are so scrumptious, juicy and sweet). 

November 29, 2001

Now my feet were worn to the bone, and I have been introduced to the cabs! UH OH!!!!! Forget the tube!!!! I am spoiled rotten - cabbies calling me Lovey or Ducky and giving us narrated tours as they drive us to our destinations....helping us pick out a good restaurant in Chinatown, you name it, they were extremely helpful and again, wanted to take them home with me! Well lets change that, I wanted to go home with them! 

Feeling energetic woke up one morning and put on our walking shoes and headed to Hyde Park. We stopped at the little visitor’s cottage at the gate (near Rotten Row) to see if they had a map or advice. The gentleman that worked there invited us in and he chatted with us for quite awhile and helped us figure what we wanted to see and do and we bought a map from him. I was definitely charmed by this man, as I was charmed with everything and everyone in London. Yes, I am sickeningly sweet on London. We walked through Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens to Kensington Palace where we toured and went and had tea at the Orangery looking out over the garden...very quaint and pretty and the tea helped warm our bones, it was cold and damp that day. I met a couple in the park with a Saluki. It made me miss my greyhound at home, and also he was so pretty I now want a Saluki to be a companion for my "greythound!" They told me I could not have him, so I hung my head down and walked sadly away... After tea we got lost! Could not find the tube station and ended up in Nottinghill where a businessman on his way home from a busy day walked us to the station (okay, sorry but I have NEVER encountered such wonderfully helpful people here in Florida, as I did in London, making it ever more fascinating). [end of part one]