Just Back from…London

We’ve just returned from one of our favorite cities: London. The visit was the first stop in a multi-city hop across Europe, a trip that took us from London to Graz, Vienna, Prague, and Amsterdam before returning to London for the trip home.

London made a convenient gateway for us because we were getting the tickets thanks to our American Airlines frequent flyer miles. Traveling in summer’s high season, though, brought with it a price: even though we had booked the tickets back in the winter, we weren’t able to get frequent flyer seats all the way from our home airport of Austin to London but wound up having to drive to DFW International Airport, about four hours away from our home.

Nine hours after leaving DFW, we were landing in London Gatwick. A half-hour ride (L13, one way) aboard the Gatwick Express train and we were at our new home away from home for the next three days: the Crowne Plaza St. James. Located right around the corner from Buckingham Palace, we’d chosen the hotel for its central location (just a short hop from Victoria Station, where the Gatwick Express arrives.)

It was a cool morning when we arrived—a far cry from the 105 degree temps we’d left at home! Ten minutes after arriving at Victoria Station, we were stepping outside and into a classic black London taxi cab and on to our hotel.

Like many US travelers, we were arriving before check-in time at the hotel. We dropped our bags with the bellman and started to explore the city (and to shake off our jet lag.)

The bands were heralding the arrival of the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, just a block away. Literally thousands of tourists lined the road—a nice confirmation of the fact that tourist numbers were still strong, in spite of the deadly bombings just 10 days prior.

But jet lag (not just jet lag but a complete inability for either of us to sleep on the plane the night before) mean it was time to keep moving. We headed toward Westminster for a look at the abbey, Big Ben, and the Houses of Parliament before ducking in The Clarence, a pub popular with English politicos due to its location. We enjoyed our first plate of fish and chips then headed off for our next leg of our trip: a cruise to Greenwich.

Cruising to Greenwich

Thames cruises depart from Westminster Dock, both 50-minute scenic cruises and hop-on, hop-off cruises like the one we boarded. We hopped a City Cruise and, for L8.60 each, got a hop-on, hop-off pass that permitted us to stop at the London Eye, Tower of London, and our destination that day: Greenwich. A perfect sunny day for a cruise, we sat up on the top deck and enjoyed a look at London that’s far different from that seen on the double decker bus.

Greenwich combines its small town atmosphere with a nautical history, creating a nice contrast to the bustling city. We toured the National Maritime Museum and took a peek at the Cutty Sark, the last clipper in existence.

After our Greenwich excursion, it was back on the boat and back into town and back to our hotel to finally get into our room and out of the clothes we’d left home in…how many hours ago had that been?! Avoiding the temptation to nap (a sure way to prolong jet lag), we quickly headed back out to a pub around the corner called The Colonies for a dinner of Indian food: coriander chicken and naam bread. By then, we were definitely ready to call it a night…even though it still didn’t look like night. At 9pm, twilight still hung on.

An Early Morning

And morning came early, too. We always try to leave the hotel draperies open so we can be nudged away by the daylight—but this was going a little too far. At 4:30am, we awoke to a brightly lit room. (Note to ourselves: remember to pull the draperies for the rest of the trip!)

We’ve toured London by hop-on, hop-off bus several times and chose it once again as an option. We had the latest edition of Rick Steves’ London, which got us a L2 savings each on tickets aboard The Original Bus. (The other bus company is The Big Bus.) We hopped on board, grabbed the last seats up top, and enjoyed a bird’s eye view of London’s landmarks before eventually getting off at Piccadilly to walk to several sights.

Our bus tickets got us a discount on fish and chips at the Sherlock Holmes Pub, a spot we thought might be a little touristy but provided to be the real deal, with lots of local diners (and, yes, tourists, too) eating fish and chips and bangers and mash in a pub surrounded by memorabilia from Sherlock Holmes movies, plays, and books. Upstairs, a recreation of Sherlock Holmes study was worth a quick look.

Next, we started off to explore three of London’s churches, starting with Temple Church. If you’ve read The DaVinci Code, you know this ancient church that was used by the knights and is the final resting place for several knights.

Just a short walk away stands St. Bride’s Church. Aside from its name, the church is a favorite with romantics for another reason: a local baker used the steeple as the inspiration for the first tiered wedding cake. In a small museum at the church, you can see the wedding dress of the baker’s wife and displays about the church’s long history.

Everyone is familiar with our third stop as the location of the world’s most famous wedding, the nuptials of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. St. Paul’s Cathedral was very busy that afternoon but we managed to squeeze in a quick tour before hopping back on the bus and continuing our tour.

Speaking of Prince Charles, we had our own little royal encounter that evening. We returning to our hotel from Waterstone’s, Europe’s largest bookstore, after walking across Green Park. We reached Buckingham Palace where just a couple of hours before we’d seen hundreds of people in morning coats and elaborate hats waiting for cabs in front of the palace. We later read that the Queen had hosted a huge garden party; these were guests making their way home.

By the time we returned from Waterstone’s, the party was over but activity still swirled around the palace. We passed in front of one of the sets of massive gates just as a policeman walked out to stop traffic. A motorcade of three cars passed in through the gates and we heard that Prince Charles had just arrived.

That was the end of our royal encounter but we kept the royal theme going with dinner at The Albert, an elegant pub just around the corner from our hotel and decorated with prints of Prince Albert. We once again dined on Indian chicken (hey, you have to have it twice for an accurate taste test, right?)

The next morning, it was time to head out of London for the next leg of our journey. We hopped a cab to Liverpool Street Station to catch the Stansted Express, a train to London’s Stansted Airport. From there, we’d hop a RyanAir flight, one offered by a popular low-cost carrier, to Graz, Austria.

More on the next leg of our European journey next week!