London

June 21, 2015

My fitbit said I walked over 30,000 steps today.  I had no idea that I had walked that much!  With the past few days, I should end up having a very good week.  Not much to tell, got up, met James and headed out to find our hop-on hop-off bus tour.  We headed out and hopped off at St Paul’s Cathedral.  There was a mass going on at the time so climbing the bell tower wasn’t an option.  I must admit the choir and organ made it a very nice visit.

We stopped off for lunch and then met up with Bill and decided to ditch the boss and to walk around.  We stopped to see the Masonic Temple, Covent Gardens, Trafalgar square and the surrounding areas.  He hopped on a bus to get us over to the Shakespeare Globe theater, crossed the bridge back to St. Paul’s Cathedral where we again hopped a bus to go catch a boat that was next to the Tower of London.  The boat took us back to the London Eye where we walked back to our hotel.  We finished the day by having dinner in the hotel.  I will sleep well tonight.

Continue reading →

A selfie on a rainy day on top of a hop-on hop-off tour.

June 20, 2015

I often tell the story that when I visit London, it is warm and sunny.  I know to think of London as warm and sunny isn’t right.  Today it was not warm and sunny, it was cloudy and later in the day it poured rain.  I didn’t mind it, in fact, I liked it.

This morning started with a breakfast at an Italian breakfast/lunch place.  Prior to bringing my food, they delivered a big plate of toast.  Can I cancel my eggs and just have toast? I thought I was doing good by ordering breakfast as opposed to one of those sandwiches sitting glass case.   I am not one who sits around and wonders about my weight,  I love bread and everything you can put between two slices of it, is better for being with bread!  Bread makes anything almost better!

This is one of my few selfies and I could have asked one of my co-workers to take the picture but I didn’t.  Earlier in the day, there was a dad with his teenage daughter and son.  They had a selfie stick and they were taking selfie after selfie and cracking up.  I first learned about the selfie stick when I went to Thailand and saw groups of teenage girls.  I thought it was the ultimate in self-absorption and when I first saw it, couldn’t contain myself from laugh out loud.  I never thought it would catch on as it has and wish I had invented and patented it. Continue reading →

The tower bridge from the White Tower

June 20, 2015

I have been to the tower of London a few times.  What struck me as new this time was a female Beefeater.  I had never seen that before.  I googled it this evening and saw an article in 2014 about the first female Beefeater and immediately recognized her.  I also don’t remember the layout and exhibits in the Whitehall as being all that memorable. Although crowded, I was enjoying seeing the armor from King Henry the 8th (when he was still thin and then later in life) as well as the armor and weapons of various kings and time periods.

We did not get to see the crown jewels, the line wrapped building and was very long.  It would have taken an hour to get through that line.  We opted not to wait in line but instead walked along a couple of the walls.

I refrained from taking too many pictures and wondered if I were to compare the ones from today, how they would vary from previous trips.  I have noticed that I tend to take the same picture from the same spots when re-visiting .

Continue reading →

June 20, 2015

I love a market and after breakfast my coworkers and I took a Hop-on Hop-off bus tour.  First stop was Borough Market, Bill had heard of it and it looked great, we got off the bus to check it out.  Next to it is the Southwark Cathedral, London’s oldest Cathedral.  London has a lot of old buildings, but this one stood out to me.  I would later find out that it was the oldest cathedral in London.

I think this has to be one of the best Markets I have been to.There were plenty of places serving prepared foods and then there was a section for produce and uncooked meats.  I found plenty of bread, cheese, sausages and various meats, including camel, kangaroo, ostrich, zebra and crocodile and venison burgers as well as ostrich steaks and kangaroo sausage.  I had never heard of eating zebra!

There were plenty of sweet things as well.  There was one stand with Baklava, I went to take a picture and I could smell it.  If I hadn’t just eaten lunch, I would have bought some.  Everything looked good.

Everything looked good and I kept telling myself that there were only so meals and couldn’t try it all.  James made a comment that there wasn’t any junk and I had to agree with him, you expect a certain amount of junk at these markets.  This one was very busy and didn’t have any of that.

Continue reading →

June 19th, 2015

I landed in London today. This is for business and will be headed out next week to continue the trip in India and then Singapore.  I am excited and have been looking forward to the trip.  I bareley slept on the flight so after checking into the hotel went walking around and to find something to eat.  Our first stop was the pub around the corner.  I love Pub food!

In an effort to stay awake, we walked around.  We decided to find the Hard Rock Cafe.  We did, I took a couple of pictures and people watched while James shopped for gifts.

Where I am staying is very nice.  The Taj Mahal and 51 Buckingham Gate are sister hotels next to each other.  I am staying in the 51 Buckingham gate which are residences – have two bedrooms, two bathrooms, living room and kitchen.  I came home tonight to find my dirty towels replaced, beds turned down and an ice bucket left filled with ice along with bottled water.  I could get used to this!  Did I mention Butlers?

Continue reading →