Barb & Dave Cross the Pond: London

It’s English, but still: -French fries = chips -Potato chips = crisps -Cookies = Biscuits -Diapers = Nappies -Athletic shoes = Trainers -Sweater = Jumper -Watch your step = Mind the Gap -Exit = Way out And my favorite: -if you see something, say something = See it, say it, sorted. Super easy to get around on the Tube, or Underground. Like NYC, don’t need a ticket or Oyster Card, just swipe any card with a chip at the turnstile. Our Tottenham court Road station has been recently renovated and is the nicest one we’ve used. Took the Underground directly from the airport terminal to a stop 5 minutes from our VRBO. Easy trip back as well.  Weather cooperated again. Partly sunny to get our bags to the train for the airport!😎  Ooh baby! Access to the Aspire lounge at Heathrow! Apparently Platinum status means more here than at home! Full breakfast, WiFi, pastries, Prosecco! Or, they’ll do a Mimosa! (It’s not day drinking when it’s a breakfast cocktail. I read that on the internet!) ...

  Our last day, Afternoon Tea at Harrods.  Whew! We were afraid we weren’t going to get to use our rain gear this trip, but this morning—success! Just drizzle for our Uber to Harrods. Once we had our bearings we took the Tube back.  I had an image in my mind before we saw Harrods, kind of Nieman Marcus on steroids, but completely underestimated. Dave googled it: 1,100,000 sq ft. Seven floors, 300 departments, nothing “regular” that we saw; designer everything. The Tea Room was on the Baby/Children’s floor. Givenchy baby, Prada baby, Burberry baby—forget pedestrian brands like Ralph Lauren. (We did not buy anything here for Harper or Malcolm.) This is the inside of the elevator!  I overheard a woman and her daughter in the Ladies Room. The girl (in a cute English accent) said, “everything is so posh! Even the toilets are posh!”😂 Of course we had to stop at an entire floor (couple of city blocks big) called Shoe Heaven. Corridor after gold corridor of alcoves for each...

We didn’t care much about museums but we buckled and did the Tower of London today. Pretty interesting. I will say our timing has been impeccable. Had tickets for 10:30, got in about 9:45, waited not more than 10 minutes for the Crown Jewels. Like yesterday when we wondered why royalty needs more than one massively expensive carriage to use a few times a decade, we’re wondering why there can’t be just one crown for Queens and one crown for Kings. Probably because taxpayers foot the bill. But then some people think you don’t need more than one pair of black shoes, so…nevermind.  As we were leaving the lines were snaking around buildings. (Thanks to John Conroy’s FB post advising visitors to see the Crown Jewels first). But pictures not allowed?! Saw a little skit about asking a brother’s permission to marry a princess that a prince had never met.   King Edward I built St.Thomas tower as his luxury accommodations, partly with funds derived from imposing heavy taxes on England’s ...

Rained overnight but looking good this morning! Overcast when we headed to Buckingham Palace but sunny later in the day. Website said Sunday changing of the guard was at 10:45. We were there by 10 and had a nice spot right by the fence.  (About the photo at top right: I was trying to take a picture of the gate and saw that there was a big line of people waiting to take their picture in front of the gate. This couple was doing a major photo shoot, having some random guy take their photo then looking at it and suggesting other angles, etc. Annoying Americans probably. But I digress.) Then we saw this🤯:  Guards called in sick on a Holiday weekend? (Monday is a bank Holiday here.) Whatever! We had timed it so we’d watch the guard change and then go through the Royal Mews with timed tickets at noon. Luckily we decided to see if we could exchange our tix for an earlier time, and we got right in! Karen Hobbs suggested the Markets and the Royal Mews (thanks!), where the King/Queen’s ...

Taking advantage of the spectacular weather. High 60’s, mix of sun and clouds. Very comfortable walking weather! Portobello Market in Notting Hill. MANY blocks, very overwhelming. Some new stuff like an art fair, lots of “vintage” that looked like a flea market and many food booths. Bought coffee and a croissant! Oh, and there was nature when we walked through Portobello Green on our way back to the Tube. Then on to Borough Market. Also overwhelming and super crowded. Saturday! Honestly hard to really see anything through the crowds. We stayed around the periphery as long as we could. It’s located near the London Bridge, so checked that off our list.  Split a small burger at a random pub (WAY too nuts to eat something at the market!), then on to the War Rooms! Very interesting; glad we went. Churchill and his team including admin staff ran the war from this bunker. Also heard a presentation about Alan Turing who cracked the Enigma code machine during the war and is credited with se...

Dave’s priority. Forget the Crown Jewels. We headed to Abbey Road Studios. Bummed that they don’t give tours of the studios, but we managed this.  If you can’t tell, that’s Dave making a face at me for taking his picture at the “Zebra Crossing”. And he left his mark on the wall.  Then to Richmond where Ted Lasso was filmed. Described as wealthy riverside suburb of London. Very cute town.  The inside of the pub in Ted Lasso, The Prince’s Head, was a set. They only filmed the outside of the pub in Richmond. But, no line (maybe everyone is at the Barber Shop!) and the pub looked great, so…. This time better luck at lunchtime! I don’t like Fish and chips or beer, so: great Cheeseburger and a really excellent Mojito. Dave cooperated with the fish but opted for Scotch instead of beer. Traveled back to Central London, then a spot of tea before the theatre. I’ve decided to just eat here for the rest of the trip…. Walked through Swiss Court near Piccadilly Circus back to our place...