24 December 2006
"Water Closet" is right! We did not spring for "en suite" rooms, so we had to share toilets and showers with the building. The showers at the Caswell Hotel are tiny affairs: enough room to stand, with two flaps that close to separate the outer door from the water, thus guarding your towel/robe from the water (there was a hook on either side). The floor we were on for the first night sported a shower, with a toilet "one" floor above (except that it is up two flights: north-->south and south-->north, with a set of rooms in between). The toilets were the old style-ones with the tank above, and that first toilet didn't flush at all unless you pulled *really* hard.
After showering and getting ready, we took our bags to the front desk and I *confirmed* that they would be taken up to our new room before we returned. We then went downstairs to the basement for the continental breakfast. We had our choice of toast or croissants and tea or coffee. Milk was brought to the table in a metal tureen/bowl/pouring thingie (enough for cereal as well as our drinks). There were jams on the table (several flavors that I mostly avoided, until the last few days and I discovered they had Black Currant jam). Orange juice, apples, and cereal were self-service on a sideboard, so I had quite a bit of oj every day.
We left the hotel and headed back up to Victoria station to grab a bus map (for future reference), then walked up Buckingham Palace Road past the Roayal Mews to the Palace. We took a bunch of pictures, walked over to Green Park, looked around a little (there is a Canada Gate and Fountain over there), then we walked back across the mall to St. James Park (getting more shots of Queen Victoria's statue).
We stopped by a permanent food stand where Karen got a tea and I got a hot chocolate (£2.80) and we got to see a feeding frenzy of cooing, screeching pigeons. I never knew pigeons screeched/screamed before. It was pretty reminescent of The Birds (a movie I must now see). We walked through St. James Park, saw a guy feeding nuts to squirrels (they even got up on his hand) and then on to see PELICANS!!!!! over by the Cabinet War Rooms. There was even a sign saying not to feed the pelicans. Karen found a cute little cottage on the lake/pond in St. James Park which she really liked.
After that, we crossed the street to the Cabinet War Rooms, walked between them and turned right to get to Parliament Square. This was really cool. Especially when Big Ben chimed. We took some exterior pictures of the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey, as well as all the statues in the square (there is even one of Lincoln, which surprised us both), including Cromwell's statue (surrounded by construction).
St. Margaret's, right next to Westminster Abbey, had sundials instead of clock faces on its tower. It was too cloudy to get a reading, but it was really neat.
We strolled over to Westminster Bridge (taking a picture of a small patch of blue sky) and bought a sausage to split (£2.50). We then walked East along the Victoria Embankment to the Hungerford Footbridge. We crossed and walked back towards Westminster Bridge on the south bank, stopping for a bit to enjoy the living statues (there were 4) and the guy playing glasses of water. I donated 50p to each of the first two statues and 25p to the glass-player. After that, we queued up and bought tickets to the London Eye. As expensive as they were (£14.50 each), it was pretty damned cool.
While up there we met a man and his family who had moved to France a few years before to avoid Blair, and was visiting London on holiday. He pointed out the top of MI-5, over by Nelson's Column, and told me the ubiquitous dome (signature image of the Thames production company) was the old post office building.
After the amazing views from the Eye, we took a walk around the block by way of the exterior of the Dali museum (which we considered returning to on a later day), the south end of Westminster Bridge, then over by the hospital and back up to the Hungerford Footbridge. We crossed back to the north bank of the Thames, walked East past Cleopatra's Kiosk and along the Embankment to Cleopatra's Needle.
After that we walked by the park just south of Charing Cross Station (I think it is Temple Park, but I could easily be wrong), saw a bunch of statues and nifty trees (Karen had me crane the camera up to try to take a picture of a statue inside a protective crate in the middle of the park, but it didn't really work...), and eventually left via a north exit. This park was interesting for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the fact that of the ten or more entrances, most were closed. And they had up one of those great signs warning of thieves at work in the area. I took a picture, of course. Trying to get back to where we entered proved impossible from the north (for the simple reason that the gate we needed to use was locked), and given how much we hurt, and the sketchy nature of the area, we ascended the STAIRS OF SISYPHUS-IAN PROPORTION (dun dun dun). They were steep, and they hurt, and we were already in agony as it was, but we made it up (with much complaining from us both).
We came out on one of the tributary streets to the Southeast of Trafalgar Sq. (stopping briefly to take pictures of the Mc Donald's menu: the prices were the same or higher, only in £, instead of $). We took some pictures of Nelson's Column, a lion, and sat for a few minutes in front of the National Gallery. After that we wandered over to Leitcester (pronounced "Lester") Sq. where we saw Pan's Labyrinth at the Odeon (£19.50 for two).
We decided to partake of some English candy, as that is what one does when travelling abroad for the first time, and we decided on a bag of Rowntree's Fruit Pastilles and a bottle of still spring water (£4.35 total). The movie was good, and it was neat to see british movie PSA's and their rating system and all that.
We went looking for food in the direction of our hotel, but at Picadilly Circus we took Regent St in the wrong direction. We reversed course at Maddox (just short of Oxford Circus) after consulting the A to Zed. We were going to try the Angus steak house just off Picadilly Circus, but Karen balked at the price, forgetting that I wanted something nicer, and she had said we would pick the next thing we saw.
I cannot at this point stress to you HOW MUCH PAIN WE WERE IN! It was unbelievable. I have never hurt so much in my life. At this point we had already walked somewhere close to twenty miles, and we still had to get back to Victoria Station before rest was in sight.
So, as much as I hurt, I was a little stubborn, and when she said yes to the steak house, I really didn't want to take anymore steps in the wrong direction, and we pressed forward. Frequently I was forced to stop walking, trying vainly and feebly to relieve the horrible burning, needle-like pains in my feet. But not just my feet! No, my GLUT'S hurt! How is that possible?!?!?! And my back.
So anyway, walk we did, and eventually, after more than an hour of slow staggering we came at last to Victoria Station. This is well after we resolved to stop at the first sit-down restaraunt we saw. We tried the pub next door to Billy Ellito, but they weren't taking new patrons. So on we went to the Genevieve. Between the Scotch Steak House and the American Steak House (a place we fastidiously refused to go), we were just happy to sit down. The waiter wanted to seat us by the window, but opted for a little inward in the narrow dining room. We ordered the £10.50 filet mignon special and £2.80 garlic bread. Karen took tea and I had a couple of cokes. I think I tipped too much, too, not having realized at this time that the customary gratuity is only 10% or so. It was one of the most expensive meals I have ever had, and sadly not one of the best. Still, food and rest were most welcome. We learned after looking at the receipt that the Genevieve was a subset of the American Steak House, which would have been funny if we weren't in so much pain.
We started back, stopping by the Sainsbury's Local for pain relief items, and headed back to the hotel.
Let me say this calmly:
They did not take our bags to our room.
They did not take our bags to our room.
THEY DID NOT TAKE OUR BAGS TO OUR ROOM!!!!!!!
Furious doesn't even begin to cover how I felt. Did I mention how much I hurt? There was lots of pain, let me remind you. And our bags are heavy.
We doctored our aching bodies, and went to sleep. The day was great except for that bit at the end.
Tomorrow: Christmas!
