A quick taxi ride (even in peak hour)
had us at Tullamarine in plenty of time. It turned out that the
seating arrangements the travel agent had made were not set in stone
so we were going to be scattered all over the plane but the staff at
Emirates were able to quickly re-arrange things so we could all sit
together. Boarding started on time but the plane spent an extra hour
on the tarmac. It seemed there was a fault which took some time to
find. In the end the engineer decided to re-boot a computer somewhere
and the problem was resolved. I just hoped and prayed that the Airbus
A380 wasn't really running on Windows. We took off just after
10:30pm for the 20+ hour flight to London.
Once again the service on Emirates was
very good. Food was tasty and interesting and drinks were plentiful
and at no charge. A few bottles of nice red wine never made it to
London. The pilot put his foot down so we picked up about half the
time we lost in Melbourne by the time we reached Dubai, ending up
with about only 30 minutes to kill before the next leg. We had all
managed to get some sleep on the trip from Melbourne so didn't feel
too bad at Dubai. The flight to London took about 6 hours and was due
to arrive on time. But we struck traffic at Heathrow and did about 4
laps around the City of London.
Landed, got our bags and strolled
through Customs. We decided to buy an Oyster Card (like a MYKI) and
caught the Underground to Victoria Station. We then dragged our bags
to Hotel Enrico which is very handy to the station – about 10
minutes walk.
The hotel is exactly what we expected,
having stayed there 23 years ago. Our room is 'cosy' but clean and
adequate for our needs. We have the luxury of an en-suite
shower/toilet. After a brief rest we headed back to Victoria to gets
tickets for tomorrow's open-top bus tour of the sights of London.
Then down to one of the locals – The Warwick – for a well
deserved pint or two and a meal. Back to the hotel and we were all
fast asleep well before the sun went down.
The first day
in London (Sunday 30th June 2013)
The sun gets up very early in London at
this time of year! 4am. found me with camera sticking out our 1st
floor window catching some shots of the dawn breaking on Warwick Way.
A clue to the room size – I didn't have to get out of bed to do
that! Breakfast was down in the basement in the dining room where we
were greeted by Michelle (from Romania) who is our waitress (and just
about everything else domestic, I suspect). The meal was simple and,
in our view, just what one should expect in a 2 star hotel –
cereal, toast, OJ, baked beans, ham and cheese. Exactly what we might
have had if we were at home on any normal day.
After breakfast we headed down to
Buckingham Gate Rd and hopped on the tour bus. A bit brisk upstairs
but nothing a light jacket didn't fix. We toured past all the well
known parts of London – Hyde Park, Regent St, Bond St, Piccadilly
etc etc. The tour came with commentary from a local which provided
some interesting background to the areas we were passing through. We
hopped off the bus near Buckingham Palace and walked down the
Birdcage and through St. James's Park to The Mall. We were lucky
enough to catch part of the “Changing of the Guard” ceremony
which happens every day at 11:00am. We ducked up to the Palace for a
look, along with about 3000 of our closest friends, and then strolled
back down The Mall to Trafalgar Square. Unfortunately the Square was
closed to normal folks as it was being prepared for tomorrow's Canada
Day celebrations. Bugger! After a quick lunch we picked up a guided
Harry Potter tour (part of the bus ticket) around the area near
Trafalgar Square. The chap was entertaining taking us to the various
streets and alleys where the movies were shot. Emily enjoyed being in
Diagon Alley. After the tour it was back on the bus to get to Hyde
Park. In hindsight I think a 20 minute walk would have been better
use of our time. Anyway we got to Hyde Park and strolled up The
Broadwalk to get to our objective – Speaker's Corner. Today is
Sunday so they were out in force. Mostly religious evangelists with a
smattering of others giving us all the benefit of their political
insights. We spent some time listening to various speakers from, or
supporting, the Occupy London movement. After all the worldwide press
last year it reminded me a little of the coliseum scene in Life of
Brian – Q: What ever happened to the Popular Front of Judea? A:
That's him over there. I still don't quite know what they were all on
about at Speaker's Corner.
It was getting late so we headed to
Marble Arch subway and caught the Tube back to Victoria. Stopped in
for a frothy at St. George's Tavern on Belgrave Rd. It had been the
hottest day in Britain this year reaching a scorching 27 degrees!
Dinner was from a take-away souvlaki place and then, once again,
asleep before the sun went down. Emily was up at 1am to login into
the Melbourne Uni student portal to lock in her classes and times for
next semester. The effort was worthwhile as she got everything she
was planning for. Wi-fi works best downstairs in reception so she
must have looked a bit strange to some late-comers sitting on the
stairs in the wee hours tapping away on her phone. Tomorrow we're off
to Oxford.
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