Sunday, October 19, 2008
We went to our meetings in Granbury, TX then Cookie and I came back home to Weatherford after Sacrament Meeting and did our final packing. When Bob got home we loaded up the car and headed for DFW International Airport. That is when our troubles really began. I bought Cookie’s plane ticket under the name of “Cookie Hassell”, but her passport was under the name of “Sheron Hassell”. She signed her driver’s license Cookie Hassell even though the name on it was Sheron Hassell because Cookie is her signature. To make a long story short, they had to cancel her airplane ticket and reissue her one under the name of Sheron Hassell. We were finally able to board the airplane and were on our way to London, England!
Monday, October 20, 2008
We arrived at Heathrow International Airport in London, England at 10:30am their time which is six hours ahead of us. We took a taxi to Maidenhead—a little town outside of London. We stopped and went to the bank to change our money ($1 equaled 51¢) and stopped at a store to buy a cell phone to use while in England. Finally the taxi driver took us to our flat and waited. We were on the fourth floor in the attic. It was a nice two bedroom apartment. We were dead tired, but Bob needed to get to work so the taxi driver took Cookie and me to the train station and Bob to his office there in Maidenhead. He charged Bob £100 for the ride from Heathrow to Maidenhead and the stop for the phone and money and to take him to work which was right next to the train station. We bought a day pass so we could ride any train, tube or bus in the London area. The day pass cost £7 each. Cookie and I caught the train to Paddington which is a huge station. Then we took the underground tube to Westminster in London. We bought tickets to tour the city on a double decker bus. It was windy, cloudy and freezing. I sure love seeing the Tower which holds Big Ben which is actually the bell in the tower and not the clock. I love walking down beside the Thames River and seeing all the sights. The public bathrooms were different in England—they cost 30p to 50p to use and they were really clean. We finally caught the tube back to Paddington then the train back to Maidenhead. It was raining by the time we got to Maidenhead. Bob met us at the train station. There were Italian and Oriental restaurants, but we couldn’t find any English. We ate at an Italian restaurant called Francesco’s. Another thing that we noticed that was different in England was their salt and pepper. It was almost powder fine. And they put the salt in the holder with a couple holes and the pepper in the holder with lots of holes. After we ate, we caught a taxi back to our flat and crashed!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Bob got up and went to work. When Cookie and I were ready to go, I called a taxi who took us to get some British pounds then he took us to the Maidenhead train station. We took the train to Paddington. From there we took the tube to Victoria Station in London. For breakfast we got a Pasty—not pastry—of meat, veggies, and mushrooms in a turnover. They were really good. We caught a boat tour down the Thames River to the Tower of London. We ate Fish & Chips in a walk-up café for lunch. Before we got them, we asked a man that was eating some out in front if they were good. He asked us if we wanted to try his. We didn’t, but it was nice of him to offer. They were soooooo good. We fed the birds our chips which are really French fries. We then walked to Trafalgar Square. It was really crowded due to a rock concert that was being held there. We went through the London Art Museum. It was free, but you couldn’t take any pictures. We then walked around the square and took pictures of the big lion statues. We then walked to the London Eye and rode on it. It cost £31 to ride it which translates to $52.28. The London Eye is a huge Ferris wheel that has many pods on it that you ride in. Each pod holds about 40 people. You can walk around in it or just sit. It was built and started for the start of Y2K. It hasn’t stopped since it started. That was fantastic. I’d ridden it before, but Cookie hadn’t. After that we walked to Westminster Station. We caught the Circle Line tube to Paddington, but missed our stop at Paddington so caught the District Line tube back to Paddington then caught the National Line train back to Maidenhead. Bob met us at the train station. We went to dinner at the Noodle Bar. Mine was really good, but Bob and Cookie didn’t like what they got. We then caught a taxi back to our apartment. Cookie and I walked 5.52 miles that day.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
It was a pretty, but cold day so Cookie and I walked to the train station in Maidenhead. We took the train to Slough then changed trains for Windsor. We walked around Windsor then went on a tour through Windsor Castle. The Queen was in residence that day. Afterwards we ate at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen. I got a regular cheese burger and Cookie got a Jamaican burger. The French Fries were great, but we ordered a green garlic mayo to dip them in and it was really GARLIC. Those were the most expensive burgers I have ever eaten! It cost £25.45 which translates to $41.16. We then took the trains back to Maidenhead. Bob met us at the station then we all took a taxi back to our flat. We were tired. We didn’t go out to eat. Cookie and I walked 3.26 miles that day.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Bob didn’t have to go to work on Thursday. We walked to the train station, took it to Paddington then took the tube to Embankment Station. From there we went to the Tower of London and ate Fish & Chips again. They are sooo good. We also got tarts at Paul’s. We then caught the tube going to Monument station then changed to Holburn Station. There we went to the London Museum. Bob really liked it. We did get to see the Rosetta Stone which I’d never even heard of. From there we took a bus to Trafalgar Square then walked to Piccadilly Circus which isn’t really a circus, but sorta an intersection. We bought tickets to Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre. The tickets cost £120 which translates to $192.74. We couldn’t believe that we were actually going to see Phantom of the Opera live in London at Her Majesty’s Theatre! We then took the tube back to Westminster to see the Abby, but missed the last tour so took the bus back to Piccadilly Circus and ate at Pizza Hut. From there we walked over to the theater. We had excellent seats. The theater was beautiful, the orchestra was spectacular and we loved the play. Afterwards we rode the tube and train back to Maidenhead. It was after midnight before we got home. We walked 5.11 miles that day.
Friday, October 24, 2008
We packed up our apartment in Maidenhead and walked to the train station dragging our suitcases. We caught the National train to Paddington then the tube to King’s Cross to leave one of Bob’s suitcases at the station in a locker. We got sandwiches at “The Upper Crust”. They were so good. We then caught a train to Edinburgh (pronounced Ed-in-bra), Scotland. It took 4 ½ hours to get there and was very cold and rainy. We walked to The Old Waverly Hotel and got a room which was extremely nice and it included a nice breakfast. It cost a little over $300 for the two nights. After we left our stuff in our room, we walked to the Rose Street Pub for dinner. We had Tomato Soup to start with. Then it was followed by a Minced Meat and Onion Pie with Mash. It was good. We then went back to our room for the night. We walked 2.35 miles that day.
Saturday, October 25, 2008 (Grandma Bell’s 80th birthday & Trish’s 62nd birthday)
We had a very good breakfast at the hotel. It was still VERY COLD, Windy and Rainy. We took a tour bus around town. We couldn’t go up to the castle because of the wind. We got off the tour bus at the top of the Royal Mile and walked down looking in all the shops. It was very interesting. Then we took a bus to the ocean, but couldn’t see much so went back to the Royal Mile. We ended up eating at Alde Hundred. The food was so good and different. When we got back to our room that evening, Bob went to plug in my battery charger and POOF he blew the lights out and burnt up my battery charger. Our room was pitch black. Luckily Cookie and Bob had both brought flashlights. Bob went down to the desk to see what they could do. The maintenance man was home sick so the desk clerk tried to find the circuit breaker, but couldn’t so we spent the night in the dark. We walked 4.6 miles that day. The people in Scotland were so nice. You couldn’t have asked for nicer people. And the food was good and the prices were reasonable.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
We got up early, packed, and ate a good breakfast of haggis, scrambled eggs, grapefruit, mandarin oranges, bacon, sausages, tomatoes and mushrooms. After breakfast we caught a bus to New Castle. From there we caught a train back to Kings Cross. We then changed for St. Pancres so we could take the Eurostar to France, but it was TOO expensive (they wanted $1,200) so we went back to Kings Cross. From there we were going to take the tube to Euston then down to Embankment. Bob and I got on the tube in Euston, but Cookie just got her suitcase in the door and it closed on her hand. She mouthed to us that she would catch the next train. Well that was ok, but what station would she get off at to meet us? I thought that she would get off at Charing Cross, but Bob thought she would go to Embankment. So I got off at Charing Cross and waited for the next train. Sure enough, Cookie got off at Charing Cross. We both got back on the tube and road to Embankment where we met Bob. That was scary! All of us then went to Victoria Station and caught a train to Dover, England. We arrived in Dover around 7pm. We got a room at Norman’s Bed & Breakfast which was in walking distance from the train station. It only cost £75 a night. It was nice and the owners were really nice. We walked into town to try to find something to eat. Most everything was closed because it was Sunday. We finally found a McDonald’s that was open. Afterwards we walked back to our room and went to bed. We only walked 1.81 miles that day.
Monday, October 27, 2008
We got up and ate a typical British breakfast: a sunnyside up egg, two rashes of bacon (slices of ham), two sausages, a poached tomato, and beans. After breakfast we left our suitcases there and just took our backpacks. We then caught a bus to the SeaFrance ferry which took us across the English Channel. It was really neat to look back at the White Cliffs of Dover. We arrived in Calias, France and ate French Onion soup at a nice little restaurant then took a train to Lille and then another train on into Paris. It was raining and was cold. We had to walk a ways to our hotel, the Mercure Austerlitz. We rented our hotel room when we first got to France. We were told that it was close by, but it wasn’t. AND the room wasn’t that great, but cost €407 which translates to $527.37 for two nights and it didn’t include breakfast! The people were very unhelpful. The rain let up so we walked to Chez lili et Marcel for dinner. We spent the rest of the evening in our room. We watched “Fantastic 4” in French. We walked 4.23 miles that day.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Our hotel didn’t have a breakfast so we found a café and had a quiche. Then we caught the metro into Paris near the Eifel Tower. We took a bus tour all day long getting off and on at various locations including Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Eifel Tower. We wanted to go to the Louvre, but it is closed on Tuesdays. For lunch we ate at the Buffet La Gare. We had hard roll sandwiches and later had a pastry for a snack. For dinner we went to a really nice restaurant called Le Malakoff near the Eifel Tower. We then went back to our hotel and watched TV in French. One thing that was different in France—the girls and boys used the same bathrooms in public places! We walked 3.39 miles that day.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008 (Charles’ 24th birthday)
We caught the metro in Paris then took a train to Calias where we ate French Onion Soup again. Then we waited for two hours for the SeaFrance ferry back to Dover. We stayed at the Norman Bed & Breakfast again. We ate dinner of Fish & Chips at a local restaurant. It was too cold to stay out and sightsee so we watched TV all evening. We walked 3.03 miles.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
We had a British breakfast at the bed & breakfast in Dover then caught the train to London’s King’s Cross. We then took the tube and bus to the Heathrow Marriott. It cost us $495.97 for two nights, but it was a lousy room. We had stayed there four years earlier and had a wonderful room. We left all our stuff at the hotel then rode the bus and tube to Piccadilly Square then transferred to Oxford Circle. We ate at Garfunkel’s then went to the stage play of “The Sound of Music”. It was very good. It cost £107 for us to see it which translates to $174.32. The orchestra leader reminded us so much of Tonia. Afterwards we rode the tube and bus back to Heathrow. It was really cold. We walked 4.39 miles that day.
Friday, October 31, 2008 (Halloween)
Bob left for Dallas that morning. He had to go home a day early due to him having to teach his SMU class—he’d forgotten about it. After he left, Cookie and I got ready to go into London. We took a bus to the underground then road the tube to Harrod’s. It is a very famous department store, but we found out that it was a VERY expensive department store. It is large and several stories high. We just went in one door and exited another. From there we went back to Tower Hill and found a nice teapot set for Grandma for her 80th birthday. Then we bought some Fish & Chips at our favorite place and headed back to our hotel in Heathrow. It was dark by 5pm when we got back to the Marriott and we were exhausted. We watched TV all evening and packed for going home. Cookie and I had walked 3.37 miles that day.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Cookie and I went downstairs after we checked out of our room and ordered a cab. It cost us £10 to ride to the airport. After we got checked in through security and all that, we ate an early lunch then caught our plane for the good old US of A. It was nice flying during the day. Bob met us at the airport at DFW and took us back to Weatherford. We thought we had beat the jet lag stuff because we stayed up when we got home. We thought that would help, but it didn’t. Sure enough, at 3am we were wide awake. It took us a week to get back on schedule.
No comments:
Post a Comment