It’s Tuesday and my second full day in London. I arrived on Sunday afternoon without incident and got an immediate reality check: I’m in the big city now. I knew this, of course, but after Bath’s charm and easy pace I had to give myself an attitude adjustment as I trekked along typical city grit to my lodgings which turned out to be on the 16th floor.
My apartment/room is the antithesis of my circa 1726 room in Bath. This one is in a modern high rise with sleek furnishings and a bewildering series of touch pad controls for the lights, air, kitchenette appliances, and window shades. It’ll take me my whole two-week stay to sort them out.
I settled in, visited a grocery store for breakfast supplies, and surveyed the immediate area. Depending on which direction you walk, you’ll find either mid-scale pubs and restaurants bordering the Paddington Basin, or a grimy and slightly intimidating stretch of Edgware Road (which follows the straight path of an ancient Roman road). I discovered this latter route early Monday morning on my way to see the Beatles-famous Abbey Road street crossing.
At mid-morning, our group met up with our local coordinator, Toby, for some orientation remarks and a field trip to Notting Hill. Our destination was the Portobello market, but the real purpose was for Toby to get us all comfortable with navigating the tube system, an objective I appreciated. With this mission accomplished, Toby left us on our own to wander the market and navigate ‘home’ on our own. I found the market to be underwhelming, so soon left and walked to and around Hyde Park where Kensington Palace (closed until Wednesday) is situated.
Later, the group met for “welcome drinks.” Someone had inquired about football (soccer) matches. I had researched this on my own already and quickly discerned that tickets to the upcoming Arsenal v Leeds match are to be had only for big bucks on the secondary market. But Toby told us that the English national team is playing Czechia in the Nations League at Wembley Stadium on Oct. 6. Wembley Stadium! Who could resist? Well, none of us could so here we are all trying to navigate the Wembley Stadium website to buy a group-full of tickets. It took some doing and we don’t have great seats, but we’re going! I look forward to big fun.
Today, our group activity was to meet for lunch in Greenwich, home to the Cutty Sark, the Meridian Line, the Naval Observatory, Queens House and more. Getting there tested everyone’s navigation skills; I chose to take the tube to Westminster pier and then catch an “uber” boat the rest of the way. We all ended up there in time for lunch at the Trafalgar Tavern which was a favorite haunt of Charles Dickens.
After a delicious fish & chips meal, a new friend and I toured The Queen’s House, then returned to Paddington, again by boat and tube. That was today (Tuesday). It flew by!
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