Ploughing through the snow in London - COMPLETED 3/15! About This Page:

[Colexis Mom]

Another great update Cheryl Love the picture Dave took of you and Mark

More please

[chezp]

Ploughing through the snow in London – part seven: one last lucky Eeyore!

Other sights we went past included Hyde Park, Marble Arch, the US Embassy, the Hard Rock Café (they even had a stop by that sight – as Dave pointed out! ) Then it was into the very posh Kensington and Knightsbridge area and past famous department stores like Harvey Nichols and Harrods, past the Victoria and Albert and Natural History Museums and then by the Royal Albert Hall. That brought back some fond memories of a few weeks earlier, when we had seen the Cirque du Soleil show Dralion there.


Hyde Park

Speakers’ Corner at Hyde Park

Marble Arch

Hmmm… I wonder which famous London store this could be?

”It’s not cold up here at all!

The Royal Albert Hall

Kensington Palace can just be seen through the trees

A typical London sight – black cab and red phone boxes!

By the time we saw Kensington Palace through the trees, I finally figured that we must be on the blue tour route, which is a lot longer than the red route. OK, no problem, so we’re on the bus, it’ll just keep running until it reaches the end of the route, I thought. Wrong, well partially right, as we would find out later.

Not long after Kensington Palace, I quit sitting upstairs. I had already wimped out and moved to the front of the top floor, as then I’d be behind glass, but even that wasn’t helping to warm me up and I could take no more. I joined Jennifer and Alexander, who were looking a lot warmer than me and we both wondered how long it would take the guys to retreat downstairs as well. About five minutes later, our question was answered when they appeared!

As we came back round Marble Arch for the second time, my other thought about where the bus route would end was answered, as we were told that everyone needed to get off. Aah… OK, not where I expected to finish up, but close. We can improvise. The target was Hamley’s toy store, which is in Regent Street. Marble Arch is at the other end of Oxford Street, London’s premier shopping street. Well, faced with this situation, what else is a girl to do, but direct everyone to walk all the way along Oxford Street… and hey, there’s a store along there that I wouldn’t mind going into!

Before we got there, we had to stop off at a Starbuck’s to get something warm inside us. I really had the chills from the inside, I’d got so cold. I should’ve given up seating upstairs on that bus at an earlier stage, but I was determined to sit and take photos instead. One day I will learn to be sensible… A hot chocolate later and I was good to go again and we were off – to the Disney Store!

As I walked into the Disney Store, I spotted a new Eeyore beanie and pounced – he was mine! Just as well I did pounce, because once I had him in my hands, I noticed that he was the only one there. Just think – a few seconds later and I could’ve missed him. It doesn’t bear thinking about! With him safely secured, I wandered around the shop, but couldn’t really see anything else much I wanted. Jennifer grabbed a couple of Pooh beanies, dressed in traditional English costumes – I know one was dressed as a Beefeater and we bought him for our niece a while back and that is one cute beanie.

I insisted on grabbing a photo of her and Alexander by the big Beefeater bear they had near the entrance before we left:



Then a quick stop ensued at one of our big department stores for Alexander – and again, this toilet had won awards! I tell you, over here, a lot of them have. It’s a big improvement on the situation 20 years or so ago!

From there, we continued walking down Oxford Street and then headed into Regent Street and on to Hamley’s. Now this is one cool store, especially for those of you with kids. Even for those of you without kids, it’s pretty fun as well, as you can behave like a kid once you’re in there – as evidenced by Mark as soon as we walked in. They had a display of what looked like some form of cuddly toy animals, but when you clapped your hands by them, they came to life and started to vibrate and giggle. I guess one on its own wouldn’t have been too bad, but put 60 or so together and they made a racket! Mark had great fun with those – and succeeded in making Jennifer jump on more than one occasion!

Next: no children in a “family” pub?

[BritDisFan]

Great update, it looks freezing on the top deck of that bus. I'm glad you got your Eeyore beanie .

Karen

[HiddenMickey]

Cheryl--
This is bringing back so many great memories. The kids and I did the Big Bus tour three years ago and loved the commentary and riding up top. We did get off at the Hard Rock Cafe and had lunch there. What a great way to get around town. We got off at several places and hopped on another bus after touring. Love that.

We did the Tower of London when DH could be with us and your tour reminded me of things I had forgotten...like the residential area and how we couldn't get pictures in some areas. We saw a couple great "shows"...one about stealing the jewels from the tower and another about using weapons. We used the children's tour which gave us some things to look at and information we would have missed if we had just wandered around. Next time you take someone, ask for the children's tour guide booklet before you get started.

We also visited Hamley's after a very long walk down Oxford as well!

-HiddenMickey

[Jillybean]

I cannot believe this is all in ONE day! You are amazing tour guides and the pictures are gorgeous!

Jill

[GoofyMom]

Cheryl, this report is fantastic! I am definitely going to make DD read it before her trip next month!

[LizardCop]

Man!!!!! I'm gettin' wore out just readin'

Lots to do and lots to see, and the report and pictures are great !!!!

[loobyoxlip]

What great pictures, Cheryl. Thanks again

[Tara O'Hara]

Great updates and gorgeous pictures, Cheryl!! I love the one of you and Celery's friend that Dave took!!

[Colexis Mom]

Another great update and pictures Cheryl Thank goodness you rescued that Eeyore I'm sure he's very comfortable in your house

[chezp]

Ploughing through the snow in London – part eight: no children in a “family” pub?

When we came out of Hamley’s, we all agreed that we were tired – and tired of walking. The next stop was to be a proper English pub (or so we thought! ) and we figured the easiest way to get there would be to hail a cab. Hmmmm… now usually finding a black cab in London is no problem, but I will confess that I’ve never tried to do this on a Friday night and trust me, it does make a difference. Every black cab we saw was already taken, so we kept an eye out for one as we walked down to Piccadilly Circus. We had no luck on the way, but I was able to get some superb shots of Piccadilly Circus:




The final shot shows Eros, the famous statue in Piccadilly Circus

We still couldn’t see a cab anywhere so we walked a little further and then stood and waited, all of us keeping an eye out for a taxi which had its light on, indicating it was ready to pick up passengers. Eventually we managed to grab one and I told him where we were heading. “Oh, that’s only a couple of minutes away”, the driver told me. Still, we decided we’d rather walk than drive and jumped in.

We kept joking that he’d stop about 100 yards down the road and obviously the driver heard this and did indeed pull into the side of the road at one point and joked that we were there! It was a couple of minutes drive, but it would’ve probably taken us about 10 – 15 minutes to walk there, so grabbing a taxi ended up being a good choice.

I was amazed as we drove by Trafalgar Square at the sight that greeted us. There was an illuminated tent with a 10 foot replica of an athlete – all part of London’s bid to host the 2012 Olympics. It all looked pretty impressive and I couldn’t resist getting a photo of it:



Nelson’s column with a red London bus passing behind it!

This was where the nightmare of finding somewhere to eat dinner began. I knew Dave wanted to sample a real English pub, so he’d have something to compare the Rose and Crown to in the future and I’d done a lot of research on the Internet, looking at reviews of pubs in London. Eventually I’d settled on one along Whitehall. It was a Wetherspoon’s, which is quite a big chain of pubs over here. As we walked in, we saw a notice saying “family area at the rear of the pub”

So imagine my shock when one of the bar staff stopped me as we walked through. I was behind Jennifer, who was pushing Alexander in the stroller and the woman just said to me “no children at this time” I couldn’t believe what I’d just heard, but I was furious as well. No matter how good this pub, I wasn’t going to give them our custom if they were going to behave like that!

We all trouped outside and Mark ran over the road to check out a couple of pubs. The first had a similar un-child friendly policy, but he beckoned us over to the second place he went into. It was very busy, very loud and pretty smoky, but there was a non-smoking area at the back, so we made our way through there and settled down to start looking at the menu. I was still conscious of the smoke and I wasn’t the only one. Jennifer mentioned it as well and we decided that meant we wouldn’t enjoy our meal, so we’d go somewhere else. Except where?

We tried another pub round the corner and were told they’d stopped serving food. We walked dejectedly down towards Trafalgar Square, Mark and I trying desperately to work out where else we could try. We half thought about Covent Garden, but by now, it was heading towards 9.00 on a Friday night and we figured the place would be packed. As we stood there, trying to think what to do next, we spotted a chain restaurant called Garfunkel’s. I’ve heard of it, but have never been to one and didn’t have a clue what it was like – or even if it would do anything for vegetarians, so Mark went to investigate the menu and we decided to go for it. I think we were all so hungry that passing pedestrians would soon be in danger of becoming our dinner if we didn’t eat soon!

I will honest – this place was not the best and it certainly wasn’t what I’d call a great example of British cuisine. Jennifer and Dave! We shared a prawn cocktail (to at least give them an idea of what one is really like – it’s not how they serve it at the Rose and Crown! ) and some breaded mushrooms. I know I had salmon for main course – and there were a couple of mixed grills in the order, but I don’t fully recall what everyone else had. Mark and I concluded later that everything had been coated in oil during the cooking process anyway – even my salmon hadn’t got away!

Despite the below par food, the company more than made up for it and Mark even ended up looking after Alexander towards the end of the meal:



You see, that’s what happens dear, if you’re the first to finish! We were so busy chatting away that I barely noticed the time and then finally realised it was about 10.40 and we should really be heading towards the tube. It had been a long time (probably about 10 years) since I’d be out in London this late and I couldn’t remember how late the tubes ran. I suspect they go way past midnight, but I didn’t want to risk getting stranded, so we all jumped in a cab and Jennifer and Dave kindly dropped us off at Westminster tube station.

We’d had a great day with them, although it had been long and exhausting – still, I think we managed to show them as much of London as we could in the time. The next time you come back though guys, please do allow more time here!

We waited about ten minutes for a train – the service today on the underground had not been good and when one turned up, it was really busy. We were back at the car by about 11.20 and home just a little after midnight – a full 19 hours after we left the house! Strangely enough, we were in bed just a few minutes later and had no problems sleeping….!

[BritDisFan]

Sorry you had trouble in the pubs, how weird for that Wetherspoons pub to not allow children in , I thought Wetherspoons generally were family pubs.

What a shame you didn't have a very good meal in Garfunkels, sometimes they are a bit hit and miss. Love the picture of Mark and Alexander .

Thanks for sharing your report with us.

Karen

[Colexis Mom]

How sad that they don't allow children in the pubs after a certain hour Sorry Dave couldn't eat the "real thing".

Great report Cheryl (as usual)! Loved all the pictures, and so glad you all had a great time Thanks for sharing

[HiddenMickey]

Great report! Sounds like you all had a wonderful day. Thank you for taking the time to share it with us....and especially for the picture taking. Great!

PS We also found that finding a place to eat dinner in London proper was one of our hardest chores each day, with kids.

-HiddenMickey

[GoofyMom]

Thank you for such a great read, Cheryl! You guys really packed a whole lot of London into only one day! I hope DD accomplishes that much in the 5 days she has there!