We're Here! And it is COLD!

Tuesday, February 12, 2012

Hello!

Well, here we are, back blogging – seems such a long time, and as I’m falling asleep on my feet here, I’m trying to remember and keep to my resolution of posting EVERY night!  So…the travel part:  We left Tucson about 2 p.m. on Sunday, heading to Phoenix for the night.  Our rental car this time was a screaming RED Ford MUSTANG…difficult to get into and out of, but fairly fun to drive!  Checked in to the Best Western Papago Inn, Scottsdale, left our things and headed to our favorite Phoenix restaurant, Blue Coyote Grill in Scottsdale.  We got there about 4:30 p.m. and had a great dinner.  Robert had two chilis stuffed with shrimp, and I had their pork adobo; very good!  They definitely have the best chips and salsa in Phoenix!  Then straight back to the hotel (stopping momentarily for gas) and to bed before 9 p.m. 

Up before 5, turned the car in and were at the airport about 6 a.m.  Absolutely NO people in the security line, and we were through in seconds – my favorite kind of security line!  Our flight to Newark was on time, departing about 8:15 a.m. and arriving EARLY!  We had about four hours before our continuing flight to Birmingham, but it seemed to go fairly quickly.  We had great salads – mine was chicken Caesar; Robert’s was a tex-mex combination.  Then headed toward the next gate for the wait.  Met some Brits to help pass the time – very funny couple; very nice.  I was also able to get Maggie (my iPad) re-charged. 

Flight to Newark very interesting – NOT a wide-body airplane!  However, it was a new plane – three seats across either side of the main aisle.  We had row 8 A & C, which was the second row in Economy Plus – and nobody came to sit between us, which made it terrific and very comfortable for the flight over!  Great entertainment; lots of options.  We both watched some Big Bang Theory, then I watched Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones in Hope Springs (okay…) and Robert finally was able to watch Lincoln, which he loved.  He said that Daniel Day Lewis was incredible, and that the movie was great; not sure if it is a “Margaret”-rated movie, though…We both tried to re-watch Argo, but both of us changed channels, as it is SUCH a suspenseful movie!  For some reason, the flight time from Newark was less than 6 hours!!!  It almost didn’t feel like we were heading overseas!!   Arrived half-hour early, and headed out into a very nice but small airport.  We were through customs in literally minutes, and once we had our bags, our next mission was to get to the flat we’ve rented in Chelsea, London.

To be honest, it was a bit cryptic on some of the websites about getting from the airport to London, but we did manage to figure it out.  Fortunately for us, we pre-booked our two tickets to Euston station, London – making the fare £8 apiece – an unrestricted ticket cost £95  – UnREAL!  As it was such a price hike to buy tickets on the spot, I had reserved our seats a couple of days ago, but  just thought I’d ask…as it turns out, had we not pre-booked tickets, it would have cost us a minimum of £42 EACH to get to London!  What a rip-off! 

Since I had no idea how long it would take us to get through customs, immigration and luggage at Birmingham, I booked the train tickets for 10:05 a.m.  As it was, we were ready to go about  7:30 a.m. – but as our tickets were for a specific train, we decided to just wait and catch it.  We had some breakfast at the airport, and then boarded our milk train to London.  Have to admit that we did stop at lots of places along the way – Rugby, Northampton, Bletchley, Coventry – but finally reached Euston about 12:17 p.m.  Schlepped out to the taxi queue – lots of taxis, so it worked brilliantly!  Literally didn’t have to wait more than a minute or two!   

Apparently there was something Royal taking place in town, which made getting from one side to the other a bit dicey – lots and lots of traffic, but as this is London, what else is new?  Finally delivered to 20 Oakley Street, Chelsea, our home for the next week.

The property manager’s son, Hugo, met us outside and helped us in with the luggage.  We’re on the second floor (3^rd U.S.) in a small flat.  There is a bedroom, bathroom with a huge tub, and a large room for living/dining/kitchen.  All in all, meets our needs and is in a great area to boot!  Unpacked and put everything away, then decided that showers would be a good idea.  It feels SOOOOOO good to be clean!!  Then out and down King’s Road to the local Tesco (an English supermarket) for some supplies.

Got Kleenex, cereal, milk, oatmeal, tangerines and bananas – we should be set for the next few breakfasts!  Back to drop things at the flat, and out again, this time to sightsee…hmmm…first, it’s COLD, but that is no doubt a comment you’ll be hearing frequently; temp around 32 degrees F…which translates to FREEZING to me!

Walked up King’s Road first, towards Sloane Square.  Years ago we had stayed all around Sloane Square, and thought we would get a glass of wine at our favorite Sloane Square place, Oriel.  Well…first, a short detour down Bywater Street, which anybody who is a John Le Carre or George Smiley fan, knows is where George and Lady Ann live.  From there, just a few blocks to Sloane Square – and – HORRORS!  Oriel is GONE!  It had been there for YEARS!!  There is now a French restaurant in the same place, but it is NOT the same!  So…decided to head to South Kensington area, which we know very well.  (Note:  We both almost got obliterated by a B-I-G bus by looking the wrong way when crossing the street!)  Went past the old Michelin Tire Factory and Bibendum restaurant, and stopped at PJ’s for some glasses of red wine.  It was SOOO warm inside, that we decided to seek dinner elsewhere, but it was fun to go back and visit!  Back to our Chelsea neighborhood and down King’s Road to a WONDERFUL Italian restaurant!  Actually run by Italians – you could tell by all the shouting in Italian going on all over the place.  

 

We started by sharing a wonderful Breasola salad with arugula and parmesan cheese; then Robert had fabulous ravioli stuffed with ricotta cheese and spinach.  I had a wonderful grilled chicken breast grilled in lemon juice with roasted potatoes and a green salad.  Everything was great, but we were both really running on empty by this time.  Got the check and back to the flat by a bit before 7 p.m.  Robert already sound asleep, and I’m headed that way myself.  There are actually TWO soccer games on TV tonight –and no DVR to record things!  Oh well, the fun of traveling!

Fading fast now…will have R check my spelling in the morning, download the photos and get a post out…just as long as we can make it to the British Museum by 10 a.m. opening time!!

Much love from London!

m

xxx