We left out of Yanbu at 2 a.m. on Saturday. We hoped to get some sleep, but the flight from Yanbu to Istanbul was so cramped that we couldn’t get comfortable. We did a little better on the flight from Istanbul to London. The old people, I mean. The kids slept hard both legs of the trip. Umrah crowds meant many first time flyers and exasperated flight attendants trying to get everyone to sit down while the plane is preparing for take-off.
We arrived at Heathrow around 10 a.m., passed through immigration, collected our bags and headed out into the Terminal 2 main area. Macy was went crazy when Melody from Dr. Who walked into the airport. She’s hard to miss with that hair.
We took the various lifts and escalators down to the Underground Station to catch the tube into the city. The great thing about the tube is that it isn’t the tube all the way. There are several stretches above ground. We got our first visual taste of English architecture, green parks, and industrial areas with right proper graffiti. It grew more crowded as we neared the city, and we took up quite a bit of room with 3 suitcases and a carry on.
We took the tube to the Leicester Square Station. We exited the station according to our flat directions. We turned left and started the luggage train moving along the sidewalk. I missed the turn (the first street we passed). We went back and found the flat. Our host was waiting for us and handed us the keys and asked if we needed anything else. We napped for a short while to recharge. After the long flights and some rest, we were all ready for a shower and thankful for tankless water heaters. We found the nearest fish and chips joint and clogged the arteries a bit. It had recently changed hands, and went from being called London Fish N Chips to Dheel’s Fish and Chips. And it was fabulous.
We then took a short walk along Strand to Trafalgar Square. We took in the Christmas Tree (which the Brits we talked to kept asking what they did to piss off the Norwegians this year for them to provide such a sorry example that had a constant list in the smallest of breezes). We took in Nelson’s Column and the fountains, with Elizabeth Tower in the background. Elizabeth Tower is the official name of the tower most refer to as Big Ben which is actually the bell ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… sorry, dozed off there. Let’s just call it Big Ben and move on. You can look up all that stuff if you want. We took in the street artists (human statues, sidewalk chalk, musicians) and watched some dancers/acrobats perform. The kids really enjoyed the act and Drew got some extra attention from one of the dancers. Made her vacation.
We then walked back towards Leicester square, where a small carnival was set up. We stopped for mulled wine and hot chocolate and discovered carnies are the same the world over. The man and woman in the booth slowed down arguing long enough to take our order, then continued again in earnest while preparing our drinks. Both were giving us furtive glances, looking for confirmation that the other was a crazy as they believed. We took a table close to the booth and people watched for a time. The bickering never stopped.
Living in Saudi Arabia, the biggest hole in our leisure activities is the cinema. We have every movie imaginable available online, but sitting in a dark movie theater with a tub of coke and a barrel of popcorn is something that can’t be had in Kingdom. So, part of our vacation plans includes movie time. We went to the Empire in Leicester Square for the last Hunger Games movie. “Tomorrow, we will execute President Snow.” “Hm.” We took a questionable route back to the flat (the midnight crowd is a little different from the 6 o’clock crowd) and slept great that first night.
Early the next morning, we headed for the Breakfast Club for our second jonesing – pig. Every kind of pork we could find, we ate. Sausage, rashers, streaky rashers, bacon butties; we did it all just for our first breakfast. Throw in the full English for Cade and pancakes for others, we started our first full day in London thoroughly fed. We decided to buy a hop on hop off bus ticket for riding around, so the first stop was the Visitors Centre at Trafalgar. We then walked down Whitehall and cut through the Horse Guard grounds. We watched a few minutes of the changing, then walked on to the Churchill War Rooms. The tour was excellent, with free audio guides. We reemerged and walked around the Treasury building with views of Westminster Abbey, Parliament and Big Ben. Er. Elizabeth Tower. We jumped on the bus and rode until we reached a stop near Leicester Square. We hopped off and went for some warmer clothes. I was still pretty weak, recovering from gastritis about a week before we left, and Greene and the kids were enjoying the bus tour, so we decided to hop back on in the same location and stay on for the entire route. We sat up top for most of the circuit, but the rain got heavier as we approached Trafalgar again. We went down to the lower level to stay dry. When we had finished the circuit, we hopped off again and had a late Italian lunch/dinner in Leicester. We made a quick stop at flat then off on tube to Hyde Park and Winter Wonderland. The kids rode a few rides and we soaked in some more of the carnival atmosphere. We headed back towards the flat, but decided to catch another movie. We watched The Martian in a very nice small theater that had no trash cans (long story). And then we took the longer route back to the flat.
The next morning began with a quick breakfast at…Burger King. It was quick. And they had pork. Don’t judge. We strolled down a slightly different route to get to Westminster Abbey and waited in a fairly short queue for tickets. We spent a few hours listening to the history and visiting the interments and memorials of many historical figures, including Poets’ Corner. Our final site was the Coronation Chair before heading out for a stroll through Green Park to Buckingham Palace. About halfway through the park, the rain started coming down pretty hard. We fought through to snap a few pictures before running for the tube and a shower at the flat. Drew and I walked down to the post office to get some things mailed off. We drew ticket number 104 as we walked in, with the Now Serving displaying 64. We found some seats and watched the bustle of holiday activity. The queue moved very quick, with several open stations and efficient workers.
The girls had tickets for the Nutcracker, and their Houston tradition was to eat at Hard Rock Cafe beforehand. We decided to continue that tradition by eating at the first Hard Rock. We got all dressed up and headed out on the tube. We queued up to get our name on the waiting list. The name-taking lady with short gray hair and the leather Hard Rock Cafe jacket wanted to know where we were from. I said America and was met with the totally British, “That’s a given, lad. Where at in America?” I told her Tennessee and she said she had been to the Gatlinburg Hard Rock. We headed to the Rock Shop to blow some money while we waited. Once seated, we ordered pork with a side of pork, and dessert of pork covered pig. The music was good up until Taylor Swift came on. There’s a time and place for her, but Hard Rock at any time ain’t the place. The kids had a blast with the music and memorabilia, and put up with our stories of Hard Rock London being the coolest shirt you could wear when we were in middle school.
We grabbed a taxi for the ride to the Royal Opera House. The girls were dropped off to enjoy the ballet. Cade and I skipped the short tube ride from Covent to Leicester and walked back towards the flat. We decided to make a visit to Piccadilly Circus before turning in. The crowd was somewhat light and we looked at all the manly shops we could find. We headed back and fell asleep watching Home Alone 2 before the girls got back.
From Tennessee To Texas to Saudi Arabia 