Paddling my kayak alone, day three

Sunday mornings in London always start slower for me. Usually, I stay out late on Saturday evenings, photographing the beautiful London night. I like to sleep in on Sunday mornings, paying homage to the Grosvenor House bed monster.

Once I got up and around, I decided to head to the Sunday morning art market that runs along Bayswater Street. Not much had changed from the February market, except the artist I was looking for wasn’t there! I was so disappointed. From there, I decided to soak up the beautiful London weather in Hyde Park. It was seriously a beautiful day – the whole weekend was beautiful. I bought an ice cream cone from a vendor, and I sat for hours, legs stretched out, watching the families and children enjoy the beautiful day. It was so relaxing. I just wanted to stay out there forever.

From Hyde Park, I caught a bus and headed to Westminster Cathedral – there is a difference. It’s beautiful, too, but not quite as stately or ostentatious as Westminster Abby. It was nearing time for vespers though, so the bells were ringing. From there, I walked back towards Victoria Station and headed off in the direction of Buckingham Palaca, hoping to jog my memory from my layover in London. I found the Royal Mews, but nothing else looked familiar. After visiting Buckingham Palace, I walked along the mall through St. James Park, which is quite a bit larger than I thought. It’s an interesting walk along the path though – many beautiful buildings.

As I made my way to Westminster, with hopes of watching the sunset over the Thames, I encountered a writer who stopped me to talk about how I had the most positive energy surrounding me. We chatted for awhile – photographer to writer, and I continued on my way. I bought postcards from a vendor, found a bench in front of County Hall, and spent another hour, soaking up the beauty of everything. From there, I decided to head down to the Tower of London, another beautiful place to sit and enjoy. I love the Tower Bridge, and on late Sunday afternoon, it seems like you have the place to yourself. Lovely.

As the night started to cool down, I hopped on a bus to St. Paul’s. It was completely deserted. Rarely will you ever be able to stand in front of this beautiful structure and feel as if you are the only person in the whole world experiencing its beauty. I made it Trafalgar Square (again) as the sky was beginning to turn purple, and I watched twilight overcome Big Ben in the distance. Beautiful, beautiful moment.

It was time to look for dinner by then, so I hopped on a bus until I found Chinatown. I proceeded to follow my nose from place to place until I had my fill of Asian street foods. I must have walked miles that day, but never even felt them pass. I decided to call it an “early” night, stopping off at a grocery for my last bit of chocolate before retiring to the hotel around 10:00.

London is such a beautiful city, because the old favourites are always standing strong, tried and true, but there are always new neighborhoods to explore. This time it was Chinatown. Last time it was Seven Dials. One day I’ll make it to all the places in London – or perhaps I won’t. That way, I’ll always have a reason to return. I did a lot of thinking on this trip and I made a lot of decisions about my personal life.

There’s no better place for contemplation than a park in London when it’s 70 degrees and sunny.

Oh, beautiful world.

Paddling my kayak alone, London Day 2

Saturday morning, I woke up feeling well rested and ready to take on another day in London. First order of business: a memory card! I decided to head to Piccadilly Circus, because I figured I would be able to find something there since the tourists are out in droves. I found an independently owned photo shop, and I chatted it up with the owner. He knew my camera and told me a lot of things about it – then he showed me what he had in the way of memory cards. 40 pounds later, I had a 2 gig memory card. OUCH. I have learned to never make that mistake again.

However, he was a kind soul, and I felt better patronizing a local business. He even took a couple of pictures of me with my camera to show some different features and lighting.

My second stop was, of course, Leicester Square, for Saturday evening theater tickets. Again, I got hosed, lol. They advertised the tickets as being discounted, but the price I paid was higher than the face value. GRRRRR. I ended up with tickets to Sister Act, which was schedule to open a week later at the Palladium theater – another massive theater by London standards. I did get a good seat though – row L, front and center.

My third stop was Waterstones books, on a mission for the lovely Julie. Her daughter, Ava, loves the Ladybug books, and apparently they are really expensive in the US. They are 2-3 pounds in the UK, so Julie sent me a laundry list of the books she wanted for Ava. Two stores later, I had collected all of them. I decided to wander down Oxford Street to get back to my hotel, and there was a festival going on for the release of Night at the Museum. It was crazy! There was a parade and vendors and TONS of people. It was fun to see how caught up it everyone got, though it made navigating the streets a little difficult.

From there, I dropped off the books at the hotel and decided to head to Kensington Palace and Gardens. I had walked through this area on my first trip to London and embracing my inner nostalgia, I decided to head back. It was a beautiful day in London, and I wanted to be outside, soaking it all up! The gardens were BEAUTIFUL, and I loved photographing the beautiful flowers. There were also a few sweet old couples muttering sweet nothings to each other, so I just sat and watched. What a beautiful moment to share. You just wonder what their stories are and how they ended up there, too. At least, I do. ;-) I did spend quite a bit of time trying to stay far, far away from the bees though. They were out in numbers! I guess they enjoy beautiful weather, too.

I headed back to the hotel to rest my feet and get ready for the show. I always have a hard time remembering that London has a 7:30 curtain time for most shows. I headed down Regent Street to find an Italian restaurant that was written up in my guidebook, but I couldn’t find the side street for the life of me. I decided to see what was around the Palladium, and guess what I found? Wait for it… Bella Italia, again. I realized that I was probably bordering on the absurd visiting the same restaurant again, but they had outdoor seating and I knew the food was good. So, away I went. I did decide to order something different this time – I ordered their pizza, and it was excellent! Light and tasty, just like Italy! After dinner, I had a bit of time to kill, so I headed to the Apple store to check my email for free and ponder the beautiful iMac.

Sister Act was absolutely nothing like the movie with none of the same music – that was disappointing. BUT, as a standalone show, it was AWESOME. The cast was PHENOMENAL. The woman who played Delores, played by Patina Miller, had a set of pipes. She was SO talented. She is going to go FAR, trust me. It was a really fun show with beautiful sets and costumes, though it was inappropriate in the way that only British musicals can be inappropriate. It worked though – the show was excellent. I don’t know if it will make it to Broadway or not, but the London theatre scene LOVED it. They were on their feet before curtain calls even started. It’s been a while since I’ve been to a show that was as well received as Sister Act. The notable exception being Guys and Dolls, but the critics HATED that. It may not have any humdingers, but it’s still an entertaining show, once.

After the musical, I boarded a bus for Westminster Abby for my evening photo rounds. Unfortunately, I seemed to get off at the wrong stop, so I had quite a trek. Luckily, I know my way around fairly well, and I managed to get over there. I spent awhile taking pictures of Big Ben, wandering on both sides of Westminster Bridge. A guy and I made eyes at each other, but I started to get uncomfortable, so I headed off. He was probably a nice enough lad, but I was just dubious. I’m so not that girl. I don’t do well with it, at all.

I hopped on a bus shortly after midnight to head back to the hotel, knowing that the fountains at Trafalgar Square usually turn off at midnight. I stopped again at the Tesco Station and bought chocolate to enjoy back in my room. When I arrived at the hotel, there was clearly a big event going on – men in tuxes and women in the most gorgeous evening gowns I’ve ever seen. I pondered going to sit in the hotel bar and people watching, but I decided I really didn’t have the appropriate attire, so I retired for the night. Another beautiful day in London… and beautiful men before bed to boot! ;-)

London 2009 -- Day Three

Sunday started late with breakfast at Prêt a Manger. I had hoped to visit an outdoor art market that I had read about, so we headed down Bayswater Road along Hyde Park until we found the artists peddling their wares. Having seen a small handful of street artists in Florence, I was unprepared for the number of artists that we were out in full force on that beautiful Sunday morning. There were photographers, painters, watercolorists, clockmakers, and every sort of artist in between stretching from Hyde Park to Kensington Gardens. I loved walking along seeing their pieces, longing to take the largest and most beautiful home with me, but knowing how impractical it was. Given that I had difficulty finding an ATM, I didn’t bring anything home with me. :-\ Sad.

From there, we headed up to Oxford Street for some window shopping which morphed into Tottenham Court road (another HP reference for some of you!) before heading to the National Portrait Gallery to meet Todd. We didn’t end up finding him, so we ventured into the museum on our own. It’s one of the free gems in London, though on that Sunday afternoon, someone was a little overzealous with the heater. It was quite uncomfortable. We did manage to visit a few old friends in the museum though.

After the museum, Mary Beth and I headed to the Texas Embassy just off Trafalgar Square for chips and salsa before she had to head back to Leeds. The Texas Embassy, though not the best Tex-Mex food, holds a special place in my heart when I get homesick while abroad. It’s a big restaurant with all sorts of Texas memorabilia scattered throughout. A little piece of Texas in London. A little bit of trivia for you – the Texas Embassy restaurant actually exists in the same place that the Texas Embassy actually existed when Texas was its own entity. Previous occupants of the building also included White Star Shipping Line, infamous for the ill-fated Titanic.

Mary Beth headed to the train station around 4, leaving me to wait for Todd to determine how to spend our last night in London. We headed out in search of a pub and ended up at Ye Grapes in Mayfair where we watched soccer and had a few drinks. From there, I convinced Todd that we had to go visit the sites at night, as he hadn’t truly experienced the beauty of Big Ben yet. We tried to take the Underground, but the lines we needed were shut down, so we hopped in a cab.

We ended up having a late dinner at Locale, an Italian restaurant in Westminster, not far from where we had lunch on Friday. I ordered the basil pizza, and it was very much like the pizzas I had ordered in Italy. Thin crust, light cheese, light toppings, very flavorful. I really enjoyed it. Todd also seemed to really enjoy his pasta, as there was none left by the end of the meal. (Lots of Italian food this weekend, I know.)

We grabbed the subway up to Tower Hill, so I could photograph Tower Bridge at night. It was a little eerie to wander around the Tower of London at night, but the bridge was absolutely beautiful. I really enjoyed seeing it all lit up in the evening. We stayed up there for awhile, but decided to head back to Grosvenor House before the Underground stopped running.

Overall, it was a very laid back trip without too much excitement. The highlights for me were definitely seeing The Sound of Music, the long leisurely dinner with two good friends, and photographing London at night. London is such a beautiful city, I’m not sure I’ll ever get tired of it.

More pictures can be found on my photoblog, or I can send you the whole collection on Kodak. :)