April 5, 2017

Day 7 dawned clear and cool. This would be our last full day in England and we planned to see a few sights of London Towne. After breakfast at the hotel, we piled into the Mercedes for our last trip. Driving in the London metroplex proved to be even more vexing than in Bristol. The roundabouts were more complex and you had to be in the correct lane to exit without mishap. At least once I had to exit from an inner lane without verifying that the next lane was clear. Fortunately it was. Approaching the turnoff to the rental place, I desperately looked for a “petrol station” to fill up the auto. We passed the turnoff and finally found a station a couple of blocks down on the opposite side of the road which was no problem as we had to retrace our path anyway. Though I we had only used a half tank, it cost us £22 to fill up…at least I thought so. When we started back to the rental office, I noticed that we still had an 1/8 of a tank to go. This cost another £17 for a total of £39 or about $50, considerably more than in the US.

I’d like to say a few parting words the the Mercedes - “Good riddance!” I was totally unimpressed with the car in general. The only thing worse than the user interface for the GPS was the fact that it DID NOT WORK! The car handled ok, no better no worse than lower cost cars. The appointments were nothing to write home about. The seats weren’t even fully powered - I had to pull a lever to move backwards and forward which meant that it didn’t self adjust when I shut the engine off making it hard to exit and re-enter. And of course, the diesel engine died when we came to a full stop. Though it restarted with no lag and pulled right off when I hit the accelerator, it was quite unsettling until I got used to it. So much for German craftsmanship. (Nothing against Germans, just the car.) So I’d like to add a few more words - “Never again!”

Dropping off the Mercedes, we were shuttled to our terminal where we proceeded to the Tube station to purchase a day pass. Costing only £12, a real bargain, we were set to ride to our hearts content. Our first destination was the Tower of London, home of the Queen’s Jools! We found our way to the platform where we caught the Piccadilly Line (blue line) to Hammersmith station where we transferred to the District Line (green line) to Tower Hill. You can click on the map for a large version if you really want to get tied up in the detail.

As we emerged from the Tube station, London Tower presented itself just across the road. On my previous trip, I must have taken the North Line from Kings Cross because I wound up on the other side of the river having got off at the London Bridge station. The Tower’s original structure, the White Tower which gives the Tower it’s name, was constructed in 1078 by William the Conqueror. As the Tower expanded, the White Tower became the keep, the refuge of last resort should the rest of the castle fall.  Early in its history it sported a Grand Palace and was the royal residence. It has served many functions over its lifetime - prison, armory, treasury, menagerie, Royal Mint and public records office. However, today it may be best known as the home of the Crown Jewels of England.

As a prison, it has been home to many important figures who had fallen into disgrace including Elizabeth I,  Sir Walter Raleigh and Mary, Queen of Scots. Among the ghosts said to haunt the Tower, the most famous may be Anne Boleyn. Henry VIII’s second wife, he became disenchanted when she would not produce a male air (and he became enchanted with Jane Seymour). She was executed on charges of treasonous adultery and incest (her brother implicated in the misconduct) at age 36.

From the Tower, our next destination was Trafalgar Square. To get there, we boarded the District Line at Tower Hill headed west to the Embankment station where we caught the North Line (black line) to Charing Cross. The Square was named to commemorate the victory by Admiral Lord Nelson over the combined fleets of the French and Spanish at the Battle of Trafalgar. The victory assured that Napoleon would never invade England. Unfortunately, Nelson took a bullet during the action and died shortly after.

From Trafalgar, we passed under the Admiralty Arch and proceeded down The Mall to Buckingham Palace. In 1988, the ¾ mile walk was easy. At 67, twice the age, and with a healing knee, not so much. Eventually we made the distance and gazed upon the Victoria Memorial. For a detailed description of the memorial and surroundings, see my first visit to England here.

As we approached the Palace, John allowed as how he had always wanted to see Big Ben which is located at Westminster. After some discussion, we decided thatthe station at Westminster was just a little further than the nearer St James Park station. With that, we turned down Birdcage Walk and made our way to Westminster. As we stand on the corner of Birdcage and Parliament St, we are presented with the Palace of Westminster with Big Ben, the House of Commons, Westminster Abbey, St Margaret’s Church, all presided over by the looming statue of Sir Winston Churchill. Unfortunately, the day is waning and we have not time to do more than stand in awe. Finally we make our way to Westminster Station which lies on the Piccadilly Line and back to the Hounslow Central station.

Exiting the station, we decided it was late enough to eat dinner. And we agreed that, once we got to our rooms we did not want to stir out until daylight. After all, we had walked over a mile at the Tower and the route from Trafalgar to the Palace and then to Westminster was another mile and a half. And our dogs were barking. We found that the Travelodge has a passable bar service and an excellent Chicken Tikka Masala. After all, Chicken Tikka was invented, not in India, but in Glasgow, be it by a Pakistani chef. In 2001, it was proclaimed a British National Dish. I had been on the look out for it and was fortunate to find it on our last night.

Day 8, the day we return, will not include photos, etc. Let me just say that, after landing in Charlotte, we found the Whiskey River Restaurant. We ordered Dirty Tots (tater tots obviously fried in bacon grease with pork barbeque), quesadillas with beef brisket and buffalo shrimp with blue cheese sauce. I personally had four glasses of ICED TEA. I declared it the best airport food I’ve ever eaten! Not to knock English cuisine - we had some excellent food and really cool (that’s as in not cold) drinks. But there’s a reason we love our food and COLD drinks - it’s in our DNA. It’s why Hawaiians eat Spam and Scots eat haggis. Enough said!

Oh yeah, if you fly through Charlotte and don’t eat at the Whiskey River, you just ain’t right!