First Days in London

First Days in London

Monday 16 June

Today is return the car to London day.  We wanted to extend our time to the 19th of June but when we contacted Europcar the told us it would have to be done through the travel agents that initially made to booking for us.  Because of the time difference it wasn't able to be done so we are going back to London a little earlier than we would have liked.

The Volvo we have had for the past 4 weeks

Last evening we drove to Preston which put us about four and a half hours from London.  Deb has organised accommodation for us at a place called South Mimms which is near another quaintly named place, Potters Bar.  

The trip down the motorway was pretty good.  There were a few hold ups where the traffic was kept down to 40 mph.  The signs over the motorway indicated where the speed had to be reduced and the traffic flowed.

We got to the Hotel and unloaded our luggage.  The car had to be dropped off to Kensington and we didn't have an address.  I rang Europcar and they told me to put in their postcode into the GPS and it took us straight there.  It seems that some locations or very small areas have their own postcode.  The car was returned without any problems and we made our way to Hammersmith Broadway and got the train straight to High Barton.

We got a mini cab back from High Barton to the hotel.

Tuesday 17 June

Bit of a sleep in this morning.  We have been getting up fairly early for the last couple of weeks and it has finally caught up with us.

We started off with the intention of going to High Barton to catch the train but after some discussion with the cabbie we changed our destination to Potters Bar which has a mainline station.  By going to Potters Bar we are able to get the train to Kings Cross where we can change to any underground line.  It is nearly an express to Kings Cross, normally only one stop at Finsbury Park.  The young man at the ticket counter worked out that the best value for us would be a weekly ticket and for that we would need a rail photo card.  He took our passports and photocopied the photographs instead of sending us away to get a passport photo.  I now have my own photocard and weekly ticket.  The next time I come back to Britain we won't have to get another photocard because we already have one.

My British Rail Photocard and Travelcard

When we arrived at Kings Cross Station we had to pass the entrance to Platform Nine and three quarters of Harry Potter fame. There were quite a few people lining up trying to push the trolley through the wall.  It was about 10.00 am and there were about 50 or 60 lined up.  When we returned in the afternoon there were just as many there waiting to have their photograph taken.

Platform 9 and 3/4

Today we went to the London Eye and a London Eye Cruise on the Thames.  The View from the London Eye is absolutely fantastic.  According to the blurb you can see 45 kilometres on a good day.  Unfortunately today wasn't a good day because of the haze but the view was still great.  Although there were lots of people lining up for it they weren't packing people in.  Each gondola can take around 45 people but they were only putting 20 or so into each.  We had 24 when we did our circuit.

The London Eye

View of the Elizabeth Tower and Houses of Parliament

(Big Ben is the name of the bell that tolls the hour)

A gondola at the top of its apogee 

Looking upstream over London

The cruise on the Thames was a package deal with the London Eye so was a little cheaper than if you did it without.  We were able to get on the upper deck so photography was pretty easy.  We went up river and turned adjacent to the Houses of Parliament and then down river to just past the Tower Bridge.  The guide was very good giving lots of facts and naming lots of buildings along the river.  Unfortunately a lot of those facts didn't sink in too well.  One thing I did learn though was that most of the time we use the term wharf incorrectly.  The word WHARF stands for, WareHouse At River Front.  You learn something new every day.  

Butlers Wharf now converted to exclusive apartments

London even has a beach with sand although it is only exposed at low tide.  It was low tide at the time of day we went past so we were able to see it.  You can sunbathe and build sandcastles there so I am told.

London Beach

Managed to make our way back to Kings Cross via the tube and got the train back to Potters Bar.  There was only one stop and it only took about 15 minutes for the trip.  We did some shopping for dinner and got a cab from the station back to our hotel.

Tomorrow I am going to have a look at HMS Belfast which is part of the Imperial War Museum.

Deb and Den