Tuesday,
After breakfast at the hostel (a complimentary two slices of toast which we could spread with butter and jam - bit cheap!) we decided to go our separate ways for the day. Ash took the boys off on a tour (a couple of parks, Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guards, Soho and Covent Gardens) and we went on a similar tour except we did Charing Cross (bookshops) and the National Gallery. But let’s start at the beginning... Visited the tourist information centre first to find out how we needed to get to the station on Thursday morning - need to get up at 5 am. to catch the No. 23 bus at 5:28, to the Liverpool Street station to make it time for the train at 6:25 to Harwich International (with a change at Manningtree) to catch the ferry at 9 (boarding at 8:45). So, now we know that. Also found out which bus to catch to get to Portabello Road markets, but that’s for tomorrow.
Wendy and I wanted to check out the Covent Garden and Soho areas so headed back to Piccadilly Circus and then along Shaftsbury Avenue to Charing Cross Road, all the way looking left and right and up and down. Lots to see and plenty of people about. There are these people standing on the footpath holding bright yellow and green (neon) signs (usually on pole) advertising; “£1 per hour Internet“, or “2 course meal £6.99”, or “Tattoos & piercing” with arrows (➡) pointing the way. I wonder what they get paid to stand there and hold these all day?
Stopped at Foyles bookshop for a very nice coffee (served by a New Zealander) and a browse. This was a serious bookshop and great to have a look around. There’s also a Borders and other big stores in the close vicinity, so no lack of places to get out of the rain for a quiet browse or spend your cash. We’ve noticed lots of young people here from countries such as Slovakia, Spain, Poland, France etc. working in the service industries - quite a range of accents to deal with. On our wanders we bumped into paintings from the National Gallery which had been ‘set free’ and hung on walls in the streets. They are part of a project called The Grand Tour that brings some of these famous paintings to the public - a great idea.
Did a bit of a meander around and ended up at Covent Garden and shared a baked potato for lunch - had to keep it to one because things are very expensive here. Coffees average around £2 which is $5, and if you want cake with that, it’s roughly $9. So a morning coffee costs nearly $30 for two if you both have cake! Covent Garden doesn’t seem to have changed since we were here over 20 years ago. Good to see a few buskers around (music and street theatre) and there was also the tourists ticking the boxes of places they have done/seen.
Then around the Soho and Chinatown area with the little fashion shops for shoes and hats and also businesses of other natures that I won’t go into here. Through Leicester Square and back to Traflgar Square and the National Gallery (to see the ‘real’ paintings) and had a wander through this amazing gallery looking at the pictures. Ended up in the bookshop too close to closing time and found some good stuff but no time to buy, so may have to come back when we’re in London again in July. Had to head back to Old Compton Rd. for our rendezvous with the boys for dinner. We had read about a cheap (but wholesome) place in the Lonely Planet so met at the Stockpot for dinner and managed to keep the cost down to $90 even with a couple of beers. After dinner we split up again and we ended up in the bookshops again (were nearby) and found out that Borders stayed open to 11 pm.
We weren’t all that keen to get back to the hostel to sit around so dilly-dallyed around and got back in time to go to bed. Clive had gone and a young French fellow had joined us who was looking for work in London. At least the fire alarm didn’t go off in the night!
After breakfast at the hostel (a complimentary two slices of toast which we could spread with butter and jam - bit cheap!) we decided to go our separate ways for the day. Ash took the boys off on a tour (a couple of parks, Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guards, Soho and Covent Gardens) and we went on a similar tour except we did Charing Cross (bookshops) and the National Gallery. But let’s start at the beginning... Visited the tourist information centre first to find out how we needed to get to the station on Thursday morning - need to get up at 5 am. to catch the No. 23 bus at 5:28, to the Liverpool Street station to make it time for the train at 6:25 to Harwich International (with a change at Manningtree) to catch the ferry at 9 (boarding at 8:45). So, now we know that. Also found out which bus to catch to get to Portabello Road markets, but that’s for tomorrow.
Wendy and I wanted to check out the Covent Garden and Soho areas so headed back to Piccadilly Circus and then along Shaftsbury Avenue to Charing Cross Road, all the way looking left and right and up and down. Lots to see and plenty of people about. There are these people standing on the footpath holding bright yellow and green (neon) signs (usually on pole) advertising; “£1 per hour Internet“, or “2 course meal £6.99”, or “Tattoos & piercing” with arrows (➡) pointing the way. I wonder what they get paid to stand there and hold these all day?
Stopped at Foyles bookshop for a very nice coffee (served by a New Zealander) and a browse. This was a serious bookshop and great to have a look around. There’s also a Borders and other big stores in the close vicinity, so no lack of places to get out of the rain for a quiet browse or spend your cash. We’ve noticed lots of young people here from countries such as Slovakia, Spain, Poland, France etc. working in the service industries - quite a range of accents to deal with. On our wanders we bumped into paintings from the National Gallery which had been ‘set free’ and hung on walls in the streets. They are part of a project called The Grand Tour that brings some of these famous paintings to the public - a great idea.
Did a bit of a meander around and ended up at Covent Garden and shared a baked potato for lunch - had to keep it to one because things are very expensive here. Coffees average around £2 which is $5, and if you want cake with that, it’s roughly $9. So a morning coffee costs nearly $30 for two if you both have cake! Covent Garden doesn’t seem to have changed since we were here over 20 years ago. Good to see a few buskers around (music and street theatre) and there was also the tourists ticking the boxes of places they have done/seen.
Then around the Soho and Chinatown area with the little fashion shops for shoes and hats and also businesses of other natures that I won’t go into here. Through Leicester Square and back to Traflgar Square and the National Gallery (to see the ‘real’ paintings) and had a wander through this amazing gallery looking at the pictures. Ended up in the bookshop too close to closing time and found some good stuff but no time to buy, so may have to come back when we’re in London again in July. Had to head back to Old Compton Rd. for our rendezvous with the boys for dinner. We had read about a cheap (but wholesome) place in the Lonely Planet so met at the Stockpot for dinner and managed to keep the cost down to $90 even with a couple of beers. After dinner we split up again and we ended up in the bookshops again (were nearby) and found out that Borders stayed open to 11 pm.
We weren’t all that keen to get back to the hostel to sit around so dilly-dallyed around and got back in time to go to bed. Clive had gone and a young French fellow had joined us who was looking for work in London. At least the fire alarm didn’t go off in the night!
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