Category: Travel

Hey gang. Bad news, the WiFi access we'd been leeching off of got wise and blocked us. So we no longer have free internet from the hotel (meaning, these reports are bound to get a bit less frequent, as now we have to go to an internet cafe and pay).

Yesterday we covered quite a bit of ground. We first went to St. Paul's Cathedral, which was amazing. The inside was impressive enough, then we climbed steps (a lot of steps) to get to the 'Whispering Gallery' which is a balcony surrounding the inside of the massive dome. Then we climbed more steps to the 'Stone' and 'Golden' galleries, which were both outdoors on the outside of the dome. The first being nearly the lowest outer point on the dome, the latter being near the very top. We climbed some 425+ steps to get all the way to the top, and then had to go back down. Needless to say we were a bit 'wobbly-legged' but it was worth it, the view was stunning.

Afterwards we walked toward the Millenium Bridge (which crosses the Thames and ends at the Tate Modern gallery. On our way however, we came across this pub called The Center Page and decided to have a pint. While there Kelly was reading the menu which had all manner of trivia, and one of these "Did you know?" items said that none other than the world famous David Hasselhof visits there whenever he's in town, as he was charmed by the name of the street the pub is found on. I look out the window and sure enough, we're on Knightrider Lane. Heh.

Anyway, after a quick pint we walked across the Millenium Bridge (which was pretty neat) and explored the Tate Modern. We got to see some impressive art actually, such as works by Dali, Mondrian, & Miro. The Tate Modern is also right next to the replica of the famous Globe Theater, so we took a few photos of the outside before walking back across the river.

We decided to wander around in search of some of the historic pubs we'd found online before came. We only had vague dots on a map to point us in the right direction, and while we got a bit turned around once, we finally found one, and it was closed (Ye Olde Mitre), but did find another (Cittie of Yorke) and had a pint. On the way home we decided to go to the Soho district (which was packed with upper-scale shops and shoppers) and wandered around for a bit, stopping at a few pubs along the way.

Finally we made it back to the hotel, changed clothes and went out for dinner. We ended up back at the Inn 1888 for a meal, and The Globe for a final pint. The Globe was PACKED with people watching the Chelsea vs. Liverpool match, screaming and cheering when Liverpool won.

That's it for now, we're going to get going for the day. Hopefully I'll write again soon. 

Since my morning report, we've been all over town. Took the tube to Piccadilly Circus, and walked from there to Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. We got to see an amazing amount of paintings from the 12th through the 19th centuries, by artists such as Renoir, Manet, Michaelangelo, Van Eyck and Van Gogh. After that we walked through St James Park to Buckingham Palace, then through Green Park and down to Harrods. What a giant store that is! It's very easy to get lost in the place, and they do seem to sell pretty much everything (though I couldn't find a hat that said "Lion Tamer" on it, heh). After Harrods we walked down to Sloane Square to try and find a pub we went to in 2001 and couldn't (it seems to have closed, bummer) before taking the tube back to our hotel. Before going back we decided to take the tube to an area known as Blackfriars and found a great pub and had a snack and a pint before continuing on to our hotel to freshen up a bit. After a stop by our hotel, we walked to a great pub / restaurant called the Inn 1888, and had a nice meal. After that we walked to a pub we walked by on our way to Regents Park yesterday called The Volunteer. It was packed with college-aged kids, so we only had a pint and left. Afterwards we walked back to The Globe (our 'local') for another few pubs before the 11pm closing time. Fun and busy day.

Update on photos: still having troubles uploading, not sure if I'll be able to or not from here on out. Frustrated, but oh well. 

After my last post we walked up the street to the local pub, The Globe, for a pint. Afterwards we continued our walk up to the beautiful Regence Park for a bit, saw some herons and geese and swans (along with a lot of pigeons), and after about a half hour we walked down out of the park down another street and found another pub (the Prince Regent) and stopped in for another pint.

We continued wandering around, exploring the area near our hotel. We ended up walking down to Oxford St. where the large shopping mall Selfridge's is, and naturally found another pub, this one called The Marlborough Head. We sat there for a bit before deciding to walk back up to The Globe for dinner.

In case I didn't mention it, the weather is fantastic, probably nearly 70. We sat outside, had a few pints and a meal (though that came a bit late, as somehow the ticket was misplaced, the manager apologized many times, coming out to our table to make sure everything was alright). Kelly had the fish & chips (which were apparently good but she didn't get any tartar sauce, which she missed), and I had a delicious club sandwich (turkey, bacon, egg, mmmm). After another pint or two we walked back to our hotel room.

We get in and realize it's only 9:30. I suggested we go back out, but made the mistake of laying down on the bed. Apparently I passed out cold. Woke up around 3:30am still dressed. Guess I was still exhausted from the day's travel (and, I'm sure, the fine ales).

Woke up just after 9am today, feeling sore from all the sleeping but refreshed. We're going to go find some breakfast here in a bit, and probably visit the National Gallery, and if we have time after that, perhaps Harrods. I'm going to look for a hat, that says Lion Tamer on it in big letters (something for you Monty Python fans out there).

Also, before we left I set up a bit of photo gallery software on my server, figuring this way I could upload pics to share in batches. Well, the uploading is going very slowly but the gallery is working, so you can check out the below address to view pics from the trip so far. Every time we're at the hotel I plan on trying to upload more photos, so I'm not sure when certain photos will make it there. Anyway, go to HERE for the gallery.

Kelly and I have made it to London and are in our hotel. I found an open WiFi connection from my room (if I sit in the right place). We got up at 8am in Portland, finished packing and getting ready, and by noon we were on our way to Kelly's sisters house. We made good time (just over an hour and a half to get a little north of Olympia) and had a good hour to sit and chat. We arrived at the airport at about 4pm, finished getting checked in and waited.

We were flying on a 747, which was the first time I'd ever been on a plane that big. We had checked in online and got the last couple seats on the back right so we could recline without feeling rude. The flight was very nice. The service, food, etc, were all better than what we're used to flying Continental. Also, the seatback entertainment system was great, each one was served up with loads of content (probably 50 movies, loads of TV shows, documentaries, etc), and all of it you could pause, rewind and fastforward through. Pretty slick system. Didn't watch any movies but did watch a lot of TV shows, including some Little Britain.  

For the first time, I dozed off on the plane a bit. Probably slept a total of 3 hours, but it was more than I'd ever slept on a flight before. Between the sleep and the 8 hour 45 minute flight, it was really pretty quick. Got on the underground (aka 'the tube') and made our way to the station nearest our hotel… got oriented, and here we are.

I don't really have much for photos yet, nothing really exciting anyway, so I'll save the for later on. However, we're going to finish unpacking and go get ourselves a pint!  

Tomorrow we leave for London, to spend eight days sightseeing and pubcrawling! We spent the night packing and getting everything in order (including having our friend Miranda over to get keys so she can take care of our cat Guinness, and then taking her out to dinner as a thank you). I think we've got everything pretty much ready to go. Nearly everything is packed (I hope) aside from what we'll need for the morning.

We'll drive up to Kelly's sisters place north of Olympia around noon, where she's agreed (bless her) to drive us the rest of the way up so we don't have to pay for parking for a week and a half (apparently it'd come to $150, ouch!). We take off from Seattle and arrive in London just over 9 hours later. Woohoo! It won't be until Sunday (about 4am here) that we arrive, but it will be nearly noon there. If I can manage SOME sleep on the plane (I usually can't) then maybe I'll be able to hit the ground running.

We'll be bringing Kelly's laptop so hopefully we'll be able to get online there to report and post pictures. More to come!