England Vacation 2009 -- August 13

Karen

I had a quiet morning, heading out to Heathrow about 10ish. I bought to zone 1-6 travel passes for Helen Anne and I and when I got onto the platform, a new officer at IHQ from India was waiting for the train as well. We visited on the train to Herne Hill and she changed there to get to Blackfriars and I went on to Victoria. I had to wait for a few minutes for the District train that would go through Baron's Court, so I could change where I like to change but was out to Heathrow in plenty of time to meet Helen Anne. Her plane landed about 11:23 and she came through around noon. I had got a couple of waters and greeted her with a 1L bottle of water. She was thirsty!

She was looking at some thing in her rucksack on the way to Victoria and I had a few pieces of Bridge Mix. I was even nice and shared but she did provide the twist tie to keep the bag closed.

Helen Anne

It was a smooth flight over to London. I got some sleep doing my usual tuck me in my corner as soon as the main announcements are over with eye shades, ear plugs and noise reduction headphones. I missed the end of dinner and drinks service. When I woke up, the one available movie that interested me was Star Trek. It's the one I saw at the theatre last month but I watched it again. It still had some really funny moments. We got a large muffin (no butter) and a beverage for breakfast. Despite the line up in passport control, I had my luggage and was meeting Karen around noon. She had a litre of water for me, so I gave her one of the bags of bridge mix when we got on the underground.

Both

We went to Victoria and checked Helen Anne's bag in to the left luggage and went to find some lunch. We both tried the newer fast food restaurant upstairs at Victoria called Oporto's (a chicken restaurant). It was very good and not to much over McD's in price. Karen wasn't sure what the British Library's security was like and Helen Anne had her rucksack. So, we decided to go check out the outdoor stores for socks and hats today and tomorrow we would go to the British Library and wander through some parks ending at Rueben's for afternoon tea.

We went over to Covent Garden as there are 5 or 6 outdoor stores there. We checked them all out and Helen Anne got some coolmax liner socks in at one and we got some light hats in at another. The hats have some beads in the inside band that absorb water and help keep you cool. We had them clip the tags off the hats, so we could wear them. It was drizzly when Karen got up but turned into a nice sunny day. From Covent Garden, we walked over to Fortnum and Masons. On the way we passed the Coliseum (London Opera House), a Ben & Jerrys (we stopped for ice cream) and some buildings with carved fruit / flowers for the "stone" decorations. The building in front of the Coliseum had a model of a cooper at the top.

Fortnum and Masons had a Day at the Beach set of windows with deck chairs on the roof over the doors. We got some Cranberry sauce for Christmas - just encase Karen doesn't get a chance to get in and Helen Anne wanted some Apple Chutney so we got that too. As we were leaving, a double decker bus pulled up infront of the store. It looked like the deck chairs were on the bus.

We then walked back over to Victoria and rescued Helen Anne's bag from left luggage. When we went up to get the train to Beckenham, one of the few express trains was due to leave soon and we got it. So we got into Karen's about 6. We stopped long enough to use the washroom and wandered down to the High Street for dinner. We went to Misos, an Oriental Noodle House. We had some spring rolls, some gyozas (stuffed dumplings), a prawn noodle dish and a chicken one. It was very tasty.

Karen

Helen Anne has unpacked and I now have a neat calendar about the history of flight and pen with a built in scroll from Mrs B.! She also showed off her drying kit for her camelbak (the water drinking system for her packsack).

I now have a very yawny big sister but it is almost 8 so .... that should be okay.

Pictures: DSC02917 or 19 (play with setting – combine?), DSC02121 (crop out centre section, upper right), DSC02123, DSC02124 (in colour and in B&W), DSC02934, DSC02935, DSC02940 and DSC02941 (crop out second bus on left hand side)