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Our great adventure to the UK and Amsterdam began in London. Well, really, it began in Zadar here in Croatia, but there's not much to say about our time in Zadar. The cheapest flight we could find to London was on Ryanair, which does not fly out of Split, our closest airport. Since the flight was at 20:30, we figured we'd get to Zadar around noon and take the opportunity to explore a place we had not yet been. Unfortunately, that is not what happened. Since we didn't want to leave our car in an airport parking lot for three weeks - not that we even knew if there was one at the Zadar airport - we took the bus from Split. In Split, Dubrovnik, and Zagreb, the main bus station is near the middle of the action, so we thought Zadar would be the same. However, when we got there, we discovered the Zadar main bus station is new and appeared to be in the middle of nowhere. In truth, it might have been just been a two minute ride into town, but from where we sat, there was no way to tell that. We would have explored the possibility of taking a bus or taxi, but then we also discovered that the buses to the airport ran on an odd schedule, and it wouldn't work for us to try to go anywhere and have any kind of time to enjoy what we were doing. So, we ended up there for two hours before catching the bus to the airport where we waited another four hours. Needless to say, all this hanging around the bus station and airport put both Bill and me in cranky moods, and we got into an argument. Not really an auspicious beginning. Live and learn. Next time, we'll do that part differently.
Fortunately, our flight was uneventful, and we arrived in London at Stansted Airport at 23:00 and caught the tube to the South Kensington station. From there, we walked to Queensbury Street to the Acacia Hostel. South Kensington is a really cool part of London, and Bill and I stay either there or in Earl's Court, which is just a few blocks away, every time we are there. They are our "go-to" areas, so to speak. Unfortunately, we have not found a "go-to" hostel in either area. The last place we stayed was the AdaMotel in Earl's Court, which I liked but Bill didn't. I liked it because it was just down the block from a grocery store and was clean. (Clean goes a long way with me.) Bill didn't like it because the staff was disorganized, and we had to move rooms every night, which meant dragging our luggage up and down steps every day. This time, we stayed at the Acacia Hostel, which Bill liked, but I absolutely couldn't stand. Granted, we didn't have to move rooms every day, but the bathrooms were not clean, and the place provided no towels. I asked for some and ended up in this conversation with the guy at the front desk:
"Do you have any towels?"
"Duh, this is a hostel."
"Every other hostel I've stayed in has provided them."
"Then you've never stayed in a real hostel."
I stopped at that point because I figured there was no point in continuing a ridiculous conversation that could have easily devolved into kindergarten speak of:
"Have so."
"Have not."
"Uh-huh."
"Nuh-uh."
Needless to say, we're still looking for the place we can call "home" when we are in London.
Other than that, though, our time in London was delightful. We only had one full day and night there, so we had to limit what we did. Bill and I had both been to London before so we didn't feel the need to rush around to see and do all that we could in a day. We decided to pick just two things. Being a complete Harry Potter nerd, I wanted to see the area that was used for some of the Diagon Alley shots, including the storefront used to portray the Leaky Cauldron so we went to Leadenhall Market, which is at the Monument stop on the tube in case you ever want to go. It is located in the business district, which we discovered is totally deserted on a Saturday. This was perfect because the market was closed, too, which meant I could get pictures without crowds of people in the way.
As a bonus, on the way back to the tube station, we also saw the Monument to the Great Fire, which destroyed London in 1666.
Our next stop was Westminster Abbey, conveniently located near the Westminster tube stop. Since the Westminster stop is also where you get off to go to the London Eye, Big Ben, and the Houses of Parliament, I took the opportunity to get some shots of them, too.
On the same grounds as Westminster Abbey is St. Margaret's Church. Since St. Margaret's allows pictures inside (Westminster doesn't) and is free (Westminster isn't), we decided to take a few minutes and go in where we were unexpectedly treated to an organ rehearsal. To my absolute delight, I realized that the piece the organist was playing was one of my favorite pieces of music, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" written by Paul Abraham Dukas and animated by Disney for Fantasia. I couldn't believe we had walked in on that! I did not get a picture of the organist, since he was not in view, but I did take pictures of the pipes just to remind me of my musical good fortune.
I wish I could adequately describe Westminster Abbey, but no pictures are allowed inside, and we saw more than I can possibly remember. However, I did find information online with pictures, so if you want to actually see the inside, follow this link. We paid for the self-guided tour and spent about three hours enjoying the atmosphere and information. For me, the coolest part was the Poet's Corner. I was delighted to see the tombs of Chaucer, Dickens, Tennyson, and Browning and the memorials to Shakespeare, Austen, Shelley, Keats, and too many others to mention. Needless to say, my little reader geek heart was going pitter-patter the whole time. All I can say in this inadequate section of blog is that if you ever get the chance to see Westminster Abbey, do it! It is well worth the price of admission. I do have a few pictures of the outside to share, including a tribute to martyrs chosen as representative of all those who have been persecuted and died. The top row contains statues of actual people. The bottom row's four statues represent Truth, Justice, Mercy, and Peace.
That night, for dinner, we walked to a square about three blocks away from the hostel. One of the many things that makes South Kensington cool is the French culinary school located there, so as you can imagine, there are a number of good French restaurants in the area. This one particular square contained a selection of them as well as a creperie. It also had one very cool feature - self-service rental bikes that could be rented for by the hour or for the day.
We decided to choose a French bistro for dinner and then go to the creperie for dessert. Sometimes I space out on the fact that I keep a travel blog and forget to note the name of a place, which is exactly what happened with the bistro. I did take a picture, though, and I didn't forget the mouth-watering deliciousness we ate. Bill enjoyed quiche with ham, salad, and roasted potatoes, while I savored gazpacho, goat cheese with grilled vegetables, and roasted potatoes. Both meals came with home-made French bread. At the creperie, called Cremerie Creperie, we shared a buckwheat crepe filled with chocolate chips and covered with drizzled butterscotch. All I can say is viva la cuisine Francaise!
After dinner and dessert, we took a leisurely stroll back to the hostel. Since we had an early flight out the next morning, I decided to call it a night, but Bill went back out and rambled around for a few more hours. I don't know exactly where he went so I can't write about it, but his rambling is always productive. It was on one of his rambles that he discovered the square we visited for dinner! (When he read this, he told me that he had visited the Notting Hill neighborhood. He wanted to see if anything was happening there at night since during the day it is quite busy with the Portobello Market. Just in case you are wondering, too, he says there isn't.)
The next morning, we arose at 5:00 so that we could catch the tube at 6:00 to give us plenty of time to get to Victoria Station, catch the train to Gatwick Airport, check-in, go through security, and relax a little before our 8:30 flight. Unfortunately, we didn't account for the fact that it was Sunday, and the South Kensington station didn't open as early as it did during the week. We got there to find it locked up tight and not opening for another forty-five minutes. Bill is much more sanguine about arrival times at train stations and airports than I am, but even he was concerned about the time crunch of waiting the extra minutes, so he went in search of a cab while I waited outside the station with the luggage. No big deal, right? Well, not quite.
Have I mentioned at any point in any of my previous blogs that I am a crazy person magnet? If I haven't, I need to now because while Bill was out of sight looking for a cab, I attracted a certifiable nutcase. (This won't surprise anyone who knows me.) There I was peacefully sitting with the luggage when suddenly I heard a loud commotion about a block away. When I looked, I saw a woman who was yelling at the top of her lungs coming in my direction. I didn't really think much of it at first because I thought she was on a bluetooth device. However, as she came closer, it became obvious that there was no phone. She was, instead, screaming to an imaginary friend. Intrigued, I tuned into the "conversation," only to realize that not only was she screaming to a person who was not there, she was talking in graphic detail about killing people. I watched with fascinated, yet growing horror, as she made her way inexorably toward me. Just as I was starting to think of how the hell to get out of there and deciding that I really didn't care about our luggage, Bill showed up with a cab. I was never so glad to see anyone in my life! Needless to say, I wasted no time jumping in and watched safely from the other side of the window as she turned around and stalked off in the other direction.
So, our UK/Amsterdam adventure began with an argument and ended with a close encounter of the crazy kind. At this point, I was seriously wondering if maybe we shouldn't have just stayed in Milna.
London - An (In)Auspicious Beginning
Friday, June 08, 2012
London, England, United Kingdom
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