Touring London

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We have had a terrific two days so far. A few things to know should you decide to come to London. A good pair of walking shoes is critical and ‘waterproof’ would be a bonus. Know the exchange rate for the dollar to pound. American Express and Travelex in the airport will rip you off. There are places in town that provide commission free exchanges. TEB, Travel Exchange Bureau is the one we used.Sunday morning we got a very early start. Transportation via the tube, Underground rail service, is pretty easy to negotiate. Upon reaching the city the first order of the day was some food. A stop at Pret A Manger provided us a wonderful hot chocolate and the best croissant Deb has had in forever. We also checked out the train station for our trip from London to Chester on Wed. Once we found that, we went looking for one of many doubledecker open bus tour lines. Golden Tours was the choice as they offered 48 hours hop on – hop off service including a river cruise and a walking tour. All of the tour lines offer multiple routes, but it’s possible to end up riding through the same areas in the heart of the city more than once. We considered that a good thing just because there is so much to see and grasp. There is an interesting mix of old and new. Old going way back as London Tower has it origins in about 1076. During the next several hundred years many significant additions were made. It is a major tourist attraction that we chose not to go through thinking to do it justice would take a full day.

A dinner stop at Garfunkel’s after spending the day riding the bus and walking the city found us returning to the hotel after 10pm. Deb had to work on some of the photos and it was quickly midnight before the lights went out on the first full day exploring the city.

Monday started much later as we needed to catch up on the sleep we lost traveling ‘across the Pond.’ It was near noon we left the hotel to get to town. A stop at the Stanhope Arms for a full English breakfast got us started and then we headed off for a walking tour of the famed Jack the Ripper’s trail. This was an interesting tour into the seedy side of London including some of the actual sites of the brutal slayings in this never solved case. It started with the interesting fact that London at the time was a city of 1 square mile with a wall built around it. The slayings all occurred outside the wall in what would probably be considered a red light district. There were a total of 5 killings over just a few months and then it stopped and the killer was never found. Dinner was at The Britannia, where the fish and chips were excellent. Then the tube back to the hotel and once again it is well past our normal bedtime.

Tomorrow we will move closer to town in preparation of the train departure on Wed.