Thursday July 17--Kew Gardens

We started the day with a new breakfast choice.  Hunger and frustration drove us to a coffee shop across the street.  It offered coffee that tasted like coffee and breakfast choices with actual protein.  Yay!  Sustenance!  With our tummies full and sufficiently caffinated, we headed for Kew Gardens.  Research showed that we could get there on the underground with only one change of line and before we knew it, we were debarking in the cute town of Kew where we got a loaf of sourdough and some cheese and salami, brownie and soda's to enjoy later, picnic style. 

At the meat and cheese market

A loaf of sourdough and a brownie and we're ready to go

Kew Gardens are huge--over 300 acres-- and we decided to get on the tram and take the tour to get our bearings and prioitize what we wanted to see the most. 

After our host, Gordon, showed us the main sights, we went to the Palm House, a huge greenhouse full of tropical plants and surrounded by lovely plantings and fronting a lake and mansion.

The Palm House

We stopped and sat on a bench in front of the rose garden and enjoyed our picnic while watching people stop and smell the roses.  The weather was getting hotter, but big fluffy clouds passing by provided enough shade.  What a wonderful, soul-soothing place to enjoy a meal.

We were finishing up when we heard someone yell, "Go Ducks!"  We met this family from Portland, Carla a Duck and Steve, a Beaver fan.  As we talked, Carla said she had graduated from Sheldon and had grown up on a street off Coburg Rd.  Turns out the street was Lariat, the street right behind the street I lived on, Tandy Turn.  She knew which house we lived in and remembered the path we gave to the city as a cut through between the two neighborhoods.  She also babysat Jody, my daughter Christine's best friend.  Wow small world to meet up in London!!

The gardens are immense

And they smell good too

Jeff enjoys his lunch

After lunch we walked to the Princess Dianna Greenhouse.  She dedicated it in 1987 and it has several different climate zones from dessert to tropical.  It was very hot in there, so we took a quick look and went outside and found a bench in the shade near a sprinkler.  After that we took a tour of King Charles lll summer home and waited for the tram to take us back to the entrance.

Inside the Princess Dianna Greenhouse

Jeff and the Orchids

Kew Palace--King Charles lll spent time here as a child and when he "went mental" later in life

It was a long, hot day! 

After we took the tube back to Russell Square, had a nap and a shower, we ventured out again.  This time we went the the famous Piccadilly Circus to see the sights. Piccadilly Circus is to London what Times Square is to New York.  In the middle of the street is a statue of Eros.  And down the street we found London's Chinatown and a Vietnamese Restaurant with good prices and wonderful food.  We both had Satay (peanut sauce)...I had chicken and Jeff had Prawns.  We had a nice walk around the streets and bought tickets to the "Comedy Store" for a show on Friday night.  We topped off the night with an ice cream cone and took the tube back to The President for a well-earned sleep.

The portal gates to Chinatown

At the Comedy Store

Eros statue in Piccadilly Circle

Wednesday, July 16, 2014 London

Up early for our continental breakfast of cereal, rolls, fruit and coffee - sounds reasonable unless I add adjectives such as weak coffee, stale rolls, canned fruit and cereal that relies heavily on gravity to be swallowed.   The dining room is run by a neo-Nazi who trained under Himmler.  There are two buffet tables for hot food and two for continental.  Our resident Nazi patrols these tables looking like a bobble head glaring at the 2nd class passengers, sure that we desire above all else to snag a sausage or hard boiled egg.  He is almost comical in his obsession to defeat our machinations to acquire the holy grail of slices of bacon or other goodies he guards so closely.   Kat gave her opinion of the president so I may as well get my opinion out of the way. 

We don't need much to meet our needs but the president comes in as wanting when it comes to a below average rating.  The room is adequate but every morning at 7:00, we are awakened to the sound of the staff dumping all of the  previous days bottles into the dumpster - after all 758 bottles crash, we then enjoy the sound of jackhammers competing with cement trucks.  As you can imagine, we don't need to ask for wake up calls.  They advertise Internet in the room but we call it phantom Internet as it tends to come and go making blogging a true adventure.  Well enough of my whining.

We headed into town and asked directions for the Tate Modern.  It was a beautiful sunny day with thousands of folks scurrying from one place to the next.  We checked out St. Paul's Cathedral which is a large impressive structure.  We would have enjoyed touring the inside but they wanted $30.00 apiece for the privilege and neither of us felt the need that bad.  There will be no lighting of candles this day.  We decided to stop for lunch before the Tate as breakfast was a distant memory and I needed to gird my loins for what lay in front of us - 6 floors of culture with a capital C.  Shepard's pie and a pint of England's finest and I was sufficiently girded for the day.

Now that's some kind of Dome

Putting Kat on a pedestal

All the folks pondering...$30.00???

Kat snapped a few interior shots until being asked to pay up...or leave!

The Tate is a wonderful museum with a wide array of modern art that sometimes appeals and at other times leaves you scratching your head going WTF?  We browsed and strolled and got through 4 of 6 floors before saying "Uncle" and heading back to el presidente for a much needed hot shower and nap. 

Kat entertaining the masses

The Thames with London Bridge in the background

Picasso's "Weeping Woman"

Inside the Tate

Picasso's "Three Dancers" - the Dude could handle a paintbrush

Kat and I are adapting to this traveling life by sightseeing in the morning and early afternoon, showering and doing our days laundry in the bathtub, napping and then being refreshed, going out for a fun evening.  This routine will hopefully allow us to avoid burnout, dissension and mutiny.

We wandered out around 7:00, enjoying the cool evening air and had Greek food for dinner.  We stopped at the Portland Market for ice cream and acquired a London street map that does everything but the dishes.  A nice day!

A little slice of home

Tuesday, July 15--The Queen's house and Big Ben

Kathy here:  I have to say that jet lag is not a figment of someone's imagination....it is for real.  Hurtling forward in time 8 hours is really hard on the body and mind.  But with frequent naps and the urge to explore we were up and at 'em.  First we had to change rooms from one with twin beds and not much room to one with a queen bed and a little more room.  In a flash we were moved and out the door to go to the Queen's house--Buckingham Palace.  As luck would have it, the tube delivered us just in time to see the changing of the guards.

At the gates with a crowd of viewers

Buckingham Palace

The guards march around the circle to the gates

Guarded by Bobbies on horseback

Monument to Queen Victoria

After the guards were appropriately changed, (I believe it may have been pampers) we walked through St. James Park

 Then went past the parliament buildings to see Big Ben

Parliament

Part of St. James Park

Not so big...I can hold Ben and a bus in my hand

Iconic Telephone booth

The "Eye"

After a long nap went to Leceister (pronounced Lester) to have dinner and look around.  It's an area full of theaters.

Perusing the menu at a great Italian restaurant--dining al fresco

Head Waiter Darrin.....a very nice guy.

Street Dancer

Pretty wild scene for a Tuesday nite.

Some thoughts on London so far:  The Brits that we have met have been unfailingly helpful and kind.  They go out of their way to help us poor lost tourists  Also, it's not easy to get lost.  The Underground/Tube is easy to ride, easy to figure out, and not too expensive.  We can easily get anywhere we want to go.  There are a million tourists here from all over the world.  Most of them are staying at our hotel--The President.  The President is located in Russell Court, a fairly quiet area close to a tube station.

The President is decidedly non presidential.  It is run down and tacky.  Our room, even though we changed to be able to sleep together, is small and hot and the bed is hard, the towels paper thin and it's noisy.  The breakfast is "continental" and consists of cold cereal, cold toast, old rolls, canned fruit and bad coffee.  We have been searching for a good breakfast ever since we got here.  We thought about moving, but decided we are not spending much time there anyway, so we are staying.  Another thing that is bad about the President is there is really no internet.  After several frustrating tries, we finally went to a coffee shop across the street to write the blog and get really good coffee. 

 London is really clean for a big city.  And there are lots of street signs to tell you where you are and where to go.  I am having a great time.  I'll let Jeff write tomorrow and he can tell his impressions.  Meanwhile, it's last call, so I'll say goodbye for today.

July 13/14 Portland to London

July 12, 2014
Max drove us up to Portland on the afternoon of the 12th to save us stress and strain on the morning of "D Day" otherwise referred to as departure, or deep sixing normalcy, dropping out or de-stressing.  Whatever, we be gone but it wasn't so easy to say so long to Max, Freddy and the kitties.

We made it to Portland and had a nice dinner with Max and friends and turned in early for the big day ahead.  Up early, packed and ready for whatever the gods of travel could shovel our way.  We were at the airport 2 hours early, (an hour would have sufficed) and Horizon got us up to Seattle with time to spare - actually 4 hours, 5 minutes to spare.

  

Icelandic Air 680 left on time.  We had been truly blessed to ask and receive exit row seats – you are damn right, yippy skippy, that we are more than willing to perform the duties required should a air emergency arise!!  Amazing what a person might agree to for the love of 5 ½ extra inches of legroom. 

It was a nice flight overall sitting next to my sweetie on my right and Tony C., a former Buckeye from Warren, Ohio now living in Kirkland Washington on my left.   It’s always nice to meet a homeboy who is a liberal who likes to flaunt his colors.  Movies were free so I watched “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” which I really enjoyed.  It was kismet as part of it was filmed in Iceland.  A mere 7 hours later, we touched down in Reykjavik – a place of vast prairies dotted with the occasional farm house.  

Everyone limped off the plane, most of the folks with some serious wedgies, mussed makeup and bed hair – no beauty queens spotted within miles.  A mere 2-hour layover and we were airborne – a planeload of folks auditioning for a part in the upcoming blockbuster, “Sardines” produced by Starkist.  A 2 ½ hour flight to London turned into a 3 ¼ hr. flight as we circled Heathrow with other frustrated travelers like an angry hive of yellow jackets.  Only 14 ¼ hours start to finish – the Dr.s think my backbone may straighten out sometime next week.

We retrieved our bags, got through customs, made our way to the Pickadilly line and spent an hour hurtling through the underground getting off at Russell Square and making our way to The President Hotel.  I have to say what a great way of traveling – my suitcase weighs in at 28 pounds while Kat is at 25 – wow!  So much easier getting around!!!!!!!!!

We got our room, took long showers and had a brief ceremony burning our traveling clothes and scattering the ashes.  We were concerned about being ticketed for dumping toxic waste.  

We had decided early on to let our bodies adjust by taking things easy the first day or two and that is just what we did, pub food and a stroll around the neighborhood with a ice cream cone as the highlight of our day. 

Bellying up to the bar for some stout and bangers and mash

View from our room

Check out the smile, our new home away from home

No caption needed

Off to Europe via Seattle, Reykjavik and London

Kathy here:  Finally after months of planning we are off on our grand tour of Europe.  I could hardly contain my excitement as we boarded the plane for Seattle at 11:30 today (July 13).  Before we left, the summer could have hardly been more full of activities and challenges.

We just about finished the house remodel, at least inside.  The floors, and kitchen are finished.  Moving the fish tank and pool table was challenging but was accomplished without too much angst.  The fish survived being kept in a trash can overnight!  We just have a little more touch up on paint inside and we can put everything back together again.  Currently the garage is filled with boxes that still need to be sorted and the office is still in upheaval.  I vowed that nothing would come back into the house without being vetted for need.  How did we collect all this junk?

There is still outside work to be done.  The painting of the house and outbuildings will be supervised by Max.  The garden/exercise room building was found to have carpenter ants and dry rot, so that is being fixed in our absence. It will be nice to come home to a new colored house. 

Meanwhile, between visits by workers and remodeling and sorting, we went to Fred's graduation, did some camping at Baker Bay with Fred, Emily and Ru in June.  We also did tie dye, went to a picnic that Robert's work put on, saw fireworks and "Asleep at the Wheel" at Island park, took a trip to Portland (and sold $130 worth of books to Powell's) had a wonderful hike at Silver Falls State Park with Ruben, Em and Fred for Ru's birthday and celebrated my birthday with a sunset/moonrise boat ride.  Whew!  Now I'm ready for a vacation!

Freddy and I enjoy the swing

At Fred's Graduation from Chemeketa

The happy grad

So Good to have Max home for the summer

Fred and the big dig to uncover the garden/exercise room

The Lanai and bouncy chairs

Backing out the boat

Sunset over Dorena Lake

Me and my sis--Mermaids!

Well, we are on the road to adventure, our wanderlust unbridled, our pocketbook, not so much.