Week 9 (June 22-28)
Day 57 (Wed, Jun 22nd)
This is NOT the view from our hotel room
Today is a travel day from Blackpool, UK to London. First off…we really should have booked in advance! It is pricey. We waited ’til after 9:30 to save nearly 50% and still it was like 70/lbs per person! Of course, this meant that our 5-6 hr ride blew most of Wednesday.
Anyway, it was nice traveling on a fast train and getting a look at the english countryside. Then came the more difficult part. We had to take 3 separate tubes to get from the train station to our hotel, hauling our unwieldy luggage the whole way. We made it to our final tube exit without too much trial, though my knee was really feeling it.
Then we took a wrong turn out of the tube station and walked an unnecessary 1/2 mile before we corrected and found the hotel. We stayed in an over-priced, under-appointed hotel, but the location was fantastic. If we’d had a view (we didn’t) we could have seen the London Eye just a few blocks away. We spent an hour or two freshening up, getting hooked up on wifi, etc.
After that we met my boss & his wife & took a ride on the ‘eye, then walked around, found some nice pubs to visit, enjoyed some wonderful Cask Ales, etc.
I sure do wish that the American public was more interested in cask ales! They are so very tasty. At least we have some choices here at home on occasion.
Day 58 (Thu, Jun 23rd)
CopperMan
Today we did the lazy version of sight-seeing. We slept in a bit, wandered around Trafalgar Square, spent a couple hours in the National Gallery. After that we had good intentions to head over to St. Paul’s (which we’d missed on previous trips) but got seduced by Sherlock Holmes Pub ( 10 Northumberland Street). We had a great time sitting outside and chatting with some locals and some other travelers. After that we decided to just take a closer look at the area south of Trafalgar Square and so we wandered down Whitehall past Scotland Yard, The Cavalry Museum, 10 Downing Street etc.
After some nosing about we found a little place to grab some OK, but not terribly memorable dinner in a nice surrounding. Then we caught up with my boss and his wife again for some post dinner pub crawling around Trafalgar square. Finally we hit the tube for a quick ride back to our hotel.
All in all, a lot of time on my feet, my knee would really have liked an ice pack but there was none forthcoming…
Day 59 (Fri, Jun 24th)
This day was a lot like yesterday…lots of walking around. We circled St. Paul’s and went in for a bit, walked across the millennium bridge and back, and saw the entirely unimpressive ‘London Bridge’. (It’s a very normal bridge that crosses the Thames into London city center). However, from this bridge you can look down the Thames to the east and see the HMS Belfast, Tower Bridge and the Tower of London just beyond.
But today we went west, though, and took a quick look at the Golden Hinde (It’s a recreation of the Sir Francis Drake ship that circumnavigated the globe in the 1500s http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Hind). Then we wandered our way over to the Globe Theater to see a production of Dr. Faustus. It was a fantastic show for these amateur eyes. It was quite long, though, and sitting in cramped quarters was still problematic for my knee. Thankfully I was seated on the right-end of a row where I could put my leg out into the aisle when I needed to.
We finished off the day with suggestions from friends who’d lived in our ‘neighborhood’ … go to this restaurant, make a reservation, stop at that store to get the wine for the restaurant (no liquor license), stop into another pub to enjoy the evening until reservation time. It all worked out famously. If you’re ever going to stay in Southwark, drop me a note and I’ll fill in the details for you!
Day 60 (Sat, Jun 25th)
The long travel day back to Minneapolis was mostly uneventful. We didn’t have any delays, my leg held up, though feeling tender and beaten, and we made it home.
Day 61 (Sun, Jun 26th)
It’s really time to start with PT again…maybe tomorrow.
Day 62 (Mon, Jun 27th)
Finally I return to my normal PT…but for how long?
Day 63 (Tue, Jun 28th)
Stay the course!
Posted by Greg on August 16th, 2011 :: Filed under ACL Files