Wednesday--No More Peas, Please

Another beautiful day in London. It’s been sunny, dry, and cool the whole time I’ve been here. It’s been very nice for sightseeing.

It occurred to me today that I have had four meals in restaurants here, and three of them have featured peas—frozen peas with the shepherd’s pie (not bad), canned peas with fish and chips (disgusting), and mushed peas with fish and chips (okay). Interesting.

Today, I didn’t go to any big sights, but just walked around here and there. At breakfast this morning, one of the guests told me that the Flower Show was completely sold out. She said I might be able to get a ticket for $500. I didn’t really want to see it that bad.

I wonder what they serve at this breakfast--10 Deadly Sins!

There are two big stories here. Chelsea is playing Manchester United for the first all-English championship in Moscow. Everyone is worried that the thousands of fans that went to Russia will behave in their usual hooliganish ways and will get arrested by the Moscow police. The other controversy is that Prince Phillip’s favorite grandson, Anne’s son (11th in line for the throne) just got married and sold his wedding pictures to a magazine for 500,000 pounds.

I walked by the National Gallery but decided not to go in because I wasn’t all that interested in pictures of British people I’d never heard of. This girl was copying a painting onto the sidewalk. I don’t know why, but it was interesting.

And to prove I’m really here. It’s kind of hard to get pictures with me in them when I’m traveling alone. The hostess in the restaurant where I ate lunch took this one for me in Leicester Square.

Day 2--Saints and Sinners

I had a big day today, which means tired feed, sore legs, and a stiff neck. Mainly I saw the Tower of London and Westminster Abby.

I take the train from Penge to Victoria Station, and I decided to hang out in the station a while and have a cup of coffee and read the paper. How often do you suppose there is Oregon news in a London newspaper? Pretty, cool, no?

When I was finished with my coffee and my Crispy Crème donut (my first, by the way), I gathered up my trash to throw it away. I walked around and around but saw no sign of a trash can. I finally asked an official-looking person who told me there weren’t any trash cans, just guys driving around bins. He told me to leave my trash (or rubbish, as they say) on the floor. I thought that was strange, but the station did look nice without any trash cans or trash. It was amazingly clean.

I was also surprised at the size of the Tower of London. I thought it was just a, well, a tower, but it’s like a campus, with lawns and everything. There were some pretty creepy things there, and a lot of history. I’m glad I read all those books about English history before I came. I feel like a more informed tourist.

Westminster Abbey was amazing, but I especially liked the Poets’ Corner. That was the part I went to see. It was amazing to see the graves of all those great authors there, like Dickens, all the Brontes, T. S. Eliot, Lewis Carroll, and on and on. There were even memorials to a few American authors, like Henry James.

And now to prove to you that I am really here—

Tomorrow, I think I'm going to try to go see the Chelsea Flower Show. Since I'm lucky enough to be here while It's going on, I figure I should check it out. The Queen of England went on Sunday (and I'm not talking about Elton John, as the tour guide described him).

First Day in London--Look Right First

Greetings from across the Pond
I arrived yesterday afternoon at this very nice B&B in Penge (pronounced Penj). The trip went well. We had a long delay leaving Portland, but it just meant I spent more time in the Portland airport instead of the Denver airport. I had a bad experience at Heathrow which could have been a disaster. The cash machine ate my bank card even though I told them I was traveling to London. Fortunately, my credit card works.

I ate my first English meal at this take-away restaurant in Penge. I ate shish and doner kebabs. Delicious, but there must have been over a pound of food.I had to eat it there because I'm not allowed to eat take-away food in my room. I can eat in the kitchen, but not Indian food. I guess it's too pungent for people who aren't eating it.

I took it easy today while I worked on my jet lag. I walked around Penge and then took a bus to the nearby town of Bromley. It has quite a shopping area, but I didn't buy anything. I had shepherd's pie for lunch. It came with 3 vegetables and potatoes. In my experience so far, the English are hearty eaters.

Penge is a kind of small town. It's not as small as miss Marple's St. Mary Mead, but it's hardly a Metropolis. This is a picture of High Street, the main drag.

Some of the townhouses in Penge have pretty little gardens. I'm partial to tiny gardens myself, so I like them. Unfortunately, that also seems to be where everyone has to keep their garbage. It kind of ruins the look, but I suppose people here must be used to it and just overlook it.

I'm listening to talk radio and the speaker is talking about how middle-class people in Manhattan are "freganning" by picking up free food being thrown away by restaurants and grocery stores. He said that Americans are claiming things are bad there, but if they had to put up with what the English tolerate, they'd revolt.

Tomorrow, the Tower of London!

Peggy