THURSDAY 17th MAY 2012

LONDON DAY TWO

Had a bit of a sleep in after our huge day yesterday! Met up with Den and Sue at about 9 am and wandered into Earls Court and had a light brekky at the Courtfield Hotel to get us started! Caught the train up to Kensington High Street where I stopped at a Vodafone store to get a sim for my iPhone - only to find later that the sales dude had not properly changed the settings and I had no service! Twit!! It was only a short walk from there to Kensington Gardens where we had a look at the castle and the lovely parks and gardens, and then decided to head for Lords to have a look see at this famous landmark! After a train ride and a lot of walking we found the ground but unbeknown to us it was day one of the Endland v West Indies Test and so no tours and no looks at the ground at all! b*****!
We knew that Abbey Road was close to Lords and so we caught a bus to where we thought the famous cross walk was, only to find we were quite wrong and it a couple of miles in the opposite direction!!! So back on another bus and back the way we came until a kindly gent pointed the old studios out to us and we got off the bus!!!
More sightseeing was our main aim and it was back on the big red double decker bus to get to Trafalgar Square, which we did via the top end of town, that is, Oxford and Regent Streets and Picadilly Circus and Mayfair! We got great views of all the these famous landmarks from the top deck of the bus and had plenty of time to get photos because the traffic was horrific - total gridlock in most places - and the bus moved at snails pace! How they keep to a timetable I have no idea!!!
It was fascinating stuff and we were so pleased we took the bus instead of the faster train - would have missed it all! We got off at Trafalgar Square and with cameras at the ready we reached Nelson's Column only to find surrounded by scaffolds etc and a big screen being erected for people to follow the Jubilee Parade next weekend! Even the fountain had been drained and there were cranes and crap all about the square - no chance of any decent photos at all!
The crowds were huge - all tourists here for the Jubilee - and we managed to find a table in a local pub to have a snack and a beer for a very late (3pm) lunch....
From there it was a walk down Whitehall to Westminster station to get a train back to Earls Court and our Hotel - I took a detour and went back to Kensington and got Vodafone to fix my phone - where we had a bit of look at options for seeing a West End show! We wanted to see "Jersey Boys" which is obviously very popular, and the only seats we could find were at the matinees on Sat and Sun. Tomorrow we will head up to the theatre and try our luck.
After a bit of a rest we met up with Taz and her friend Jenna and had a few drinks at the Courtfield Hotel and then tried to find a place for a meal. We waited twenty minutes at a very busy Italian place then moved on and on and on.......... Eventually going back to the pub and to their quaint old upstairs dining room where we had a great meal! Thursday night is a very busy night about here according to Taz and by the number of folk wandering the streets at 10.30pm (just as it got really dark) she was spot on!
Taz and Jenna were heading off for a bit of fun so we said goodbye and hit the sack, so ending another busy and very rewarding day! It was so amazing to see all those places today, like moving around the Monopoly board, all so famous and now we have seen them up close!