CITY SIGHTS

 Guess I should tell you what we did on our first full day of visit with my daughter in Esher. We decided to see the City of London and its environs so we left their home about 9:00 a.m. We took a taxi to the train station, bought our tickets and were told to "form an orderly" queue", which we did. Do you suppose we would have been tempted to be disorderly?

We got to Waterloo Station and caught an underground "tube" to Trafalgar Square where we bought a tour ticket for "The Big Bus" so that we could really see London. It was a double-decker and we sat up top in the open air and listened to the prattle of the tour guide who spent most of the time telling us about Charles V's beheading and other gory goings-on.  We did get to see many famous sites and it was great. We got off the bus near Harrod's---I have learned that "near" or "only a few " over here generally means a looongg walk. We had an uninteresting lunch across the street from Harrod's and then went in to that fabulous store. That's when we learned we could have eaten there.  Well, anyway I don't have a large enough vocabulary to describe that place! In one window there was a memorial display in remembrance of Diane and Dodi and on the sidewalk in front of that were enormous piles of flowers.

The goods in Harrod's are absolutely marvelous and the people shopping there were almost as interesting. There were a number of beautiful, exotic looking women who appeared to be from some Near Eastern country. We were told that they wear their required body covering clothing while in their country but ditch that garb when they arrive in England. Their clothing was gorgeous and so were they! There was one whole floor of the store that carried only articles of white. EVERYTHING  was white! It was amazing!

Moving on, the tickets we had bought at the train station were good on trains, buses and the metro all day so we just showed our tickets and hopped off and on. The Metro has a huge space between the waiting area and the hole in the ground where the mechanics of the thing are. There's a sign on the floor that says "Mind the gap".  You bloody well do that or you'll wind up a bloody mess in the "gap".

We had planned to meet my daughter's husband in Westminster so we went to the tube station again just when they announced that the drivers were going on strike! We went back outside to look for a cab but unfortunately everyone else wanted one too so we couldn't find one. Then we started looking for a bus but realized that we were just about four blocks from the pick up spot for our tour bus. We got on that and took another tour around London but got off before we got too far from Westminster. More walking and finally arrived at the pub where we were to meet my son-in-law. Had a couple of well-needed drinks and went to the train station by cab and on to their home. That was when I discovered I had lost my camera! All those wonderful photos gone! My daughter loaned me her old Sony so I was able to take more. Oh, and needless to say, my feet were killing me!

That's the end of today's tale. I know it's not exciting but maybe it gave you a glimpse of how London appears to a little old lady from South Texas. Sort of like a "Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" but of course, I ain't no Mark Twain.