It’s Tuesday night in Fulham as I write this, another day of hoofing it around London. We loved the tube system which has been an easy way to transport our elderly bodies from here to wherever we wanted to go. The District Line is much nicer, newer, and cleaner than the Piccadilly Line. Then the STAIRS! Stairs in the tube (a few lifts), stairs to the bridges, stairs to every museum. We’ve climbed 285 flights of stairs per hour on average.
The upsides (not including the Cotswolds and Oxford): the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Hunterian Museum, The Courtauld, our tour guide Claire Gascoigne, Southwark Cathedral, Covent Garden's Jubilee Hall Antique Market, Seven Dials Roundabout, Chinatown London, several very good cups of coffee as there’s a coffee shoppe every ten feet, and the Cock Tavern where, on Sunday after a long day of walking, we had a superb Sunday Roast.
The downsides (not including the Cotswolds and Oxford): Our Airbnb (Backstory is this trip was predicated on Connie’s conference in Oxford being confirmed which did not happen until early August, giving us less than two months to plan. Our first Airbnb cancelled on us in early September so we scrambled to find something that wasn’t meant for trust-funders and seemed doable in location and cleanliness…this one was one step up from a hostel, slightly lacking in basics but they did have semi-sour towels. And what’s with England and washcloths—and top sheets? Not any to be found, and no shelving in the showers to put soap, shampoo, etc..strange), The Tate Museum (we found this to be the most clunky and awkward museum to navigate—ever. A six story cold bunker. As one reviewer said, Well, at least it's free. Giant space with NOTHING in it), and the crowds (like Lisbon and Porto last October, the millions of people bumping up around us and moving at the speed of light to get to the next ‘sight’ was overwhelming).
And our final meal Tuesday night in Fulham was an exercise in patience. We chose to go to an intimate restaurant close to us in Fulham called Al Santo, a combo of Greek and Italian food. We got there early enough that we were seated right away and our order was put in (an appetizer, wine, and two entrees) as other tables were being seated around us. The appetizer came in due time and we enjoyed that with our wine. Then 20 minutes passed, waiter said the entrees were just coming out…20 more minutes passed, entrees should be right here said the waiters repeatedly and assuredly…70 minutes gone…hmmm, the people who came in after us were finishing up their entrees. After 90 minutes I finally went up to one of the three waiters who were hovering around like bumper cars and asked to just pay for what we received so we could leave. As I was doing that, one of them came out with our plates. OK. Well, mine was superb, but hard to enjoy due to the circumstances, but Connie’s pasta was quite underdone, slightly crunchy. Even one of the women sitting at a nearby table said she hoped we wouldn’t have to pay full price for our experience. The bill came and they chose NOT to discount any of the fare…so I paid…no argument. Who wants to be an ugly American? Then as we were standing outside and starting to walk ‘home,’ the owner Roberto came out and started yelling at me about being aggressive in his restaurant. JFC. I stood there with my hands folded, being as benign as possible, while he raked me over the coals for coming in to his house and being aggressive about not wanting to enjoy a leisurely meal, why not just go to McDonalds, etc…I could barely interject as HE was the one actually being aggressive. I’m thankful he left his cleaver inside. I did try to explain why I just wanted to leave and pay only for the food we ate (before the entrees) but he wouldn’t have it. He went full Italian on me. Chalk one up for a new experience…
Now it’s early Wednesday morning in London and just found out our flight to Denver/Tucson is delayed enough that we would miss our Tucson connection. Re-booked to San Francisco, leaving a couple hours earlier, but the flight is two hours longer. Heh. If all goes well we should be in Tucson tonight.
I talked to two ladies who met in the 1940s and got locked in Hyde Park overnight. This was a few years ago, but they were still laughing about the experience. One had come from Australia to visit. Do not miss Westminster Abbey's evensong on Saturdays.
Wow to everything!
And those photos!!!!!!!