January 23 Wednesday
After sleeping fitfully, the final three hours before rising provided us deep sleep, then we were up at 7:30 AM, trying to force ourselves to adapt to our new time zone.
We then had coffee and breakfast in our new London flat on Fitzroy Street in the Fitzrovia neighborhood! It was located at King Regent's Place, 12-16 Fitzroy Street, Flat 41.
Our plan today was to do a lot of walking. We walked first to Piccadilly Circus where there is an official London tourist office, where we bought a city map for 1 pound (and learned that our coins saved from previous trips to England are no longer used — oh well). We made a few wrong turns but enjoyed walking down Regent’s Street. Then we walked to Pall Mall, Trafalgar Square, the Queen’s Household Division Charity (where she keeps her local horses), next to the Household Cavalry Museum. This was where we saw the changing of the horse mounted guards on the "parade" open space, where they do the trooping of the colors on the Queen's official birthday.
After that we detoured into St. James Square to the store, Fortnum and Mason, which has a huge food emporium. We bought hot ham and cheese sandwiches, which we consumed at a standup counter.
Then we took a walk past St. James Palace (home to Prince Charles) and then through St. James Park (many birds, gigantic swans) to the Wellington Arch, then crossed into Hyde Park. We followed the Princess Diana trail to the Diana memorial fountain, then went on to Kensington Palace. The weather today was quite chilly (especially when walking next to the small, cold lakes) but generally dry, and as we passed Kensington the sun was trying to break through a little.
Leaving the park, we walked west along Bayswater Road past Notting Hill and Portobello Road toward our destination, the Holland Park neighborhood where the Miller family lived for about five years. We made our way to their home at 10 St. James Garden, took a few photos and had a brief conversation with a few young women from New Jersey who were the current residents (moved in about one month earlier).
We returned to the Holland Park tube station, then rode to Warren Street (changing at Oxford Circus), then returned to our flat.
For dinner, we had made a reservation at Belgo in Coventry Garden at 7:30 PM (Belgium themed with mussels as their specialty -- this would be our third visit!). But first we walked down to the restaurant, Joe Allen’s, in the theater district for a pre-dinner drink (a recommendation by James our flight attendant). It turns out Joe Allen’s has no bar area/license, but the hostess recommended a wine bar on the Strand called the Port House (Spanish/Portuguese). We enjoyed a glass of Tempranillo blanco and delicious almonds.
At Belgo, we had mussels two ways: Thai and Traditional, with salad and frites. Then we were home to bed at 10:30 PM.
We then had coffee and breakfast in our new London flat on Fitzroy Street in the Fitzrovia neighborhood! It was located at King Regent's Place, 12-16 Fitzroy Street, Flat 41.
Our plan today was to do a lot of walking. We walked first to Piccadilly Circus where there is an official London tourist office, where we bought a city map for 1 pound (and learned that our coins saved from previous trips to England are no longer used — oh well). We made a few wrong turns but enjoyed walking down Regent’s Street. Then we walked to Pall Mall, Trafalgar Square, the Queen’s Household Division Charity (where she keeps her local horses), next to the Household Cavalry Museum. This was where we saw the changing of the horse mounted guards on the "parade" open space, where they do the trooping of the colors on the Queen's official birthday.
After that we detoured into St. James Square to the store, Fortnum and Mason, which has a huge food emporium. We bought hot ham and cheese sandwiches, which we consumed at a standup counter.
Then we took a walk past St. James Palace (home to Prince Charles) and then through St. James Park (many birds, gigantic swans) to the Wellington Arch, then crossed into Hyde Park. We followed the Princess Diana trail to the Diana memorial fountain, then went on to Kensington Palace. The weather today was quite chilly (especially when walking next to the small, cold lakes) but generally dry, and as we passed Kensington the sun was trying to break through a little.
Leaving the park, we walked west along Bayswater Road past Notting Hill and Portobello Road toward our destination, the Holland Park neighborhood where the Miller family lived for about five years. We made our way to their home at 10 St. James Garden, took a few photos and had a brief conversation with a few young women from New Jersey who were the current residents (moved in about one month earlier).
We returned to the Holland Park tube station, then rode to Warren Street (changing at Oxford Circus), then returned to our flat.
For dinner, we had made a reservation at Belgo in Coventry Garden at 7:30 PM (Belgium themed with mussels as their specialty -- this would be our third visit!). But first we walked down to the restaurant, Joe Allen’s, in the theater district for a pre-dinner drink (a recommendation by James our flight attendant). It turns out Joe Allen’s has no bar area/license, but the hostess recommended a wine bar on the Strand called the Port House (Spanish/Portuguese). We enjoyed a glass of Tempranillo blanco and delicious almonds.
At Belgo, we had mussels two ways: Thai and Traditional, with salad and frites. Then we were home to bed at 10:30 PM.
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