Trip to London
I was indecisive about what to do for my birthday, so except for some gifts I purchased for myself (maybe I expand on them later), I just stayed at home and had some cake with the family a couple of days later.
However, I still felt not myself and had to get out of the house for a weekend instead of just sleeping all day. Hence I booked a weekend away to London, a month later, and a day shorter than I had originally planned.
This time the plane fare was less than going by train. Friday morning I still worked half a day and because of actions from public transportation, I was earlier at the airport than planned. The flight had some delays taking off, but we made up for that in flight. The queue at border control was longer than expected and with my brand new passport, I needed to try at two different automatic gates before I could pass. When I say brand new I mean a passport that I got in July 2019 in anticipation of Brexit, but that was just lying around because in 2019 I didn’t need it for a flight to one of the Greek Isles and then afterward the pandemic hit.
The ride on the tube to the city center went smoother than anticipated. Walking out of the station at Leicester Square I needed to get my bearings again, but I found the way to my hotel quite easily.
This time I stayed at the Hub by Premier Inn Covent Garden (https://www.premierinn.com/gb/en/hotels/england/greater-london/london/hub-london-covent-garden.html). It is a bit more expensive than a hotel a bit further from the West End or city center. As a woman traveling alone this hotel was perfect as you can reach a lot of theaters on foot. But with everything getting more expensive I had to make a choice on which show to see.
After getting myself installed in the hotel I went in search of something small to eat. Found this at the Co-op and wanted to have a little picnic at Leicester Square. However with sundown, the gates closed, and needed to move, so I ate the rest in my room.
Saturday morning I figured out which show to book and purchased my ticket at the TKTS booth. After this, I walked to London Bridge tube station as there is a waterdrop® store (https://en.waterdrop.com/), and I had 502 empty cups to drop off for recycling. From there, I walked to Borough Market. As per usual there are always moments when my inner compass failed, so it took somewhat of a detour to arrive there. However, a Saturday at lunchtime is not a good time to explore there. Hence lunch was a Pret A manger wrap (https://www.pret.co.uk/en-GB). I needed to “get rid” of some old 20£ notes that expire at the end of September this year, and while this clerk asked her colleagues jokingly if they were accepting them I had other Pret shops where it seems that cash was not really welcome and Itsu (https://www.itsu.com/) doesn’t accept cash at all anymore. I never was officially tested for being on the ASD, but this really brought me down as I wanted to use the cash that I had at home and my bank takes extra charges for all debit/credit card uses outside the EU in foreign currencies.
Back to Saturday afternoon, I walked back from London Bridge to Lambeth Bridge, parliament square, St. James Park, a poke bowl from another Pret, to the hotel. After eating in my room, I left for the Shaftesbury Theatre for “& Juliet” (https://www.andjulietthemusical.co.uk/). No idea what the show was about, but I liked the songs in the clip I saw from West End live (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfTaNnpmpyE)
In this play, Mrs. Shakespeare is meddling in the writing of Romeo & Juliet and makes it a more feminist story. It was also very nice to see and hear Oliver Tompsett back on stage after We Will Rock you. I was too late seeing him in Rock of Ages all those years back, but after both shows, in the same theatre I ended up with Glitter/confetti in my clothes.
Sunday, I took a bit of a detour (that internal compass malfunctioning again) to arrive at Pimlico Gardens and continued via the Chelsea embankment across the Albert Bridge to Battersea Park. At times it was a bit chilly to sit still and read but by midday, it was bliss to read my book on a bench. I took the tube back from Battersea Park station to the hotel. As mentioned earlier, the dinner experience wasn’t that good. The food was good, but emotionally I didn’t enjoy it much.
In case of bad weather, I wanted to visit the National Army Museum (https://www.nam.ac.uk/). On Monday, it was cloudy, but the museum is closed on Mondays. So I put on my raincoat for the first time that weekend and walked to Foyles bookstore (I could resist buying anything), down Oxford Street to Marble Arch, sat at The Serpentine, and back to Covent Garden before collecting my luggage at the hotel and leaving for the airport.
In total, I clocked 66293 steps from Friday through Monday.
I forgot the sensation of taking off and landing, but overall it was a satisfying flight and a very enjoyable weekend.
If I had the money and energy and groceries weren’t so expensive at the moment I was there once a month, or at least 3 or 4 times a year as I was a long time ago.
Do you like London as much as I do, and what should I certainly (re)discover if I visit next time?
