Day 2: Arriving in London, England
The journey begins in London, England. We then proceed west through Southern England before crossing into Wales. The religion of England and Wales is Protestantism and the currency is the pound sterling.
We then take a boat west to enter Ireland. Ireland is a very independent nation where the main religion is Roman Catholicism. Their currency in Ireland is the EuroDollar. We travel through Ireland, including their capital city of Dublin.
We proceed north crossing into Northern Ireland, an important part of the United Kingdom where the primary religion is Protestantism and their currency is that of the United Kingdom which is the pound sterling.
We then travel by boat east to the Island of Great Britain (which is the countries of England, Wales and Scotland) back into England before proceeding north to Scotland. The religion in Scotland is Protestantism and their currency is the pound sterling.
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The tour does not start until Saturday, but I always like to arrive early and depart late from my journeys. This is my 5th or 6th visit to London, my first 3 times being in the 1980s! For all of my stays, my previous hotels were just off Bayswater Road north of Hyde Park, so I am very comfortable with this part of London! Today's Hilton Hotel Kensington is west of Hyde Park, but still on Bayswater Road, though by a different name in this part of the city. So I thought I would take a walk down memory lane. In the first 1/4 miles, I found two of my primary goals....an Italian gelateria and a nice cold beverage. What a great snack since I hadn't had anything since breakfast on the plane.
I continued down to Bayswater Road and continued the entire distance of Hyde Park. This take me 3 miles from the hotel to the east end of the park which is where the Marble Arch is located. It is all covered right now for renovations. I will enter Hyde Park sometime tomorrow or Friday. I just like to sit and people-watch when I visit exciting and different cities!
We landed a few minutes early (about 12:05 pm on Wednesday), but we sat on the tarmac for 30 minutes before going to our gate. By the time I went through customs, got my luggage, and met the driver from the tour company, I didn't get to the hotel until about 2:30 pm. I was very tired, so took a quick nap before going out to see the city.
By the time I reached the Marble Arch, it was already 6:30 pm and I was tired, so I thought I would take the Tube back to the hotel. It is 15 years since I was last in London, but I still remember the Central Line (red) of the subway in London, so I got on the line and rode 5 stations to the Shepherd's Bush station close to the hotel. The underground railway in London was the first in the world in 1863...and you can still tell by many of these old stops. And it is customary for there to be no a/c on these old stations, so it is all hot air! But it still brought back great memories!
By now, it was about 7:30 pm when I got off the Tube at Shepherd's Bush. I had only had a small gelateria and a Mango Dragonfruit iced beverage since breakfast, so I stopped at Subway and ordered a 6 inch sandwich, but I only had half of it that filled me up.
What a great, exciting day. I have not even thought yet about what I will do tomorrow!