London Town

I always seem to underestimate that nasty little travel annoyance
known as jet lag. Despite Ambien, Simply Sleep and Tylenol PM... it
still hits you like a ton of bricks mid-afternoon, when a "tiny nap"
turns into a comatose journey into the depths of unconsciousness!

And with a serious afternoon nap, you wake up pretty early in the
morning. But getting up at 4 am does have some advantages. Plenty of
time to write about what we've been doing here...

I think the eight-hour time difference is hitting home because on
prior trips to Europe in the last few years, we would fly to NY first,
visit the family, then head across the pond. Not so this time.

The flight from SFO to Heathrow was quite marvelous, though. The
British Airways 747 Business Class sleeper pods allowed you to have a
completely flat surface on which to sleep. And we had used
SeatGuru.com to move to a pair of pods near the upper deck emergency
exit, allowing much easier access to our seats. Ronna faced forward,
and I flew backward facing her. Fortunately there was a privacy panel
that could be raised so I couldn't annoy her for all nine hours of the
flight. Only bummer was BA offered "limited food sevice," and it was
pretty mundane for what people had to pay for Business Class. I think
BA was using the flight attendant strike as an excuse to pinch pennies
and save money on food service.

Our hotel here in London is The Goring--a 70-room jewel of historic
rooms and grand public spaces. Our room has way too much furniture,
but it is quite comfy and has a fabulous audio system...can't live
without my music! The Goring's claim to fame is that it was the first
hotel in the world to have private bathrooms for each room. Since it
opened in 1910, we are getting a special 100th Anniversary rate of £37
for one of our three night's stays! And full "order anything on the
menu" breakfast is included in our room rate.

The Goring is just a few blocks from Victoria Station. Hundreds of
shops, restaurants and pubs dot the landscape. Great location and
good amenities. Small annoyance: No WiFi in the rooms, but available
in the public areas around the lobby.

I didn't realize that my iPad has amazing GPS abilities. Even with no
WiFi signal, the map system shows you your exact location as you ride
in a cab or walk around... Very cool! And it's been a wonderful travel
companion... especially the iBooks app. I've polished off "Innocent"
by Scott Turow, "Storm Prey" by John Sandford, and now working on
"Deliver Us From Evil" by David Baldacci.

On our arrival day, Wednesday, June 9, 2010, we got into our room
about 1 pm, unpacked and of course took a "tiny nap." At about 7pm, we
walked the area and fell into a non-descript little Italian restaurant
that primarily catered to bleary-eyed tourists. Nothing to blog about,
shall we say.

On Thursday, we woke up at our customary 4 am. By 6, I badly nededed
some coffee, but the hotel doesn't serve breakfast until 7, so I
scored some to-go cups at a coffee stand inside the Victoria Tube
station. After a huge English breakfast, we took a cab to the
terrific Victoria and Albert Museum. Ronna had noticed billboards
promoting a new exhibit featuring the clothes, jewelry and accessories
of Grace Kelly. It was very well-presented and quite fascinating.

We walked back to our hotel thru marvelous and trendy Belgravia, amid
an oh-so-typical London drizzle, window-shopping at stylish boutiques,
interior design shops and kitchen remodeling showrooms. Got back to
the hotel just in time to take a "tiny nap."

We had a recommendation from our friend Tim Smith for a good dinner
spot a cab ride away, but instead decided to try another well-rated
spot just a few blocks from our hotel, Santini. Excellent all around,
and with the Pound down in value against the dollar, not crazily
expensive, either-- by London standards anyway.

Today, we had another big "part of the deal" English breakfast and
will be going to Marks and Spencer and Harrod's for some retail
therapy in a few hours. At 4 pm, we're meeting up with Catriona and
Michael Burns' son, Alex, who is in London for a San Diego State
University Summer Program. We found a cool-looking pub to take him to,
which should be quite chaotic with the World Cup matches starting
tonight. Too bad we won't be here Saturday when USA plays England...
that will be insane!

We'll be taking a car for the two-hour ride to Southampton tomorrow at
noon and getting aboard the Silversea Silver Whisper for our 11-day
Baltic cruise. Can't wait!