Arrival in London

I arrived in London at about 12:00 noon. The train (underground) ride to the hotel station was about half an hour, so not bad. It was pretty crowded, so I had to stand the whole way, but after sitting for more than 8 hours, I didn't mind that. The hotel was only a 3 minute walk from the tube station. Nice!

It's not a bad hotel -- the room is tiny and the lift doesn't work very well, but the shower is fantastic, as is the view. Unfortunately, this is a private park, only for people who live in the area. But at least I can enjoy looking at it. The buildings around here are mostly quite old -- maybe Victorian -- and many are being renovated. The cars parked outside -- well, let's just say I have never seen so many Bentleys, Aston Martins, Lamborghinis, Maseratis, Mercedes, and of course the most common, BMWs and Audis, in one short walk. There are also quite a few Mini Coopers and Fiat 500s (maybe those are for the help), but most are luxury brands. I've already noticed that people drive just like they do at home, drivers are quite aggressive towards pedestrians, and people leave their cars running. It's not cold or hot, and they aren't diesel trucks, so I wonder what the excuse is here. 

The (private) park across from the hotel -- complete with ping-pong table!

I had a pub lunch of fish and chips. It was good and all, but once was enough. More than enough, actually, as you can see from the photo.You can't see it very well, but there is also a portion of baby peas (not the mushy variety.) I saw on the menu that you could choose mushy or whole, but the woman who took my order didn't ask. She must have just assumed that a Canadian wouldn't want the mushy ones.The tea was great here -- served in a huge cup and saucer and with a little pitcher of milk. By having fish and chips in a pub, I killed two birds with one stone -- had a pub lunch and fish and chips.

The pub part was kind of strange. There were mostly men there, a few sitting alone. The two guys at the table next to mine talked constantly, mostly about what movies and TV shows they like. They are big Get Smart fans, which I thought was pretty interesting. I had a good time eavesdropping (forced to do so) but I still felt a bit awkward sitting alone with this huge plate of food! Needless to say, I couldn't finish it all. I had two thoughts about this -- first, if I could have ordered a half-portion, I would have been happy to do that -- it would have been cheaper and prevented me from wasting food. And second, if this is how much food Brits eat, it's no wonder they are seeing an increase in obesity!

Just a light lunch in the local pub!

Enough food for two -- or three! 

Right after lunch,I went to Hyde Park/ Kensington Gardens and hired a Barclays Hire Cycle.

These are 3-speed bikes that you can rent for short trips around the city. It costs 2 GBP for a 24-hour rental. During this time you can make as many trips of up to thirty minutes as you like. If you keep the bike longer than half an hour, you are charged extra. I didn't really get it at first, but the guy at the hotel reception desk explained it to me. That was exactly what I ended up doing: I rode first in the parks, then I saw a store I was interested in, so I docked the bike and went in and browsed around. After this, I walked for a while and then picked up another bike. This time, after riding for a bit, I felt confused about where I was, so I docked the bike and took some time to look at the map and get my bearings, then I walked to another docking station. Finally I used a third bike to ride back to the hotel. 

My very first Barclays Hire Cycle!

Apparently they have changed their name (and sponsor) to Santander, but some still have the Barclays label.

The South Kensington tube station -- I liked the shiny brick!

There are docking stations at all the underground stations, but also in other places. You would never have to ride more than half an hour to get to a new station.My last bit of riding was between 4:30 and 5:00. I noticed that a lot of people seem to use the bikes for commuting. What a great idea!They are very basic bikes, but apparently most of London is quite flat, so you don't need a lot of speeds. I also noticed that many of the commuters wear reflective vests and/or helmets. So I guess they bring that stuff to work with them, but just not the bike. They don't have to worry about finding a pace to park the bike, or about the bike getting stolen. I also saw quite a few commuters on folding bikes -- another good idea for this setting.

All in all, I didn't really see a lot of sights or anything today, but I felt like it was a good chance to get acquainted with the city and the bike hire system. I also enjoyed seeing the Round Pond, where people sail boats and feed the waterfowl. 

Near this pond is a statue of Queen Victoria:

I rode to a square with World War I and Wellington memorials:

Tomorrow I plan to take in some of the "big name" sights, and also possibly to attend a show in the evening. I'm glad I had a chance to use the bikes today and get oriented. It is every bit as tough as I thought it would be to remember to ride on the left! 

People watching today was also fun. Almost as soon as I left the hotel and started walking, I saw three police officers walking towards me. They wore uniforms and, contrary to expectations, all three carried guns -- and not just guns but great big ones (maybe M16s?) complete with ammunition clips. I haven't seen that before, except in Istanbul. There are a lot of police cars patrolling as well, more than we see in Edmonton.

 (above and below)  Some buildings I rode by in Chelsea -- the bottom one is a "mews" -- old stables converted into homes. They seem really nice, because they are so private, and of course have attached garages.

I also saw what seemed to be two Arab princesses being dropped off by their chauffeur at an expensive shoe shop. The car -- a black Mercedes minivan. Very nice! They already wore expensive shoes (all I could see except a bit of their faces) but I guess they wanted more!

Little schoolboy in his blazer, hat and scarf. Riding his scooter home from school.

And there were LOTS of schoolchildren in their uniform blazers. So quintessentially British. I even saw one little girl riding on the back of her dad's bike; she was wearing the classic flat straw hat along with her school uniform.