Today we made the decision to find an apartment here in London and stay the rest of the time David has off. We found a cute apartment in the Chelsea area near the river and will move there Friday, the 17th for 10 days. We still plan to go to Bath, Stonehenge and Winchester but either go on tours or make it a day trip from London as they are so close to here.
Once we had found a place, we took off to do some more exploring. As we passed a MacDonalds, I told David that they sold a vegetarian sandwich. Since it was close to lunch time, we decided to split one. Plus, I hadn’t had my morning coffee yet!!! The coffee is freshly ground and good! The sandwich was a falafel in a small baguette with mayonnaise, cucumbers and tomatoes. It was good but if I ever have another one, I will order it without mayo…I am not a huge mayo fan! We sat in Hyde Park and ate…it was another beautiful, clear, crisp fall day with a brilliant blue sky.
After lunch, we walked over the the Mayfair area, east of the park. This is an upscale area of London. We saw several Rolls Royces and Mercedes with chauffeurs. We continued walking to Oxford street and did some window shopping. It was very busy, with lots of people out and about!
From Oxford Street we made our way toward the Holborn area so David could visit a hobby store he spotted yesterday after it had closed.
Next we walked along Drury Lane which is near the theater district and Covent Gardens. We seem to be drawn to that area! It was around 4:00 and we decided to eat an early dinner of fish and chips at the Griffin Pub. It was an old pub with well worn floors. The food was wonderful! They have this sauce called Brown Sauce over here. It is similar to the consistency of ketchup but has a stronger vinegar flavor. It taste great on french fries!
From Drury Lane, we decided to walk to Harrods on Kensington Rd. This took us past Trafalgar Square which currently has a large screen erected so people could watch the Olympics and now, the Paralympics. We inquired about getting tickets to the Paralympic games but they are all sold out.
We continued on through the stately Admiralty Arch that takes you onto the Mall toward Buckingham Palace. It was built in 1910 in honor of Queen Victoria. Again, the Mall was closed due to the Olympics but that was OK as St James Park was open and ran parallel to the mall. It was nice walking along the lake that has ducks and swans swimming in it.
We went past Buckingham Palace, over through Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park and shortly after, arrived at Harrod’s Department store on Brompton Street. It was 6:00 in the late afternoon at this point and the store was very busy. It is a large place! We walked around looking at various items but really didn’t feel like we needed to buy anything. Plus, my feet were really starting to hurt. We had walked close to 8 miles at this point.
We hopped the tube back to Bayswater and walked home to call it a night. Total miles walked were 8.75 today….we both were feeling it! It is good, though as hopefully, we walked off the fish and chips!!
Tomorrow, we are planning an easier day….the Victoria and Albert museum.