Birdsong's Trip to the UK

Glady & Larry under Big Ben

( For those who don't know us well...   Long family refers to Lori, John, Julian and Adrienne Long - Glady's daughter's family. Mark, Stacia, Alec and Mac Woodruff - Glady's son's family. Peg & George Spatz - Glady's sister and brother-in-law who traveled with us. Di & Ben Nowland - another sister of Glady's.
Larry has Retinitis Pigmentosa. He only has a tiny bit of vision in his right eye. Estimated to be less than two degree visual field. No vision in the left eye.)

October 2, 2005 - Leave San Francisco, CA

We left Nevada City for San Francisco. For the first time, we stayed in Marriott Courtyard in San Bruno, where we left our car for the entire month for a cost of $20 a week.

The hotel is only 10 minutes from the Long's! They came at 4 PM and the kids and I swam in the indoor pool and spa. It was our personal pool - nobody else was swimming. Had dinner at the nearby Pasta Pomadoro.

October 3 - Virgin Atlantic

Our flight was not until afternoon, so we went for a long walk around the business park near the hotel. Beautiful fall day. We took a 1:00 PM shuttle to the airport. After boarding, we had a one hour delay for "forgotten paperwork," an excuse we didn't believe... we suspected a warning light or something.

The Virgin Atlantic plane was overheated and the seats were very cramped, but they had real meals, and quite tasty ones. We slept very little with it being so warm.

October 4 - London

London. We arrived at the London Elizabeth Hotel around 1PM. George and Peg were already there, as their flight was earlier. We did not take the same flight from CA because they were returning to the USA on the Queen Mary and had to fly the airline that the cruise had arranged.

We four went around the corner to our first pub, "The Swan." We each had a beer and each couple shared an order of fish & chips. Greasy meal, $50! London is expensive. Back to the hotel for a 2 hour nap.

Then we went with Peg and George to take their luggage containing clothes for the cruise to the swanky hotel they will be staying in prior to boarding the ship. Then on to Victoria Station to validate our BritRail passes and make reservations for the train to Edinburgh in a few days. We had drinks at the King's Arm pub, and dinner at Bella Italiano.

Wed. Oct. 5 - London, Red Bus Tour

Had a great continental breakfast (free) at the Elizabeth Rose Restaurant. (Breakfast is the only meal served there.) We had a choice of juices, mixed fruit, cereals, yogurt, toast and variety of hot rolls and boiled eggs. For an extra charge, you could order bacon and sausage, eggs and "soldiers," which are toast triangles in a rack. (Peggy asked for the definition.)

The Elizabeth Hotel was put together from three individual houses built in the 1850's. It is ornately furnished with heavy drapes and ornate furniture, but it's a little dingy and worn. It was also overheated, as were many other UK rooms, we found out later.

The London Elizabeth is located on the north central side of Hyde Park. The Lancaster Gate (tube entrance) is right across the street.

We walked to the Paddington Station area (6-8 blocks away) and got on the Big Red Tour, a double decker red bus, where you can get on and off anywhere. We got off at Parliament (Big Ben) and toured Westminster Abbey, begun by King Harold and later William the Conqueror in 1066.

We got a hot dog on the street, and then went on to the London Eye, a huge ferris wheel with cars large enough to hold 20 people. It was 135 meters tall (443 feet).