AND THE EVENING AND THE MORNING WERE THE FIRST DAY

We arrived at DFW Thursday evening with plenty of time to spare—at least enough time to have one last Tex-Mex meal before leaving the country.  With tongues burning we made our way to the booth that converts your hard-earned American dollars into British pounds.  Then we discovered that our flight had been overbooked and they were literally begging people to give up their seats to accommodate the thirteen stand-by flyers.  We knew we were not interested—no matter how high the offer.

We eventually boarded and realized that we were not only in the back, but we were in the VERY back behind first class, business class, and the first section of coach.  We were not fortunate enough to get window seats; in fact, we sat in the middle of the section of five seats.  This was not a very comfortable way to spend the night. 

Once we were airborne, the flight attendants began serving up a pre-dinner snack—about thirty minutes later we were offered a choice of cheese ravioli or beef and rice for dinner.  We felt that the cheese ravioli was the safer choice.  Not bad for airline food.

I watched The Young Victoria and really got into the spirit of all things British. About ten o’clock, the lights were turned off for the evening. We dozed until about 3 o’clock Texas time when they started hurriedly handing out breakfast which consisted of a croissant, butter, jam, yogurt, orange juice, and coffee. They rushed us through breakfast and then encouraged us to visit “the toilet” before landing. We also had to fill out Landing Cards if we were not citizens of the UK. We used these to get through customs.

We found everyone at Heathrow to be friendly and accommodating. Customs was a breeze.  So was locating the Train to Paddington Station. Finding our hotel was a little more of a challenge, but after a short walk we arrived and checked in.  We were thankful we arrived without being run over by a bus or cab since it takes a while to train yourself to look the opposite direction before crossing a street.

The Lancaster London is situated across from Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. The Italian Garden,

which flows into The Serpentine, is just across the street. This cottage is also in the Park just across the street from our hotel:

We took a long walk late afternoon trying to get some idea what might be around our hotel.  Mostly we are situated in an area of nice apartment houses, very old, small churches, a hospital, some hotels and restaurants, lots of traffic, and most importantly, Paddington Station and Lancaster Gate, our entrance to The Tube (Underground Train System in London).  Our walk took us to Edgware and a largely Middle Eastern section of the city—Lebanese, perhaps.  We found a McDonalds and some very strong coffee which helped wake us up and become more acclimated to our new surroundings.  The walk back took us past quite a few pubs, restaurants, small businesses, and eventually back to the hotel.  We set out a few minutes later to find something for dinner and discovered a pub just about a block from the hotel called The Swan.  We had been told that pub food was reasonably priced and also some of the better food to be found in London.  We placed an order for one plate of fish and chips after we saw the size of the fish.  It comes with “mushy peas” which we were not sure about until we took our first bite.  Yummy fish, yummy chips, yummy mushy peas!

 

We found that The Swan had an interesting history dating back to the 1700s.  It was once a place where prisoners were taken for their last drink before they were placed on a wagon and taken to what is now known as Marble Arch for hanging.  They believed that the men were easier to handle and their necks broke easier if they were drunk before execution.  We learned that when they were taken to The Swan for their last drink, that was known as having "one for the road."  Once they had had their last drink, they were placed "on the wagon," meaning they would never have another drink.  This is where we get the idioms "one for the road" and "on the wagon" which are commonly used today.

After dinner I was determined to see Kensington Palace since the map showed it was no more than a mile from us.  We walked into the Park and eventually found it.  Here are a few of the pictures we took of the garden area surrounding the Palace:

 

 

 

 

 

Our first day was great fun, and by the end of our long walk back to the hotel we were exhausted and ready for our first night's sleep in London.  Little did we know then that the sun sets at 9:00 and rises by 4:00.  Needless to say, the next morning came early!

 

(If I have one complaint against our camera it is that we are having to constantly reset the date on it; therefore, while most of the pictures taken on our trip have the correct date, some are stamped with the date 01/01/2006.)