Standing Room Only

 We got up about 7 AM, got dressed and moseyed down to the breakfast with reasonable expectations, which were far exceeded!  There were the usual suspects yogurt, pastries, coffee and juice, but also there was a hot menu to pick from.

  Claire got French toast and I got Eggs Benedict. The yolks were SO orange!

We then went to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards, and we are still waiting.  We got there about an hour early and had time to find a lovely place in St James park to leave a bit of Kathy.

When we got to the palace, there were already some clowns there at the bars but shortish (clowns) ones so I though Claire could see.  To our left were a bunch of Philippinos (short) , and to our right a bunch of Hispanic folks (short).  

They were really the clowns, they ate Doritos, some packaged pastry thing, more chips and finally sat on the concrete that holds the bars and had sandwiches.  I did not know weather to laugh or cry at them.  They spoke a mixture of English and Spanish about 30/70. Their English accent was definitely of our ilk.  In the meantime there was a couple behind us from Holland,  we started talking all the while it is sprinkling, showering, raining, showering, raining, sprinkling………They were lovely .  There was also a Ukrainian couple and they seemed nice until….. Anyway when it finally seemed that something was happening I let the Dutch lady in front of me, he was TALL. And then I felt bad about  the poor Ukrainian lady behind me and I had seen the changing of the guard before. So I let her in front of me too and dammit if she was going to let her husband in front of me instead. Firstly I offered it to her and secondly he was as tall as me so he needed to fend for himself! I gave her the hairy eyeball and she seemed to understand and before I knew it they were both in front or me breathing down Claires neck and she got over that real quick.  

Once AGAIN no good deed……….

Regardless the  stinking changing of the guard did not happen, at least what I had seen before.  So we stood there FOREVER and Claire really didn’t get to see the full meal deal.

Getting out of there felt like Paris at the Bastille Day fireworks.  It was so crowded, i kept thinking if someone would fall they would get trampled.  

We had tickets to go in the palace, which was new to me too, and very fun to see after watching the Crown.  I have to say though my favorite part was all of the art, there is art by Rembrandt, Hooch and Vermeer.

We lunched at the palace, but we were definitely not royalty!  I had coronation chicken, not a fan, and Claire had a ham and cheese sandwich.  We also shared a price of carrot cake, but it was, well lets just say we didn’t finish it.  Next was a double decker to St Thomas Hospital to the Florence Nightingale museum. 

 I did not feel the breast beating that I had before but I still feel it is a nice little museum of her life and the inception of nursing as a profession.   On the way back to the bus we stopped for some milk for my coffee,.  There is a nice little Nespresso machine here and was aching to give a cup, so we stopped in and what did we find…….. Halls cough drops, THEY STILL MAKE THEM!!!!!!

Back to the Sanctuary for a rest and then consideration of supper.  We asked the guys downstairs and they wee fairly incredulous that we would ask, but we are staying here and don’t want to dine here exclusively.   

So we walked a bit and found a place called The Albert.  

I was planning on fish and chips, but they had specials.  

So Claire and I both had a steak and raclette pie accompanied with potatoes and cabbage. It was nice and a nice walk back.   

London, not Indiana

I have a numbers thing, mostly stupid, but still there.  Yesterday,, the first day of our cruise adventure was 8-25-25. The day went well, French class form 10-11, home, changed and everything done and ready when Claire arrived.  We got to the airport the requisite 3 hours ahead of time and then…….. the plane was delayed.  

We shared a hot honey pepperoni Flat Bread and Donatos, look out this was yummy!  We got to Philly with enough time to make our plane to London.  There was an adorable baby in the row in front of us and  I thoroughly enjoyed her and before the after…….I was nearly asleep and  the little sweetie started crying.  That was it for the shut eye.  SO we committed the criminal act of napping on arrival to the hotel!.

The BlackBerry we had arranged was there even though we were an hour early and that went smooth as silk.  We arrived and the room was ready! Hence the nap. Out hotel, the Sanctuary House Hotel is quaint, above a pub, a twin room with a both tub!  I haven’t been in a European hotel for w while and forgotten how small they are, but Claire says it is bigger than our Cabin will be on the cruise. 

 They have tea, hot chocolate - Cadbury, and Nespresso coffee, I’m  only missing cream for that coffee!  

After a quick bath and a cup of tea (I just had to!) we went down to the pub below (where we will dine for breakfast the next three mornings) where I had a green onion and spinach quiche and Claire had a toasted cheese with caramelized onion and chips.  

Both our meals were good, I know because Claire shared a bit of both with me.  

After we went looking for $ and found not only an ATM (the hotel staff said not to get many Pounds as EVERYTHING is card based here.  

So we did get some money for tips.  

We went to Victoria Station and got the intel on the bus system and took a Double Decker bus #38 towards it’s end and passed Piccadilly Circus, then caught the #56 towards St Pauls Cathedral.

We had a look and were appalled at the Pickelball court right there on the grounds, talk about crapping something up.  We took a taxi from St Paul’s to  Harrods top the tune of about $30.00  and got to drive around Buckingham Palace on the way.  

Boy does time alter the memory, Harrods is not at all like I remembered.  It is all very high end separate areas, all the things I dislike about the Grands Magasins in Paris.  After we shared a a goodie and had a drink while having a chat with some guys from Senegal, England and Labanon.  The woman beside us was not a prime sxample of lovely person hood, she let the pigeons eat off of her plate and make a royal mess, and then lit up a cigarette.  Lord!  

I love having conversations with folks from other countries and hearing their perspective about the state of the world.   Another cute little London Taxi back to the Sanctuary House and it is rest and relaxation now until morning. 

 Stamp Away Once More Upon a Time

Last year i opted not to go to the annual rubber stamp convention in Cincinnatti and I was sorry.  Not heartbreakingly sorry, just something was missing and even though I have another trip coming up I decided I wasn’t going to miss it this year.  I bought the ticket and made reservations.   Jodi was able to accompany me so that makes it SO much more fun!  We started out with a very glamorous dinner of Culver’s, ice cream and all!  The trip was uneventful and though I had been offered the grand opportunity to do contactless check in, I opted for human contact.  Lord, I get so frustrated with businesses using my phone for their business.  I am that person who just refuses to go along with that program!  Regardless we got to the room and no tub, called down to the front desk and, no tubs here.  Note to self, Delta ( A Marriott product and it is going to be a repeat of the Marriott product of a month ago! We were about to encounter USP plugs that didnt work and TP that is so thin, well…..) off the list.  We got ready for bed and to watch a movie and we could not figure out how to watch anything other than regular TV.  But I had brought a bottle of petite Syrah and we were going to have a glass dammit, even if accompanied by MSNBC!

I got up with less urgency than I had in years gone by.  We used to be there before the doors opened, tail feathers shaking, all excited. But I am SO blessed with stamps and supplies that is it not the earth shaking  rush to get to the grab bags that it was.  As a matter of fact there are no longer grab bags and I would not need it anyway.

It was relatively quiet at first so the shopping was fun, it was mush more spread out and many of my favorites were there and many were not. I did a cursory slow run through taking photos of things I thought I wanted but wanted to see what else was out there before I purchased.  Long story short I didn’t take a pic of the company name and could not find them back!  I was not terribly naughty, got some great stuff and am ready to go home and play!

I picked up Jodi and we went to the Bluebird cafe for lunch.  I just love it and the weather was so lovely that we ate outside.  I had mushroom soup and the perpetual curried chicken salad on a small croissant. 

 Jodi had egg salad on a large croissant.  This place is just lovely, they bake their own croissants, pies and other goodies!

The owner and I had had a chat about the fact that we are from Indy, the stamps and our impending trip to the Jungle.  She suggested we try a new place called Dororthy Lane, she said I would love it.  I might have, but it was not open yet!  So we went to a park that we had visited previously and Jodi read and I TRIED to draw and paint Jodi sitting there reading. 

She took it well as her head was the same size as her feet and we joked that I made her microcephalic.  I am just not adept at drawing which frustrates me to no end.  Regardless, we had an enjoyable afternoon in the lovely weather.  The weather is amazing, usually we are sitting in the park suffering in the heat and it was JUST absolutely beautiful!

There was a family reunion behind us, somewhere behind the trees, but they had a DJ playing R&B and a microphone which we could hear VERY well.  They also had the accompaniment of a canine companion. 

We had reservations at 5:30  at Meritage, a restaurant I have long wanted to try, and we needed to leave.  

I had not made reservations for outside but they had  a spot and it was great to be outside, enjoying  good food and wine, and even better company.  I had monkfish, carrots and Brussel sprout.  

Now these were not just carrots or sprouts.  The fish was in a crab butter, which if I had it to do over I would have had in the beurre blanc sauce they were serving with the fish special.  {The lovely thing about this restaurant is they are willing sub about anything out!}. The carrots were is a sweet sauce of some sort, and the sprouts, well they were scorched, sauced and topped with panchetta.  I had a white Cotes du Rhône  to accompany my meal.

Jodi had a hamburger, salad and a loaded baked potato, and her usual of a White Russian.  NO dessert, we were stuffed!

We went back to the park as we wanted a closer un-peopled look at the waterfall.  It was absolutely lovely, no one was there and we had a grand time taking pics of each other and trying not to skid down the rocks!

We came back to the room after and watched “Conclave”.  It was o.k. But ended rather abruptly. Regardless, I am rather glad I decided not to skip this year,  Good time with Jodi and a renewed enthusiasm to try to find time to stamp!