WE ARE EXCITED!!! The day has finally arrived to begin our journey across the ‘pond’. First stop… Chicago then the next day we touch the ‘Mighty Isle of Briton’.
The flight (AA), from Colorado Springs to Chicago (non-stop, I might add) was on time, smooth, and actually, arrived early. We will spend the night here at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.
In Chicago, Audra’s luggage did not arrive from Cody, WY so there was some brainstorming about “what-if’” her luggage doesn’t arrive in time??? As it turned out, her luggage arrived around midnight to her room and she was extremely happy about it’s arrival!!!
London via Chicago
Our flight, across the pond, took off in the late afternoon – so were able to walk down to the Starbucks 2 blocks away, and then hopped on a shuttle to O’Hare Airport.
We got through baggage check and walked around looking for a dinner place, Wolfgang Pucks got the thumbs up. While we were waiting for our boarding call, Audra showed me an accounting app called “Accounts II” for keeping track of expenses, so I downloaded the app (it does not need an internet connection, so we were good for Europe).
On overseas flights you get a small pillow, blanket AND dinner, but as I had just eaten I did not partake of the dinner option. It was impossible for me, and most people, to ‘sleep’ on the plane. We each had neck pillows but still it was so uncomfortable. Ah, back to the days when I could sleep anywhere under any circumstances…
Our flight was on time and uneventful. Since none of us sleep very well we took a cab to our hotel, Grosvenor House in downtown London. The hotel was 17 miles from our hotel and it took an hour and a half to arrive. I do not know when I have seen sooooo much traffic.
London
Our first impression was, they drive on the wrong side of the road! There are 6 million people in London proper, and at least 4 million on the road to our hotel TODAY. The infrastructure of the city is a wonder… there are cars bumper to bumper, sometimes literally; then there are bicycles weaving in and out of traffic to their mobile music (“color blind”, the cabbies say), then there are bicycle rickshaws, pedestrians – some with dogs all vying for the same piece of pavement. This Traffic Dance is amazing, it flows to the chi of the city. Every vehicle on wheels, weaves in and out depending on their destination, some make U-Turns right in the middle of the road and other people just make room for them. No horn-honking, no yelling out the window, no road rage, no guns drawn, or raised fingers. Maybe it was just jet-lag, but I had the feeling that there were very few fender benders here. People in Europe (or at least London) are used to being “Q’d” up. Live and let live!
Along the route to our hotel we were enamored of the architecture, some buildings were very ornate yet hundreds of years old; statues built in a time when everything was done by hand, with hammer and chisel. We all had kinks in our necks from looking up so much.
After the taxi ride to our hotel (Grosvenor) we went to our rooms and promptly took a rest, although we knew it would be a short rest.
After our short nap we hailed a taxi bound for “The Cauldron”, a 5-mile distance that took over an hour to arrive, it might have been faster to walk. Audra had heard about The Cauldron from a friend who went there on their trip to London, but we really did not know what to expect, yet we thought it would be splendid fun to check it out. Exiting the taxi, we walked down a long, steep, dark set of stairs into a basement level, dimly lit establishment. Once inside, as our eyes adjusted to the dimness of the room, we were each given a magician’s robe, and magical wand. We were then given instructions for making ‘magical cocktails’. We took a small bottle of this, a pinch of that, and a drop of mystery oil – combining it with whatever alcohol was the base. The drinks would fizzle and smoke, as mist would rise above the glass and sometimes overflow as they came alive by our magical touch. There was also a Tree of Life that we drank from, to the health of the world and all life. “Witches Three we were”! So look out the next time we offer you a drink – it might be a magical cocktail…it was GREAT FUN making the cocktails, laughing and carrying on. Sorry… we were sworn to secrecy so there will be no reproduction of the recipes allowed.
After the Magical tour of the Cauldron, we were in search of a food establishment. The city was alive, the pubs were full of locals rooting for England in the semi-finals for the ‘football’ (soccer) World Cup, playing Croatia. England lost and that was sad, but there were no riots, window bashing, fights or brawls, not even any trash on the street for someone else to pick up. “Brilliant”! Luckily for us Viva’s was right across the street.
Viva Tapas was a lively pub with a Mexican fare and a hint of London mixed in. We sat by the window having our meal and watching the procession on the street as all manner of people walked by. After decompressing, we hailed a cab and went back to the Grosvenor and fell into bed as jet lag came on hard and fast – after our night out and losing about 6-7 hours of sleep due to time change.
The Grosvenor is a marvelous hotel: there was a doorman dressed in a tuxedo complete with a top-hat, bell hops to take our luggage to our rooms, and a wonderful dining room and bar.
The next morning we had a full breakfast (which was included) and since we didn’t need to be out front of the hotel till 10:30am, to take a shuttle bus to South Hampton where we would board the Royal Princess, we decided to walk to Buckingham Palace. So with the wheelchair in tow, we set off to ‘find’ Buckingham Palace and have an audience with the Queen, but alas we were jilted by Trump’s arrival – proceeded by numerous police motorcades – even the Royal Mounted Guard were on horseback roaming the streets. We were very anxious to be out of London since the security would be moved up to high today.
Back to the motorbus with 10 minutes to spare! Wow it was a very energetic trek back to the Grosvenor on foot. The motorbus will take us to South Hampton to board our ship. The bus ride will be about 2 ½ hours so maybe even a catnap on the way.
It is always such a thrill to see the immense size of the cruise ship we will be calling home for the next 12 days. We sailed through security – but they DID keep our passports – and assured us, we would get them back after leaving Ireland. That was a little unnerving, but we just had to trust that all would be well.
As we waited for our suitcases to arrive, we settled into our room and then walked around the ship finding all the important places, i.e. the coffee ‘n’ tea hut, dining room, theaters, and the ‘everything else’ hut.
We set sail about 5pm – leaving England… next stop: Cobh (pronounced Cove), Ireland.
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