In London

Steve taking break from tourism

Wednesday 5/18/05
Well, the trip was not too bad. We had bulkhead seats so I could stretch out these legs at least. Had a spot of dinner, got a cocktail and 10 mg of Valium in me and I slept most of the way from New York. Once at Heathrow we had to wait an hour for our car service which was run by a bunch of shady Eastern European characters. Finally at the hotel, Thistle Kensington Park, we got checked in and Hector and I decided to pay a bit extra to move from the broom closet into a Premium Executive suite with huge bathroom and small separate dining room, which we converted into the bar. And off to greet the city!
We walked through Hyde Park and caught The Big Bus tour, which dragged us through all the sights. Even though these tours are the height of touristy-ness, Hector and I always do them first when we get to a new place. It's a great way to get your bearings in a new city and after a long flight you don't have to worry about stumbling your way around. We got off at Covent Garden for dinner and by the time we made it back to the hotel, it was lights out.

Thursday 5/19/05
Today we toured the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey and walked all over hell and gone. Later we met Al (going to school in London now) and his bf, Marc, at The Duke of Wellington for a cocktail, had some Chinese nearby, then went to Barcode for a drink. I really liked The Duke of Wellington but Barcode was like every cruise bar the world over-too crowded, too smoky, too noisy. Back to the hotel, stinking like a gay bar.

Friday 5/20/05
Today was Kew Gardens, which I LOVED, except there were people there, foul tourists. Had to cut the visit short, in order to meet Chris & Jim (San Diegans also visiting London) at Harrods. Too crowded to have lunch there but I managed to drop a wad at the Food Halls, then another wad having it shipped back to California. Tea, coffee, cookies and chocolates, same junk I could get at home only this was in a Harrods tin. Then we ate some Italian across the street. Later we returned to the Duke of Wellington, then a bar called Chambers. At 930 pm we rushed out to go to the Ceremony of the Keys at Tower of London. When that was done, we returned to the Duke of W, where we ran into Jim. Chris, apparently, was back at their hotel feeling ill.

Saturday 5/21/05
Wonderful early walk through Kensington Gardens. Funny old Russian lady in a mink coat and jewels with a poodle named Pushkin. After breakfast we met Jim/Chris (now well) at Waterloo for the trip to Windsor. Touring the castle was a treat, but we got drenched by a surprise downpour so we ran into a pub with the impressive name The Carpenter's Arms and gorged ourselves on pub food: meat pies, mashed potatoes, plowman's lunches and shandies. The skies cleared so we hobbled around the little town of Windsor which, other than the castle, seems to be mostly a shopping mall. Caught the train back- this time the proper train, so instead of an hour and a half, it took us 2o minutes to return to Paddington, via Slough, which I was thrilled to experience since it was where The Office took place.
That evening we made the trek to Al's flat in East Dulwich. We took tubes and trains and had to call for updates. When we finally arrived I would not have been surprised if Al had told us we were in France. But he and Marc made us a lovely dinner and we spent a few hours at their place. After dinner we all caught a bus back in to town to go to XXL, a huge bear bar tucked into some shame hole over by London Bridge. This was not just any bear bar but a bear bar with dance floors, a phenomenon unknown in Southern California. Our bears are not fond of dancing. But in London they love it so it was very fun. We stayed until sometime around 3 a.m. Al told us we'd never catch a taxi in that neighborhood at 3 a.m. but we flung ourselves out the door and there was one waiting for us. Home, James!