UK

We arrived in London tired and hungry. Fortunately our hotel was two blocks from the bus station where we arrived from the airport. We moved into our room and hit the streets. We didn't have a lot of time for generic sit on the bus siteseeing in London, so we purchased Oyster cards and hit the tubes. We wandered the streets looking for a place to eat. Found a nice little Italian place with good food. We walked past Westminster Abbey and Cathederal, and heard Big Ben ring 6 o'clock (or was it 7? don't remember for sure).

Sunday the 4th we scheduled a bus tour to Bath and Stonehenge. Bath is an ancient city wth ruins of Roman inhabitants that came to the region in the first century AD. We visited the musem and saw the remains of Roman structures built around the hot springs. From there we stopped for dinner at a small pub in Lacock, a well preserved village established in the early 1200s. It is relatively well known from use in movies such as Harry Potter and others. From there it was on to Stonehenge. This was a special tour that arrived at Stonehenge in the evening, ostensibly to experience sunset from within the circle of stones itself, rather than from the normal perimeter established for visitors. The sun went down with total overcast, so it just got dark. Oh well, it was still good enough to get a few nice pictures.

Monday we visited the National Gallery. I didn't take pictures. We left the gallery just in time for a noon concert at the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. After the concert we went down to the Thames and took a cruise on the river from Westminster Pier to Greenwich and back. Overcast skies didn't do any favors for picture taking again, but it was interesting. That evening we relaxed at the Apollo Victoria Theater showing of Wicked.

Tuesday morning we took a quick jaunt out to Soho to find the pump that was the source of the 1854 cholera outbreak, identified by Dr. John Snow and marking the birth of modern epidemology. We found it, and it was a cool experience, if not such a cool place. It deserves better recognition, in my opinion.

From there we grabbed our bags and caught the bus for Oxford.

• Sept 2 - 3
  • PDX to LHR via KEF
  • The extension of the Sept 2 - getting oriented to the tube.
• Sept 4
  • Buckingham Palace tb! - LR
  • Bath tb! - LR
  • Lacock tb! - LR
  • Stonehenge tb! - LR
• Sept 5
  • Visited the National Gallery
  • Noon concert at St. Martin-in-the-Fields
  • Thames cruise tb! - LR
• Sept 6 - London to Oxford
  • Soho - John Snow

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