I woke up on Sunday morning with a mostly blue sky above central London - bonus!
I decided to forego breakfast at the hotel and decided to walk into the centre, so, leaving my backpack behind I headed off down Gloucester Place towards Oxford Street. At 9.30 on a Sunday morning, there was only very light traffic (mostly buses and taxis) and very little pedestrian traffic either. With the shops shut until 11 or 12 for Sunday trading hours, it made for a pretty peaceful journey, walking all the way along Oxford Street to Tottenham Court Road, then down Charing Cross Road and back into Covent Garden, picking up a pain au chocolat from a Patisserie Valerie along the way.
I looked into the American Classics store for some Dockers trousers, and also the Carhartt store, but neither had the sort I was looking for. I then wandered off back towards Piccadilly Circus and up Regent Street, stopping off at the National Geographic store (wow, that's some expensive stuff!) and the Apple Store, before heading into Nike Town where I tried on the Free shoes - way too narrow for my feet!
I walked back along Oxford St to House of Fraser and Selfridges looking for the Dockers trousers, but no good, so by now it was close to lunch time, so I headed back towards the hotel, via a Tesco express, a-foot. Five miles walked before lunch!
After a little nap, I got the tube back into the center and did some more wandering, while trying to decide what I wanted for dinner. Couldn't decide what I wanted so I wandered off in search of BBQ, but then when I got to Bodeans on Poland St, I didn't fancy it anymore lol I then headed back to Leicester Square and had a Quesadilla in Chiquitos instead.
After dinner I headed back to the hotel for my final night.
Slept well, got up, showered, breakfasted and took the tube back to Waterloo - being a holiday monday, my off-prak travel only card was valid all day, so I got the next available train back home.
So endeth the weekend!
Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Museums and Movies - 28th May
Saturday morning dawned nicely, woken by the sweet sound of vehicles engines on the four-lane one-way street outside!
Got up, quick shower and down to breakfast, then I put my backpack on and toddled off for the day's entertainment.
First I headed to Lambeth North tube station on the Bakerloo line again, and headed for the Imperial War Museum. This place is big, and has imposing 15" naval guns at the entrance!
I wandered back to the tube station and then headed back into the centre of London for some lunch and a wander. Lunch was at Crème de la Crêpe in Covent Garden, then I wandered around looking through the stalls and down to the various outdoorsy shops, where I bought my new hat, a Tilley T3:
Got up, quick shower and down to breakfast, then I put my backpack on and toddled off for the day's entertainment.
First I headed to Lambeth North tube station on the Bakerloo line again, and headed for the Imperial War Museum. This place is big, and has imposing 15" naval guns at the entrance!
Like the majority of museums in London, they are free to enter (one of the few good things that the Labour government did!). It is pretty packed, with the main hall having the large vehicles, and then downstairs there are the special exhibitions - the ones there now are one about the British Home Front in WW2 and the Fromelles mass grave from WW1.
The permanent exhibitions include First World War (including a trenches exhibit), Between the Wars, Second World War and Conflicts since 1945, among many others.
By the time I reached the Second World War exhibit, I was plum museumed out! lol
I wandered back to the tube station and then headed back into the centre of London for some lunch and a wander. Lunch was at Crème de la Crêpe in Covent Garden, then I wandered around looking through the stalls and down to the various outdoorsy shops, where I bought my new hat, a Tilley T3:
From there, I headed over to Leicester Square and bought myself a ticket to TT3D: Closer to the Edge - a 3D movie about the Isle of Man TT motorcycle races - very good movie it is too!
After the movie I went for another wander and ended up at the Duke of Argyll pub in Soho (Brewer St, funnily enough!)
Being a Samuel Smith's pub, no music, no sports, no tv - just nice, inexpensive beer - 3 pints later and I needed some food! I went back to Leicester Square and a Bella Italia to get a Pollo e Spinacci Calzone for dinner, and then back to the hotel to shower and cool my aching feet!
Around London - 27th May
After I'd had the medical, I wandered back to the hotel for check-in - now that was a real rigmarole! I walked in the door, I was asked for my name and given my keys - that was it! lol
Wandered up to my nice single en-suite bedroom - four foot wide bed, comfy!
After unpacking, I headed back to the tube and off to Arsenal.
As a supporter of the football team since 1979 (hey, my older brother supported Manchester United, so I had to choose the opposition at the 79 FA Cup Final, didn't I!) this would be my first trip to their home soil.
I got up there and headed for the new Emirates stadium (aka Ashburton Grove) which was opened in 2006. I couldn't go in, but I did go around the Arsenal museum, and take some pictures for posterity. The new stadium is pretty impressive, but when I walked the couple hundred yards around to the old stadium (Highbury), I was much more impressed - there's something about a 1930's art deco design that is just classy
Wandered up to my nice single en-suite bedroom - four foot wide bed, comfy!
After unpacking, I headed back to the tube and off to Arsenal.
As a supporter of the football team since 1979 (hey, my older brother supported Manchester United, so I had to choose the opposition at the 79 FA Cup Final, didn't I!) this would be my first trip to their home soil.
I got up there and headed for the new Emirates stadium (aka Ashburton Grove) which was opened in 2006. I couldn't go in, but I did go around the Arsenal museum, and take some pictures for posterity. The new stadium is pretty impressive, but when I walked the couple hundred yards around to the old stadium (Highbury), I was much more impressed - there's something about a 1930's art deco design that is just classy
I then headed back into London, but decided that I'd reached my limit after walking 5 miles during the day, so packed in and went back to the hotel for an early-ish night (I'd not slept well Thursday night, which didn't help!)
A successful weekend
Visa medical was set for 12.50pm on Friday 27th May, and as Monday 30th was the Spring Bank Holiday, I decided to splash out and stay in London for three nights.
Got the train up Friday morning to Waterloo, took the Bakerloo line tube to Marylebone and then walked down Gloucester Place to the hotel. Dropped my bag off (too early for check-in) and walked over to the Knightsbridge Doctor's to make sure I knew where I was going!
Bought some lunch and then, still with at least an hour to my appointment, I went for a walk, spiralling out from Bentinck Street. I got bored of that eventually, and presented myself to the doctors at 12.30. They let me sit in the waiting room, and then gave me another questionnaire to complete, photocopied my passport, police certificate, etc.
Then I got called through by the vaccination nurse and, having noticed that I'd only had one MMR jab (why didn't my NHS doctor tell me I'd need a booster when I had the first one in January?) gave me the second one, a copy of the vaccinations report to keep, and then passed me on to the X-Ray guy.
Shirt off, lean against the board, chin up - X-ray taken (presumably for TB and other more nasty possibilities).
Back to the waiting room to sit down before called in to see the doctor. She took my height, weight, checked my eyesight, then I had to strip down to my boxers for more examinations - blood pressure, looked into my eyes, listened to heart and lungs from front and back, palpated my stomach area and checked that I'm a man, man! Finally, took some blood to send off to make sure that I don't have syphilis or similar!
Pay the fee and I'm done!
Got the train up Friday morning to Waterloo, took the Bakerloo line tube to Marylebone and then walked down Gloucester Place to the hotel. Dropped my bag off (too early for check-in) and walked over to the Knightsbridge Doctor's to make sure I knew where I was going!
Bought some lunch and then, still with at least an hour to my appointment, I went for a walk, spiralling out from Bentinck Street. I got bored of that eventually, and presented myself to the doctors at 12.30. They let me sit in the waiting room, and then gave me another questionnaire to complete, photocopied my passport, police certificate, etc.
Then I got called through by the vaccination nurse and, having noticed that I'd only had one MMR jab (why didn't my NHS doctor tell me I'd need a booster when I had the first one in January?) gave me the second one, a copy of the vaccinations report to keep, and then passed me on to the X-Ray guy.
Shirt off, lean against the board, chin up - X-ray taken (presumably for TB and other more nasty possibilities).
Back to the waiting room to sit down before called in to see the doctor. She took my height, weight, checked my eyesight, then I had to strip down to my boxers for more examinations - blood pressure, looked into my eyes, listened to heart and lungs from front and back, palpated my stomach area and checked that I'm a man, man! Finally, took some blood to send off to make sure that I don't have syphilis or similar!
Pay the fee and I'm done!
Sunday, 8 May 2011
Another step closer
The case notes have now been logged into the system at the London embassy, so I've booked my medical for Friday 27th May - and I'm staying up in London for the long weekend too :-)
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