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London2023

September 2023
A 19-day adventure by Magical Mystery Tour Read more
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  • TravelerLondon2023
    Day 2

    Londinium Day of 1

    September 4, 2023 in England ⋅ 🌙 16 °C

    Arrived in London 4.30am ish. The flight was long but we got into London a bit early.
    We got through immigration OK and they let us into the UK.

    Once we got to the Phoenix Hotel in Kensington Garden Square, we crashed in Dans room and had a shower and a rest. After a little kip we had breaky which is included in our room cost so we had a bite to eat then David and I went for a little walk.

    It seems we hit the jackpot with location as down the road is loads of little shops including a mini Tescos, mini Sainsbury and a mini Waitrose so we are spoilt for choice when it comes to picking up nibbles and yummies.
    We grabbed a few things and went back to the hotel to unpack and get some tours sorted for tomorrow and to catch up with Adam.

    He gave us a call and we are heading to his house for dinner this evening.
    Dan went for a wander to check out the shops and local sights for a few hours before returning. David and Dan went out and got a new SIM card sorted for Dan so he can communicate with us if he wants to do his own thing during our trip.

    We went to Adam and Berta’s house. They are doing lots of renos on their 120 yr old flat. We all went and picked up Emi from day care and found ourselves a lovely Italian Restaurant near their place and had a very yummy dinner together.

    Returned back the hotel via the good ol tube and bus system.
    It’s a very warm English day today, 28 degrees. We are looking at mid to high 20s this week so great weather to do some sight seeing.

    Very weary now, time to snooze.    Read more

  • TravelerLondon2023
    Day 3

    Trains and Boats and Harry Potter

    September 5, 2023 in England ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Today we ventured out to do out Big Red Bus Tour and the Thames River Cruise. It has been a stinking hot day here in Londinium, reached 30 degrees. Not so hot you 'd think but it is very sticky. So glad I packed some shorts!

    We jumped on the brilliant tube to get ourselves to Kings Cross Station to go to the Harry Potter shop on Platform 9 3/4. We had a good look around at all of the stuff (and there was alot of stuff) and Dan bought a wand and some Butter Beer.

    We grabbed some lunch and made our way to Victoria Station where we would meet the bus at nearby Victoria Coach Station.

    We had a fantastic double decker bus tour all around central London and stopped at a few of the good touristy sights. Went to Buckingham Palace to say GDay to Chuck and Milly but they weren't home unfortunately.

    Went to Westminster Abbey, did a lap past No 10, drove by Piccadilly Circus, hung out at Trafalgar Square and drove around some beautiful places in London Town before getting on the boat.

    The boat took us up the Thames past Execution Dock and under Tower Bridge and London Bridge and then spun around to take us down stream past the OXO Building, Big Ben, Parliament to the London Eye. Where we got off to get back on the bus to take us back to Vic Station where we headed back home.

    What a great way to spend our 25th Anniversary. Going to the local pub for dinner. We are pretty worn out and I can't feel my knees anymore 😉. Not really sure what we have planned for tomorrow but we'll think of something!    Read more

  • TravelerLondon2023
    Day 4

    Hamleys Toy Store and Barbican Lunch

    September 6, 2023 in England ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    Today we have had a relatively easy day. We lazily got up and and took our time with our breaky before jumping on the Tube to make our way to Hamleys Toy Store on Regent Street

    It is spread over many floor with a Harry Potter Shop in the basement. You can get any type of toy you like there. I mostly concentrated on the Playmobil and Lego but we still did the Star Wars, Harry Potter, Gaming and all the other sections (and there were many).

    Unfortunately for us and all the other customers the air con was being fixed and it got to 31 deg today. I miss our pampered air conditioned buildings.

    After Hamleys we had a wander around Regent Street ans surrounds. It's a pretty nice part of town. Full of expensive clothing stores and jewellery shops. We made our way to where Adams office is which is very near a lovely open area called Finsbury Circus Gardens. It is surrounded by a crescent beautiful buildings with the circus as the central feature. loads of people out at lunchtime enjoying the sun whilst having their lunch.

    We met Adam at his office and we all had lunch together. Adam took us to The Barbican Centre, it is a brutalist building from the late 80's. It's a concrete mass which is a cultural centre for theatre, galleries and eateries. We had lunch there and spent some time with Adam.

    We left Adam to get back to work and Dan wanted to go and check out some record shops at Shepherds Bush. I jumped of the train at our station whilst David and Dan went on to do their record stuff.

    They ended up at Portobello Markets. Dan bought himself a few records and a really nice leather jacket (although it's way to hot to wear it!).

    David bought me a beautiful map of the Cotswold area from 1825. So lovely, can't wait to frame it and hang it at home.    Read more

  • TravelerLondon2023
    2
    Day 5

    Diddly Squat in the Cotswolds

    September 7, 2023 in England ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    Leaving London and the Phoenix Hotel at Kensington Square Gardens for the Cotswolds today. We piled into a Mini Cab (Uber) and headed back to Heathrow to pick up the hire car.

    We were lucky enough to get an upgrade, which we thought was great. To find out our upgrade was to an EV………… that means no internal combustion engine 😮. We hopped onto the M4 and off we went, quietly towards Stow On The Wold. We bypassed Oxford (we will explore it tomorrow possibly) and went on the B roads which took us through some beautiful little villages and towns on the way to Stow.

    We rolled into Stow about 2pm. Is such a pretty village with a huge open area that was once the market square selling hay, grains, livestock and other local produce. Its now a huge parking area for tourists and locals as there is no off street parking or very little.

    We are staying at Victoria House. It is a beautiful old 19th century former brewers house located on Sheep Street. As beautiful and full of history as these old places are, they are very uncomfortable to be in during an English heat wave, 34 deg today.

    We had a wander around Stow and looked in the shops and bakeries, even stopped for a cuppa. After our walk we went back to Victoria house to unpack before heading of on a drive to Chipping Norton for a laugh to see Clarksons Farm.

    It was a lovely drive through the tree lines back roads. We arrived at the Didley Squat Farm Shop but unfortunately Jeremy Clarkson wasn’t there.
    By the time we took off from the farm, we saw we needed to charge the car.

    Should be straight forward we thought……NOT. You would assume England would have this electric vehicle infrastructure sorted……WRONG. We have found it hard to find a charging station. They all charge the car at different electrical rates, and nowhere provides free charging. We had to leave the car at the Tesco’s on their charging station for hours. Dan and David went back after dinner to get it, luckily Tesco’s shuts at 11pm.

    Been another big day, looking forward to more exploring of the Cot Coty Cotswolds!    Read more

  • TravelerLondon2023
    Day 6

    Just Popping to the Palace

    September 8, 2023 in England ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    This morning David and I went to a little cafe in Talbot Court. It is a cute little area full of small shops and eateries. We had a coffee and the most amazing cinnamon bun. Might need another one tomorrow perhaps???

    Today was a little drive to visit the Cotswold Motor Museum. It in the lovely little village of Cheltenham . It's such a tiny village, so small we couldn't get parking long enough to spend any time at the museum, so we missed out on seeing it.

    That was OK because we went to Blenheim Palace in Woodstock instead not to far away- just as long as we had enough electricity in the car to get there!

    Blenheim is a huge pile owned by the Duke of Marlborough. He lives in Woodstock but often entertains at Blenheim.

    Winston Churchill was born there and he has ties to the Palace through family.
    We got to see the State Rooms, the room where Winny was born, the Churchill exhibition and did a separate tour of the downstairs servants area and the upstairs private living area of the Duke.

    As it is still in use by the owners, the private areas (being the upstairs and downstairs) we were not allowed to take any photos. The State Rooms allowed photography so we have plenty of those to share. We spent over 4 hours looking around, it was so huge and very well looked after.

    From Blenheim Palace we made our way home in the late arvo and stopped at the Big Bell pub. We had a few drinks and a yummy pub dinner in the cooler evening.

    We are having alot of issues with the internet here in Stow, it is making it hard to call each other as we are only using Whats App. But hey, life could be much worse.

    Tomorrow we check out of Victoria House and spend Saturday night at MacDonald Alviston Manner. That will be a nice experience, can't wait to stay in manor house.

    Maegan and Enzo arrive in London tomorrow so will see them when we get back to London on Sunday and commence our stay in the Putney apartment together.

    That's our Friday. See you all Saturday.    Read more

  • TravelerLondon2023
    Day 7

    Gloucester and Stratford

    September 9, 2023 in England ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Last night, as there are little to none charging facilities in Stow, we managed to sneak the car into the retirement village next door and hooked up the EV to one of their chargers overnight. David popped back this morning to find the car with a full charge, not sure how far that will get us but we'll give it a go !

    Today we are on our way to Stratford Upon Avon but as our check in t o Macdonald Alviston Manor isn't until 3pm, we are taking a detour to see Gloucester Cathedral. Here they filmed some of the Harry Potter scenes in the cloisters at the cathedral.

    It is a huge church and there was alot to see inside. The stained glass windows were incredible and so full of bright colours. The cloisters surround three sides of the cathedral and surround a peaceful court yard.

    We entered directly inside into the nave. a huge space with massive column reaching up to vaulted ceilings. (sounds like a real estate ad to sell a house). There is a typical layout of a closed off area for the choir that leads up to the presbytery. These areas are surrounded by a walkway or ambulatory and it has may tombs along it including King Edward II who was murdered.

    David and Daniel went up the spiral staircase to the Tribune Gallery that wraps around the presbytery. You get a better overhead view of the cathedral from there.

    After we finished at the cathedral we wandered around Gloucester which is a lovely smaller city. During our wander, Dan found an advert for a Star Wars exhibition at the Gloucester Museum so we of course went there. On the way David and Dan found a record shop so we had to go there too. Dan bought some more vinyl to add to his collection, he's doing quite well with the shopping.

    The Star Wars exhibit is a private collection of original toys from 1977. It was great to see and remember the toys we once had as kids although David still has all of his originals, still in the boxes they were sold in.
    It was a pretty cool exhibit, if you like that stuff that is.

    From Gloucester we got back on the road again and made our way to Stratford Upon Avon for our stay in the Manor house. Macdonald Alviston Manor House is a beautiful huge manor. Originally from the 16th century, it has been added to over the years and is on beautiful grounds.

    I have been so excited to stay. We drove up the lush driveway to an amazing manor house. We booked in and drove around the back to the part of the house where our rooms are..... in a 70's addition.

    The room is large with a shower in the bathroom (have been having a bath the last couple of nights) and is very comfortable but none the less, disappointing not to be staying in the 16th century part of the manor. First world problem I guess.

    Heading back to London tomorrow, who knows what we will find along the way?    Read more

  • TravelerLondon2023
    Day 7

    Macdonald Alviston Manor: An Update

    September 9, 2023 in England ⋅ 🌙 23 °C

    As I have mentioned previously, the weather here has been just horrible hot.
    Having said that, we were getting settled in our room and David remarked that the room was cooking. It is supposed to be aircon'd but it didn't appear to be working, nor was Dan's room as his room was next door.

    We popped to the downstairs bar and David went to let the manager know the aircon wasn't working in either room. David had managed to get us new rooms with working aircon AND they are both in the 16th century part of the manor house.

    Our room is in the coach house and Dan has his in the manor itself but he isn't next door anymore (I don't think that bothers him at all).

    So my disappointment has turned to excitement and happiness- YAY!    Read more

  • TravelerLondon2023
    Day 8

    Back to London via Coventry

    September 10, 2023 in England ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    We woke up and had a full English breakfast at the hotel restaurant before we packed up and left for Coventry. As we drove along the route towards Cov we had a detour as the road had melted from the heat and was unusable. We eventually found our way along the detour to Coventry Motor Museum.

    This museum is huge full of motoring history from wooden bicycle to today's cars. So much to see, such a brilliant exhibition. It goes through Coventry’s motoring industry and how it became a huge industry in Britain and how it was leveled during the WW2 with very little remaining. The industry rebuilt after the war until the 70s when it pretty much collapsed.

    It was a very worthwhile visit and so much to see, we loved it. Dan didn’t join us, he went shopping again and we met him after for a quick bite to eat before making our way to London. We had to fill up the tank with electricity on our way home but we got to our flat in Putney in the late afternoon.

    Shortly after Maegan and Enzo arrived and the lads went to Sainsburys to get some supplies. Enzo put together a yummy nibbles dinner of meats, cheese and bread- simple but yummo.

    We’re all tired and worn out so the plan is to have an easy day tomorrow so I can get some washing done.    Read more

  • TravelerLondon2023
    Day 9

    The Day Off

    September 11, 2023 in England ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Today was a total rest day. David took the car back to Hertz at Heathrow, Dan has taken himself into London to do some more exploring and I have just stayed at the flat doing the washing and resting my weary knees.

    Maegan and Enzo headed out later in the morning to visit Enzos sister Rita and spend the arvo with her. I managed to get our week’s worth of washing done so we will no longer walk around smelly.

    It’s a very short entry today as we did very little. We walked to the local pub for a quick dinner in the cool evening air. It seems the weather is cooling down so it will be nice to do our touristy thing not bathed in sweat.    Read more

  • TravelerLondon2023
    Day 11

    From Camden to Whitechapel

    September 13, 2023 in England ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    The weather has at last gone back to being English. It’s much cooler with cloudy skies.

    Dan and David went to Camden Markets today. Dan has really been shopping up a storm. He’s been off on his own exploring wherever he thinks there may be something interesting to see or buy. I think he’s going to need a bigger bag to take his stuff home in.

    Enzo, Maegan and I stayed home and just wandered around Putney High Street and surrounds. Found ourselves in a nice pub having a nice lunch and a drink.

    We got back to our apartment and soon after we got a message from Dan telling us that David got on the train in the Underground and before Dan could get on, the doors closed and the train took off. Separated in the London Underground as it nears peak hour- not to good.

    They were heading to Leicester Square so lets hope David doesn’t head back to Dan whilst Dan is on his way to Leicester Square….. Eventually they caught up with each other and kept on shopping.

    We had our Jack the Ripper walking tour tonight. A 2 hour tour (not a Gilligan 3 hour tour). It was a really good tour, we walked the streets of Whitechapel and were shown all the significant spots where Jack The Ripper was active. Some of these places are now new building but some of the places are still there and the old building from the 1800’s. The guide was animated, and he was very passionate about his history and he was born and raised and still lives in Whitechapel.

    After the tour we went to a pub, “The Hoop and Grapes”, to rest our sore feet and had a yummy dinner before jumping back onto the Tube for our journey back to out Putney flat. When arrived home just before midnight we were so tired that we all got into bed, no showers were had.

    The next morning, we discovered that there is no water at all in south London- NONE! Apparently, there is some kind of power issue and the water pumps aren’t working. We are really embracing the baby powder and deodorant today.
    I think today we will spend the day north of the Thames in London town where there is water 😆    Read more

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