The trip to London was made possible by my husband's employer. He had to go for 2 weeks in order to teach and train clients. I remember he called me at work because they finally told him what day he would be flying out. He asked if I could get time off of work. Hah! That would not be possible. That would only give my work 3 days notice. Well, I sucked it up and decided to ask. The worst thing to happen would be for them to say no. My heart was pounding and my hopes had already skyrocketed as I walked in the door of the supervisor's office. I was expecting a concrete no. Well, somehow my trip was approved. I was beaming with excitement and happiness. I could not contain it. I'm sure I told every single co-worker about my upcoming trip. To this day, I truly appreciate them letting me go to London.
We landed at London-Gatwick airport on a very sunny morning. It took us a long time to go through customs. I was trying to memorize the whole process at the airport since I would be traveling alone on my return flight. There was so much to take in, and I was only at the airport. We had the convenience of a taxi driver waiting for us inside the airport. He was the regular taxi driver for the company my husband works for. It was the first time I rode in a black cab. This man was quite talkative and from Columbia. He said that if we do anything at all, we must visit the Windsor Castle. He also said that London never has great weather but today was an exception. Well, it turned out that it didn't rain once during the 10 days the husband was there.
Our first day we mostly slept. The jet lag was a bit brutal. When we did wake up it was dark outside. We decided we would take the train from Chertsey into London. What an adventure the train was. I had never traveled that way before and I enjoyed it so much. I loved the warning at every stop to "mind the gap." Of course, by the end of the trip it became annoying, but it did help me on more than one occasion. One time we were both on the wrong platform when our train arrived. The husband took off running and held the train for me. I remember a few people laughing at us. I laughed too, but only after I was safe inside. We eventually made our way to Picadilly Street. When we made it to street level from the tube, it reminded me of Times Square. There were people and lights everywhere. We also stopped at the Waterloo station and ate there. We didn't know any better. I had a sandwich on a baguette and a hot chocolate. It was late and we did not want to miss the last train going back to Chertsey so we called it a night.
Of course we did a few touristy things. Some together, some separate. On the days the husband worked, I would wake up with him and eat breakfast at the hotel then go back to sleep. I did enjoy the breakfast. Especially the toast. You select your own slice of bread and then put it on a conveyor belt. While the bread takes a ride on the belt, it becomes toasted. It was the best toast I have ever had. When I woke up for a second time, it was usually about one in the afternoon. I would shower then roam around Chertsey for a few hours until the husband came back. I enjoyed looking around in the Sainsbury's grocery store. This is what we purchased from there. Carb overload!
Finally, I decided to take the train by myself and go to the Windsor Castle. (I keep typing Windsor Hotel!) The people on this train included a few older gentleman looking at the newspaper and pre-teen school girls in uniforms. It seemed like the school girls were traveling without a chaperone. I couldn't imagine American girls traveling by themselves on a train. From a distance I could see the castle. We were still about three miles away. I was staring at the castle with my mouth wide open. It was so grand! The other people on the train didn't even care about the view. I was doing my best to not shout at them and make them look. How lucky they are to see such beautiful scenery every day.
I was unsure on how to get inside the castle. Looking back, I was about to try and go through a back entrance. If I had been successful at that, I would probably still be in jail. Instead, I decided to follow the large crowd of people and ended up at the right entrance. I was not allowed to take any pictures of the inside of the castle. Here is one of the outside though.
Another attraction we went to was the London Eye. We rode it at night but took pictures of it during the day as well. It was much more than a ferris wheel. Because of the way it's made you never have an obstruction of view. As many as 30-40 people can fit in one pod. The husband and I were very lucky with our pod. It was just us and two French teenagers. I do not know any French at all, but somehow we understood to take pictures of each other. Here is a picture of the London Eye during the day. I wonder what happened to that missing pod.
The best night was when we saw the Thames River for the first time. It was right at sunset and so gorgeous. It was the first time I laid my eyes on Big Ben too. It was so magical!
Also, on this perfect night we stopped in at Le Pain Quotidien (the Royal Festival Hall location) to get out of the cold. It was very cozy and warm in this cafe. We sat in the lower level which had an arch on the back wall that used to be part of the train tracks. On our table was white sugar cubes and brown sugar cubes. So neat! I ordered the hot chocolate and it was superb. I will always, always, remember this perfect night.
