London Then

 St. Paul's Cathedral seen from the Tate Modern

 It's been a couple of months since Scott and I spent roughly ten days in jolly old England and I admit that it's more than a bit of a blur by now, what with all that has happened since by which, of course, I mean the one damned horror after another since Inauguration Day. It feels particularly absurd to be writing about tea sandwiches and Vermeers and suchlike when I should be out demonstrating in the streets, but--well--this is the day I've opted to attempt to write up the trip and that's just that.

Heathrow selfie

 It was some time in late summer that we bought tickets and rented a place to stay (in Bowes Park) somewhat on the spur of the moment because British Airways was having a sale and we weren't really thinking about how short the days might be in late November. The experience of buying the tickets was hellish and required literally hours on the phone after their website was crap. The flight to England also left a great deal to be desired. On the other hand, the plane stayed in the air and landed safely so, really, it was fine. We walked for what felt like miles through Heathrow, self-scanned ourselves through passport control (no passport stamps. unhappy face.), and after a few missteps (mine), found our way to the Piccadilly line tube platform. It was a longish ride from the airport to the Bounds Green station though not significantly more time-consuming than the trip from our house to SeaTac on public transportation.

"Discover London above the Piccadilly Line"

 [It is already striking me that at this rate this post will be the length of one of Mr Trollope's shorter novels. Hmmm.]

Bowes Park kitchen: so cute we got over the toaster not working.

Bowes Park front room

Bowes Park front room, angle 2 (Note the drying rack)

Classic "view out the bedroom window" shot for Alex

 Our rental turned out to be notably smaller than it looked in the photos (aren't they always?) and it had some shortcomings, but after we went to the shops for toilet paper (!) and I scrubbed out the tea kettle and invested in a new box of PG Tips, we were pretty much set. It seemed kismet when, en route to a buy toilet paper, we came across a speciality shop (Hello Lovely) that sold bath bombs and soap not far from the rental. The charming proprietress recommended a handful of restaurants to us including The Prince where we ate our first meal in London while still quite jet-lagged.

I have no clear memory of what we had but it was delicious.

The Prince's exterior

 Naturally, after the first night it all becomes a blur of museums and meals and walking and catching trains and more walking and more sightseeing and oh! so many instances of "We should come back when it's open/we have more time/we're not already exhausted." We walked by the Tower of London and St. Paul's and the Monument and the Globe and Westminster and Buckingham Palace and et cetera but never got back to explore inside them. Even more shocking/disappointing, perhaps, we never even got near Harrod's or Liberty's or the Courtauld Gallery or Kew Gardens or a million other spots that you would think essential to visit. It turns out that you really can't "do" London in a handful of days, especially if you take one of those few days to go to Bath. Which we did.

 On reflection, I think that gets its own post. As does the remainder of our time in London so this is all to be continued. Stay tuned!

Christmas lights in Piccadilly or Oxford Circus. Maybe.