20 March 1998           8:39pm

Okay, I'm here!  We arrived at 11:00am; the pilot said it was the smoothest flight he'd been on in years!  Beautiful weather, cool but clear.  I took the Tube from Heathrow to town (Piccadilly Line), only missed one stop when switching from Piccadilly Line to Circle (ended on Glouscester Road).  Then I took the Bayswater exit, went around the corner, then down the street to Hyde Park House. 

The "hotel" looks somewhat appealing from the front; not quite your classy Victorian architecture but not unattractive in an generically old-fashioned way.  But on the inside ... talk about run down!  Not a level surface anywhere!  But it's £25 a night, though, and the owner (Janet?) seemed very nice. 

I checked in around 1pm, did the ol' "once over" (that didn't take long), showered (had to handhold the shower head), washed my shirt (that'd I'd been wearing for two days now), and then took a walk down the street along Hyde Park [Bayswater Road] to Sussex Gardens.  I wanted to see Europa House Hotel [I had originally intended to stay at the Europa House, but it was £10 more per night].  A long walk!  Only got a little lost once.

Europa House is one of many hotels literally side‑by‑side along the Avenue [Sussex Gardens].  Is it noisy, with a major street right there?  Probably.  I'm saying that to convince myself it's worth the £10 per night savings where I'm at.  At the time, I didn't think so.  But looking back, Hyde Park House grew on me.  It’s a great location, that's for sure!

Now I'm back in my room at the Hyde Park House, having wandered around the neighborhood, and I can hear and feel the trains [the Tube] running under the building.  Seriously.  They go by every 5‑10 minutes or so.  I'd walked back to hotel on a route that took me by Paddington Station, home of Paddington Bear.  No bears were in sight.

            I got lost on the way, but followed Craven Road back to Whiteley's, a large shopping center that's very close to where I was staying.  Whiteley's is a neat old building, renovated as a shopping "mall."  Hitler had intended to use it as his London headquarters, once he conquered the Brits, so impressed was he with the building.  Of course, he never did get around to that.

I went to a cash machine for rent money (£175 for the week), and tried to get £200 from it; it wouldn't work.  I just got the message, "Your bank will not allow this transaction."  Panic!  But when I tried £150, it worked.  Panic mode off.  I surmised that it must not like going over $200US. 

I paid my hotel bill, then took the Tube to Piccadilly Circus.  Wow!!  Lots of people.

(Oops, I forgot to mention that when I walked back to my hotel, I stopped at Whiteley's and bought milk (60p), cookies (chocolate chip), a salmon sandwich, and hot cross buns, all from Marks & Spencer’s, aka "Marks & Sparks" to the locals.  Okay, back to Piccadilly).

I walked all around, saw the sights, you know, all the touristy stuff; I heard lots of accents, but they were mostly German and Italian tourists.  The Brits kept the proverbial stiff upper lip, I guess.  I took a few pictures but it was pretty dark by then, 1/4 second exposures for the most part.  Nicely exposed blurs.

It was a short walk from there to Trafalgar Square.  The weather was cool, with the tiniest bit of drizzle.  Lots of tourists.  More German and Italian accents.  Oh, well.

There was sort of market at St. Martin-in‑the‑Fields, which is directly across from Trafalgar Square (London is both amazingly big and amazingly small, in just the right proportions).  They were fixing statues at Trafalgar, also the fountains were drained, so it was lacking some of its most blatantly touristy qualities.  Unless you're into scaffolding.

I walked by the theater where "Phantom of the Opera" is playing.  Talk about opulent!  I’d go, if Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman were still starring ... but they’re not.  Rats.

Oh, as long as I'm wandering around aimlessly, a few memories of the actual flight over.  It was okay.  Nice in a lot of ways, but the seats are so cramped.  I slept a couple of hours, sort of, not too badly jet lagged.  No customs to go through on arrival, so I got out of the airport very fast.  The in-flight movies were "Tomorrow Never Dies" and "Wings of the Dove," neither of which I felt like staying awake for.  Besides, the video kept rolling and breaking up on screen, it looked as if the tracking wasn't quite on.  It's hard to watch that for more than a few minutes. 

Anyway, after Trafalgar and Piccadilly, I was pretty much blasted, so I took the Bakerloo Line back to Paddington (that's Paddington Tube station in the picture; it's an older "cut-and-cover" line, not drilled through the ground, so it's exposed in places) and went to a little restaurant that served breakfast all hours.  £3.50 for two eggs, beans, mushrooms, bacon, and tomatoes.  Really hit the spot! 

From there I took the Circle Line back to Bayswater.  Hey, I'm getting the hang of London Transport!

After Bayswater, I walked to Seattle Coffee Company store (!) and ordered a "double‑tall‑skinny mocha."  The nice girl behind the counter asked, in such a lovely accent, if double meant two shots of espresso.  Well, the Brits know their tea but their coffee needs work.  Very "cool" bar, I guess it's in style; the Seattle Coffee Company, that is.  But as far as how the coffee tastes ... ugh.  The whipped cream on top tasted like Cool Whip.  Double ugh. 

What else ... mostly I just wandered.  Bought an orange Kit‑Kat, Reese's cups and OJ to get change for passport photo machine so I can get a weekly travel card, save money (it's like £4 for a one-day pass, or £16 for a week.  I was there a week; you do the math).  I had to go twice (to get my picture) cuz the first time, at Queensway Tube station, it cut my head off!  Off the photo, that is.  So much for high technology.

But I finally got a decent photo.  Then I had to trim it to "official size," which would be easy if I had scissors.  All I had was my big pocketknife.  Well, it worked.  A little ragged, but it'll pass.  

Oh, the bathroom light here at the Hyde Park House doesn't want to come back on when clicked off.  It just sorta doesn't do anything when you pull on the string.  Did I mention that this hotel is a bit run down?

Now I'm watching TV, a story of Pocahontas (sp?) and Brits on holiday in US, Vegas trips.  No, it's not Pocahontas and the Brits on holiday together, it's one section on Pocahontas, one section on Brits on holiday overseas.  Overseas in this case being Las Vegas.  No, I have no idea who put these two different subjects on the same show.

Oh, twice I've arrived at hotel just as bells at the Russian church across street chimed.  Or I thought it was a Russian Church; it actually turned out to be St. Matthew's, which is the picture on the left..  I’d thought the bells were from St. Sophia’s, which is Greek, not Russian. 

You are following me, aren't you?

Actually, I'm very near three churches and a synagogue, and when I say very near I mean very near, like within a block.  There's a Catholic Church and a synagogue (names are ....?), St. Matthew's Anglican, and St. Sophia's Greek Orthodox (which is the church in the picture on the right).  Well, that pretty much covers the bases, religiously; all we need is a mosque.  And for all I know, that's around the corner.

I just heard (on the TV news) that French ferry workers have blocked trains in Calais through the Chunnel because they're upset about losing the duty‑free thing in 1999.  Huh?  It's 9:00pm and I think the church bells are ringing.  Which church, I have no idea.

Oh, I bought 10 postcards for a pound at a cheapy souvenir shop on Queensway or Bayswater, whichever.  8 stamps, too; £3.92, I think.  Time to send postcards.

Tomorrow it's Portobello Road and whatever else sounds fun when I get there.  I found cool shortbread for Melissa, comes in an embossed metal box [although I ended up getting her different shortbread from Marks & Sparks, which turned out actually to be more authentic]. 

Walking back from Paddington, I saw a "Triumph" bicycle.  Made by Triumph bicycles.  Who is Triumph bicycles? [I wondered if they were the same company who made Triumph motorcycles; they were].

Somebody is making noise in hall.  Lights keep going on & off, in the hall.  I think I hear the bathroom door.  Yup, it's the bathroom door.  Now I hear whomever it is trying to get the light to come on.  From the grumbling sounds the person is making, I don't think he or she was successful.

Okay, it's time for loo & bed.  I have a little flashlight I brought along, just in case.  Good thing I did!

By the way, London tap water tastes terrible.