Success is getting what you want; happiness is liking what you get

Monday 11 August 2008

Hello London

After a long and tiring flight of 14 hours we arrived at Heathrow at the ungodly time of 5.15am. Let's take the Underground into London, we decided, and used our brand new Oyster Cards, (a stored value card for travel) to pay for the trip, just tap the card when entering and again on exiting and the price is calculated and deducted from the card. We arrived at Vandon House Hotel just after 7.00am, and luckily as our room was free we were able to take possession straight away.
This area around Vandon Street has royal connections. In 1577 Cornelius Van Dun, a Yeoman of the Guard to Henry 8th founded two sets of almshouses close by. Sadly they have since been demolished. The area we are staying in is known as the City of Westminster. Everyone knows of the famous Westminster Abbey, where the Kings and Queens of England are crowned. Not far away we discovered a lovely old church, Westminster Cathedral. This is a Roman Catholic place of worship and is currently undergoing extensive renovations.


Westminster Cathedral

Close by is Little Ben, a lovely little clock at the top of Victoria Street. We also had a wander through the cavernous Victoria Station. It may have been a Sunday but the station was bustling with a huge amount of people coming and going.

Little Ben

We plan to go out somewhere close by for an evening meal. Robin fancies a nice roast dinner and some veggies to compensate for all the foreign food we have been eating recently. Then it will be an early night to compensate for jet lag. Wonder what adventures we will have tomorrow?

1 comment:

psychokiwi said...

Hope you are enjoying London! I know I did! The best thing to do is to go to the park (either Hyde or Green) on a nice sunny day and to look at all the sunbathers. Extremely funny! Best tip. If you can't get up to the palace gates, next best place to stand is up on the fountain. Of course, the earlier the better. Best luck with your adventure.
Lots of Love, Carla :0)