Windsor to London

May 6:  After our final celebratory dinner in Windsor (we went to a French restaurant with Polish waiters and had a nice prie fixe dinner of 3 courses), we trundled off for London.  We taxied to the Windsor and Eton Riverside Train Station with our 4 bags and 2 backpacks and caught a train bound for Waterloo Station.  After just under an hour, we got off at Vauxhall Bridge, one stop sooner than Waterloo, since it was closer to our new address in the Westminster neighborhood of London.  We walked dragging the bags across Vauxhall Bridge.

Building stonework next to Vauxhall Station

We arrived at 64 Horsley Road early and had to wait a bit to gain access and to have the housekeeper tidy it up.  It is smaller than the flat in Windsor but is much quieter, set in a gated, modern residential block.  The facilities are adequate but the previous flat was much better equipped (items such as  a toaster, a microwave, and storage containers do make life easier).  We found the local grocery stores and re-supplied with breakfast items.  We buy moderately, given that we have to carry everything a ways home.

64 Horsley Road, a round, ground floor flat

We strolled through the busy area around Victoria Station and the quieter neighborhoods of Pimlico and Belgravia (Chester Square) before taking a train to Chiswick to meet up with Clare, a long time family friend of Betsy.   

Belgravia

Clare is a dynamo - she has lived in England for around 25 years (plus a couple in Japan in the 90s), has 3 children (Angus, the youngest, is taking his A-levels in math, physics, and economics), started a company with her husband (who is Irish), rows single sculls, and has a very gregarious dachshund Bruce (who picks up admirers when out running around).  We enjoyed drinks and dinner at the Bull's Head, a local pub on the Thames, and talked until past 11 pm.  

Her husband, Brian, is in San Diego, CA, for the week-end.  Clare and Brian started a new company about 5 years ago that offers advanced, highly sophisticated medical imaging technologies aimed at patients with prostate and gynecological issues.  In a process that we didn’t quite understand, doctors in the UK have found their system to be so desirable that they have signed up to be part of the company and offer their services as partners under the company (which is called Nuada Medical, after the Celtic god of health).  According to Clare, the US FDA just approved their system ("MRI on steroids”) for use in the US, and Brian flew Friday to San Diego to attend a convention where the news was being announced.

Betsy and I trained back to Vauxhall Bridge and walked the 1/3 mile back to our flat.

May 7: After a rather successful breakfast (learning how the various systems work in a new place is challenging - English stoves can be very perplexing), we walked to the Lambeth Bridge and the Thames Path.  We ambled along the south side, going downstream, along with thousands of others.  We traversed what is now the trendy South Bank, past the National Theater, the Eye of London, the Tate Modern, the Globe Theater, Southwark Cathedral, Borough Market, London Bridge, City of London HQ and Tower Bridge.  We had a great view of the newest high rises across the river - the Cheese Grater, the Gherkin, and the Cellphone.

As recommended by Clare, we stopped into the National Theatre and bought tickets for a play (Suicide) for Wednesday night.  We next pushed our way around Borough Market and purchased two Balkan snacks (filo wrapped turnover-like things) and a smoothie, for a break near London Bridge.  Some history: there has been a London Bridge since Roman times, though the current one is the last of many.  The early bridges were constructed of wood and either burned down or were damaged by floods.  The last wooden one was pulled down by a ransacking King of Norway, and is thought to be the inspiration for "London Bridge is falling down" nursery rhyme.  The first stone bridge lasted for over 400 years and was topped with large buildings and a cathedral; there was also a drawbridge in the middle that was raised each night.  The second stone bridge is now in Lake Havasu, Arizona.   The current third one is quite ordinary, compared to the many other famous London bridges.

We crossed at the Tower Bridge, the most famous and recognizable bridge in the world.  When it was built, some architects thought it tawdry and pretentious.

Betsy is in the lower center of the photo, below the lamppost

We wandered into the pretty St. Katherine's Dock area where a yacht show was going on.  The yachts were too large to photograph, but I found a car for Varis.

That would be a Ferrari, at 410,000 pounds

We crossed behind The Tower of London, made it to the Bank of England, and decided we had had enough walking for the day.  

Here is a 'good' pub name; "I'm going to get . . . for a pint "

We used our new Oyster cards (a pay-as-you debit-like card for public transport; no need to buy individual tickets) and rode the Underground back to Westminster.  Walking to the flat, we passed St. John's Smith Square and noticed a concert was scheduled for this evening, went in and got the last 2 seats next to each other.  We changed clothes and returned to St. John's to listen to the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE).  We heard 3 pieces by Mozart (his 33rd and 1st symphonies, and a clarinet concerto, one of the last pieces he composed) and the World Premiere of Michael Gordon's Observations on Air - an appealing bassoon concerto and a "treatise" to British scientist and radical theologian Joseph Priestley, credited with the discovery of oxygen.  The composer is from New York.  The music and the setting were both very pleasant.

The St. John's Smith Square Concert Hall

IBUs ??; Residual Sugars ??

We stopped at the Barley Mow Pub for beer and salads.  I had this beer - note how this pub characterizes the ales they serve.  I asked about it -  they invented both scales to help patrons choose.  

We had two surprising sightings at the end of the evening.  First, the clarinet soloist who had performed the Mozart concerto came into the pub for drinks with friends.  And second, within blocks of our flat, a small fox crossed the road in front of us, carrying some rubbish in his mouth. There are lots of gardens and closed areas in the Westminster neighborhood where these critters presumably hang out.