A New Adventure Begins

 Saturday, July 20:

A new adventure started two days ago.  Betsy and I boarded a direct flight from Portland to London's Heathrow Airport.  Because of the worldwide collapse of Microsoft systems (or however it is named), the incoming flight to Portland was delayed about 2 hours and our rescheduled departure was 1 1/2 hour later.  It was no matter to us, since we had extra time to get from our house to the airport and enjoy in the "executive" lounge.  The logistics of checking bags, passing through security, and boarding the plane was uneventful.

The flight was 9 hours long, but as comfortable as possible given the distance.  Because of a plane model change and a request from British Air to Betsy to move her seat (so a family could be together), we did not seat next to each other.  I was in row 7 and Betsy was in row 11.  Had we sat together, on of us would have been facing to the plane's rear.  We enjoyed the business class service, watching movies (Dune 2, Retribution and part of Despicable Me (first one from 2010) for me; American Fiction for Betsy), and trying to nap a bit.

After arriving at Heathrow, there was no gate open to park the airplane, so it was taken to the "auxiliary" parking area.  There were no buses available to shuttle us to the terminal for about 40 minutes, but after that passport control was quick -- didn't talk with an agent, simply scanned our passports and had a photo taken.  Like the passenger bus snafu, the wait for the luggage was extended.  All of this was attributed to the Microsoft crash.  But, the luggage eventually showed up and we walked to the train station for the Heathrow Express (pre-purchased tickets allowed for easy access for boarding the train).  The train ride lasted about 20 minutes, arriving at Paddington Station. There were stickers on the concourse of the station directing us to the Underground station for our last connection to King's Cross stop (a few blocks from our hotel).   We added money to our Oyster cards easily -- interestingly, the balances on the cards from our last visit to London was a negative 5 pounds.  After 4 stops on the Underground and crammed with lots of people going the same way, we arrived at our destination.  We then walked a few blocks to the Fairway Hotel (3 stars), our home for the next 5 nights.  We checked in, hauled our luggage up 2 flights of stairs and moved into a small room.  This was about 3 pm local; 5 am Portland time on Friday.

It was a hot Friday afternoon in London and lots of people were on the move, probably looking to escape the heat.  We showered and then went out for an early dinner in the Islington neighborhood.  We walked back along the back streets to Regents Canal and then between the St. Pancreas and King's Cross Train Stations.  The photos tell the story for this.  

Our restaurant in Islington, about 1.2 miles from our hotel.

The restaurant featured small plates which we shared - taco, plattos, and quesadillas.  Along with 2 mocktails and dessert, an excellent experience.

On the walk back to our hotel, I started photographing in earnest - continuing my study of "manhole" covers -- these are really access covers since they are only about a one foot in diameter.

Curious thing - does anyone know what a "slide out" is?

After a half mile, we reached the access to the Regent's Canal.  The "Islington Tunnel" is where the canal goes underground or under the modern buildings.

On the canal - now a prime tourist site.

But it appears the locals were enjoying it more than the tourists.  The mostly young people were watching a movie on the Jumbotron in the left edge of this photo.  The guys in the rafts had the best seats and probably were a bit cooler.

Just past the outdoor movie theater, we were drawn up to a large plaza and interesting architecture of the Coal Drops Yard.  The place was buzzing with folks.

Next door was an unusual set of condos called the "Gasholders."  This is one of three buildings that look like some sort of storage tank.  There is one more undeveloped structure that is Gasholder Park, overlooking the canal.

A lock and weir in the canal.

An overview -- the park is in front of the redbrick building (you might be able to see the iron framework), and the Gasholders (condos) have privacy screens that form the skin of the tanks but which can be folded back for views.

Facade of King's Cross Station.

Side view of St. Pancreas Station.

By nine pm local time, we were crashing, hardly able to keep our eyes open.  We crashed and slept until about 4 am. when I started working on this blog.  It is currently 5:40 am and the sky is brightly lit.