England 2012: December 28th and 29Th

12-28-12     Melissa and I arrived in London yesterday afternoon.  We took the Express Train to Paddington Station where the atm promptly ate my debit card.  Seems the bank did not notify their fraud department that I was traveling to England.  Using the back-up credit card, we found a cab that accepted plastic, and we arrived in one piece at our flat.   Well the flat, the photo showed a smallish room with a bath and toilet down the hall.   HAHA  small does not even begin to describe the room, but it does have a small kitchen that will save us money by not eating out. The roommdoes, however, have a lovely window looking out on a quiet street near Hyde Park.  I spent several hours working with my bank and they are sending a replacement card Monday.  :-) Once the card issue was resolved we went to a great meal in a local "brown bar" near the flat.   We toasted our adventure with sangria ( I know, not very English) :-) One last stop at the local market and we called it a night.

12-19-12     We woke from our tylonal pm induced sleep to tea and taste toast in the flat. Amazing tea!  Our plan for the day was to pick up our London Passes (unlimited tube/bus/train/museum pass) and hit Trafalgar Square, the National Protrait Gallery, and Picadilly Circus.   The museum was amazing!   We saw everybody from Prince Henry Stuart to Eliot to the Brontes.   Disraeli and Gladstone shared a wall (HAHA)  Oliver Cromwell, Dickens, and even King James were represented. It was a pretty spectacular day. http://www.npg.org.uk/ We spent a few hours on Charing Cross Road and all the bookstores. Melissa found a children's bookstore with a first edition Peter Pan, and it was on sale for only 400 pounds,  (insert laughing here), which I had to drag away from her. We managed the tube with ease and moved about London with little effort. Boy America could sure use public transit.  We are now eating dinner in the flat and planning our next day.     Tomorrow we will hit The Tower of London, The Old Globe and take the one mile "Bank Walk" along the Thames River.