AoC - Day the First: in which I arrive and find Oscar down the road

I arrived at Heathrow on Sunday the 4th after a slightly bumpy six-and-a-half-hour direct flight from Baltimore. I was accidentally smart about this flight - we left around 9 in the evening, and when we arrived in the UK, it was about 9:30 am local time, so my body was tricked into thinking it had gotten the usual amount of sleep (even if it was sitting up), so I didn't suffer too badly from jet lag.

I had one meal on the plane, eggplant and ratatouille, which wasn't bad. I also watched The Lavender Hill Mob - a fun movie with Alec Guinness and Audrey Hepburn in one of her first film roles (she only has a line or two at the beginning).

I was able to get some British currency at a Barclay's ATM. They're affiliated with Bank of America, so no extra charges for withdrawing money. You can get British currency here in the States, but the bank has to order it ahead of time, as they generally don't keep it on hand.

I caught a bus from Heathrow to Victoria Station, which was right near my hotel. It costs about 5 pounds (about $8 as of this writing) and takes about 45 minutes. You can take an express train from Heathrow to Paddington Station, which only takes 15 minutes, but costs 17 pounds (about $27 as of this writing), and then you have to take the tube from Paddington to wherever you need to go, which will cost you extra in time and money. You can also take a taxi from Heathrow to anywhere in London, but that's about 50 pounds (about $80 as of this writing) and also takes about 45 minutes.

I said Victoria Station was near my hotel, and what should have been a five-minute walk turned into more like half an hour because I got completely turned around and ended up near the back of Buckingham Palace. I found my hotel eventually, though.

I stayed at the Lime Tree Hotel on Ebury Street. It's a cute little B&B, with a wine bar restaurant next door, a coffee shop across the street, and a chocolate shop around the corner. It has a lovely breakfast room with a working dumb waiter from which breakfast was sent up from the basement kitchen. It also has a "snug room," which is just what it sounds like - enough room for a small couch and a desk and a couple of bookshelves. This room leads out onto the garden (you can see pics of all this on their Web site, so I didn't bother to take pics of them). It's in the Belgravia neighborhood, and a bit on the upscale side. Several famous people have lived on Ebury Street, including Mozart (lived at 180 Ebury while composing his first symphony), Ian Fleming (wrote the James Bond books, lived at 22b Ebury), Noel Coward (playwright/composer/director/actor/singer, 112 Ebury), and Lord Tennyson (poet laureate in Queen Victoria's time, 42 Ebury). Now, people like Nigella Lawson, Elizabeth Hurley, Andrew Lloyd Weber, Roger Moore, and Margaret Thatcher live in the area.

Moderately priced hotels have far more basic amenities than their counterparts in the US. The rooms are small, the sink is usually out near the beds, and often, it won't have any countertop around it, and you're lucky if you have a private bathroom (I did, fortunately). The B&Bs often don't have elevators, so be prepared to climb a lot of stairs and don't expect them to carry your luggage up for you. This didn't bother me much. After all, I was only going to be sleeping there and spending the rest of my time out in the city, so no need for a fancy place to stay.

A couple of pictures of my room (the sink is maybe a foot and a half away from the desk):





And here's the view from my window:


After a refreshing shower in what felt like the world's smallest shower stall, I decided to walk around the neighborhood to get my bearings and to keep myself awake for the rest of the day. I went back down to Buckingham Palace, but to the front of it, this time.

This is the side of it that everyone recognizes, but it was actually only completed in 1913. The royal standard flag wasn't flying, so the Queen was not in. The area around the front of the palace is pedestrian only, so no worry about cars.

There are some beautiful sculptures on the fountain just opposite the palace.




St. James Park is a little further along. Jane, you were right, I liked it a lot better than Hyde Park. More winding paths and less severe and pristine-looking. Apparently, spies like to meet in this park - MI5 or otherwise.




You can be on the grass in this park, too.


I walked into Chelsea, too, which is about fifteen minutes away. It's considered a separate neighborhood. The cities of London and Westminster were the first ones established in the area, and then villages (now called boroughs) such as Chelsea grew up around them. It's a nice area with wider sidewalks and more space and green than in Belgravia.

I managed to find this house - 34 Tite Street:


It may not look like anything important, but do you see that blue circle on the right next to the lower windows? Here's what it says:


These plaques are everywhere in the country. They are how I know about all the famous people that lived on Ebury Street. This is the house he lived in before he was sentenced to two years of hard labor in prison for "gross indecency" (ie, being gay) in 1895. All of his possessions from this house, excepting the ones rescued by his loyal friend and probable first male lover Robbie Ross, were sold to pay off debts and legal fees. This included a book collection to drool for.

Another thing I noticed while walking around: there are fancy houses on one side of the street, and what are called mews on the other side. In older days, the mews were part of the houses' property and stored the carriages and stables for horses, with living quarters for servants on the upper floors. They're thought to be called mews because in medieval times, they served as falconrys for birds, who apparently sound as though they are mewing. Now they are usually garages or apartments and aren't connected to the fancy houses across the street.

Back in Belgravia, I had dinner in a pub called Grumbles. There's a small dining area down in the basement. It's well-lit, yet still feels cozy. I had grilled salmon and more ratatouille (better than what I had on the plane) and mango sorbet for dessert.

Tomorrow, I widen my horizons.