Monday 22 June 09

Another glorious day in sunny England. We've decided that the tourist bureau of England should pay us to be here - we've completely rearranged the weather patterns of this sceptred isle, and that all for the good, mind you.

At any rate, we were up, broke our fast, took one last walk around the top of the hill, and headed into town to the train station, where we found that everyone had arrived right on time. Unfortunately, the train had other ideas, and arrived about 10-15 minutes late.

We all got on after some very heartfelt good-byes, "stowed" our luggage, and found our reserved(!) seats for the ride to London. It was a bit of a slow one with many stops, but the scenery was good, and many bracelets were created en route.

Part of the entertainment consisted of a group of schoolchildren at the other end of our car. One particular lad, Charlie by name, seemed completely incapable of listening to answers and instruction, so we heard his name quite often. "It's a good job you're not in charge, Charlie, or we'd have been off this train an hour ago," was one of my personal favourites. At any rate, we eventually pulled into Paddington station and found our way to the exit. Of course, that exit was blocked by turnstiles asking for cards which we didn't have. Oh, it was actually a request to show our train ticket, just to make sure we had really paid for our journey - no worries - and off we went.

Our hotel, the Orchard Hotel in Sussex Gardens, is mere blocks from the train and tube station, so we dragged our suitcases and checked in. We settled in briefly, and then gathered for a trip to Subway - the restaurant, not the tubes - for a late lunch, then on to Hyde Park to wander and explore.

The chap at the front desk told us which corner of Hyde Park was near the Hard Rock Café (our dinner destination for the evening), and though it was not the corner I had remembered, we went along with it. More on that in a moment.

We hit Hyde Park with a will, and found all the people watching to be brilliant. We saw the statue of Peter Pan, the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain, all kinds of stuff, and were headed for Speakers' Corner when a slight miscalculation found us in the opposite corner - near Buckingham Palace. We thought we might as well just have a look, so we did, and got as much as we needed there. Then it was off across the park for Speakers' Corner - it was mostly fenced so we couldn't get there, but Jeff gave us a rousing speech on why Manchester United is overrated, and how it's all about Liverpool Football Club, then we walked out to find the Hard Rock Café.

Well, you're probably expecting to read that the fellow at the desk was wrong, and that I was right. That's exactly the case. We had another long walk to get to the restaurant - and there was a fairly major queue outside when we arrived. As we had told the travellers, it's always been an hour to an hour and a half wait, so this wasn't unexpected. They all headed over to the shop and museum while I put my name in for some tables. "What, fourteen now, with no booking?" Yep, that's it. "Hold on please." "OK, how about ten minutes?" Good grief, God is watching over me again!

Of course, it wasn't really a ten minute wait, more like six.

Everyone had a great meal, and off they went for the shop again. Once that was done, we started to walk home. Started to, I say, because at this point I revealed the wonders of the London Travel Card! Each of us had unlimited tube travel within Zones 1 and 2 for three full days. Who could ask for anything more?

We sat down to a meeting shortly after returning to set the rules for London and assign buddies to watch out for each other at every travel junction. Once all that was well and truly understood, the boys and I all headed to the Internet Café for a half hour of email, Facebook, and blogging.

We also sent a message to Andrea Deck, who's living here in London, to try to connect while we're here too. We shall see. The café closed at 11, so back we went for some sleep so we could head out at 9 for our first London excursion - Wesley's Chapel in City Road. Everyone was so excited that they hardly slept (or so it seemed to us).

More next time.