Tuesday, December 13, Day 2 - Part 2!
Alright folks! We finally made it to London! Now, it's just a short train ride to Paddington Square, and we're a hop, skip, and a jump away from our Aparthotel! Woo hoo!
Before we get there, I think I left off with our excitement on the plane, or rather, our excitement getting OFF the plane. I dilly dallied my way out of my pod, and finally caught the attention of one of the Flight Attendants. Upon inquiry, there were actually TWO separate medical emergencies, and then ONE "other" emergency that required the Police presence. I guess the kid decided that pills and alcohol on a plane were a good combination. Whoops!
Once Bill and I made it onto the gangway, we found mom with her young, strong, British ginger and a wheelchair. We joined forces and made our way off the gangway and into the airport. However, the Ginger and Mom went to the lifts, while Bill and I made our way down the escalator and towards Border Patrol. As a Citizen of the US, we were able to utilize the express passport scan, and quickly got through the border checkpoint. Off to baggage claim it was, where I figured we'd meet mom, since we had ZERO clue where she went. To top this off, I was the one holding the Wifi hot spot, so mom had no internet. I assumed that she was smart enough to connect to the airport wifi, since she had dutifully announced to the group that we had landed. I texted her and asked where she was, but got no response.
Bill and I made it to baggage claim at the perfect time, since my bag was literally passing me on the thingy. I grabbed that, and saw Bill's dragon tag a few bags down, so I grabbed that one also. I handed both off to Bill, and asked him if he remembered what mom's suitcase looked like. All I remembered was that it was massive, and then a little bigger than that. Scanning the incoming bags, I noticed a huge bag that had a leather luggage tag on it, and knew it was mom's. After all, I MADE that luggage tag!! Win!
After what felt like sixteen hours, mom finally showed up on a golf cart, and waltzed her way to where Bill and I were waiting. We zoomed through customs/declarations, and it was time to figure out how the eff to get out of the airport. Heathrow Express was all that I knew, and I knew it was a "direct" line from Terminal 2 to Paddington. I saw the ticket kiosks, and arrows pointing to where we needed to go,a nd we were off.
Unfortunately, London's definition of "direct" simply means that you can access said destination without the need to find any transfers. Which means, we could access the train "directly" after about a twelve mile hike through the Underground. Poor Mom.
The Heathrow express ended up being a really nice train that landed us straight in Paddington Station.
One of the things that I always find fascinating is the design and style of the stations. Paddington Station was no disappointment in that department. However, it WAS a disappointment in the traffic flow department, as we were on the "last" train car, and had to legit walk the entire length of the station to find the exit...er, "way out" as they call it here. Poor Mom.
Now, from here I knew it was about a 0.5 mile walk to the aparthotel. Unfortunately (again), London is under construction. Which meant our route was now modified, and I had to figure out which street was which, and what direction Apple Maps was taking us. It jumped our hike to 0.8 miles, and we were off. About 0.2 miles into the hike, Mom called it quits. By this point, she had walked a ton, so I give her props. And she was pushing her darn suitcase in front of her, on London streets, with other people walking. It was rough.
I called her an Uber, and sent her on her merry way. Bill and I were going to explore and see what we could see on our way.
I was pretty excited in picking our hotel, as I knew there was a "floating island" and a Square/Market that was supposed to have booths and stuff all set up and prepped for Christmas. The above is a quick picture of the square, and the floating island. The above picture was the first one I took in London on my "fancy" camera. Looks pretty good, I think!
We got checked in to the hotel, and went to our rooms. Mom has a "superior" studio, which comes with a double bed and a little more square footage than our room, which is a "twin" studio. When we got to our room, it turns out we also had a double bed, and not the twins I was expecting. Perfect. Quaint rooms, but complete with a stove top, refrigerator, coffee maker, etc etc. I was pleased, and found the rooms to be comfortable and accessible.
Neither Bill nor I wanted to immediately go to sleep, so we decided that since it was only approximately 3 PM London time, we'd push through and stay awake until bed time. I wanted to grab some waters and maybe an iced coffee or something for the room, so we found a mini market nearby and started off. I grabbed some water bottles, an iced coffee, and Bill snagged a Chocolate Milk. On our way back, Mom finally texted/called back via FaceTime, and told us that she was snoozing and didn't want to go out with us to explore. We dropped off our grocery items, and I did a quick search for something close by. Turns out, there was a Christmas Market Extravaganza about a mile away, in Hyde Park. Perfect - we grabbed our cold weather gear and we started off.
We found Hyde Park easily enough, and even found a mini snowman someone had built on their front yard. You can even almost see the Winter Wonderland that we were heading towards in the second picture. It was definitely MORE than I was expecting for a Christmas Market, but it was something to do. Mind you, at this point, it's freakin' cold as balls. But, whatever, we're in Winter Wonderland, so of course it's cold!
The place ended up being a Christmas Market that expanded into a Carnival type fun place. Very popular, and we ended up having to pre-purchase tickets in order to even get in.
The first thing we saw when entering the gates is the light archways above. Oh, and TONS of people. But, it was really neat to see all the stuff. Oh, and I looked like a tourist because I kept pulling my camera out of my pocket, and snapping pictures. On screen, they looked great...but as I upload them here...maybe not so much.
My photography skills are somewhat lacking, as I'm just using auto focus and a pancake lens that was supposed to be good for "street" photography. I mean, it's a picture, right?
I really wanted the last photo to turn out better. This was the entrance to the main Christmas Market in the place. Sadly, auto focus seems to have done a fabulous job focusing on the Guy in the Blue Jacket (he stood there for like, at least a decade while I waited for him to leave my shot...). Anyway, maybe dedicated camera photographing isn't for me?
Bill ended up buying a leather backpack here, since he despised, abhorred, and otherwise detested the carry on bag that he brought. It was a large duffel bag that also had wheels so you could pull it behind you. Unfortunately it just didn't work the way it could have, and he clearly didn't like it. So, leather backpack in tow, we grabbed a quick bite to eat which was a burger and a brat (Bill and me, respectively), and then decided it was just too cold to stay out any longer.
We passed this on the way back to the hotel, which was...a archway of some kind. No idea, but hey...I had a fancy camera, and was going to take pictures! What'd you think? Any good? Should I take more?!
We finally made it back to our aparthotel around 7:00 PM local time, and we both crashed quickly. Sleep was the next best thing for us, and we jumped into bed and I don't remember my head hitting the pillow...
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