London – Day 2

Unlike Mr. White (see post below) Greg and I haven’t yet run into any shady characters, though we’ve been covering alot of ground. We did the bus tour again today, Blue Route this time, walked Regent Street, went to Liberty’s (thought of you, Vicky!) took a boat cruise on the River Thames then went to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese in Fleet Street for dinner. It was closed until the 29th – and the cab had left. Fleet Street after business hours is desolate, to say the least. What to do? Well, I thought, I’ll just carry on as if I know what the Hell I’m doing. “This way,” I told Greg as I walked purposefully towards the Strand. Please God, I prayed, let there be somewhere’s nice to eat. We passed The George pub – very old, very atmospheric, very closed. Xmas and the Bank Holiday are playing havoc with opening times. Right then, I told myself, keep marching. We fell upon Somerset House and went inside to watch the ice skaters. Then we walked another three blocks up the Strand when, off on the far right corner I saw something promising – lights were on, people were inside and it looked like a pub. It was a pub . . . The Duke of Wellington in Wellington Street. NO, I’m not kidding . . . saved by the Duke. Again. We had a pint in the bar and then went upstairs to the dining room, where we had a fantastic meal (lamb shank pie for me, steak for Greg) and warmed ourselves by the gas fire. The Duke of Wellington – I ask you, what were the odds!? Then we went off on the Ripper Walk and back to the hotel for Part 2 of Upstairs, Downstairs – yes, it’s still delicious.

Watching the news afterwards, we saw that the NY/NJ metro airports have cancelled flights due to snow and now resemble Heathrow. Thank God we timed our flight just right, another day we might have been grounded. Of course, if it snows here now and we can’t get out of Heathrow, I could care less. Yippeee says I. In the meantime, we have Eaton Place, the Tower, Madame Tussaud’s, National Portrait Gallery, Cecil Court and who knows what else in store. Will keep posting . . . . . . Needless to say, having a wonderful time, wish you all were here.