London Trip #17: Pt. 3 Pub Crawl

It was Saturday and I had planned a fun day in inner London.  It was supposed to be a more relaxing day without as much walking.  However, thanks to a geographical error on my part (we aimed and arrived on foot at the wrong station.  We should have aimed for Hyde Park Station, but we ended up one stop east at Green Park).  So we walked a lot further than planned.  By the time we got to our first stop, Apsley House Museum, we were pretty bushed.  The pub crawl was supposed to be later, but we started early.  Our walk was in the rain, a light rain.  It took us past Buckingham Palace, where only madmen and women would voluntarily go on a Saturday during a long weekend.  We bustled our way through crowds, eventually surviving and gasping for air in Green Park.  We stood under a large tree in the rain for a time, enjoying the smells of wet grass and leaves, and watching groups of people hurry past, heading for the palace.

 

We chose a pub close to Apsley House, and eagerly entered The Grenadier, one of London's oldest standbys.  We had left our home station, East Croydon, 90 minutes earlier, and we were thirsty.  The pub has its own ale, called Grenadier Ale.  It was beautifully kept (cellar temp of 50 F) and was quite delicious.  We also shared a juice before heading towards Apsley House. 

 

We were glad to see the back of the palace, and we turned and headed into Green Park.  Because of my error we had circled the palace, with the front of it packed with tour buses and people who think the royals are important to their lives.

 

Green Park, heading for Hyde Park Station area, the long way.

 

 Even with a good map and directions, The Grenadier is not an easy pub to stumble across.  It seems to sit within its own dimension.

 

A small, sane and secret corner of heaven in London.  Our first pub of today's crawl.

 

Apsley House was the home of the Duke of Wellington.  It's address is Number One London.  How about that?  Designed by Robert Adams in the 1770s, the Duke purchased it in 1817.  It houses a collection of china and silverware together with paintings.  The staircase has a 12' statue of Napoleon, naked.  For us the highlight was the paintings, with Spanish masters prevalent.  We last visited this place in 1991, on our very first visit to London.  We still had fond memories of that visit, so it was high time we returned.

 

The entrance to Apsley House.  A large demonstration was going on in Hyde Park behind us, and the police were swarming the area.  All was quiet within.

 

Staircase in Apsley House, with Napoleon statue.

  

Table center piece for the Egyptian dishes setting.

 

Each dish, this being one of several dozen, was individually decorated with different images.

 

Yellow Drawing Room.  Internet photo.  

https://tmlighting.com/projects/apsley-house-london/
 

 The main gallery. Internet photo.  

https://www.thegeographicalcure.com/post/guide-to-apsley-house

 

Brouwer is one of our favourite Flemish artists.

 

Another favourite Flemish artist.

 

More Brueghel, son of Bruegel the Elder.

 

A beautiful early Flemish Annunciation. 

 

Titian shows the correct way of depicting the shower of gold; not as coins but as golden rain showering down upon Danae.  Internet photo.

The masterpiece of the collection is The Water Seller of Seville, by Velasquez.  This is his finest painting outside of the Prado. Internet photo.

 

Not far from the museum was a little corner of London we had never explored.  Shepherd's Market is a small warren of narrow streets with shops and restaurants.  It was still raining a bit, so we didn't spend a lot of time here.  However, an unplanned stop at the Market Pub brought us great joy and happiness.  We had a half of Harvey's Best Bitter (brewed in Lewes) and some remarkably good Rhubarb Cloudy Cider from Rosie's.  We also ordered and split an order of mushrooms on toast, which turned into one of the best meals we had on our trip!  Vegan food is plentiful at most pubs.  We only went to an all-vegan restaurant once in two weeks.

 

Now the official pub crawl resumed.  I use London By Pub: Pub Walks Around Historic London by Ted Bruning.  Last time we did a walk in the Strand with Caroline.  This time we were just two and we chose the chapter called "Belgravia: Masters and Servants."  We had been to a few of the pubs many years ago, but the revisits were welcome.  Many of them used to be divided into smaller rooms.  Grooms and servants would use one part of the pub while the upper class (men) would use the fancier part.  Today most pubs dispense with such class divisions, but still retain their historical integrity.  In addition to the two pubs visited earlier today we managed to visit four more.  Not bad for a day's work.

 

The pub is infamous for being the safe haven of a woman, Lady Lucan, whose husband had just murdered the nanny and was trying to kill her.  He escaped and was never seen again.  This occurred Nov. 7th 1974.   We kept our eyes and ears open.  We had two brews from Greene King, their standby IPA, usually quite bland unless, like today, perfectly kept and fresh, and London Glory, which was even better.

 

Most of the pubs were very crowded inside due to the rain, as the gardens went unused.  A few were too crowded to enter, so we skipped some. This is the interior of The Antelope, where we shared a glass of Vocation Brewery's Bread and Butter Modern Ale.

 

Exterior of The Antelope, on a rainy Saturday.  The area surrounding the pub also has a dark history, in the age of ruthless brigands who preyed on travellers as they attempted to cross the nearby "Bloody Bridge." 

 

This is a Fullers Pub, and as you can see from the sunshine this is an internet photo.  We were beginning to lose our wits around this time.  We had Fullers ESB in tip top condition.

  

Last but not least comes this tiny oasis for drinkers looking for someplace a little different.

Kevin no longer seems to run the place.  The Asian bartender barely spoke English and did not know what cask ale was.  Sigh.  The interior remains majorly quirky.  We had Adnams Southwold Bitter, a very fine ale in reasonable condition.  If you know anything about Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar, this is where Faffrd and the Gray Mouser would most likely be found if in London. The pub is straight out of their home city (Lankhmar).

 

We  walked to Victoria Station, taking a train directly home.  We were back in the room by 8 pm, with supper from a Japanese place at the nearby Boxpark in a take away container.

 

Sunday was to be a local day, visiting our favourite pubs and cafe in Croydon.  There was still a fair amount of walking, and no less than four pubs.  But we mixed in some outdoor culture.  Croydon is this year's London Borough of Culture, and they are having events all year.  For four days this weekend they were featuring something called Unexpected Croydon, with seven colourful inflatable sculptures spread around the town center.  By Monday we had found all of them, most of them high atop buildings.  Near our hotel was a giant fly high on a building wall.  In the mall across the street was a large paint can and brush.  Here are photos of some of them, including one atop our favourite London pub!

 

Sunflowers at the entrance to Croydon offices.  We stopped here on a quiet street so I could call my mom back in Sudbury (Deb's Lyca card gave us 100 minutes worldwide).  We were nearly run over by a firetruck.  With lights and siren drowning out my call, the vehicle climbed onto the sidewalk right in front of us and we had to dash.  There was no fire, but perhaps a poker game, as four men emerged from the truck and entered a building, never to be seen by us again.

 

This was our favourite, atop the balcony at Festival Hall.  The tentacles were moving in the wind. 

 

Clock tower in central Croydon. No balloons here.  Move along.

 

Two views of a sea anemone atop The Green Dragon, our favourite pub.  This one moved a lot, too.

 

East Croydon Station might be the best station in England, with connections to almost anywhere.  On the left is the signature station entrance, with the signature round building across the street.  This is a twice daily (at least) sight for us.

 

   A favourite local pub for us, it's about a 15 minute walk from the hotel.  Sunday from 1 -3 was

a jazz trio, so we got a free concert with our ales.  We had a perfect glass of St. Austell Tribute and a glass of Southwark Brewery's Routemaster Red.

 

 

On our way to our next pub we stopped at Urban Baristas, a really fine cafe and enjoyed our afternoon fix.  There were expensive coffee table books about coffee and its growing areas which we browsed as we sipped. 

 

Next came The George, a Wetherspoon pub and the closest one to our hotel (about 5 minutes walk).  With about 15 handpulls there is always something interesting to try.  They also offer a ton of vegan food options.  We always visit here, usually several times on a journey.  Today they had an Oakham Brewery (we visited that brewery a few trips ago, in Peterborough) Omarta.  I wasn't too crazy about this ale, though I usually adore Oakham offerings.

  

Next it was finally onward to the Green Dragon!  I could spend a whole week here.  They have 8 hand pulls, all from small breweries, about a dozen drafts and usually 4 or more ciders.  It's big and roomy inside, though they do show 'the football' on a big screen above the bar.  We had the blueberry porter, shown above, as well as a pear cider from Pulp. 

 

Lastly came Arts and Craft taphouse, with offerings similar to the Green Dragon, just a few yards away.  No food, though they do have several Banksy works on their walls.  Even better, there is one in situ just across the road!

 

This abandoned tower across from the taproom has a Banksy up there.

 

Closeup of the Banksy in Croydon. 

 

The entrance to Arts and Craft Taproom is just to the right.  This is the view of the alley.  Like something from Bladerunner.

 

This is one of several works by Banksy on display in the Arts and Craft Taproom.  We enjoyed a glass of Nitro Stout from Ansbach and Hobday.   Afterwards it was back for an early night, with more takeout noodles.  We have a choice of about 6 great restaurants within minutes of the hotel.

 

Telephoto view from our room, #911, showing Crystal Palace hill and towers.  The train station is just to the right of the foreground building.  From our lobby to the platform is about four minutes walk. 

 

The journey continues in Part 4.  Check back soon.

 

Mapman Mike 

 

 

 

 

London Trip #17: Part, 1 Arrival

This is the first part of a mult-part blog entry.

London is a zoo.  It is a conglomeration of every possible language, country and colour.  At times it seems like the city doesn't make any sense.  How does it function?  How does it feed so many people each day?  How does it supply enough fresh water? How does the road traffic manage to move?  How does the public transport system cope with the millions of people that use it every week?  These questions and many others can keep a thinking person occupied for a very long time.  In 2026 we have spent nearly a month navigating London on foot and using all means of public transport.  We managed nicely, though I will say that this city is not for everyone.  It remains one of our favourites, though I would not wish to live here.

 

Our 2nd trip to London in such a short time is unusual, and the main reason for going again was to get Deb to an annual film festival that has accepted her films five times now.  It was time for her to pay a personal visit.  We also continued our London Loop and Capital Ring project, and I managed a grand hill walk from Lewes to Glynde.  This time we greatly increased our cultural visit time, more normal for us than the previous visit.  We managed some new museums and sites as well as revisiting ones not seen in decades.  It was a very full trip with not a single day off.  As I write this we are still recovering.

 

Deb made her first appearance at this film festival in Lewes. 

 

Getting from Windsor ON to London-Croydon involves two flights, or a long miserable drive and one flight.  We chose the two-flight option with Air Canada, the sardine can airline.  Both flights were okay and on time.  We left home at 5:30 pm Wednesday and were at Heathrow tube station at 1 pm Thursday (5 hours advance to watches).  I had a great plan to get us to our hotel in Croydon.  We caught a Piccadilly line train heading for Earls Court, where we would change to a District line train to Wimbledon.  From there we would catch the Tramlink service and get dropped in front of our hotel roughly an hour after leaving Heathrow.  Beware of making plans with Transport for London these days.  Our first train ended suddenly at Acton Town and everyone had to get off and catch the next train.  No reason given.  Ten minutes later we were on a very packed train, getting off as planned at Earls Court.  Our next train to Wimbledon got us there as planned.  Then came the tram, a very handy service indeed.  When it is fully operational.  We found out that the tram would not reach our hotel after all.  It was partly closed for repairs.  We would need a bus at the end of its run.  With about a hundred people waiting for a stupid bus, we hauled ourselves, heavy backpacks and rolling suitcases the final half mile to our hotel, uphill.  Quite a large hill, actually.  We were checked in to the Leonardo Hotel in Croydon by 3:30 pm.  Our epic journey from home was now concluded.

 

Since our flight to Denmark in the mid 1980s we have used a reliable and easy to use jet lag program.  It involves a feasting/fasting cycle beginning three days before the journey and ingesting carefully timed caffeine.  It has only failed us once (Vienna) and that was entirely our own fault.  On arrival day no napping is allowed.  We rested briefly today, got cleaned up and headed out to take care of some business.  A £15 phone sim card from Lyca was purchased, inserted into our home phone, and we were set for a month.  Next we went to East Croydon Station to top up our Oyster cards for use on London transport.  Then a cash withdrawal from an ATM.  All set for the week.

 

The next hurdle was to try and stay awake until at least 9 pm.  That is one challenge that is very tough to overcome.  While Deb had only half a night's sleep that night, I awoke Friday morning refreshed and raring to go.  It was time for the first of two Capital Ring segments.  Segment #12 begins at Highgate tube station, where we left off in May (incidentally our two trips both began on the 26th (April and then August) and ended on the 9th (May and September).  Today was the 28th of August, and it was the Friday of a long weekend over here.  It was the final weekend before school resumed, and it was still high tourist season for the rest of the world.  Join me in part 2 of this new blog series for our first major walk.

 

Mapman Mike 

 

London 2026: Part 8--End Game

This is part 8 of an 8 part series.  To find part 1 click on an early date at right.

We had one day left in London, and it was to be a fairly local one.  I had built in a few spare days and neither of us felt like another long walk.  We had plans to visit a very small and unique museum, so we went ahead and visited The Museum of the Mind at Bethlem Hospital.  The Croydon bus terminal is just across the street from the East Croydon train station.  Here we caught the SL5 bus, and after a 20 minute ride we arrived at the hospital complex.  The museum lies straight ahead through the gate, about a 2 minute walk from the bus stop.  Before visiting, however, we headed to a nearby Toby Carvery for lunch.  Why would vegans go to a carvery for lunch?  Because they actually have fantastic vegan mushroom tarts, plus all the veggies you can eat from the buffet.  They also had Sharps Doombar on handpull, so it counts as a pub.  We never did go to an all-vegan restaurant on this trip, since nearly everywhere we did go had multiple vegan options on their menu.

It was about an 18 minute walk from the museum, and we headed back there right afterwards.  The museum is free but accepts donations.  We were the only visitors on a mid afternoon Friday.  Since many artists were treated here for mental health issues over the years the museum has some rather unique and very beautiful works, along with many disturbing ones.  We came across works of a favourite Canadian artist, too; William Kurelek.  There are some cringe worthy displays of ways that patients were restrained, as well as other questionable tools of the trade back in the day.  The main gallery is upstairs.  There is an elevator.  We stayed about an hour then took the SL5 back to Croydon.

 

Bethlem Hospital Museum of the Mind. 

 

There are several rooms filled with art. 

 

William Kurelek is a favourite Canadian artist of ours, and the gallery had a large representative work.

 

They also had this, a very disturbing work by Kurelek.  His childhood was a horror story, and this work goes a long way in describing how he felt while growing up. 

 

They also have many works by Louis Wain, which are shown in rotation.  These two caught our eye.

 

Art by Louis Wain.  There is a terrific film version of his life showing on Prime, starring

Benedict Cumberpatch.

 

The rest of the day was given over to a final farewell to the three closest pubs to our hotel.  At the George we shared Burton Bridges Top Dog Stout, quite delicious.  At the Green Dragon we had another glass of that Viennese Swirl Chocolate Vanilla Porter, along with Pulp Apple Cider, another worthwhile beverage.  Our final pub stop was Art and Craft taproom.  They had a cask on, Pig and Porter Funky Claude Porter, which got better and better the more you drank.

 

We stopped at nearby Forbidden Planet, a SF store with everything from books to posters.  We ended up buying three terrific posters, which I will feature on the main blog once they are hanging.  Then it was back to the hotel for the packing ritual.  We hadn't purchased many things this time, and I had been throwing away old tee shirts and such as I went through them.  I had brought some old stuff I didn't want any more, so we had no trouble with the packing.

 

We were up at 6 am, which is 1 am Windsor time, and were home before 9 pm local time (2 am London time).  So it was a long day.  We caught the 6:30 am SLR 7 bus to Heathrow, got through security easily and quickly, then sat around for a long time in terminal 2.  Deb paid a half pint visit to the Fullers pub in the terminal, and we both drank coffee as per the jet lag program.  Our flight for Toronto left on time, we had great seats (Deb had an aisle) and the flight was smooth but long.  I mostly read while Deb watched a couple of movies.  We were in Toronto on time, then had a dismal time trying to find something to eat.  This wasn't London any more.  Vegans are 3rd class citizens at this airport.

 

We came across this vending machine at Heathrow (this is the side of it showing the menu) which will dispense no less than 51 different beverages.  I would like one in my kitchen. 

 

We were surprised by how quickly (after an interminable walk) we got through customs, and discovered that our luggage had been checked through to Windsor, a first.  In the old days one had to go to baggage claim, get the suitcases, go through customs, recheck the bags and then go through security lines again.  All that is now avoided if one has nothing to declare.

 

The flight to Windsor was delayed due to a bad storm, and we arrived about 45 minutes late.  Randy was there to pick us up and drive us home.  We weren't awake too long that night, and mostly slept well until next morning.  We arrived with loads of laundry to do and a few cool items we had picked up on the trip.

 

We will likely try and return in the autumn, world affairs allowing.  It was a great trip and we even brought it in under budget!  Thanks for reading.  Until next time.

 

Croydon boasts some fine old buildings.  Always look up when in Europe. 

 

An old one-time textile shop in Croydon. 

  

Most of our recent acquisitions, minus some beer coasters and a large postcard of a work by Kurelek.

 

The next day we noticed our lilac bush in the back yard had really outdone itself this year! 

 

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

London 2026: Part 1--An Introduction

We haven't crossed the Atlantic since 2019, which marked our second visit to Vienna.  In 2018 we made our previous journey to London, my 16th.  Combined with our summer in Madrid/Barcelona and two weeks spent in Denmark, this marked my 20th crossing, and Deb's 17th.  Since then flights now cost much more, and leg room in economy has shrunk to alarming levels.  One now pays for luggage to be transported, to choose one's seat and to change a reservation, on top of the basic fare.  We chose a fare that allowed us one piece of luggage each and an opportunity to change flight times.  We did not pay to choose a seat.  All this extra money still gives you a seat with a very small personal space, far too close to the seat in front.  Deb and I are in the medium small size of human being--there must be others who suffer terribly or pay exorbitant fees for slightly more leg room.  We did take out cancellation insurance, a separate expense, on the flights and the hotel.

 

 Clapham Junction, a rail hub, with central London in the distance.

 

We stayed at the same hotel in Croydon that we like, now called the Leonardo.  It is the most convenient hotel anywhere in London with quick access to East Croydon Station, which connects to London Bridge via a direct and very frequent train service, and to London Victoria via Clapham Junction.  It also gives full access to the south of England.  There is a tram stop right outside the hotel with links to many other areas with connections, and the SL7 bus to and from Heathrow stops 6 minutes walk away.  The area near the hotel has a shopping mall, small restaurants, cafes and businesses, as well as five reliable pubs and one craft taproom.  In short, the area is perfect for us.  The hotel is very comfortable and features a bar/cafe and restaurant.  Our room, number 708, featured two beds, a view north, and a four minute walk to the main rail station.

 

Many things about London have changed.  It is more expensive than ever, both ales and food.  Transport is expensive but travelers get what they pay for.  The service is mostly on time, reliable and very frequent.  This includes buses, trams, overground and underground trains and National Rail services, all of which were used on this journey.  A sad change was the number of people who are permanently facially buried in their phones.  It is disconcerting to see a whole carriage of people on a subway or train or bus staring constantly and scrolling on their phones.  They do it while walking, eating during restaurant meals, while talking with others in their company, smoking (there is still far too much of this) and just about any other activity in which they engage.  Humanity continues to devolve, everyone transported to their own little world.  In addition, while there is an indoor smoking ban, smokers are allowed to stand right in front of open doors and puff away, their second hand smoke very noticeable from within.  This is clearly wrong.  Also, a lot of outdoor seating allows smoking, so we do not often sit outdoors.

 

The city is more crowded than I can remember.  It is a multicultural pot of stew, and some days we heard very little English spoken.  Ethnic restaurants abound and people of every conceivable colour, size and shape mix and mingle.  London now has 9.1 million people, with a metro area population of over 15 million.  At any given time there are likely an additional 1 million tourists clogging up the sidewalks and Zones 1 and 2 underground services.  This compares to Detroit's metro population of nearly 5 million, making London not only at least 3x more populous, but at least 10x denser, despite its many parks and green spaces.  And Detroit's tourism, while quite impressive, has a long way to go to catch up with almost any European city.

 

We actually spend very little time in central London any more, other than passing through it to the outer areas we have been exploring in our more recent trips.  We paid a visit to Camden Market, once a favourite area to browse funky shops, but now a hell hole for thousands of tourists to simply come and hang out.  We visited Stanford's, our favourite bookstore in the world, as it is dedicated to travel books and maps.  They have moved (to our surprise) but we managed to find the new store and cafe.  We did not visit any of the large museums.  Being free, they tend to attract enormous crowds, something we usually choose to avoid if possible.  And we spent a day pub crawling in the area of the Strand.  The rest of the time was spent in outer zones of London, far from the madding crowds, and twice we left the city completely to explore smaller cities.

 

We prefer to be as far from central London as possible.  This is a view from our first hike.
 

We flew from Windsor to Toronto on a turbo-prop plane.  Randy G. drove us to the airport and was there to pick us up two weeks later.  Thanks again, Randy, for saving us the hassles of parking and having to drive ourselves home after a very long day of return travel.  We chose a late night jumbo jet flight from Toronto, leaving at just after midnight.  Pearson International Terminal 1 was its usual overcrowded mess.  It is our least favourite terminal in the world, and offers a nearly mile long walk from our Windsor gate to our London gate.  The Air Canada flight to London only takes about 6 1/2 hours (8 1/2 for the return), and we arrived on time near noon hour at Heathrow.  The SL7 bus is itself another epic journey, and this time it was a bad one.  Sunday afternoon traffic was miserably dense, and on top of the 120 minute journey (usually around 90 minutes) we had to wait about 20 minutes for a bus.

 

We had followed our reliable jet lag program religiously, and it paid off.  We were asleep by ten that night and slept through till next morning.  We awoke ready to go.  Our first big hike awaited.

 

Brief Itinerary 

 

April 25th:  Flew to Toronto from Windsor.

April 26th:  Flew to London Heathrow from Toronto.  SL7 bus to Croydon.  Checked in to the Leonardo Hotel.

April 27th:  London Capital Ring segment 10 walk.

April 28th:  Rochester Cathedral and Castle.

April 29th:  London Loop Segment 10 Pt 1.

April 30th:  Fleet St. pub crawl.

May 1st:  London Loop Segment 10 Pt. 2.

May 2nd: Camden Market and The Albert, near Victoria Station.

May 3rd:  London Loop Segment 10 Pt 3--solo walk.  Local pubs.

May 4th:  Croydon day.  Rest and local shops and pubs.

May 5th:  Capital Ring Segment 11 Pt 1.

May 6th:  Lewes and Seaford day.

May 7th:  Capital Ring Segment 11 Pt. 2.  Stanford's books and Dovetail pub.

May 8th:  Bethlem Museum.  Local pubs.

May 9th:  Croydon to Amherstburg via Heathrow and Toronto.

 

to be cont'd.... 

London, UK, Spring 2015: 1) Flight and Arrival

We have not been across the pond since late 2011.  Deb's illness precluded any long haul flights.  However, since her remarkable recovery, we have been traveling a lot for the past year.  In the spring of 2014 we visited Albuquerque, traveling via Amtrak.  We did some impressive hiking while there, too.  Then, in September of the same year, we rode the train all the way from Detroit to Los Angeles and back, once again with some impressive hiking accomplished.

In April 2015 it was time to try our luck crossing the pond again.  This was my 12th visit to London and vicinity, and our plans for this trip were centered around walking.  England has the most civilized walking available on the planet.  We are currently chipping away at two long distance paths.  One is the Capital Ring, which circles London in 15 segments, approximately around Zone 3.  It is about 75 miles long.  The London Loop, the second trail, originally in 15 segments but now broken up into 24 parts, circles London approximately around Zones 5 and 6, and is about 140 miles in length.  We began walking these trails several years ago, and were now ready for more.  The rationale for these paths is to find as many parks, woods and commons as possible, and steer the route in and amongst them.  More on the paths later.

Though we are Canadian, we live in a border city across from Detroit.  We usually use Detroit's airport when we wish to get away.  However, this time mostly due to a rapidly deflating Canadian dollar, it was cheaper for us to fly out of Windsor to London, via Toronto.  This meant flying with Air Canada, a first for us.  While the departure and arrival times were similar between Toronto and Detroit, we had a much better choice when coming home.

We arrived at Windsor's little airport around 3 pm, departing at 4 pm for Toronto.  It is a short flight in a small turboprop.  Our luggage (one medium suitcase and one small suitcase) had been checked through to London.  We had boarded with a small backpack each, filled with Clif bars and Lara bars in case our vegan meals had been messed up by the airline.  Our flight took us over Michigan on the west side of Lake St. Clair, then back into Canada over the bridge at Sarnia.  We also came right over downtown Toronto on our approach to that city's airport.

 12,000' over the Bluewater Bridge, looking towards Sarnia from Michigan

 Downtown Toronto, on our approach to the airport there.

Midtown area of Toronto

Once we touched down in Toronto, we taxied for just over 15 minutes to get to our gate, which seemed pretty distant from the main gates.  Our plane was a small one, and we had to go down its steps, walk outside across to the terminal, then back upstairs to get where we needed to be.  We walked at least 15 minutes indoors to get to the international terminal.  Our i.d. was checked every time we passed through a door.  When we finally arrived near our London gate, we were pleasantly surprised at the quality of the terminal.  Copious amounts of I-Pads were available, free of charge.  We had about 45 minutes to wait before our plane began to board.

Back in the mid 1980s, when we first began crossing the Atlantic (Spain, Denmark, England), we chanced upon a book detailing how to overcome jet lag.  This condition had affected us for days on our trip to Spain, and our return home.  We tried out the detailed plan for our Denmark trip, and it worked perfectly!  Used by the US rapid deployment services, and even by presidents, we now have access to the best kept secret on how to travel comfortably across time zones!  It requires a bit of discipline, but is worth every effort.  Anyway, the program required us to drink 2 or 3 cups of strong coffee and/or tea immediately after 6 pm, and then to set our watches to London time (11 pm) and try to sleep.

We were pulling back from the gate around 6:15 pm, in a plane with 9 seats across a row, separated by two aisles.  Our window faced north as we flew.  It was a good flight, we got our meals, and it was pretty quiet.  However, neither of us slept much if at all.  Not to worry!  Lying still with eyes closed and breathing slowly is nearly as good as sleep, believe it or not.

We were in Heathrow Terminal 2 by 7 am, quickly passing through passport control.  Our luggage was already on the carousel and we breezed through HM Customs.  We decided to have some herbal tea at the Costa Cafe after exiting the secure area.  It helped us relax and gather strength for the trip to our hotel.  Caffeine was not allowed for us today.  For the second time we would be staying at the Jury's Inn, East Croydon, probably the best place to stay in London.  Though way the hell out in Zone 5, there were fast trains to Victoria Station every few minutes.  We could be in central London in about 25 minutes after leaving our hotel room!   More about London Transport later.

We used the Tube to get to Victoria Station from Heathrow, and we were there around 9 am.  We were only 25 minutes from our hotel, but our room would not likely be ready until 1 pm or so.  We sat and enjoyed another cafe stop at Victoria Station, then caught a train towards East Croydon.  It made only one stop, at Clapham Junction, but what a stop it was!  The train, which had been quiet and nearly empty until then, suddenly filled with Watford football fans.  They were merrily on their way to Brighton to watch their team play.  Our car filled with costumed and beer-drinking fans, all in high spirits.  Deb and I had been alone in a six-seat section, but were soon joined by happy fans.

We struck up a conversation with three older gents and a younger lad.  If Watford won today's match (noon, and on the telly) they would advance to the premier league (they ended up winning the match 2-0).  It was a jolly ride to East Croydon.  

We were able to leave our suitcases at the hotel, and we went off to explore a bit of Croydon.  A large section of the High Street is pedestrian only, and another area of road was closed down for a fruit and veggie market.  There are also two shopping malls, as well as pubs, restaurants, theatres, small shops and cafes, all in a pretty compact area.  Our local pub would become The George, just a few steps from the hotel.  We ate lunch here then went back to the hotel.  Our room was ready and we checked in to #711.  By London standards this was a big room, and the bed was extremely comfortable.  We had free wi-fi in the room, a table and chairs, a huge desk, a widescreen TV, tea, coffee, and a bathtub and shower.  We lay down and rested.  Our London friend would be arriving at 3 pm and we would be off on our second mini-adventure of the day.

 

The Whitgift Almshouse, Croydon, has been 

helping the poor since the 1600s.

 

Detail of Almshouse courtyard.

Street scene, Croydon

Once Caroline arrived, we headed out for our afternoon adventure.  Leaving from East Croydon Station we caught a train to Caterham.  Our travel cards were good for one week, and would get us on buses, trams, trains and the tube in Zones 1-6, any time of night or day.  These cards are handy, inexpensive, and indispensable to us.  Caterham has its own branch line, and is the final stop.  The town is situated in a valley that leads up to the North Downs.  It is in Zone 6, being a considerable distance from London.  However, even on weekends, there is a train every 15 minutes!

The main shopping area is right outside the station, along with the East Surrey Museum.  We visited the little museum, speaking at length with some of the elderly volunteers, who, as expected, were rather knowledgeable about local history.  We explored the small shopping area, had tea at a cafe, then walked uphill to see the local church.  Caterham is a pleasant place to spend an afternoon, with a few pubs I wished to visit.  However, as per the jet lag program I had to keep alcohol to a minimum today, so we skipped the pubs this time.

East Surrey Museum, Caterham

St. John the Evangelist, Caterham.  Note the waxing moon.

We try to travel during non-astronomy weeks, when the moon

is too bright to observe well with telescopes.

 Portico insert, St. Johns.

The trick to surviving Day 1 abroad is to try and stay awake as long as possible.  We enjoyed a late dinner at The George back in Croydon (I had two half pints of ale, which came with the meal), then returned to our hotel.  We lasted until just after 10 pm before succumbing to our battle fatigue.  Tomorrow we had a big walk ahead of us, and we needed our beauty sleep.

Cont'd in Part 2