London

Greetings once again!

The third, and final, stop on my journey to the UK in September was London. I flew there from Glasgow on the Friday morning and landed at Heathrow around noon. I took the Heathrow Express train from the airport to Paddington Station and it took about 15 minutes. Everything was very well signed and I bought my ticket from an electronic dispenser. The mass public transit system there is so well organized, and there are still train people standing outside the trains to answer your questions if you have any. Once at Paddington Station (which is in the heart of the city) I followed the signs to the taxi queue and promptly got into a taxi and headed off to the Ritz.

The taxi driver was very friendly. He asked where I was from and then why they didn't hear much about Canada in the news. He said the last thing he had heard was that the British had sold us some submarines and that they were training our submariners. Aside from that, he hadn't heard much. I thought it kind of funny that the only news the average Brit knew about us was that which crossed over into their news. I think that we (Canadians) sort of pride ourselves on being more cosmopolitan and aware of the world than our neighbours, i.e. the Americans, partly because we get so much news from the US and even the UK still. However, I think it might also have something to do with the fact that maybe we don't make too much news of our own that is world news-worthy. This was a friendly little reminder that we don't impact the rest of the world very much.

I got to see a bit of the city from the taxi, and what I saw I liked. It was clean (very important to me), there were people bustling about and traffic was moving. We drove by Hyde Park too. I like cities that have large parks in them. We also, incidentally, drove by the Mini dealership so I got to say 'Hi' to all the little Minis in the window. For those of you who haven't seen car dealerships in Europe or Asia, they're in buildings which are right on the street. The showroom windows are right at the sidewalk; it's a little wierd the first time you see them, but it's also kinda cool.

So, after about ten minutes we arrived at my mecca: the Ritz Hotel in London (http://www.theritzlondon.com/). Aside from a couple of little snags upon my arrival, I was soon ensconced in my lovely, Louis XVI style room, sipping tea from a china cup which was brought to me in a silver teapot with proper accoutrements and a small plate of shortbread. I almost cried. I felt as though I had died and gone to Lesley-heaven. I won't go into the details of the amenities; suffice it to say that they were worthy of the Ritz. I had no complaints whatsoever about the room or the amenities (and that's saying something for someone who travels as much as I do and spends as much time in hotels as I do). Okay, I take it back, it would have been nice to have a kettle in my room, but you don't really get that in Europe. Plus there were at least two Starbucks within two minutes walking distance, and a Cafe Italia right across the street. I imagine that there are people who would not think that staying at the Ritz is worth the cost, but, to me, it definitely was. I cannot stress enough how happy I was then.

However, I am currently very tired, so I am going to go to bed now and I will finish this at a later time.

Toodles!

The Artful Traveller

ps - sorry, still no pictures, and I actually don't have any pictures of London. I ran out of film and forgot to bring my camera when I went out walking. Lesle