Transportation in England - Part 2 - now the fun starts!

I loved the Underground. It is easy, efficient and fun to use. The people who work there are super helpful and with our Oyster pass, we were set. We’d use our handy map and the guides on the walls and on the tubes to help us. I think we only had to get off and and try again once. 

You enter the station, slap your oyster pass on the yellow button, move through the opening gate and look up to follow the signs for the Circle Line, the District Line, the Jubilee Line…. Then decide if you are going east or west (or north or south) and follow those signs. The escalators are steep and loooonnng. Occasionally you go down one, turn a corner and down another. One time there was a bottleneck and we decided to try the stairs up until we saw the sign that said "Do not use the stairs unless in emergency. They are fifteen stories high!" Okay, now we know!

We also took trains to and from Gatwick and the DLR - an overground railway - from Canary Wharf. These systems all meld at places along the line and you just walk down long tunnels from one to the other following the signs. Occasional congestion dissipates as people move along different paths. 

Going Down....

Newer underground cars go on forever

DLR in Canary Wharf

Victoria Station

Transportation in England - part 1.

The roads in the countryside can be absolutely nerve-wracking. They are really too narrow for two cars but that isn’t the worst problem. The problem for us was the speed limit. 60 mph! That is about 100 km.The turns and hills mean the possibility of meeting someone was a constant threat. There was rarely a place to pull over and the sides of the road were often rough or there were bushes or occasionally stone walls on the perimeter. 

Round abouts are everywhere. Every little country road which joins a larger road does so with a round about. Signs and our GPS told us which exit to use. We learned to count out loud. "Okay, that’s one, that’s two, turn turn!!" Everything calmed down as time went on but we both started preferring the big motorways.

No Kidding!

This one has lines!

Not just narrow roads but parking!

I'm kidding.

Two last stops and it is all over

Our last day was rainy and cool. We packed our bags and left them with the hotel then got back on the underground to Somerset House. I spent an hour in the Courtauld Gallery. They have a small but superior collection of western painting. It was quiet and I spent time alone in some rooms with the most incredible masterpieces.
We then travelled to the Victoria and Albert Museum where we wound our way through 2,000 years of decorative arts. I could spend a lifetime here - each room was more incredible than the last. After a couple of hours, we headed back to our hotel and picked up our bags.
Then back to Victoria Station to catch the train and travel to our overnight hotel at Gatwick. We are staying at the airport in a room that resembles a stateroom on a ship. It is small, silent and comfortable and we can see the tower out the window down the hall. We just have to take the elevator down and we are at our departure gate. A really great way to end our trip.

Closeup of Van Gogh's self portrait

Tapestries at the V&A

Day two - pictures

Entrance hall of Natural History Museum

Westminster Abbey

Entrance to #10 Downing Street

Day two - the Establishment and Billy Elliot

Started with a walk down Whitehall passing Scotland Yard, #10 Downing (behind serious barriers and police with big guns), cabinet offices and ministry of defence. There are barriers of one kind and another all the way down the street. But also crazy tourists who are not phased by any of it, doing selfies with grim-faced police as a background. Our walk caught the end of the changing of the horse guards. Fun to see some pageantry in this tradition-infused city.
We ended up at the Palace of Westminster - the Houses of Parliament. The Queen was there yesterday to open the new session. Our shortened time in London meant no attempt to get inside. Across the street is the stunning Westminster Abbey where we spent over two hours. Jeremy Irons led us around (via audio tape) and he did a brilliant job. Amazing to work your way around the truly incredible church with sky-scraper gothic ceilings and 3000 tombs. A combination of supreme beauty and reminders of the sinister realities of political and royal lives.
To continue the day of tradition, we made our way (via underground) to Buckingham Palace. The iconic black cabs were lining the streets leading up to the palace and soon we saw a many-block-long line up of ladies in best dresses, heels and great hats alongside men in suits. Turns out there is a garden party with citizens who had applied lined up to go in to have tea with the queen.
Back to the underground to go to Drury Lane to buy same-day tickets for Billy Elliot. We were muddled when we got out of the underground and Bill asked a pedi-cab driver for directions. He offered to take us to the theatre and we jumped in. Turns out it was the wrong theatre (my fault) so our enterprising driver ran into theatre, got the details we needed and took us on a winding and exciting ride through Soho, China Town and Piccadilly Circus on our way to another underground station to head to the theatre at Victoria Station. It was a wild ride and we knew we weren't taking the most direct route but decided that the trip was worth it!
We bought tickets then back on the underground to quickly visit the Natural History Museum for a short tour before a quick supper and the theatre. Billy Elliot was a fun production with a wonderful young dancer in the lead role. I loved it.

First day in London - Pictures

The combination of old and new as you walk along the South Bank

The Tate Modern - housed in a former power station

The Eye - one of the first things you seen when coming out of Waterloo Station on the South Bank

Bill made friends immediately

The iconic view from the South Bank

High Tea in Chertsey

Our trip to London from the Cotswolds took a day but that was because we stopped for a fabulous visit at the Case House. We were treated to High Tea in the afternoon after a tour of the garden. Too bad you have to have connections to get in.