Getting to Venice

Even with cutting out Abbey Road we were running late. Our flight was scheduled to leave the London Gatwick airport at 7:50 p.m. According to their website people on European flights need to arrive 3 hours before hand. I’ll be honest, I thought that was a little ridiculous – but I was not 100% sure on what we would all need to do since we were flying to another country. But I made the executive decision that if we planned to be two hours earlier it would probably be fine. The train from Victoria Station took about 35 minutes. There were trains that left at 5:17, 5:21, 5:30, but then not again until 5:49. In order to get to the airport 2 hours early we really needed to be on the 5:17 train, but figured as long as we were on the 5:30 p.m. train we would be okay.

It was just a little before 5:00 p.m. when we got back to Victoria station from the Harry Potter wall which meant we had about 30 minutes to go back to the hostel (a good ten minute walk each way) get our luggage, walk back to the station, buy our tickets and get on the train. Walking back felt so long and we were booking. We got back to the hostel and quickly grabbed our luggage. We then had to lug it back to Victoria station, which was a farther walk than it had been on the way to the hostel. It was not a lot of fun trying to hurry while carrying/pulling our luggage. We arrived back at the station with about 10 minutes to buy tickets and get on the train. Of course there was a line to buy tickets and then there was an issue with my credit card and it took forever for the transaction to go through. Thankfully the train was at the closest platform and we were able to get on the train with a minute to spare.

The train – called the Gatwick Express was not very fast, we were kind of laughing at the how slow we were going, but it was nice, after a long day of walking to have some down time. The train station is at the south terminal and we had to take a shuttle to the north terminal. When we finally got to the British Air check in the whole area was completely empty. There was no line, one lonely person working at the counter, we walked right up and checked in. Long story, (stay tuned it will come up soon.) but I was really concerned about the weight of my luggage, so the guy at the counter was really nice and let me weigh everything. From the check in we headed over to the security and again there was hardly any line.

I found it very interesting going through security out side of the U.S. I fly pretty frequently and have a whole system down: my one quart sized bag filled with toiletries none of which are over 3 ounces. That bag goes in the first bin, followed by my shoes and fleece in the next. The my carry on bag – if I am traveling for work, my carry on is my laptop bag, so the laptop is in the bin following, if not for work then just the bag, then in the rear is my travel purse. At this point it is all second nature. But in the U.K. they had different, less restrictive policies. One being you didn’t need to take your shoes off. As I went through security they took my back pack, which had my allergy medicine in it and they pulled me aside. They took a swab of the bag and tested it for something, I am assuming drugs. Me being me, I said something about oh, I have my medicine in there – and told them what it was. The test came back negative for whatever they were looking for and I was good to go.

Once we got through security it was about 6:30 p.m. and we had an hour and a half to kill before we left. Good thing we did not come 3 hours early! We looked around in the shops, I bought a magnet. We then went up to the food area and split a sandwich for dinner. I can’t remember if they didn’t announce the gate until 30 minutes before boarding or if they didn’t open the gate until then, but I know we could not get to there for a while. When we were finally able to go to the gate we had to go down to the lower level and went to this waiting room. Where we sat and waited. Once they started boarding the plane Shan and I both used the rest room and then got on the plane touching it, Shannon's ritual before we got on. We settled into our seats and we were on our way to Italy.

The flight was relatively uneventful, I read and dozed – what I usually do on planes. At one point I was looking out the window and saw a city below us. I said to Shannon, I think we are flying over Paris. We both pull the skymall magazine to find the flight route and from the map we thought it could be. A few minutes later the pilot announced we were flying over Paris – I kind of laughed – I totally called that one. Now I can say I saw Paris. The other notable part of the flight was when they serve the drinks. I ordered my last diet coke until we got to the ship. When the flight attendant handed me the can, it was the smallest can I had ever seen. It was about 3-4 inches high and 2 inches in diameter. I had to take a picture of it. Here it is next to a normal plastic glass. The flight was about 2 hours long, but Italy is an hour ahead of England, so when we landed it was about 11:00 p.m. As I mentioned earlier, one of my concerns on this trip was going through customs so late in Venice. It ended up being the biggest joke. The customs official looked half asleep as we walked by and didn’t even ask to see our passports. I guess Italy is not so concerned about their boarders. They will let anyone in. Our luggage arrived quickly and I could not believe it, we actually earlier enough to catch the last bus of the evening to the campground where we were staying.

Yes I did say we were staying in a campground in Venice. Finding a place to stay in Venice was quite a challenge. Since we were going to be there such a short time, flying in pretty late and the airport was on the mainland, to me it made the most sense to stay closer to the airport, this decision especially made sense once we found out we needed to fly out of Venice instead of taking the train. When I went to search for hostels in this area these campgrounds kept coming up. For those of you who know me well, you know that my idea of roughing it is no room service and I have never slept in a tent. So a campground was the last place I would want to stay. But these camp grounds are not the typical American campground. They actually have trailers they have converted into hotel rooms – two per trailer you can rent along with cabins and house tents. In the area there were 3 of these type campgrounds and I did research on all of them to see which ones had the best reviews. The one we decided to stay at was Plus Alba D'Oro Camping and rent a room in a trailer since that included a bathroom in suite. I know Shannon was not at all thrilled about here, but after doing all the research I thought it would be fine.

From the airport, we got on the bus and there was actually another couple going to the campground as well. The campground was just a few minutes away and we got off and went to check in. The guy at the check in did not speak English that well and I had learned a limited amount of Italian. He gave us the keys to number 3 and pointed to an area across the street from where the registration building was. We walked in that direction and tried a path that went behind this building but the path dead ended into a fence. So we turned around and went to walk behind the building the other way. Next to the building is a café and the pool, so it was quite a ways around. On the way around we saw a trailer with the number three, but since it was not where he had pointed we kept walking. When we made it around the buildings we could not find a cabin #3 so we walked back the other way and could not find it that way either. Did I mention we had all our luggage at this point and we were lugging it all around. Then we walked back to the trail #3 and tried it, but the key did not work. Oh one other thing to mention, it was almost midnight at this point and dark out. We walked to another section where another type of trailer were and tried the number 3 there as well, that one did not work either. Shannon then decided to go back to the registration building to ask where to go and I stayed with the luggage. It was pretty busy up there so again the guy pointed across the street from the registration. So Shannon came back and we walked back that way once more. We finally found cabin #3, but it was total disaster – it was being used as a storage facility and again the key did not work. Shannon was not happy at this point, so she again went back to the registration building. I decided to move our luggage away from the cabin to over towards the intersection of a couple paths since we would need to go that way. A few minutes later some guy comes up to me and says let me help you with the luggage, I was hesitant – I didn’t know who he was. In his limited language he told me he was going to bring me to our room. I figured I had nothing to lose at this point and didn’t know where Shannon was, so I let him take Shannon’s suitcase (sorry Shan :)) as we were walking back we found Shannon and they brought us in the building across the street, the one we had walked around numerous times, thinking it was part of the café/community room area. It ends up there are rooms in there and that we had been upgraded to one of those rooms. They just failed to tell us. So here we are after wandering around for about an hour finally getting to our room. At this point we had no idea what to expect and just wanted to get in. It ends up our room was great, talk about being surprised.

Here is the room. Two beds, a double… And a single. The wardrobes on the left and the door. The bathroom was new and clean and great!!! While the room in Venice was great, my feet were not doing so well. As I mentioned before, I am so not used to wearing tennis shoes. In fact I was still wearing sandals all the time back home when we left, so I was not even used to wearing socks and shoes – it had been what 5 months since I wore socks on a regular basis. Add to that being in flat shoes, the amount of walking we were doing, and not drinking enough water – it was a recipe for disaster for my poor feet. Once we got to our room I took my shoes off and my feel were covered in blisters and so sore. My right pinky toe had a blister that was as big as the toe itself. I took a picture of it. Since it was late and we had another busy day a head of us, I took a shower and went to bed. Venice in the morning.

HARROD’S and the rest of London.

I was a little excited for the next portion of our day. I love Harrod’s, just like I love Sak’s on Michigan Ave in Chicago and St. John’s clothes. Just being there, the ambience, there is something about it that I can’t verbalize. I think it is the dream of someday living in that world.

Before we got to Harrod’s we walked over towards Hyde Park. We arrived first at the Wellington Arch.

Wellington Arch is a triumphal arch located to the south of Hyde Park in central London and at the north western corner of Green Park. The arch, and Marble Arch to the north of Hyde Park, were both planned in 1825 by George IV to commemorate Britain's victories in the Napoleonic Wars.

Here is the arch. The top of the arch. From the Arch we walked across the street to the Hyde Park Corner. There the Hyde Park Corner Screen is located – it is the grand entrance to the park. In this picture I happen to get a picture of a car advertising Chicago the musical. From Hyde Park Corner we walked down Knightsbridge Road away from the park towards Harrods. Walking down this stretch of the road was so nostalgic for me. The Knightsbridge tube station was the closest to the place I stayed last time I was in London and I walked this way many times a day.

There is Harrod’s down the street. We are almost there. Getting closer – love the double-decker bus in the shot. I actually did have a reason for going to Harrod’s other then wanting to get my fix. Harrod’s has a gift shop that sells annual teddy bear Christmas ornaments. Previously I had brought these ornaments home as souvenirs for my family (and myself.) So that is why I planned a quick trip in the store. We just walked in the door by the cosmetics and went over to the Harrods Gift Shop. I quickly found the ornaments and got in line to check out. The cashier asked me if I wanted to join the Harrod’s Reward program. At first I was like, no I don’t get here very often it is not worth it. The cashier explained it did not cost anything to join and it would save me 15% on my purchase. Hey I am all about saving a little money and figured they would never actually send me anything back home, so I signed up.

Here is my Harrods Reward card. (Side note, a few weeks after I got back home I did get a letter from them in the mail, I was quiet surprised!) Leaving the gift shop we walked the length of the store on the ground floor and exited on to Brampton Street. At this point we were both hungry so we decided to go to the McDonalds down the road. I decided to try some hamburger that is not on the menu here, I forget the name of it, but it was not very good. Thankfully I also got a chocolate shake. I don’t think I have ever had a chocolate shake at home, I really don’t like them, but the ones in England are made with Cadbury chocolate and are so good. I also got some diet coke since I knew once we left England I would not have any until we got to the ship. Most of Europe serves Coke Light which has chemicals which are banned in the US and UK and I decided I was not going to drink Coke Light.

From McDonalds we walked back down to Montpelier and took that to Montpelier Walk. This is the road my friend Lynne lived on while she was in London and where I stayed when I came to visit her. I had to stop and take a picture.
While I was taking the picture one of the neighbors came home, I bet they were thinking why is that person taking a picture of that flat. Oh well….

We then took a back way to Hyde Park and walked through the park.

This is the Prince Albert Memorial.

We tried to find the Princess Diana playground, but could not find it; I am not fully convinced it actually exists.

We walked the length of the park and ended up at Kensington Palace.

Kensington Palace is a royal residence set in Kensington Gardens in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. It has been a residence of the British Royal Family since the 17th century. Today it is the official residence of The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester; the Duke and Duchess of Kent; and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. Kensington Palace is also used on an unofficial basis by Prince Harry, as well as his cousin Zara Phillips. It was the official residence of Diana, Princess of Wales (until her death in 1997), of Princess Margaret (until her death in 2002) and of Princess Alice (until her death in 2004).

Here is the back of the Palace.

The Queen Victoria Statue A close up of one of the gates. The William III statue in front of the palace. The gates – unfortunately they were open, they are much more impressive when they are closed. Looking at the palace through the gates. From Kensington Palace we were heading up to Knotting Hill and we ended up taking Kensington Palace Garden up to Bayswater.

Kensington Palace Gardens is a street in west central London which contains some of the grandest and most expensive houses in the world. It was the location of the London Cage, the British government MI9 centre used during the Second World War and the Cold War.

A tree-lined avenue half a mile long in the heart of embassy land, Kensington Palace Gardens is the "most exclusive address" in London, according to Knight Frank. It is one of the most expensive residential streets in the world, and has long been known as "Billionaires Row", due to the wealth of its private residents, although the majority of its current occupants are embassies and ambassadorial residences.

I did not know the significance of this road until we started walking and saw the embassies. Several of them we recognized by their flag or a discrete sign out front, but there were a few that were unmarked. I later found out that some of the unmarked homes are owned by the Saudi royal family and the Sultan of Brunei. There were many sign up along the road asking people not to take any pictures, so we did not. Good thing, once we got up to Bayswater we found a gate with a check point and several heavily armed police.

Then were in Knotting Hill. Knotting Hill is a trendy section of London that became known to many American by the movie “Knotting Hill.” One of the most notable things in this area is the Portobello Street Market. By the time we got there on a nice fall Saturday afternoon, the whole area was packed.

Here is the entry to the market area. Look at the cute, colorful flats.
Just a few people out in the street. The street sign. One of the little shops on the corner. It was really busy in the market area and it took us quite a bit longer to get through the crowd then I expected. By the time we left and got back to the tube station we were about 30 minutes behind schedule. Next on our list was to go to Abbey Road. To get there we needed to go to Paddington Station and catch a bus – again due to the tube closures. When we got to Paddington we went out to the bus station only to find the next bus was not for quite a while. It was at the bus stop we realized we just did not have enough time to go both to Abbey Road and Kings Cross Station. Shannon asked me what I would rather do and for me, it was no contest – Kings Cross, but I was willing to do either. Shannon decided to skip Abbey Road and just go to Kings Cross.

We headed back into Paddington Station, which is a large complex housing both rail service and 4 tube line, in two separate locations. We had arrived in one area of the station and needed to find the other tube stations to catch the Hammersmith and City line. The London tube system is so easy to navigate and each line is designated by a color. Hammersmith and City is the pink line. Since Paddington Station can be confusing, they have actually painted a pink line on the ground leading you from the main section to the tube substation. It is the best thing every. We just followed the pink line through the maze of the station and easily arrived to the train.

We then arrived at Kings Cross Station to find Platform 9 ¾ otherwise known as the Harry Potter wall.

King's Cross is featured in the Harry Potter books, by J. K. Rowling, as the starting point of the Hogwarts Express. The train uses a secret platform 9¾ located by passing through the brick wall barrier between platforms 9 and 10. When the first film was released, a large floor panel was placed on the ground outside platforms 9 and 10 indicating the Hogwarts Express. It was later removed. Within King's Cross, a cast-iron "Platform 9¾" sign has been erected on a wall of the station's suburban building containing the real platforms 9 and 10. Part of a luggage trolley has also been installed below the sign; whilst the near end is visible, the rest of the trolley seems to have disappeared into the wall.

Here is a picture of a bunch of bikes at Kings Cross Station.

When we got to Platform 9 ¾ there was actually a line to get your picture taken. It the longest line we had to stand in for any touristy thing in London.

Here is Shannon going through the wall. Here I am. From Kings Cross we took the tube back to Victoria Station we were cutting it really close on time. We had a flight to catch that night to Venice.

Buckingham Palace – The Changing of the Guard

When we got to the Buckingham Palace there was a massive crowd already gathered for the changing of the guard. This one of the few things I had not done on my previous trip. I had witnessed a part of the changing, where the horses are housed a few blocks away at the Horse Guar, but had not seen the Buckingham Palace end of it. With it being October, it is not considered prime tourist season, so the changing only happens every other day. I wonder if that is why there were so many people there or if it was always like that?

We entered the area from the north and tried to work our way through the crowds stopping of course to take some pictures long the way.

Here is the gate.
Buckingham palace.
The flag – the Queen was in – my invitation to see her must have gotten lost in the mail.We made our way along the front of the palace to the south side where we crossed the street and found a place to stand. There were several guards along the way trying to direct traffic and keep people moving, but they were not very successful.

The view of the palace from where we were standing. This is the Queen Victoria Monument. Some views of the crowds waiting.
Here I am with Buckingham Palace in the back. Here is Shannon…. But actually there is more to this picture then just Shannon. We found a spot to stand, but unfortunately it was next to tourist family, a Dad, Mom, two kids – one was girl and the other I think a boy, but with his long curly hair I was not 100% sure. Based on their accent I would say they were from Oklahoma or Texas, and they exemplified you typical “stupid American tourist.” They were loud, obnoxious, and spouting off all this incorrect information. I was finding the scene a bit entertaining, but Shannon was pretty annoyed. With is being so crowded Shannon was in front against the rail, next to the Dad and I was behind her. After a while of standing I noticed the Dad’s jeans and almost busted out laughing. At first I could not quite put my finger on what was wrong with them… they were straight legged, with gold detail on the pockets, and on the bottom several inches, and they were bedazzled down the side. Then it hit me – they were women’s jeans. It was hilarious. I was chuckling back there from that point on. I was trying to figure out a way to bring them to Shannon’s attention with out being rude and trying to get a picture of them. I failed at both. It was not until they walked away that I asked Shan if she had seen them. She had not. But in this picture, if you look closely, the man on Shannon’s right, with the gold jacket on, is the Dad and you can see the pockets of the women’s jeans. Another thing that happened while we were waiting was that there was a little fender bender just to the left of where we were. We felt so bad for the poor person who got hit – by the time the police left the changing of the guard had started and the road was closed so the whole thing took forever.

Finally the ceremony began with the bagpipers. Next was the military personal.
Then the band. Finally the horses.

Over all it was fun to see the pageantry of the ceremony.

From the Changing of the Guards we waded through the crowds to make our way towards Hyde Park.