"Back to the Future"

There is an Indian wedding. I have to attend an Indian wedding celebration. It is now on my bucket list.

This Saturday night, I am less than pleased that our hotel room is seven floors above the event. The room vibrates starting about 9:00. It is a continual bass drum beat. It starts loud and pounding and becomes louder. If I was dancing, I would be on the tables.

I am in bed trying to sleep. Caroline is sharing the room with Betty and I. She is closest to the window and I am sure that it is worse for her. I saw the wedding guest downstairs when we returned from a light dinner. John and I went for a drink in the hotel bar. The women were dressed for the occasion in beautiful saris. What damage those ladies did to my sleep patterns.

I call the front desk. The music will stop at 11:00. It does. What the wedding party must have paid the hotel for that wedding. Caroline points out in the morning that the hotel must have known about the loud music. After all, this is London. At checking in, the desk should have told us about the wedding and music ending at 11:00. John and Angela did not hear a thing. Their room faced out to the street. Our room faced into the courtyards.

I am still trying to decided if part of my checking in process should include "is there an Indian wedding tonight".

John gained a valuable lesson while having that after dinner drink. "Do not order a mixed drink in Europe, and that includes UK." First, bartenders do not know how to make most American cocktails. Secondly, they are very careful to pour as little alcohol  as possible. Alcohol is expensive. Order less, save money.

My advice is to order wine, a beer, aperitif or "neat" (whiskey, no ice and water to the side). Betty experienced the widest range of attempts at Margaritas possible. To be honest, some of our local US restaurants are poor also. And they have no excuse.

We meet for breakfast. Betty negotiated our stay to include either a full breakfast buffet or a Continental breakfast. We all want to experience ". a "full English Breakfast".

There are ups and downs to a full breakfast. It does include baked beans. It has great tomatoes. The bacon is a cross between thin sliced ham and Canadian bacon fried. Eggs are either sunnyside up poached or scrambled (watery). The "bangers" sausage are somewhat spicy, about the size of a small bratwurst and tasty.

I think I covered the menu well. The entire buffet is large and includes breakfast foods for all tastes. There is coffee for the table which is great. Still no "cream" or "half & half", but it is coffee and lots of it.

The kids leave for the airport about noon. They have a four o'clock flight direct back to the US. We are about 40 minutes from Heathrow. Being Sunday and flying international, better to arrive early. It is goodbye. They all have long journeys ahead of them and back to work tomorrow on Monday. With the time difference, Betty and I do not expect to hear from them until Tuesday.

There is also the issue of communication. Our $40 per phone International Plan expired on the 15th. I have taken the risk of Verizon $10 per day unlimited package. The plan is fine as long as you do not use it. Simply you are only charged the $10 per day if you use minutes, text or data during that specific 24 hour period. If you do, then according to Verizon, you are not charged.

We will see when we get out bill for April. In theory, we will be able to use hotel WIFI for data and text (IMessage uses WIFI not cellular) and Skype or FaceTime for phone calls.

Betty and I are alone. It has been great with the kids. I know we will do it again if they are willing. But, it is nice to be just of the two of us with a TV that works (Paris, despite promises that it would be hooked up, never was) and a decent screen (something other than a TV screen the size of a small laptop).

I have energy. We need a few things like toothpaste. The weather is no bad. It is dry. I decided to find 221 b Baker Street. John and Angela came very close on our first Sunday in London. They had decided to walk back to the Notting Hill Apartment when the London system informed us that the route we needed to take was shutdown. Caroline guided us on the Tube. They walked.

I find that the hotel is on the opposite side of Kensington Park from the Nottin Hill apartment. I walk up Kensington Rd to Hyde Park. I crossover and proceed to get lost - well almost. Since I have cellular for $10. I turn on Google Map and type in 221 b Baker Street. Nothing. Then I remember that the address is fictitious. I type in Sherlock Holmes and there are the directions. Well, at least, directions to the Sherlock Holmes Museum which is almost at 221 b Baker Street.

Apparently, there have been lawsuits about who has the right to the fictitious address and the right to claim that the building there is at the fictitious address. In Doyle's time, construction and buildings on Baker Street ended well prior to the 200 block. It would have been open ground.

Of course, I take photos. I cross the street since I neither need nor want to pay for my photo with the constable in front of the Sherlock Holmes museum. There is no line, but there is a flow of tourist who do.

I am hungry. I just want to sit have a coffee and donut. My salvation is a Dunkn Donut

I walk back on a different route. I am fairly confident of the direction I need to be going. In theory, I am not lost, but I want to see more of London. London, like Chicago, changes ethnic neighborhoods quickly. I pass through a Muslim neighborhood. Arabic store signs are my insight. It is London with different subtitles that is all.

I walk towards the Park. I see another church. It is Catholic. Apparently, the churches in London kept track of the number of believers slain by the opposing belief. It was bloody.

I cross Kensington Park and work my way to the hotel. It is a very pleasant hotel owned by a hotel group based in London. Location could not be better. The Glouster Rd. Underground station is across the street. Internally, the station is current. The outside looks as it did 100 years ago. Albert/Victoria Museum is down the street. The Natural Museum is a little further.

Small restaurants across the street that have takeaway. There is a Starbucks. I am happy.

The hotel is very nice. The staff is efficient and pleasant. The room and bathroom is large by European standards. The bathroom has a shower and shower curtain. The TV has cable.

As with Italy, the most frequent TV show is "Murder She Wrote". I think we both had expectations that we would have this great menu of BBC shows. Yes, there is Midsommer Mysteries, but just like US, the shows are reruns.

Now, Back to the Future. The next blog will be back to the first week in London with the kids. Why, because I can.