Posts

Showing posts from July, 2024

Ridgeway Trip XVI: To Westminster!

Image
 Teresa had to go home, which was a bummer.  Her flight was pretty early and she intelligently decided to get an Uber at 5:00 am rather than try to take the Tube on her own with a heavy suitcase and a bum ankle.   She got there and her plane was canceled or something, but she got a non-stop flight home and only had to sit around for 4 hours or so, so not bad. We were up early to get to Westminster Abbey as soon as possible.  Kim had not been since she was a little girl, so she wanted to see it, and I wanted to see the new triforium gallery, and of course to say hi to my floor.*  There were hordes of people, but we had tickets and so got in pretty easily.**  Goodness but Westminster is packed full of monuments.  It's so full of monuments you can't see the actual church.  You spend all your time looking at the floor or at the statues all around.  The first thing we saw was the scientist section, with Newton, Kepler, and Hawking, plus many ...

Ridgeway Trip XV: To (the City of) London!

Image
 Our hotel was very Spartan.  I described the basement room before, and it was very difficult to get any air circulation.  If we opened the window wide, propped the room door open, and the hotel opened a back door on the ground floor in the back, we could get some nice fresh air.  The shower was shared between 3 rooms and was the tiniest stall imaginable, with two hooks on the wall and no shelf.  The toilet was upstairs.  We had a sink in our room so we could brush our teeth right at home.  We booked them for the price, but they also bill themselves as an eco-hotel, which mostly means no fancy stuff like good lighting or daily towel changes.  Anyway, it was fine, especially once we figured out how to get some air. Russell Square Tube station -- attractively old-fashioned, totally inaccessible Our first day was Teresa's only London day, so we had to show her the big sights.  We took the Tube to the Tower of London.  Kim wanted to go to an...