Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Trip Report Roundabout the UK: P & P, The Professor, and Some P O’B, May 2007

Our copy of Michael Middleditch’s London Mapguide was really useful, but we didn’t realize an address on Princes Square included every building around the square, and we spent some time wandering about before we actually found the hostel (this is a literary device known as foreshadowing).

Hostel 63, 63 Princes Square, Bayswater

I engaged in a bit of lodging paranoia before we left – the reviews I’d read of the hostel before I booked were pretty good, but I read more reviews a couple of weeks before we arrived, and they were not nearly as complimentary. Thankfully, audere_est_facere was kind enough to look them up for me, and assured me that we would be all right. Mr. Pickle checked the room before we paid, and thought it would meet our needs – it was pretty bare-bones, but we knew we would be gone all day so that didn’t bother us.

Our room was on the 4th floor – with no lift, of course – and Mr. Pickle was grateful to leave Godzilla (now renamed Hernia Helper) in our double room after wrestling it up the narrow stairs.

Pros of Hostel 63:

1. It was cheap - $71 per night, $78 on Friday night
2. They had Nutella at breakfast
3. Friendly staff
4. Everything was clean

Cons:

1. The toilet and shower were down a flight of stairs
2. One shower room had no lock
3. The other shower leaked all over the floor
4. No soap or paper towels in the bathrooms
5. Lumpy mattress and really flat pillows

All in all, it met our needs, but I wouldn’t stay there again – next time I’ll use Priceline or stay in a YHA hostel.

We took showers, then walked a few blocks to catch the Big Bus tour on Bayswater Road. http://www.bigbus.co.uk It was a lovely, sunny day, and we enjoyed sitting on the open upper deck. The Big Bus tour was a relaxing way for us to see some of the major tourist attractions that we wouldn’t be visiting, and it was fun getting an overview of the city.

By the time we reached the Tower of London, our heads were starting to nod, so we got off the bus and stretched our legs for a few minutes. It was late enough in the day that the next bus we got on didn’t do the Kensington loop, so we never saw the museums in that area. We were both tired, though, so that was OK.

We departed the bus at Marble Arch and met our first pedestrian subway. Of course, we took the wrong exit (sorry, Flanner, they’re not that simple for this jet-lagged, first-time visitor), but eventually we figured out how to get to the bus stop.

http://www.fancyapint.com told us the Prince Edward pub was right around the corner from our hostel, and we stopped there for dinner (sausage and mash for me, a burger for Mr. Pickle, and pints of Tanglefoot and Badger, all very good). Our last stop for the evening was a Sainsbury’s Local for some picnic items.

We were in bed by 9:00 and slept like the proverbial logs until I was dragged into consciousness at about 2:45 in the morning by the sound of something scritchety-scratching about our plastic grocery bags. “Maybe I’m imagining it,” I thought hopefully, and went back to sleep.

No such luck. The next time, Mr. Pickle heard it too. After he finished putting everything plastic into our suitcases, he couldn’t get back to sleep. Eventually he woke me up to start Thursday’s adventures.
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May 3rd In Which We Visit Greenwich, Westminster, Churchill And Spend an Evening with Audere

“Aubrey, may I trouble you for the salt?”

We took the Tube to Blackfriars, then the Thames Clipper to Greenwich. It was too cold to sit outside, but it was fascinating watching all the old wharves and warehouses go by and thinking of all the people and merchandise that traveled the globe.

I’m a fan of Patrick O’Brian’s excellent Aubrey/Maturin series, so a trip to the National Maritime Museum was a must on my list. We weren’t sure it was going to work in our schedule, but a couple of the London Walks we had considered didn’t meet our needs, and I was very happy we were able to fit Greenwich back in.

After a look through the visitor’s center, we went to the museum. We were on a fairly tight schedule, so we mostly concentrated on the “Nelson’s Navy” exhibit. We both enjoyed the narrated diagram of the Battle of Trafalgar, which is projected on a large horizontal surface. It’s often difficult for me to picture how those sea battles were actually fought, and this diagram was very clear and helpful.

The last room has the uniform Nelson was wearing when he was killed at Trafalgar. There is also a surgeon’s uniform and kit – it was fun to see what Stephen Maturin would have worn and some of the instruments he would have used.

We took the tram up the hill to the Royal Observatory for a quick look inside and to take our pictures on the Prime Meridian (with bunches of other tourists, of course), then walked back down to ride the DLR and Tube to Westminster.
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“I see (stuff about) dead people.”

We got to Westminster Abbey just in time for the last verger’s tour of the afternoon; we used the Days Out 2-for-1 coupon for admission and weren’t asked for our train ticket. The verger’s tour was very interesting and informative, well worth the extra cost as we were able to see Edward the Confessor’s shrine up close. There are so many memorials that the rest of the tour is a bit blurred in my mind, but it was enjoyable and I wouldn’t mind spending more time there.

Our next stop was the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum, just up the street. During World War II, this was Churchill’s heavily fortified underground headquarters; when the war ended, it was closed up. Everything (map rooms, bedrooms, radio rooms, etc.) was left just as it was – a visit here is like walking through a life-sized time capsule. This place is fascinating. The Churchill Museum is also very good, but we ended up having to rush a bit through the last part of the war rooms before it closed at 6:00. Do allow at least two hours if you plan to visit here; we only had 90 minutes and it wasn’t quite enough.
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We took the Tube to London Bridge, where we took the wrong exit out of the station (are you beginning to detect a pattern?) and wandered a bit before realizing we were standing in front of our eventual dinner destination, got ourselves oriented correctly, and walked down the street and around the corner to meet audere_est_facere.

David had, at great personal sacrifice, researched several pubs in the area before our visit. We met in front of the Borough of Grapes, which, unfortunately, had just closed for remodeling, so we went to the Wheatsheaf (I think) for a pint, followed by a short DAVETRUFACT tour of the South Bank. We walked past the Clink Prison (now a museum), down by the Thames, and past the rebuilt Globe Theatre, then circled back. We attempted to stop at a couple more pubs, but they were very crowded and noisy, so we ended up back at the Wheatsheaf. We don’t go to bars at home, and it was fun seeing a small slice of English pub culture.

Dinner was at the George Inn, the last galleried inn in London. Once the Tabard Inn, it was the site where pilgrims (including Chaucer’s) departed for Canterbury, and was rebuilt as the George in the 1600s. Shakespeare’s plays were originally performed in the courtyard of the George.

We went upstairs to the lovely, quieter dining room and enjoyed a very good dinner – steak and ale pies for us, venison for Audere – and talked about various topics, including travel and American hair and teeth (I was relieved to find we have neither). The Pickles had a wonderful evening – thanks so much, David!

We stopped at Westminster again on our way back to the hostel to take night shots of the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and the London Eye before heading back to Bayswater. No scurrying visitors this evening, thankfully, and we both got a full night’s sleep.
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May 4th In Which We Explore Foundational Documents, See Stuff the English Nicked, and Watch Les Miz Get STOMPed!

We slept in a bit, stopped at Boots to buy a new hair dryer, and tried to find a fuse for our adapter, which we blew out our first night (hint – don’t try to plug a battery charger into one of those things).

Our first major stop of the day was Leicester Square. Mr. Pickle is a fan of musicals, and I’m not. To give you an idea of our musical differences, when we met he was aNeil Diamond and Barbra Streisand fan, and I was into the Sex Pistols and Siouxsie and the Banshees. But it was our anniversary celebration, and any good marriage involves some give and take, so we decided to get tickets for Les Miserables at the TKTS booth in Leicester Square.

He left me in the Tube station to save a bit of money on our Oyster card (actually, it was nice to sit for a few minutes and read). When he returned, he told me TKTS hadn’t gotten any Les Miz tickets from the theatre, and, after looking over the other choices, he got tickets for STOMP! instead.

“Oohhhhkaaaay,” I thought, regretting that I hadn’t gone with him and steered him to something different – but the musical evening was his choice, so I figured I’d survive somehow.

Back on the Tube to Euston, where we went to the British Library. We enjoyed our picnic in the courtyard before visiting the Treasures of the British Library room. I’m a lifelong reader and book lover, but I can’t really express what a thrill it was to see the Magna Carta, a Gutenberg Bible, Shakespeare’s First Folio, original handwritten scores by Handel and Mozart, and many other items that are building blocks of western civilization.

I could have spent longer there, but we reluctantly dragged ourselves away and walked down the street to King’s Cross station. I pushed really hard, but I couldn’t get the trolley through the wall at Platform 9 ¾. Once a Muggle, always a Muggle…

We strolled through Russell Square to the British Museum, where, since it was getting late, we took the audio highlights tour. What an amazing collection – the Rosetta Stone, amazing Greek statues, Egyptian mummies, and so much more. I especially loved the Lewis Chessmen, each with their own uniquely humorous face.

We wanted to save a little money on dinner, so we ate at the Stockpot near Soho. It’s nothing fancy, just basic good food – lamb cutlets for me, fish and chips for Mr. Pickle, with a Victoria sponge for dessert – for about £ 6 each.

From the Stockpot, it’s a short walk past bustling Leicester Square to the Vaudeville Theatre. We had third row seats, but they were off to the side, so we moved back a couple of rows to some empty center seats before the performance.

If you haven’t seen STOMP!, it’s basically rhythmic fun with household items – brooms, trash cans, buckets, etc. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the show; it was fun, energetic, and highly entertaining.
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