 | | We left Boston at 7:30 pm Saturday, and arrived at Heathrow at 6:55 am Sunday. I think I slept for a total of 90 minutes during the flight. When we tried to check in at our hotel, they told us that our rooms wouldn't be ready until 1 pm, so go away and come back later. We went out in search of breakfast, and found a place that served "Traditional English Breakfasts".
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 | | This is the vegetarian version of "Traditional English Breakfast". I have to say that I've never before (or since) had baked beans atop French fries (er, I mean "chips".) The coffee was surprisingly good, though, and the orange juice tasted like fresh-squeezed.
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 | | On our way back to the hotel, we passed the Rat & Parrot. Didn't venture in, as I prefer my strawberry-rat tart without too much rat in it.
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 | | This little basement garden was on the same street as our hotel. Lots of the houses along Queens Gardens had this sort of thing, but this one was unique in that the lawn krep (gnomes, buddhas, etc.) vastly outnumbered the plants.
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 | | If you ever wondered what happened to the proprietors of Fawlty Towers, look no further. I even met Manuel.
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 | | Immediately after snapping this photo, an announcement came over the PA system warning that flash photography was prohibited in the Underground. Oops. I quickly stuffed my camera in my pocket and walked away, whistling quietly.
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 | | I really liked this font (the lower signs that read South Kensington Station and Metropolitan and District Railways in amongst the wrought ironwork.
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 | | And the adjacent building is sort of interesting, too.
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 | | Pint and penguin. Went to the White Hart Pub for the British Science Fiction Association's monthly meeting. Ken MacLeod was the guest writer. Aside from wishing that I'd read more of Ken's work prior to hearing him speak, it was quite enjoyable.
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 | | One of the entrants in the Most Phallic Building in the World competition. (Surprisingly, it was not the winner.) Apparently, it is actually the Swiss Re building (also called "The Towering Innuendo" and "The Erotic Gherkin"). Swiss Re is a global reinsurance firm.
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 | | I have no idea what this building is, but it's not far from the Gherkin. (Alert Reader Del informs us: "The building you saw was the new London Assembly, which had to be built after Thatcher abolished London's local government and sold County Hall to the Japanese to turn into a hotel. It's also known as "The Glass Testicle".")
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 | | Penguin attack!
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 | | Ye Lord High Executioner.
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 | | And his willing assistant.
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 | | I think this is just in case you forget where you are.
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 | | We visited Hamleys, which is sort of the London equivalent of FAO Schwarz. The selection of Hello Kitty stuff wasn't bad, but it didn't compare with Sanrio Surprise. The big plastic statue was worth the visit, though.
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 | | Funny-looking police car. (Photo taken from outdoor table at the pub.)
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 | | Double-decker bus. Unfortunately, I didn't get to take a picture of the buses with the full-sized ads for the new Terry Pratchett novel. There were also buses with ads for the new Harry Potter movie.
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 | | Pint of cider. Penguin. Life is good.
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 | | Another view of Fawlty Towers, roughly where my room was located. (I was on the 3rd floor, which is actually the 4th floor. You see, the ground floor is the ground floor, and the one above that is the first floor, and you get the idea…)
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 | | I was amused by the way that they stretch off into infinity. This street wasn't far from the hotel.
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 | | This was where we went for breakfast upon our arrival (refer to the first two pictures on this page).
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 | | Dang, these are cute.
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 | | I want one. It should have a wind-up key in back, though.
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 | | Another one of those basement gardens (less tacky than the one with all the gnomes, though).
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 | | On my last day, I got up early and went for a walk over in Kensington Gardens.
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 | | I thought that the urn seemed very Edward Gorey-esque.
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 | | Particularly with the sad face.
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 | | P is for Penguin, putting on airs.
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 | | This is a detail from the Serpentine Bridge.
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 | | The birds on the left are coots. They made very silly noises.
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 | | No mention of penguins.
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 | | These are juvenile coots. They were amusing.
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 | | There were lots of animals in the base of the statue.
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 | | I liked the little mice.
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 | | And the bunnies.
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