Day 2 - London

Distance Walked: 12km (approx)

Woke around 3am, then again around 4:30am and finally again at 5:30am.  At that point gave up and got out of bed and starting writing this up.  Not quite a full 8 hours but back on a reasonable schedule.  Was a bit hot in the night which doesn't help.  Hopefully will sleep more soundly tonight.

Dithering about what to do with this toy.  Definitely not carrying it about with me since I've got wirelsss access here.  (Not through the hotel.  Can't get its setup to work.  Just some generous soul who hasn't the sense/knowledge to change the default settings on his router).  If I just hide it in my suitcase then it will be very easy to find.  If I lock it in my suitcase then it says there is something in the case worth stealing.  Hmm, might opt to locking it I think.  

Schedule for today is V&A and Museum of London and a little shopping. Also need/will get ticket for Moreton-in-Marsh on Friday.  Fun.  Just need to wait until breakfast starts at 7:30am.  Must remember not to start too early since nothing will be open.

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I've now had my first full English breakfast.  I started with orange juice and a small bowl of museli.  I even ate the raisins - my fruit ration for this meal.  I also had a cup of drinkable filtered coffee and the fry-up - an egg, half a tomato, some (tinned) baked beans and a rasher of bacon.  I topped this off with two pieces of toasted (brown) bread with butter and orange marmelade.  They offered me seconds!

The weather was overcast and drizzly in the morning but quite pleasant by lunchtime.  A nasty cold wind started up around 5pm.  Awkward weather overall as I kept taking off the coat because I was getting hot and sweaty and then putting it on again because I was chilled.

Stanfords was a disappointment - they didn't have a complete set of Wainwright's books.  Foyles was a bit better.  They had a better range of Wainwright than Stanfords, including his C2C book which I bought. It's a great read.  He was clearly a cantankerous old bastard. Waterstones did have the Abercrombie book, but at full price, even though it is listed at a discount on the website.  I bought it anyway.

London is grimy and dirty and crowded but magical all the same.  So many of the street names and places have meaning.  I kept getting a thrill walking down the most dingy of streets.  I did a lot of walking.  Even the major "main" streets are narrower than I expected. I would look at the map and decide head straight down here and then go left at the next major intersection.  Some time later I would still be looking for this major intersection only to discover I had passed it some time back.

I walked around 16,000 steps today - or roughly 12km.  My feet feel like they have been pounded into hamburger and my lower back aches from carrying an overloaded shoulder bag about.  More worrisome, my knees are very stiff and sore.  I would love to have a hot bath to ease them out but had to settle for stretching, massage and emugel. If 12km is that damaging I'm going to have real trouble on the Cotswold Way.  Hopefully, the fact that on the Way I'll be wearing my boots and carrying a back pack will make it easier on me.  I'll wear the boots tomorrow and see if it helps.

Part of all the walking I did include walking down 193 steps of a spiral staircase leading from ground level to the platform at Covent Garden station.  The equivalent of a 15 storey building according to the announcement.  Not sure if was a recorded message I triggered by taking the stairs (it strongly urged using the lifts instead) or whether a special announcement just for me.

First stop on the sightseeing programme was the V&A.  It wasn't as enthralling as the guide books make out - or else I'm just a philistine.  The clothes were fascinating but the textiles and tapestry galleries were closed.  I looked through the jewellery, silver and some of the sculpture galleries too.  The jewellery curator and I have very different taste.  My favorite gallery was the Cast  Court.  A Victorian notion.  If you can pinch a monument or statue take a plaster cast of it and display that instead.  Amongst other things they had a copy of David and Trajan's column.  How on earth do you take a plaster cast of Trajan's column?!

I planned on having lunch at the V&A's cafe but baulked at the prices.  When back to Chinatown/Soho and dithered about.  I came across a place called Bistro 1 which had an interesting menu and a 2 courses for 8 GBP lunch special.  Decided that was too cheap and it had to be nasty and moved on.  Turned out it has excellent reviews in the Cheap Eats guide so will go there for dinner tomorrow night (10 GBP for 2 courses).

Ended up spending almost the same amount of money at Foyle's cafe for a ham roll and a mug of cafe latte.  It was 2pm by then and I was starving and needed to sit down.  If you think of it as costing $7 it was quite reasonable.  The roll was a honking big pasta dura one and fresh.  It was spread thickly with English mustard (and no butter). There was more of a slab of ham off the bone rather than a slice. Topping this off was a good dozen small gherkins.  A very agreeable sandwich and the coffee was drinkable.

Next stop was the Museum of London will I greatly enjoyed.  Some of the displays were a litle too interactive for the kiddies but it was fascinating to see how that city has developed.  And, I have to confess, I had fun playing with some of the interactive bits.  The shop had a lot of stuff I wanted to buy in it too but settled for Tube map teatowels and a replica Roman spoon for Mum.

Haven't been able to buy myself any souvenir jewellery yet.  The V&A only had things by modern designers rather than items based on the collection.  The MofL had a few items based on the collection (the Cheapside Hoard) but out of my price range.  Will have to get something from the BM.

Feeling utterly exhausted by 6pm.  Should have had a strong coffee in the afternoon.  Don't know why I didn't think of it.  Staggered out to dinner at a burger joint nearby that had respectable reviews at 7pm. Huge cheeseburger with chips ("fries") and a mineral water for 12 GBP including tip.  All tasted fine but hardly gourment.  Burger restaurants, as opposed to fast food joints, seem big here.  There are at least 3 chains that I've heard off.  Got back around 8pm.  Forced myself to stay awake until 9:30pm-ish then collapsed.

Had thought about doing a Pub Crawl walk with London Walks starting at 7:30pm but just couldn't face it.  I would have been miserable.  I was so longing to lie down and go to sleep by 6pm.  Perhaps Thursday night if they have one and I've adjusted better.