A Day of Walking Off Jet Lag in London

After we collected our bags and cleared customs at Heathrow Airport, we caught a taxi just outside terminal 1 to be taken to Euston station, where we would take the sleeper train late in the evening for Scotland. We wanted to leave our bags at the left luggage office while we spent the day in London. Cost of the taxi was £55 which was cheaper than cost of the Heathrow express train and a tube ride for the four of us. It was also faster and easier on jet lagged bodies. It look less than an hour to arrive at Euston station in Camden.

The left luggage office was easy to find as soon as we entered the train station. The sign on the left luggage office indicated a weight limit for bags. I worried my bag might be too heavy, but luckily they did not weigh my bag. We all kept a small day pack with our change of clothes for dinner and any souvenirs we might buy during the day.

There is a little coffee shop in the station where we were able to refresh ourselves with coffee and hot chocolate. From there, we took another cab, about 20 minutes, £15, to St. Katharine's Docks, which is near the Tower of London and Tower Bridge.

The St. Katharine’s Docks area is near the Tower of London which has been redeveloped from warehouses to residential, office, restaurants and shops. After wandering around looking, we decided to try the Tradewinds Wine Bar and Restaurant. Although it was noon, no one else was in the restaurant when we were seated. As we started our drinks, a few men in suits came in and sat at the bar. Through the meal, almost exclusively, businessmen were the only people who showed up for lunch as the restaurant is near a number of office towers. We were the only family in the restaurant.

The cuisine is described as modern European. The tables have white linen with crystal glasses and a single rose in a vase. Very proper looking and natural light comes in from windows overlooking the interior docks area. The food was alright, although not particularly memorable, and we had a decent wine from the wine list.

When I checked recently, the restaurant has now closed.

Tickets for entry and tons of souvenirs are sold in a two story shop on the southwest corner of the Tower. You can also buy them online http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/, where you will find them cheaper, but we hadn’t done that. At least we found no queues so had no problem or delay buying our tickets and walking straight into the Tower. Gate price: Adult £16.00, Child(under 16)£9.50, Family £47.

We toured ourselves around rather than join one of the many organized tours which are included as part of the admission. There were a fair number of tourists even in February.

This is a must do for every tourist since it so defines much of England’s history. The ancient fortress was founded by William the Conqueror and almost 1,000 years of British history have been played out within its walls. It was here that Anne Boleyn, among many others, was executed, so we had to look at Traitor’s Gate where many of the unfortunates would have entered.

We spent most of our time in the White Tower where there are displays from the Royal armouries including original armours worn by Henry VIII and Charles I plus a reconstructed display of the massive collection of weapons once housed in the Grand Storehouse. The 'Spanish Armoury' contains the Tower's historic instruments of torture, including the infamous block and axe.

Of course, we looked at the Crown Jewels to be dazzled by the world's largest, top-quality cut diamond, Cullinan I, set in the Sovereign's Sceptre and learn more about the history of the Crown Jewels in the Crown and Diamonds exhibition in the Martin Tower.

We also visited the ravens who have lived within the Tower walls for hundreds of years and legend has it that, if they leave, the kingdom will fall.

There is a lot to look at on a walk from the Tower of London, across the Thames River then to Tate Modern museum.

From the Tower, we walked across Tower Bridge and along the walk which borders the south bank of the Thames River. From there, you get fantastic views of the Tower from across the river. Right near the end of the Tower Bridge is the new City Council Chambers, a very modern building designed by Sir Norman Foster. It has some funny nicknames comparing it to an egg, onion and testicle.

We walked through the area of the old London gaol and Vinopolis, a wine shop and restaurant where we ate when we visited in 2002. We continued along the walkway along the south bank of the Thames to the New Globe Theatre shop to see if they had the t-shirts we saw a few years ago that listed all of Shakespeare’s plays – they didn’t. You can take a tour of the Globe, but we done that before.

Instead, we went practically next door into Tate Modern. Much of the museum was closed for the installation of a new exhibit, but we were able to visit the Rothko room, which is one of my favourites. The Rothko room is a permanent exhibit of American abstract artist Mark Rothko. We also looked at the new installation in Turbine Hall, the huge open area on the main floor. It was Doris Salcedo’s Shibboleth, which consisted of a large crack in the concrete floor.

From Tate Modern, we walked along the Queen's Walk to the London Eye. The Eye is a large ferris wheel like structure with passenger pods which was built for the millennium in 2000. When we got to the Eye, the queues did not look too long so I, who hates heights, decided to be brave and go for a spin. Tickets: Adult £15.00 Child(5-15 years) £7.50. We did not buy tickets in advance just in case the line was long. You can get tickets in advance online if you plan ahead and thereby save yourself both time and money: http://www.londoneye.com/TicketsAndPrices.

The pods of the Eye were big enough that if I sat on the bench in the middle my fear of heights was manageable but you can be like my daughter and hang your feet out on the edges by the glass and look straight down.

The sky was a bit hazy when we went but it still provides a pretty good view of that area of London. Nevertheless, I was glad to get back on the ground.

From the Eye, you can easily walk to the Dali Universe experience which is part of the County of London museum. It is an exhibition dedicated to Spanish painter, Salvador Dali but also includes some works of Pablo Picasso. This was the only London museum we have been to that charged admission: Adults £12.00 Children 12 & Over £8.00.

My daughter was interested in viewing the Dalis. I wasn’t so impressed as it seemed to me that he spent much of his later career recycling the few ideas he had when he was young, especially, the persistence of memory idea, a.k.a, the dripping watches. I found the Picassos more interesting, although the collection was largely early Picassos. The exhibit includes some of his pottery which I hadn't seen before.

I was glad for the washrooms at the museum where we changed from our walking clothes to our dining out clothes which we had carried around with us all day.

It was raining, and I had put on my heels, so we took a cab to the restaurant which was not far from the Dali Universe. The restaurant was originally called Petrus when it was part of the Gordon Ramsay empire. Apparently, Marcus and Gordon have had a falling out and Gordon would not let Marcus keep the Petrus name. We had booked a reservation online a month earlier at http://www.the-berkeley.co.uk/marcus_wareing.aspx.

The meal was comparable to the dinner we had at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay on Hospital Road in Chelsea. A luxurious room with tables set widely apart and a quiet atmosphere tells you this is going to be fine dining.

Our meal started with some very flavourful amuse bouches and a visit from the champagne cart. I had a very tender and tasty venison dish that I managed to polish off, which is unusual for me. We had a lovely Brunello di Montalcino wine with our meal. I forgot what everyone else had but we must have been hungry from all our walking as everyone finished their main course and managed dessert.

The desserts were beautifully presented. I had one called peanut parfait which was a Valrhona chocolate mousse, salt caramel jelly, and raspberry crème.

It was an expensive but fantastic meal and by the time we finished, it was time to head back to Euston station to get on the sleeper train to Edinburgh. Replete with food and a day of wandering about London, we all slept well.