Spectacle

Posted 22 August

Yesterday we took the tour of the state rooms at Buckingham Palace. We've seen lots of spectacular rooms in other palaces and homes in various parts of Europe, but these are really something. Unfortunately, no photos may be taken inside the palace. We also toured the Palace Mews with their stables. The Mews staff takes care of all the horses and the various ceremonial carriages, as well as the royal automobiles. We were permitted to take photos in the Mews and you can see them at http://chuck.smugmug.com/gallery/199289.

Chuckles ala Carte

Posted 22 August

On Friday night we visited one of those little, hidden areas that seem to abound in London and add so much to its flavor. It's a small area (centered on James Street) that is just off of Oxford Street -- one of the busiest streets in the city. But in this little alcove of about 1 block by 2 blocks, there are a dozen or more restaurants and pubs, most with outdoor as well as indoor seating, and lots of little shops. We were dining at a small "Franco-English" restaurant (called Auberge). Chuck pointed out that the menu included an unusual main course -- Kangaroo. Leave it to Kathi to point out that the menu also said it came with "spring" vegetables!

"Home" Sweet "Home"

Posted 22 August

We're finally able to download pictures from the digital camera. We've explored putting them right in the blog, but it's very awkward and slow -- so the best thing is to include a link to the online gallery we have at another web site. So, for you to see the pictures that accompany this description, click on http://chuck.smugmug.com/gallery/197616.

From the pictures you can see the apartment is in a modern apartment building (ground floor) with a porter-manned lobby. It consists of a living room, dining room, kitchen and 3 bedrooms -- two with "ensuite" baths, with a third bath off the hall for a total of 1300 square feet (almost exactly half the size of our house in Monterey). The living room has a door that opens to a ground-level deck looking out onto the building's internal courtyard. As you can see, there are two very nice "guest bedrooms" just waiting for guests. When will we see you?

Box Office Stuff

Posted 12 August.

To date we've managed to see 3 shows in the theater district -- that's 3 shows in our first month (today's our "1 month anniversary" here) -- a pace we certainly won't be able to afford to keep up. "When Harry Met Sally" was a stage version (starring Molly Ringwold) of the movie of some years ago with Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan. It was entertaining, but not world-class. Our second show was "Anything Goes" -- the Cole Porter musical enjoying a revival. The songs and the dance numbers were fantastic -- the chorus dance number that ended the first act must have been 15 minutes long and was, we think, the most spectacular stage number we've ever seen. We saw this show with Jack and Lillian Karson who were spending a couple of days in London between Vienna and a cruise on the QE2. Jack is a classmate of Chuck's from Naval Academy days. Play #3 was the drama "We Happy Few", telling the story of six British women who formed a drama group during World War II. They entertained all over the country to try to substitute for the closed regular theaters which "went black" for the duration of the war. Ultimately they developed a repertoire of 30 plays (16 by Shakespeare), giving over 1000 performances, with the six women playing all the roles, including the male parts. Very uplifting story.

My Aching Feet

Posted 12 August.

Whenever we visited London as tourists we always found ourselves getting back to our hotel room with really sore feet. London just seems to demand walking -- with something interesting around every corner. We seem to be continuing the tradition, even as residents.

On our first Saturday here we decided to walk to the West End theater district -- and beyond that to Covent Garden; then back home. About halfway back we both found ourselves dragging and by the time we got home were about ready to give out. After catching our breath, Chuck checked the map and, as near as we could estimate, we had walked nearly 7 miles!

Kathi's been taking some long walks during the days (while she's still waiting to hear about job possibilities). Today she walked to Kensington Palace and back. Then, this evening after dinner, the two of us walked to Hyde Park and through much of the park. So, altogether, Chuck walked about 3 miles and Kathi about 7, between her afternoon and evening outings. Now we're both lounging with our shoes off!

Early Days

Posted 7 August 2004.

We left Monterey at 11:30 am on Sunday, 11 July -- arriving at London Heathrow at 6:30 am on Monday, the 12th. We were met by a pre-arranged car and driver who took us to the office of the estate agent (realtor) who was providing our temporary apartment. After some preliminaries we found ourselves in the temp apartment by 10:30 am -- the apartment being about 4 doors from Chuck's office on Old Marylebone (pronounced "Marleybone) Road.

Chuck checked in at the office on Tuesday morning; and we spent Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons with the estate agent looking for our "permanent" apartment (flat). In the 2 afternoons we visited 16 apartments and decided on number 13. It's a 3 bedroom, 3 bath in a very new building; the landlord had furnished it very attractively in modern style -- a style we've never considered for our own house but which really works for us here. One of the best things about the place is that it's nice and light. After getting the lease and paperwork taken care of we moved in on Monday, July 19th -- exactly one week and 3 hours after our arrival in the UK; from what the others in the office have said, we apparently set a new "land speed record" in finding and moving into an apartment.

Of course, "moving in" is a relatively misleading term. We are living here with the contents of the luggage we brought with us -- and no more. The other things we shipped have not arrived yet -- the estimate we were given was 4 to 6 weeks and we're now a bit past 4 weeks. The apartment is relatively completely furnished, but it will be good to have the rest of our clothes and the few kitchen utensils we sent as well as some of our books.
No pictures to share with you yet.

The cable needed to download pictures from the camera to the computer is coming with our other goods — which we are now expecting to arrive on 10 September. There will be pictures as soon as we can add them.