Day 17 – 8 July Sunday Send/London

Today looked set to be rainy, so our planned boat trip to Windsor was a non-starter.  Instead we decided to drive around the local area.  We did a nearby geocache – found my perfect home along the way, and then drove through the charming village of Ripley, which is the village closest to Lisa's and Trev’s home.  We then stopped at the amazing sports centre nearby – what an incredible facility and how sensible that it houses a Starbucks where we could have a latte!  Next up was a spot of shopping, including a trip to Sainsbury’s.  We are really sad monkeys…. a trip to this particular grocery store is always a highlight for us! 

Cal getting to grips with the self-service check-out.

Lunch-time was upon us, so we headed to a lovely pub along the river, it was so beautiful,  a couple of narrow-boats passed by and there were ducks waddling about - such a shame that the weather didn’t play ball, so we had to opt for a table inside.  It would have been lovely to sit outside with a glass of Pimms….maybe next time!

Soon it was time to head back to the house to pack up.  Casey, Phil and baby Jess popped in, so we got to see how big Jess has grown.  Our transfer arrived right on time to pick us up for our drive into London.  We had such a lovely driver on this trip, he pointed various things out to us and was so friendly without being overly gushing. 

We arrived at the Luna Simone hotel and settled in, this will be our base for the next 3 days.  The Luna Simone is a tiny little family-run hotel in a converted Georgian terrace in Belgrave Rd.  It’s more like a big B&B than a hotel really.  The rooms are very small and basic, but clean and cheerful with tiny, yet modern, bathrooms attached.  Conveniently situated between Victoria and Pimlico tube stations, as far as I’m concerned the biggest bonus of staying at the Luna Simone is that the No. 24 bus stops literally outside the door.  It’s a brilliant bus that has stops at Victoria station, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square – so convenient!

Once we were all organised, we hopped on a No.24 bus to Leicester Square – Cal got his first glimpse of London, very exciting!  London is looking particularly pretty with Union Jacks flying across many of the streets – I’m assuming they were put there for the Jubilee celebrations and have been left up for the Olympics that begin in just over 2 weeks.

We make a point of doing at least one London Walk every time we visit London.  They are a lovely, relaxed way to see the heart of London, the guides are always brilliant and you learn such interesting bits and pieces.   The walk we did tonight was what they call a “Pub Walk” (meaning you stop in at a couple of pubs along the way) in the Soho area of London – it was very good.  We got to see Chinatown and most of Soho, including the Red Light district and, among other things, houses in which Mozart and Karl Marx once lived. 

We stopped at 2 pubs, one of them the “Spice of Life” was a pub in which, among others, Amy Winehouse and Bob Dylan both performed at the start of their careers. 

Grant and Cal at the Spice of Life pub

Once the walk was over we headed over to Piccadilly Circus, watched a street performer and then bought a take-away pizza supper before jumping on a bus back to the hotel.