I sleep a little later than usual, but manage to get down to breakfast by 9:00. Not so many people today. It seems that the large group of German students has left, and I don't see my hairdresser friend anymore. But the hotel does attract a wide variety of visitors--Chinese, Japanese, German, American, you can see that the hotel's link with the various internet hotel sites really works well!
During breakfast I look thru my flyer for walking tours. I see that at 2:00 PM there is a walking tour thru the "inns of court". This sounds like it might be interesting. I also want to visit Harrods today, so after checking my email at the internet café I take the tube to the South Kensington station. This will allow me to walk a little while before I reach Harrods, so it might be more interesting. And it is. Shortly after leaving the tube station I see an interesting looking car, one that I have never seen before. A passenger gets out of the car, and I ask her what kinds of car it is. A 1956 Morris Minor she replies. I take a photo. Actually, it looked better than the photo suggests!
I keep walking northeast along the road towards Harrods. After awhile I pass a man standing on a corner holding a sign for a Thai restaurant and passing out advertising cards for the lunch buffet at the restaurant. I get one. Hmmm, maybe I will go there for lunch? I look at my watch. It is already just after noon, and my walking tour is at 2:00. Maye I better eat now, so I turn around and walk the short block to the restaurant. It is on a quiet side street, and I can see why they need the man on the busy corner. No one would ever see it otherwise. The restaurant is downstairs. When I enter there is one other customer. The décor is pleasant, the place clean, and the food was good! It was an all you can eat lunch buffet for 6.50lbs. By London standards it was a real bargain, and it really was a very good meal! There were 7 or 8 different entrée selections, and so I had no trouble finding things that I liked.
After lunch I made a short visit to Harrods, mostly thru the food areas. The various food counters were busy with folks on their lunch hour. I lingered over the chocolates counter. Should I get a box of chocolates for Mom? Well maybe, but not today. I still have the walking tour to go on, and I don't want to have to carry anything with me. So I soon leave Harrods and take the tube to Holborn station.
The tour starts at 2:00 PM. I arrive at about 1:45, and have a cup of coffee at the coffee shop on the corner. At exactly 2:00 the guide, Angela, arrives. Most of the folks that had been standing around the tube entrance gather around--we were all waiting for the same thing! We have a group of about 15 or so, including several lawyers. Angela takes us on a 2 hour walk thru the law neighborhood of London. We start at Lincoln's Inn park, one of the first inns of court, and also near where Dickens may have worked; we go thru several inns of court, where barristers have their offices, and in effect share space with their fellow barristers (most of these also have meal halls and chapels); and we end up at the civil court building, which looks more like a cathedral than a court. Angela was a great tour guide, with lots of interesting stories and literary references. Definitely worth the 5lb price.
It was now 4:00 PM. I needed to pay a visit to mother nature. Hmmm, where to go? Ah, there in the sidewalk was a public toilet. It is a small building, the size of a large shed. You pay 20p, and the automatic door slides open, you enter, push a button, and the door slides shut. You have a 20 minute time limit. Well, I didn't need that much time, and upon pushing another button the door slid open and I exited. What a great idea!
I walk down to the riverfront, and then walk back towards Embankment. The day is cool and grey, but not too bad for walking. When I reach Embankment I walk past it towards the city. A couple blocks away is St. Martins in the Fields chapel, the home of a famous orchestra of the same name, and their home venue. There is a small market around the chapel selling the usual souvenir type items--hats, shirts, scarves, trinkets, etc. Also nearby is Trafalgar Square. The city is very busy tonight. After all, it is Friday evening. There is lots of traffic, and there are lots of people on the street.
I am getting hungry, and I also need to get back to the room and finish packing. So I take the tube back to Paddington, have dinner at the restaurant next door to the hotel, and then go up to the room and pack my stuff. I have 4 pieces of luggage, but I will take two with me (my laptop bag, and my medium bag), and I will leave two at the hotel (my largest bag, and my small one with papers and books). After reading in my Barcelona travel book for a while I go to sleep.
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