13 February 1999 Arrived in London, Eng/and The adventure begins!

We arrived at Gatwick Airport (outside of London) about 9:15am. Once we got off the plane, grabbed our luggage and made it through customs, we caught a train from Gatwick Airport to Victoria Train Station. Be quick the trains don't stop for long, about a minute or two and then they are OFF!  On the journey into the city, we were able to make it into a "room" with facing bench seats like you see in the movies.  A couple sitting across from us told us about how London is at a stand still if it snows.  We thought how funny as STL is very much prepared.  London doesn't have the equipment for removal.

Then we caught a Black taxi (the drivers go through 7 years of study to pass a test to know the city inside and out to get you to your location the quickest way possible and they are licensed whereas the other taxis aren't).  Our hotel in Kensington, The Bailey Hotel, is on Gloucester Road across from the tube station and dates back to 1876. When we got there, our room was not ready, so we left our bags and started walking around the neighborhood.  We saw the Royal Albert Hall and the Prince Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens across from the hall. A huge memorial with a lot of gold on it and small statues at the foot of it - I haven't seen anything like it before.

We went into Harrod's department store and strolled around. They have everything there - clothes, jewelry, furniture, games, food too. A lovely store and unbelievable. There is a section dedicated to your gourmet tastes - deli area where you can take home fresh foods to cook for dinner like the grocery stores or there are several restaurants/cafes which serve lunches or pastries. The lower level had the memorial to "Diana and Dodi" still up. Some people where there looking at it while we rode down on the escalator and taking pictures. James asked me if I was going to take a picture, I said no -this is not the place for that. It is a memorial.

It was a non-typical London day, sunny for a change but cool. I hear sunshine is rare here in England. After our walk, we went back to the hotel to rest. Dinner time came around and we walked the neighborhood again to checkout the restaurants. One had no non-smoking area and the other you had to make reservations, no walk-ins accepted. We ended up bringing back Kentucky Fried Chicken -something cheap and we had some idea of the taste of it. They only serve ORIGINAL style chicken here.