Further Groovy Travels: Day 2 - The Arrival (also late)

Speaking of missing wifi…I don’t seem to have wifi in my room. I am definitely raising hell tomorrow when I go pay for my accommodations as I have neither wifi nor hairdryer (both of which appear on the listing)

Room is pretty much as expected fairly tiny, but clean. I do not have the little balcony looking over the square, but I am looking over the square, which is lovely.

I slept a very little on the airplane, mostly because it is impossible to get comfortable in a Delta coach seat (I thought I was flying KLM, but I was misled. I did get to see The King’s Speech and a good chunk of the most recent Harry potter movie, so that was good.

It was a gorgeous day in the UK (which is an odd thing, because this is the land o rain). I made it to Padding ton without mishap…then I tried to call the maintenance guy so he could meet me with the keys only to find that the ten pounds I put on my SIM card was not there. I did find a pay phone and I had a bit of change, so I was able to call. I need Internet access so I can give them a piece of my mind.

I got in around 2 and found that I am on the second floor, which, if you have ever been to Europe…is the 3^rd floor (they call the first floor the ground floor…then it is the first floor above that). The nice maintenance man took pity on me and hauled my bags up. I was a sweaty, miserable mess by that time, so I took a nice refreshing shower in my teeny tiny bathroom. I then headed out for groceries. No Tesco that I could see, but there was a Sainsburys in Paddington station, so I got some staples there. I forgot that the Brits don’t know from decent orange juice. I will have to suffer with OJ out of a box. Yogurt was on sale and I bought two bizarre flavors…gooseberry and rhubarb. Can’t wait to try them!

After putting the groceries away, I goofed around a bit, playing with the TV to familiarize myself with where my channels were. I then set out on a walk. There is a lovely church at the end of the street and I forgot to take a picture of it. I ended up on Bayswater along the edge of Kensington Park where I checked out the street artists. Some good some `hotel` paintings some I cant even tell you if it was really art. I then detoured into Kensington Gardens where I wandered about awhile, checking out the swans in Round Pond and the weird trees. I saw some kids playing soccer….or football and a bunch of guys playing cricket. Not that I understood what I was watching mind you…

I went all the way across the gardens and saw the Albert memorial in the distance. This tells me that I can walk to the V&A in the morning and visit Harrods as well. After I stop at he rental office to pay my bill and inquire about my hairdryer and Internet….

I then stopped at a Lebanese place for dinner…yummO. I have a vegetarian Mezzos platter and it was delish! 2 kinds of hummus and all kinds of things that I don’t know exactly what they are but they were awesome I had a drink that was apple juice flavored with ginger and mint…it was a gross dirty pond green color but it was quite tasty! Didn’t go to the pub tonight because I couldn’t go on the Internet for the address like I had planned. Happy with what I did have and I will do fish and chips at some point I’m sure.

Jet lag is catching up with me I have my window open and there is a college dorm across the square not that they are really loud…but they are close and you can hear conversations kids are having on the street. Lucky me, I remembered my earplugs hopefully I can post this tomorrow.