At long last, here is the post for our second-time-around visit to England at the conclusion of our epic journey. We had an excellent guide named Jonathan for our long coach drive from Stansted Airport to the Four Seasons Park Lane, where we were to spend our last night with the group. Although his main focus was to point out points-of-interest and share insights like their cute nicknames for buildings (The Cheese Grater, The Shard, The Walkie-Talkie, etc.), I also learned some valuable things about driving over there - such as how the speed cameras work - that I could employ later when I drove up north (details to follow).
We arrived in the late afternoon, with just enough time to check in, wait for the bags to arrive in the room, get a little settled, and get ready for the final dinner with the group; luckily only an elevator ride away. At the lavish buffet dinner event, Bob Krist, our trip photography professional, gave us a preview screening of his 30 minute video representing all the places that we had traveled. If you are interested in seeing the finished product, click here and use the password Human (with a capital H) to see the final production. It's really quite good, and reveals some things not included in my blog, especially noteworthy is the time we missed in the Gobi Desert. Other thoughts on the final evening were shared previously at the end of my Israel post, so I'll leave it at that.
This post really pertains to our time in England as of the next day... ;-)
And although this was the weather forecast, we were not to have our spirits dampened.
We enjoyed a leisurely morning, a delicious breakfast in the restaurant at the Four Seasons with two ladies (from Los Angeles and Washington D.C. respectively) whose company we enjoyed many times on the trip: Lisa and Heidi. We took a long walk around Mayfair, ran into a couple of others from the group Sid and Flo (who were continuing on with a train tour up to Scotland), and took advantage of a late check-out at 1pm.
Since we were only moving to our other hotel about a mile away, we were offered a ride in the "House" Rolls Royce. Not too shabby indeed! Thanks to our delayed departure from the Four Seasons, our wonderful room at the Radisson was available upon arrival, and my afternoon was enhanced by a couple hundred pound win at the casino-on-the-corner, which served to pay for our dinner at an old favorite of mine in Picadilly called Veeraswamy (Click here to learn more). The meal was absolutely stellar; I dare say the best Indian restaurant I know in the world. The lobster curry is (insert personal favorite superlative adjective here)!!
The next day, Jack was able to visit with a friend of his from Germany who happened to be in London at the same time. I decided to take a long bus ride on a double decker bus. Fortunately, I was not on the Coca Cola bus; so I could get this shot!
And now for just a few more scenes spotted from the upper decker of the bus. Since I was early onboard, I got a prime seat. But of course shooting through spotty, glarey bus windows is not optimal, so I'll spare you too many of the mediocre quality shots.
A relatively uncrowded Trafalgar Square:
A jammed sidewalk in front of Westminster tube stop:
The obligatory Big Ben shot:
And lastly, The London Eye:
That evening, we just had to try the Pizzeria at Harrod's (Click here to learn more). I had seen what was coming out of that wood-burning oven on a previous visit to the store, and knew instinctively by sight that it was worth a taste. Not to gloat, but I was SO right! I don't have to try them all to make my claim about it being the best pizza in London. At least for me, it certainly suffices; so why try the others? ;-)
We also hit the booze department downstairs to pick up a bottle of my favorite single malt Islay scotch Lagavulin for my buddy Paul up north, especially since we (had) planned to see him a couple days later. Here's Jack riding the escalator down to the subterranean liquorland below:
The next day, with our time and activities fully back under our own control, we decided on a short bus ride directly from our hotel to the London Zoo (the in-city one, not the larger one farther afield). It is located in Regents Park, also a beautiful place to take a stroll, a picnic, or a lover... But for a small, inner-city zoo, it was as vast and impressive as I'd want it to be. Along the walk from the bus stop, we noticed California Poppies!! What was so interesting was that they were interspersed with those red poppies we had seen in many other countries, which we compared to our local buttercups. So here they are cohabiting peacefully:
So the first thing I learned at the Gorilla habitat is that I weigh just less than half that of the gorilla (shown in kilos):
Jack having a rest by the bai:
And presenting The Eastern Black-and-White Colobus:
For some reason, perhaps because I am a tall fellow, I have always related to Giraffes in a kindred spirit kind of way. I also often refer to them when I use "other animals" (meaning besides us homo sapiens) as examples to compare with us. For example, if there is an afterlife, do Giraffes get to have them? Since they do not have language, how can they pray for their souls anyway? Vexing questions to be sure... But they're so majestic and elegant, it probably scarcely matters. We can simply enjoy their stoic poise and vegetarian dining habits. Oh, and those looooong tongues!
And just to clear up any lingering confusion, these are Zebras:
And this is an Okapi:
And this is Homo Sapien; with an ancient cave drawing replica (of a Wooly Mammoth) for a backdrop:
Some beautiful Freshwater Angelfish:
And some stunning corals, such as the Mushroom Coral:
The Star Coral:
Other highlights included the Nemo-looking Clown Anemonefish:
And the well camouflaged Raggedfin Lionfish:
As a segue into our next venue, the reptile building, I present the aptly-named Snake Pipefish:
With a good representation of many reptile species, no disappointments were incurred. It all started with a welcome from the almighty "royal" King Cobra:
Much less deadly, but still poisonous is the Mangrove Snake:
And not poisonous at all, but deadlier than the Mangrove, is the constrictively murderous Jamaican Boa; our final serpent to be presented here:
Not to be outdone by the Chinese, the British have their own Chinese Crocodile Lizard!
And greenest of all the greens, the aptly named Green Tree Monitor:
And for our last reptile before hitting the aviary, a beautiful Radiated Tortoise:
The aviary is great! The birds fly around as you walk through. And if you settle a bit, they may come even closer... I'm sorry to say that my research could not come up with a name for these birds, but they are big and majestic:
And in case you are wondering how close we must have been to get these clear shots, this will give you a clue:
Who know the old game pick-up-sticks was actually about building a nest???
From there, we visited the "Tiger Territory" to see the beautiful Sumatran Tigers. This guy was reclining in his glass enclosed cave, not surprising given they sleep 80% of the time. I found his yawns most interesting, perhaps because it's all we saw him do in the twenty or so minutes we stood there admiring him from our safe distance.
And the hamming-it-up-at-the-tiger-statue award goes to:
Next was the "Butterfly Paradise". And paradise it was! What fun! Hundreds of butterflies flutter by as you walk through "their world". Some may even land on you and take a ride for a while:
Others may be mating for your viewing pleasure (butterfly porn?):
And others just chill out on a leaf, perhaps waiting to get their picture taken:
Not to be missed are these massive, colorful moths (who knew?):
And our last stop at the zoo were the Penguins, who all seem to have unique and fun personalities!
So the zoo was a very satisfying experience on many levels. It was nice to take back the command of our time and activities, and choose to do something more nature oriented than man made. It was a relief to take our time, go at our own pace, and never have to watch the clock to meet the group back at the coach. And it was also nice to just be on our own in the big city without the social pressures of being part of a group. Whew.
And for the very last day of our entire trip, a very special thing happened! My friend Gizz's band got themselves a gig playing the small-town Bourne Festival, just two hours drive north of London. And although it seemed daunting to drive out of and back into the heart of the labyrinth that is London, I came up with a brilliant way to make this side trip feasible. We used the "included" (in our trip cost) car service to Heathrow Airport to get to the rental car agency there, and made the much easier drive up the highway to Peterborough, where Gizz lives. We got there early enough to ride up to the festival in the band van, which was a lot more fun than scouting it out on our own; plus we got to spend more time with the boys-in-the-band. We were also treated like band associates with backstage access, etc. since we were introduced to the venue staff along with the band.
The hard-to-follow act that preceded them were students of a local hip-hop dance school:
Who did a good job considering they had to dance on grass!
This is obviously a popular program, as there were SO many dancers! But the one who stole the show from them all was this tiny tyke:
The nice thing about going on after that group, was the enormous crowd they had attracted into the tented area after the previous (mediocre) performer ran them all off! Capitalizing on the demographically diverse crowd, The More I See opened with a few choice cover songs, the first being Twist and Shout, which was geared toward (and appreciated by) the generally older set in the audience. Playing AC/DC's widely loved You Shook Me All Night Long kept them on their toes as well, and reeled in the more middle-aged set. Once they had the audience captivated, they ripped into their own repertoire of original heavy metal songs; the reason I was there, and the reason why they are one of my very favorite bands.
And to highlight my buddy Gizz (Click here to learn more) (And here to see his own site) on lead guitar (and backing vocals and songwriting), who is one of my very favorite guitar players ever:
We got a nice shout-out as having come all the way from San Francisco too! So that was an amazing experience, as I have waited seven years to see this line-up of the band; after putting three albums out all of which I have played incessantly since each was recorded (usually obtained long before official release; a great perk of being a friend). And their set, although fairly short, did not disappoint at all. And I had the (well worth it) stiff neck for a couple days afterwards to prove it...
After helping tear down the equipment (I learned not to call it gear, as we do in the U.S., because that means something else in the U.K.), and load it back into the band van, we rode back to Gizz's place for a special (and delicious) chili dinner made by his wife Tracey, and attended by the Smith family, the patriarch of which is another friend of mine Spike (Click here to learn more) who is a truly excellent drummer (who has played in many different bands, both with and without Gizz). Here's a shot at the dinner table of (left-to-right) Gizz, Me, Jack, Spike & wife Elaine, and son Joe:
So we stayed well past our planned departure time, consequently driving back to Heathrow to return the car in the dark; but we eventually made it (with only a couple of missed traffic circle exits and small number of miles in back-tracks).
We stayed at an airport hotel, which made the morning's trip to the terminal quick and easy. And after a long eleven hour flight, we were finally back on our home turf. Whew! What a whirlwind. It was truly a surreal experience; and I plan to make another blog entry to sum up the experience in the coming days, so stay tuned to this channel... ;-) E.R.
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