From Baker Street to the London Eye

Naturally, we couldn’t leave London without seeking out 221B Baker Street and paying a visit to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Once again, we drove down to the Paddock Wood station and caught the morning train to London. This time we happened to catch the train destined for Victoria Station instead of Charing Cross Road and so ended up in a slightly different part of the city. Nevermind, we just pulled out our trusty map for the underground and set off for Baker Street anyway.

We didn’t get far. Almost immediately a Chinese man approached us with a forlorn look on his face and asked us to help him figure out how to buy a ticket for someplace in Kent. At least, that’s what we finally figured out that he wanted. He spoke virtually no English except he word “tiki,” which we assumed meant ticket. The poor guy had such a “deer in the headlights” look on his face that we couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. So, for the next twenty or thirty minutes we tried valiantly to figure out where he wanted to go (all he could do was show me the town name that somehow he produced on his cell phone screen) and how much a ticket might cost for that place, assuming it existed.

While legions of impatient passengers waited behind us in line, Concetta and I worked at deciphering the ticket machine, which, since we had purchased our tickets by mail, we had never needed to use. Thankfully, I finally figured the machine out and navigated my way through the menus while Concetta kept an eye on the guy’s luggage for him. But when the time came for him to insert his credit card to pay for the ticket I discovered that he had no such credit card. I tried to communicate to him that I would take the twenty-pound note that he was clutching in his hand and pay for it with my credit card, but I failed to get that message across. At that point we had to let the other waiting passengers get at the machine so I cancelled the transaction and we went our separate ways. We sure hope he eventually got where he was going, though I can’t see how he would. Too bad he didn’t study a few words of English before he embarked on his adventure. I’m going to take that to heart should I ever decide to head for China.

So, our morning crisis over, we once again headed for the underground. All we had to do was ride the yellow or green line east to Westminster Station, then transfer to the gray line which would take us all the way to Baker Street. And that’s just what we did. Though the crush of passengers seemed to be just as heavy as we’d seen during the work-week, we managed to wend our way up and down the myriad of stairs, passageways, and escalators and get on the right train each time. Before we knew it, we were at Baker Street. We had hoped that our GPS would guide us from the Tube station to 221B, but the little machine only seemed to find a Baker Street in Scotland. So, we had to ask someone on the street which way to walk. Our quarry turned out to be just a block or so away, so we were soon standing out front.

We had a really great time at the Holmes museum. Even though it’s basically a tourist trap, I loved the way they decorated the rooms to look like Mrs. Hudson’s house in the films. They even had a guy playing Watson upstairs and we had a really nice chat with him on the qualities of the various actors who have played both Watson and Holmes.

Naturally, after snapping a few photos I had to buy myself a “deerstalker” hat, just like Holmes wore in many of his movies. The hat might have been made in Finland, but I love it anyway.

After the Holmes museum we headed over to the nearby Regency Park to sit for a moment and collect our thoughts. But, as it turned out, the park was so beautiful that we decided to just walk a bit and enjoy the beautiful rose gardens. Everywhere, there were people strolling through the gardens or lounging on the lawns. We even saw a Japanese wedding party taking advantage of the Japanese garden area.

After our rose garden stroll, we left the park and stopped at a nearby bistro for a cup a tea, a shared sandwich, and our first ice cream of the trip. After all, they had pistachio. Who could resist?

Since today was my day for picking our destinations, we now headed back to the tube station to catch a train for the London river-walk area at Westminster. Earlier that morning, while we were still at the Victoria Train Station, I had purchased two tickets for the London Eye, the huge Ferris wheel that dominates the skyline near the Themes. I felt that we just couldn’t come to London and not ride the Eye. As you can see, ride it we did. I just loved the experience. I found it so interesting that they load and unload the wheel without ever really stopping it. The wheel only pauses if they need to allow a handicapped person to enter or exit. I thought we might have to spend a lot of time in line, like at Disneyland, but in reality we virtually walked right on. Connie’s not so comfortable with heights, but the ride is so stable that she really wasn’t bothered at all, at least not until I asked her to go stand near the edge so I could take her picture.

After the Eye experience we decided that we had had enough of the hustle and bustle of the city for one day, so off we went to find the train station and enjoy a nice, leisurely ride back to Paddock Wood where our faithful Mini awaited us. After that, we spent some time trying to find a pub still serving food on a Sunday (they often quit at 4:00 p.m.). We visited three or four before we found one, but had a nice dinner and tried a new brand of ale called “Spitfire.” Don’t worry, we only had half a pint.

So, here we are, our day-tripping to London finished. Tomorrow we plan to visit some local sights here in Tunbridge Wells, Paddock Wood, and other nearby communities. I’d like to do more gardens if we can find one or two, and Connie has in mind a church that supposedly has some very nice stained glass windows. Tuesday is our travel day and well be heading for Lincolnshire. So, for now,

Ciao, tutti.