London! If we'd slept with the window open overnight, we might have been able to smell Autumn wafting in this morning. However, as it was due to be around 3 degrees overnight, we decided not to. Mind you, we were up during the night (that might have had something to do with jetlag) and we could have closed it before it became too cold.
The alarm went off at 7am this morning - which surprised me because I wasn't sure what time zone I was actually setting it for. You would think you could just tell whatever phone AI one is using to just set an alarm for 7am local time zone - and it would do it. I still have time to work out how to make that happen.
We had breakfast in the hotel this morning - a full English breakfast for our first full day in London (England). Yum. Tomorrow we will try another at Blighty Cafe, out near where our mates live, not far from the Emirates Stadium. I believe black pudding and fried toast are on the menu; I'm just not sure that we'll be having them.
After breakfast, Sooz went for a bit of a nap and I took myself out for a walk to familiarise myself with the local area. I didn't go more than a few blocks from the hotel in any direction but by the time I arrived back, I had managed to do nearly 6,000 steps - and taken a few photos with the phone. I was lamenting to Sooz that even though I'd been in Russell Square, I hadn't seen a squirrel (because doesn't every park in London have squirrels?)
We went to a local foodary - Pret A Manger (Sooz tells me this is a play on 'pret-a-porter') - to pick up some lunch and we walked back through the park (at Russell Square). It was there I did my 'Up' impersonation (Squirrel!!), thrusting the things I was carrying into Sooz's hands so I could get the phone out to take a photo. She hadn't seen it at that stage and I'd like to think she was as excited as I was with the first grey squirrel sighting. I'd also like to say I managed to get a photo but the little blighter moved so quicky that by the time I'd zoomed in on the phone and found it (it was a little way away), it had moved and moved again and then again. (This is why the camera has come on the trip with us.) Then we saw the second one (Squirrel!!) - which sprinted over the grass and sat hiding in a hedge (move out here so I can take a photo little critter) until a dog came along - and then it was off again. I probably would have followed it had it not started raining and because we didn't have a raincoat between us, we decided (reluctantly on my part) to head straight back to the hotel. You better believe I will be going back to Russell Square to stalk the squirrels when I have the camera with me.
'Blue sky - are we really in London?' Sooz asked this afternoon as I sat doing more trip planning and working on the blog - sunshine streaming in through the window. But, here's no doubt it is Autumnal here.
Tip for travellers - make sure you have enough international adapters to be able to charge your devices and run your CPAP machine. The Kurdish gentlemen at the hardware store were very helpful. I'm not sure how they knew I was a tourist - maybe the accent, maybe the international travel plug - but they recommended we go out to Camden Town (take the A1 bus) while we're visiting. I wasn't sure but given the Zoo and the Freud Museum (can you tell which of us wants to go to which one?) are both out that way, there's a good chance we're going.
I called in to a City Sightseeing shop to see about Hop On Hop Off buses and the two-day pass is a better deal than the single-day - if you're planning to do both days. 'When are you planning on going?' the counter person asked - before telling me I didn't want to go with tomorrow as one of my days because the buses are going to be diverted around most of central (?) London because there's a half-Marathon on tomorrow. Okay, so not tomorrow. And, if I'm thinking of doing some out-of-town day trips, if I go back to see her on Monday, she'll give me a discount.
As well as tourist plans, we are making plans for socialising. Tomorrow we're off to brunch to catch up with N and S and meet their baby. And now we've made plans to meet up with some mates in Midsomer Murders country later in the week.