Goldfish, Pickles, Opera and Giant Ducks

It's been a good week. In short, we picked up the long sought after Westminster Christmas Eve tickets, popped in on Parliament, snagged reservations for at a cool spot for Years Eve and I ate a whole bag of Pepperidge Farm Goldfish in a single sitting.

The trip to pick up the Westminster Christmas Eve tickets was a bit anticlimactic. A tube ride direct from Tower Hill to Westminster. After they had been safely tucked away we were ready to move on to the next item on the list, my junk food search. After finally finding marginally passable pretzels (I think my taste buds just gave in), the next longing was for a bag of Pepperidge Farm Goldfish. You know, those tiny fish shaped crackers that once you open the bag it magically becomes empty. Doesn't happen to you? ...hmmm. They can be had on Ebay UK for £4.99 ($7.50+) plus shipping but I am not there yet. We were now tracking down rumour that a bag of Goldfish was seen at a local upscale department store. As we headed back to the tube we passed Parliament and noted there were no lines. An afternoon watching the House of Commons "go at it" was on our list of things to do before we leave London. Yes, a bit odd, I know.

Parliament & London Eye

Anyway, checking it out on-line made it seem like an iffy outing. Basically, cueing up outside the gates with only slim hopes that you get inside. Maybe an ok summer thing to do but this did not appear to be an attractive way to spend an afternoon in 32 degree weather (that's Fahrenheit for the Celsius followers). So, when we passed by and there was no cue, we were curious and decided to check it out. Much to our amazement, we were quickly ushered through the gates, mental detectors, given badges with unflattering pictures of ourselves attached and then guided to a cue inside the building. Now your saying well at least it was warm....oh but no! The great hall was the size of a football field with a ceiling that was surely designed by a boat builder and had 0 heat. However, we were offered seats so not the worst of cues. After 15 minutes we were ushered into another all in a heated area...where we sat in another cue....this time on nice green velvet cushions. Ten minutes later we were sitting in the gallery of the House of Commons. Very cool.

Following the grilling (otherwise known as Oral Questions) of the Secretary of State for Education (he held his own quite well) we left to peak in on the House of Lords. No more lines, we just strolled along attempting to look like we belonged. Of course, the tennis shoes were likely a dead giveaway. A brief 2 minute sit on another set of green velvet cushions and off we went to the balcony over looking the House of Lords Chambers, compete with a gold throne for the queen's annual visit to Parliament. Not nearly the show here so we moved on again.

By this time we were quite embolden and began checking out random passages. As we strolled down one we were stopped by a policeman. He asked where we were going...King said that he didn't know, but he would really like to see a Committee meeting. He promptly ushered us into a small room that was just beginning to gather for a hearing on a new bill on animal rights. We got the once over from committee members as we walked in. No doubt fearful we were some crazed animal rights people planning to over take their meeting. The bill's sponsor gave a brilliant response to all of the oral comments and questions made by members. Three hours after we had entered, we staggered out Parliament and headed home. My Goldfish will have to wait for another day.

After morning chores and lunch the next day, we bundled up and headed for the tube again. The goal for the day was to check out the New Years Eve festivities location and to continue the pursuit of the Gold Fish. London is serious about its New Years celebrations. New Years advertisements began popping up in mid October. I mean really, we hadn't even put the pumpkins out and folks are planning New Years! Last New Years we had dinner in Tallahassee with friends and decided, after several bottles of some very nice champagne, that we would all meet again in London for 2012. The pressure to find a good spot was on but surely I had till Thanksgiving.

So wrong. Lets just say I now have comprehensive knowledge of every London restaurant's holiday offerings and, as of today, with the exception of the Ritz for £1150 per person few, if any, have a free table (you don't want to even think about what that is in $). Following several days of intensive searching I was ready to cry uncle. So it was by sheer dumb luck that I decided to try Quaglinos one last time....this was after being denied by them by email, an online reservation calendar and over the phone. What I didn't know was our last ditch effort was made an hour before all deposits became final. So, to put it mildly, I was skeptical when Quaglinos accepted my online request for a reservation and ecstatic when a confirming email arrive the next morning. We celebrated with lunch at our favourite pub, The Town of Ramsgate, fish and chips of course. Then off to check out the place where we would be ringing in the New Year. All I can say is WOW!

goldfish in disguise
 

The final chore of the day was to locate Selfridges Department Store. Did you know the GPS doesn't like cold weather? After several warming up efforts, the phone finally coughed up the directions and we joined the throngs of Christmas shoppers at Selfridges. They have a Food Market on the first floor that makes you want to invite Julia Childs over to cook....Oh My. And there sitting in the "American" section was my little Gold Fish!! As we made our way to the check out, a One Man Band passed through playing When the Saints Go Marching In....it left us speechless. I exhibited great self control and did not open the crackers until we returned home. Without a doubt, those were the best Gold Fish I have ever eaten.

Back at the marina a new boat has arrived! Quite sorry we didn't see her come through the lock. The Etoile du Roy ( http://www.bateaux-de-saint-malo.com/en/fiche%20Grand%20Turk.htm ) apparently could only shove in fenders on one side due to her size. She is from Brittany and is promoting pink onions grown there. They're going to need to sell a lot of onions to keep her afloat! She was built for the BBC Hornblower series.

It's getting a bit chilly for my Florida winter coat so we were off on Saturday to find something with a bit more substance. The schedule was to try on and narrow down during the morning and then move on to Whole Foods to pick up Sour Pickles (the closest thing to dills we can find) for King.....he also has his foodie needs. All went well so at 4:00 we hopped on the tram and headed for the Theatre district to see if we can get £10 concession (i.e. retiree) tickets for Makado. They offered us £15 for nice seats in the balcony so we coughed up the extra £10. This didn't hurt too bad since the guy ahead of us had just paid £70 pp to see the same show. So what's the appropriate dress for the opera on a Saturday night we asked. We were assured we looked fine. As we strolled around looking at the Christmas decorations while we waited for show time, it occurred to us that he could only see us from the waist up. Oh, well, too late now. Off to see the opera with our bag of sour dills, jeans and tennis shoes. Thank God the group in evening gowns and tuxedoes didn't sit next to us.

I will end this ramble with an update on the Etoile du Roy, aka the Pink Onion ship. She moved today to St Katharine's Pier just outside the marina. All went well with the relocation. We were a bit concerned when The Tower Bridge began to open just as the Pink Onion ship was preparing to leave the lock but no concern....it was only a giant inflatable duck floating down the Thames. I love London.

Note: the Duck made the front page of the news this morning. His purpose...to make us smile. For those that need more about the Duck.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2246297/London-City-workers-confused-rubber-duck-swimming-Canary-Wharf.html?ITO=socialnet-twitter-mailonline

It's Christmas in London!

The Pink Onion ship at St. Kat's



Makado .....sometime before King fell asleep

On board the Pink Onion ship

Parliament and Big Ben

Pink Onion entering the locks to depart St. Kats

Big Ben

Not your every day sight.  Just to make Londoners smile!

The London Tower Bridge won't open for us!

A Week of Firsts

First, let me say yes, I know I wasn't going to write any more on the Blog until we begin cruising again in the Spring. The thing is, if I don't write, I won't have anything to remind me of some of our more "interesting" times. Yes, yes, ...all in the eyes of the beholder. So this is a warning, reader beware, the following is about our land based adventures in London. Please feel free to skip these and pick up when we cast off again in early April.

A little background:
First, a bit about our location. The marina is on the Thames, next to the London Tower Bridge and the Tower of London, famous for the losing of ones head and the Crown Jewels. There are approximately 100 slips divided up into 3 basins; East, Central, and West. The East borders a line of restaurants that will make you never want to cook. The West is residential. It has the one and only washing machine...to be discussed at a later date. And then the Central, where Ostinato lives, which has the sunshine and Starbucks. Ostinato has the best of neighbours; Lazy tern and Thorang La. Liz and David are Brits, Merv and Judy are Aussies. We all speak English...although at times no one can understand what the heck the other is saying! There are about 17 live board cruising boats that are here for the winter representing Great Britain, US, Canada, Australia and France. The majority being from the US. We meet every Wednesday for coffee to share information about upcoming free concerts, good restaurants, plays, along with the more mundane
Infor like the location of the grocery, hardware and marine store. Those that have spent several winters here at St Katharine Dock are a wonderful resource to us newbies.



Happy Halloween!

October was a rush. We were barely tied to the dock when our good friend Catharine arrived and we took off for Scotland in a brand spankin new Mercedes. Yes, we did say we would never drive a car in this part of the world again..we lied. Let me just say, our departure from the London Bridge area was, how do I put this, Breathtaking! King whizzed across several lanes of traffic to everyone's amazement (especially me) going the wrong way. The taxi behind us is probably still talking about it! How we made it out of the city is still a blur. Another 5 cities in 5 day extravaganza beginning in Edinburgh Scotland and ending at Stonehenge. The good news is that I didn't need to hide in the bathroom when we returned the car. Not a scratch on her! Frank and Patty Hankins join the merry group a few days later. We had the pleasure of standing on the Prime Meridian with them, exploring the Cutty Sark, as well as racing up the Thames in a flying roach (translate - a hydrofoil ferry). I believe we also put a substantial dent in our new neighbours wine cellar (translate - bilge).

November
One of the bits of info shared during our weekly meetings was that Flu shots were available at the local Pharmacy. So............ I joined the big girl club that week. I got my first flu shot ever......I didn't pass out, cry, or make a last minute break for the door. King was amazed. He offered to take me to TK Maxx to shop afterward as a reward. If your wondering if that is another of Sue's typos, it's not. Same store, different initials. Who knows.

St Kat's tree

Christmas is now in high gear in London. We had the official tree lighting ceremony at St Kat's on Friday, November 15. Kids sang carols and danced in front of a 2 story tree covered in white lights. Vendors were selling mulled wine and roasted chestnuts. Dick on Alchemy bought a bag of chestnuts and generously shared them among the group. My first roasted chestnut. Yum. We skipped the pricy mulled wine and relocated back to our neighbour's boat, Lazy Tern, and enjoyed some Liz and David's fine wine.

I decided going to Westminster Abby for Christmas Eve services would be a memorable event for the holidays. I realise that I'm still a tourist but how hard can this be to arrange. You get dressed up on Christmas Eve and catch the tube to the Cathedral and enjoy a service in spectacular surroundings and return home to open your Christmas presents. Obviously, I had no clue. First, apparently half of London also thinks this is a good thing to do on Christmas Eve. So to keep the Abby from looking like the night before the launching of a new IPad, you must get tickets to the service you wish to attend. I really wanted to go to the midnight service...which always begins at 11:30 for some unexplained reason, but I digress. That particular service does not require tickets...odd, I thought. My bubble was burst when boat neighbours advised that London tubes and buses shut down before midnight on Christmas Eve. Hence, the only people descending on the Abby will be those up for a brisk 1:00 a.m. stroll home. Wear your woollies! Ok. I can roll with the punches. Not to be deterred, the next best option is 4:30. Of course you need tickets for that one. So King reluctantly agrees to drop by Westminster with me to see if we can snag a couple. He dutifully puts the address in the GPS and off we go. We walk for days. It begins to turn dark, we haven't seen a tube station for miles. I'm beginning to wonder if we have crossed into another country. With Big Ben right beside of it, the place would be hard to miss so we know we haven't walked by it. Just before the last rays of light descended, we discovered the difference between Westminster Abby and Westminster Cathedral. 2 buses and 2 changes on the tube returned us home....without tickets. The next morning I checked the Westminster web site and low and behold, there was a link to order them online. We have 4 tickets waiting for pick up. If we can just find the place. Yes, King is still speaking to me.



Turkey Day at
the Mayflower

Thanksgiving was our first major holiday in London. Of course, the Brits don't celebrate Thanksgiving so no cardboard turkeys in the grocery and canned pumpkin was a bit scarce. Gus on Wings organised an American Thanksgiving dinner for the cruising community at St Kat's. We began the day at St. Paul's Cathedral where an American Thanksgiving Service is held annually. Following the service, the American Ambassador to Great Britain gave a brief speech. The place was packed. Obviously a lot of Yanks are running around London. From there we made our way to the Mayflower Pub. No, I'm not making this up. History says that the pub was where the Mayflower began it's journey. Sources admit that while the pub was there, it has only been call the Mayflower for the last 50 years or so. All in all an admirable job on the dinner. The only complaint ...or should I say comment was the pumpkin pie. It looked more like a thin crust pumpkin pizza... What did they do with the rest of the pumpkin?.......was that pumpkin soup I saw go by?


Straddling the time meridian

St. Kat's cruisers gather for Thanksgiving at the Mayflower



The Cutty Sark



Can you find Sue?

King walking to St. Paul's

Cutty Sark



Thanksgiving dinner at the Mayflower in London



Applause

Five months, 24 days and 7 hrs from Shell Point to London. If not a record for the slowest passage it should at least get honourable mention. We left the River Medway at 8:30, an hour before low slack tide as instructed by the guides. With the wind on our nose...is there any other direction?...that really should be an official direction, east, west, north, south, on your nose...anyway, Ostinato began her 2nd day motoring up the Thames, arriving at the London Tower Bridge at 4:00 p.m. Along the way we passed Malcolm and Jill on Francesca, who we first met in Gosport. We took pictures of each other puttering up the river. The river is long and meandering and set up for large ship traffic. Fortunately, the big boat traffic was taking the day off. On the outskirts of London are 8 large flood gates that are Sci-Fi looking silver domes crossing the river. You must request permission to pass through them. With little fanfare, (that I personally felt the occasion required) we were funnelled through gate E and sent on our merry way. Our next trial was dodging the high speed river ferries and site seeing boats. This was particularly challenging at the London Tower Bridge just outside St Kat's lock where we circled for 30 minutes waiting our turn to enter. Finally, the gates opened and out popped a small power boat. It was our turn. While Sunday is a quiet day for big boat traffic on the river, it is not so for foot traffic around St Kat's. Once the walking bridge goes up, half of the population of London arrives to watch the fools on the boat try to shove a 40 ft boat into a tiny hole in the wall with the current pushing you sideways. You just can't buy that kind of entertainment. Ostinato arrived first so at least got to plow our way into an empty lock. King made it look so easy. The German boat behind us got a bit anxious on his turn and barreled in before the bridge was completely up. The screams of the dock master over the radio got everyone's undivided attention. However, somehow he danced his spreaders, weaving back and forth, in between the two ends of the rising bridge. The crowds increased with anticipation of more action to come on our exit. We took our leave as quickly as possible without humiliating ourselves. I had expected applause at some point but it was a tough crowd.

Coffee anyone?

The marina is surrounded by shops and restaurants. We have a Starbucks to port. So how close are we? We are so close the boat smells like starbucks coffee and we can get their free Wi Fi connection.....the bathrooms and showers on the other hand are back across the bridge spanning the lock.

Spent the day settling in, meeting our new neighbours and locating the grocery store. First guest arrives next Sunday! Yikes! I still need to find the laundry room.

This will be the last routine entry in the blog until next April when we untie the dock lines again and head who knows where. I hope you will join us for our next adventure. Thanks for everyone's encouragement and comments along the way. It's been a lot of fun sharing this experience with all of you.

We plan on being back in Tallahassee in late Feb. Hope to see you then!

To be continued.....

Sue & King

River Thames

Waiting for the lock to open at St. Kat's

London Tower Bridge....what a sight!

Approaching St. Kat's and London Tower Bridge

The Thames is heavy with commercial activity

Thames flood barriers

Waiting outside the lock at St. Katharine's Marina

Bargains

October 1
We slid out of bed at 6:15 this morning to try to take advantage of a very short weather window to move up the coast 25 miles to Ramsgate. Long underwear ...check, everything stowed.....check. Foul weather gear, life jackets and boots....check, check, check. Gate open to allow us to leave the lock..... Oops. Forgot about the lock! Locked in until 10:00. There went the our weather window. So instead, we rode the train to Canterbury to see the cathedral and look for Lady Godiva. We also took our first step to becoming long term visitors by buying a Senior rail pass.

October 4
Ramsgate is a nice enough place, don't get me wrong, it's just not London....and I'm really ready to be in London. But although we planned to leave this morning for the 2 day trip up the Thames, it was just not to be. Wind Guru and the Met Office finally agreed on a forecast. This may be a first and unfortunately, it was not the one we had hoped for. Wind on the nose against current and no where to duck into if things go south. No thanks. So to soothe are disappointment, we hopped a train to Chatham (30% off with the new rail pass!) and visited the Historic Boat Yard. This included a rope making demonstration in the 1,000 ft long rope making building. King, always looking for a deal, knocked on the office door on the way out and eventually made his way to the "end of the spool room" where he picked up new mooring line for a song. Tomorrow 50 knot gusts are forecasted so its another stay put day.....and an opportunity to put his new lines to the test.

October 6

Hooray for sun!

We pulled dock lines this morning at 8:30 to begin our journey up the Thames. The sky was dreary and although it was forecasted to clear, I would of put my money on more rain. Finally, a small blue patch to the north began to slowly grow until the sky just screamed "happy" at you! We took the South Channel route into the Thames, the shortest but one which meant we had to weave in and out of multiple sand bars. King gets an A for the day. I spent the day sitting outside the bimini just soaking up much needed vitamin D. Ostinato was attached to a mooring ball in the River Medway by 2:00. The rest of the day was spent cleaning the waterline and top sides to prepare for our arrival in London tomorrow. Wahoo! The good champagne has been put in the fridge for a chill. : ) As we settled in for the evening a soft booming in the distance was heard. It turned out to be a massive fireworks display on the Northern side of the Thames. Do you think they heard we were coming?

Dover Castle

White Cliffs of Dover

Ferry traffic outside of Ramsgate was busy

Entering Ramsgate Harbour

Ferries heading to France

Is that the sun?!!!



A quiet night in the River Medway of the Thames



Stock Tip

Sept 25
Dinner ashore tonight at "Red" a small restaurant at the marina owned by a woman from Russia, serving British food. The decor was done in black and white pics of Marilyn Monroe and sailboats. Each with a slash of red highlight somewhere about. The menu was limited...Fish and Chips (of course), Hamburgers and Chip, and Baggers and Mash.... As advertised, not a typo. Fortunately, we had Malcolm from Francisca, the yacht tied up behind us, to advise what a Banger was but admitted he was also clueless about Baggers. Regardless of how they are spelled, they will not be on my list of must have foods.

Sept 26
The sail to Brighton was less than fun with sustained wind in the high 20s and gusts to 35. The dinghy tried to make her great escape during all of the commotion..... Like we wouldn't notice. King was able to lash her back aboard but boat pole #3 was sacrificed during the drama. If anyone wants to invest in stock you might want to look at boat pole manufacturing companies. I have a feeling we will be leaving a trail behind us.

Sept 27
I know everyone will be relieved to hear we found two more jumbo bags of TP. I think we are good till Christmas! Obviously, it was something I didn't want to take a chance of running out of.

Successfully managed going through our first lock in Eastbourne. Four boats were crammed in there at once. We were the fattest, of course. Only a couple of feet clearance on each side as we entered. Yikes. Once inside, the marina water was like glass. No rock and roll. I think I like this locking business.

August 29
We left the marina this morning at 8 a.m. for a glorious sail to Dover. The sky was a beautiful bright blue with cotton ball clouds all day. While the wind only blew 8 -12 knots we had the current with us so averaged 7 knots, with a few spikes past 9, on the 45 mile passage. The guides books had me a bit wound up with all of their warning about staying out of the way of multiple ferries and cargo ships "some moving at 45 knots" as they zip in and out of the port. You must request permission to enter the harbour from a very busy Harbour Control. Fortunately, our entry was a cake walk with only two other sail boats breezing in along with us. After tying up to the dock, we checked in at the marina office and collected our THIRD boat pole that King had called ahead to have delivered.

So, you may be thinking is she gonna say anything about the White Cliffs? Nope. They appear to be at their finest on the other side of the port so you will just have to wait. I have included a pic of the White Cliffs near Brighton. They were quite stunning.

Off to Dover Castle.

Brighton's White Cliffs were spectacular

White Cliffs of Brighton

Eastbourne Marina

Entering Brighten Marina

Entering Dover

Dover - heading to the small boat Marina