Off to London….

When we woke after a great day in Paris, we were back in Southampton, where we departed from. Another peace of bad news, Barb was ill! She must have caught what ever the lady who was behind us on the bus was trying hard to share. Anyway, we made our way off the boat and through customs without any problems, found a cab to take us to the Southampton train station. We chose a BnB in Brentford (just outside London) and our hosts sent us detailed directions on how to get there using public transit. Now is a good time to have some sympathy for Barb, first a struggle with her bags to disembark, then a cab ride and then a train to the heart of London and she could not enjoy any of the sights or the ride! Arriving at London’s Waterloo station, we hustle to transfer to the train to Brentford. A little stressful to say the least, dragging our bags and not sure of where we are going in London’s busiest station. The train was comfortable even though London was entering an unusual warm period.

Arriving at the Brentford station on Thursday and disembarking into a totally unknown area, we get our bearings and follow our instructions to the BnB. What appeared to be short distance on paper turned out to be a 20 minute walk with our bags and Barb not feeling well enough for this type of adventure but we got to our accommodations without getting lost! We make our way up 3 flights of steps to our lodging and Barb crashes on the bed for the rest of the day. Welcome to London Babe….. These following pictures try to show you the area we stayed in. The main streets were busy but a great spot with the canals, pubs and shopping, oh, and the pubs.

Friday and Barb is not much better and this heat wave is not helping her. The bedroom windows are small and do not allow a lot of air movement. Our hosts provide a fan but it only blows around the hot air. Later in the afternoon, our hosts leave for the weekend so we have the whole 3 floors to ourselves so we move Barb down to the main floor where we have access to the patio and the patio door lets lots of air through. This helps her feel better already.

Saturday and Barb is able to sit up and feel somewhat better. She is determined not to let this bug get her down and miss out on seeing London so Kew Gardens (Royal Botanical Gardens) are just a few stops away on the train so off we go.

The walk back to the same train station we arrived at on Thursday doesn’t seem quite so far – they must have moved yesterday! We make the walk from the Kew Bridge Station, over the Thames River to the Elizabeth Gates of Kew Gardens. It was a bit of a hike but Barb made it but tiring quickly. Instead to walking around Kew Gardens, we took the tram. It worked out perfectly for us. We got off to tour Kew Palace and gardens. We sat in a garden off from the Palace and watched geese and ducks drift around and enjoyed the nature we were in. It was time though and we had to get back to the BnB to give Barb an opportunity to rest up a little before we hit one of the pubs for dinner.

Tomorrow is going to be a big day, our bus tour of London.