We arrived in London this morning around 9:20 a.m. after. spending three hours on the Tarmac because of thunderstorms around the nova area. Once we were airborne, they couldn't feed us fast enough. I watched two interesting, but long, movies - Hail, Caeser with George Clooney and The Queen of the Desert with Nicole Kidman. It is absolutely astounding to think Gertrude Bell lived with numerous Boudin tribes in the early 1900's. A British citizen, she became known as Queen of the Desert. I can't wait to find out more about her.
We arrived at our apartment in the Kennington (definitely not to be confused with KenSINGton) area. For those of you who know DC, think about the Columbia Heights area, but the area has probably been going through the renovation at least 6 years longer than Columbia Heights. It's truly a neighborhood which is always fun.
The apartment isn't exactly what we anticipated, but it's all a learning experience and this was the first one I had ever booked on AirBnb. So some pointers when looking for your apartment on one of the numerous sites available:
1. When they advertise kitchenette, hopefully pictures will be posted as well because our kitchen is a small refrig., toaster, microwave and one hot plate burner; not exactly what we anticipated, but it will be fine.
2. When they say lower level, that's code for basement. It's not horrible, but if you have allergies and it's been raining for the past week, dampness can be an issue.
3. You have to make sure you're not sharing a room in a house unless that's what you're looking for. It needs to say apartment. Just as if you want a bed, make sure your bed isn't a pull out sofa. That'easily mistaken as well.
After pizza at one of the many local restaurants, we went to the grocery store to look around and pick up cream for coffee. This was a new one on me; I wanted cream for my coffee tomorrow and she said she had never heard of it and used carnation evaporated milk for hers. I was floored! She kindly pointed out the locals short cut to Tesco which is much bigger. They do sell small 3 day use containers of cream. I'll let you know how it tastes.
Tomorrow is the referendum on whether England should leave the EU. Several countries are threatening to do likewise depending on the turn out tomorrow. Our cab driver from the airport this morning was very cagey in his response. All the polls are showing they will stay, but it is a miniscule margin of error so no one is calling it. In the Kennington area, we've seen lots of REMAIN with the EU and nothing in favor of withdrawal.$
$ Good morning. I have to confess this where I started fallen asleep. Cham very wisely suggested we go to a local pub for a libation so we could stretch our legs and enjoy a beverage. We went to the Old Red Lion, truly an old timbered place that looks just like all the pubs you've ever seen in the movies. Because it's a seasonal drink, I had a rhubarb cider. It was a very pretty pale pink and pale gold color and had a great taste. Cham got a glass of chard and we sat out in the beer garden enjoyed some glimpses of sunshine. I do wish I could have taken a picture of this; two young women about 26 years came in. Lone looked like Nicole Kidman - gorgeous, perfect skin, body, blue green eyes, strawberry blonde and the other had a killer body, tatted legs and arms, pierced nose and ears, skin head haircut, hot pants, leather thigh boots and biker jacket and a leather cap that had huge spikes on it. Talk about contrasts! i tried very hard not to stare while trying to figure it out and the came to the realization they were twins! Talk about a great novel or at least a documentary.
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