London...or bust! (#19)

One last drive in England...about 40 minutes back to Cheltenham Spa to drop off the car at Hertz and catch a train to London.  We had to stop and fill up the car with gas before dropping it off.  We were shocked because you pull up to the pump, fill your car up, then go in to pay!  As Gary said "wow, I guess they really trust you here!"  Can you imagine doing this at home!?!?

And then we got to Hertz and the car return was SO easy (at least compared to our experiences in France).  The nice guy didn't even examine the car for damage...just took the keys and checked the mileage and said we were done and gave me receipt about the size of a grocery store receipt...not the stack of papers we have been given when we rented cars in France!  The whole encounter probably took 5 minutes! We called an Uber to take us to the train station and had the most charming driver.  He was from Somalia (I think I embarrass Gary every time I ask the drivers where they are from...but I'm so curious, and they like to talk about their homeland...so win/win in my mind!). He left Somalia and moved to Norway (can you imagine any 2 countries more different from each other?!).  He fell in love there with an English woman, who eventually missed her family so they moved to England.  He asked where we were from and when we said California, he told us he had only been to New York (too busy and too big for him he said), and Columbus, Ohio which he liked very much.   He had nothing but nice things to say about Ohio. (I shuddered to think what he must have thought when Trump was going on about "eating dogs and cats".) 

Once again we had a lovely train ride and exited at Paddington Station.  I was so used to our quiet country life that I instantly felt overwhelmed at the crowds and hustle and bustle when we got off the train!  Gary's phone was acting up and he had all the address info for our AirBnb apartment in London on his phone, and we couldn't access it.  We ducked into the Hilton for tea and to use their wifi, hoping that would fix the phone issue.  While we were doing that, 2 hotel security people had an altercation with a man in the lobby and there was all sorts of yelling "stand back...do not touch me...stand back" one of the guards was yelling!  The man in question (who did not look drunk or homeless so I have not idea what started the problem) but then the hotel manager arrived, as did 2 police officers...then 2 more police officers...then 2 more!!  Meanwhile we (and others) were just sitting there drinking tea!  It was all kind of surreal! Eventually we left, walking right pass the crowd of "bobbies" and out to the front to wait for our Uber...and yet another  cop car pulled up and 2 more cops jumped out!  I'm dying to know what it was all about...

When we walked out of the Hilton we instantly saw the famous clock the looks like there is a man inside manually moving the clock hands.  Since I can't post videos, look up "man inside clock in London"...it is pretty cool!

We arrived at our apartment, tired and overwhelmed.  Now, London is very expensive...and our tiny 1 bedroom apartment for 10 nights is more than twice what we paid for a large 2 bedroom/2 bathroom cottage in Chipping Campden for 8 nights.  Here is what we have in London: 

It has a loft bedroom, small kitchen...

nice (small) bathroom on the bottom floor...

bed upstairs in the loft...

Here is the view down to the living area. Chic and modern looking, right?!

And here is Gary up in the bedroom...

the ceiling is so low, he can't stand up!!  😂

And these are the stairs up to the sleeping area! (It feels like a suicide mission to go to the bathroom at night...thank goodness for the disco lights along the wall to light the stairs!) We have decided to leave our suitcases downstairs...I am not lugging them up those tiny steep stairs!

It is clean, it has everything we need, the bed is comfy,  but it is definitely quirky!  In all honesty, we knew when we made the reservation that the bedroom ceiling was low...we did not know the stairs were only about 5" deep and super steep.  Nor did we realize that the only table is the coffee table, no dining table...so our morning coffee, tea and breakfast is held on our laps!  The appliances are brand new, high end, but I can't imagine cooking more than toast and eating on my lap!  In fact, Gary's chair faces the tv, but the couch doesn't so the only way I can watch tv is by lying down.  Gary's chair has no padding, so he has put a bed pillow on it to give some padding!  We are laughing now about it all, but when we first arrived we were a bit shocked!

On our second night here (Sunday) we were watching tv ("Legends" on Netflix...highly recommend) in our PJ's and a super loud alarm went off.  I actually thought it was part of the tv show!  The alarm was SO LOUD...turns out it was the fire alarm (not smoke alarm) in our apartment...plus every apartment in the building, and all the hallways in our 4 story building (we are on the 2nd floor).  It was ear piercing!  We thought the building was on fire, so we put on our shoes and jackets over our PJ's, grabbed our passports and wallets and headed out!  We got out in the hall and were heading down the stairs and there was a young woman in the hall with a very long pole, standing on a step stool,  pushing the button up on the ceiling fire alarm.  I'm sure we were quite a picture in our PJ's and coats, looking perplexed!!  She told me this happens about once a month an she has complained to the building manager/owner to no avail,  and handed me the pole and told me I could use it to turn off the alarm in our apartment.  Below is a photo that shows the fire alarm on the ceiling (it's behind the light on the left)...do you see how high that is?!?  I perched on the stair and tried to push it, but I couldn't reach it!  Thankfully the kind woman (who turned out to be our next door neighbor) came in with her step stool and pushed the button and the alarm stopped.  I'm so glad we didn't run down the street in our jammies to the pub to sit it out!  What a sight we would have been!

Oh...and the next day when I reached into the coat closet to get my jacket before heading out, I noticed this on the closet wall:

All this to say, we have settled into our weird little life in London, know our way around the Tube (Earls Court is our closest stop - about 5 minute walk) and are very familiar with our local M&S grocery store where we buy wine, milk, cereal and fruit.  We have 10 full days to fall in love with London...and I think it just might happen!