The Written Word
for January 9, 2000

This trip I thought I’d keep a diary and tell you what Wendy and I did on a daily basis.

Saturday November 20, We arrived via Air Canada flight 896 at Heathrow at 8:20 AM, right on time. Good flight over and we came in from the west over Windsor Castle. Took a cab to Jurys Hotel in South Kensington …

It is always like coming home when we get to Jurys – we were there 6 years ago when the Irish chain took over and stay there two or three times a year. After a cleanup took the tube to Green Park and then strolled down Piccadilly to the new Waterstones which has taken over the old Simpsons Department store and now proclaims itself Europe’s largest book store which it well may be. Five floors, three restaurants and a million titles. Then to Leicester Square for some great people watching and then dropped over to the Orvis flyfishing store now relocated from Sackville to Dover Street. Being tired, eschewed the walk home and took the tube. Dinner round the corner at Il Falconiere and as usual the food was excellent and the service too rushed. Slept for 12 hours.

Sunday the 29^th. Took the tube to St Pauls and the 10:15 sung matins. The Church of England is nothing if not punctual – began at 10:15 on the dot and ended at 11:00. Met a nice lady named Kathleen from San Francisco – her first time in London so walked her to Covent Garden. Covent Garden featured first two very good tenors then a lovely soprano – so lovely I bought her cd … then a very good and real fun young string quartet. Kathleen said goodbye and Wendy and I walked over to Piccadilly Circus via China Town to the Virgin store where I got an old Buck Clayton-Frankie Laine cd which I never dreamt would be reissued. Walked home, down Piccadilly, through Knightsbridge, past Harrods and through Thurloe Place to Old Brompton and Juries. Quite a walk when you look at it – St Pauls to the corner of Old Brompton and Queensgate in South Kensington but a grand day. A pint or two of Caffreys in the lounge, dinner across the street at Tootsies and home to bed.

Monday November 22 … round the corner to the little Floris Restaurant … it’s a hell of lot cheaper than the hotel and we eat light and besides we’ve been going there for years now and it’s like old home week … then off by tube to Piccadilly Circus and the first trip up Regent Street. The Christmas lights are up and beautiful as usual this year with a snowfall theme. Bit of a drizzly day … not enough for a brolly though. A good day for window shopping and we started at Paul and Shark and work our way harmlessly past all the cashmere shops … lots of looking and no buying … ditto past the Warner Brothers and Disney Stores but then there was Jaegers. That usually gets a bit of action and today was no exception … Wendy found a smashing cashmere sweater and pants set which became what Santa was to bring her. Through Oxford Circus down Oxford to Selfridges for a look around ... saw a lovely jacket in the Gieves and Hawkes section … only 900 pounds!! Who in hell can afford $2300 for a sports jacket? I remember when you bought a pretty good car for that! Lunch in the 400 restaurant in the basement of Selfridges where they have delicious pizzas … after lunch to the British Airways section in the basement where we book three days in Prague … then home which is a hell of a long way, down Regent to Piccadilly, along Piccadilly through Knightsbridge to the Victoria and Albert, sharp left to Old Brompton then for a welcome beer with our friends Gordon & Diane Reimer who have just arrived for 12 days. Dinner at Il Falconiere – then a nightcap and bed.

Tuesday November 23 … lovely Fall day in London. Mixed sun and cloud all day. After a latish start we walked over to Harrods undoubtedly he world’s most interesting and expensive department store although some stuff is quite reasonable. Not beard trims though … mine cost 12 quid which is about 30 bucks which is bluddy outrageous – I should know better. Off to Fortnum and Masons for lunch with the Reimers … by foot … and sat at out usual bench at Hyde Park Corner in the shadow of Apsley House … #1 London, the home of the Duke of Wellington and now a fine museum of his stuff. Looked over at the Lanesborough Hotel which used to be St George’s Hospital … and here’s a story with a twist. They closed the hospital a few years ago and the trustees who looked forward to making some money on the property. After they’d cleaned the place out the Duke of Westminster pointed out a clause in the lease whereby if the property ceased to be used for a hospital, it reverted to him. He now owns the most expensive hotel in London with the royal suite renting for $10,000 a night not including breakfast!

After lunch it’s the Pall Mall Fly fishing shops – Hardys, Sportfish, and Farlows with Rafe finding the starlings wings he wanted plus a book on the chalk streams of England.

Home for a freshening up and a look at the papers which are all full of Jeffrey Archer who asked a friend to lie for him for his libel case back in 1986 where he sued a paper for saying that he’d been with a prostitute. This has cost Lord Archer his chance at the Mayor of London’s job and he’s been tossed out of the Tory caucus of the House of Lords. I know him well – feel kind of sorry for him. Went to dinner at one of our favourite Italian restaurants, La Dolce Vita near Harrods on Brompton … with the Reimers walking there and back …

Wednesday November 24. After breakfast walked up to Hyde Park Corner and met the Reimers … another fine day … caught the Big Bus Company for our regular tour … even though I’ve been to London some 75-80 times I love this bus tour. We were a bit disappointed, The Company has raised its fare to 15 pounds a person bundling the tour in with Madame Tusseauds, a river cruise and some escorted walks, none of which we wanted. $75 a couple for a bus tour is a bit much and I have written the company to complain. Moreover, the guide made six mistakes … but, aside from the price, it’s still the best tour by far.

Back at Green Park stop we split and Wendy and I just window shop our way to Marble Arch and then walked home through Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens and down Queens Gate to Jurys. It’s a lovely walk … we sat on one of our favourite benches on the Serpentine, the man made lake, taking pictures of a sunset that just got redder and redder. Walking along the Serpentine we crossed over to Kensington Gardens to the Albert Memorial, now completely refurbished and for all its Victorian excess, makes a grand sight … as does Royal Albert Hall across the street. A pre dinner drink with the Reimers, burger at Tootsies, a visit to Waterstones where I resisted all temptations, and home to bed.

Thursday November 25 – Another lovely day. To the British Museum where Wendy wanted to see the Rosetta Stone … off the tube at Russell Square, right in the heart of Bloomsbury where Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group wrote their novels, painted their paintings and fornicated with one another with little or no regard for the gender of the mate involved. Through Russell Square to the formidable British Museum and a truly well done exhibit. The Rosetta stone is remarkable because it’s written in hieroglyphics, Coptic and Greek which enabled experts to break the code of hieroglyphics for the first time. Since the Rosetta Stone is due to be returned to Egypt, don’t miss this exhibit if you have the chance to see it. From there to the HMV store on Oxford east on Oxford Circus, the one I like the best though it was Wendy who found cds she liked. Then to the Café 400 and the Reimers for pizza lunch, a bit of shopping and our favourite walk through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens and home. A couple of drinks with the Reimers, dinner at Il Falconiere and to bed. Another great day.

Friday November 26, 1999 Off to the Tower of London where we start one of our favourite London walks. The deal was we would meet the Reimers at the new Millennium Ferris Wheel which is 450 feet high and takes a half an hour to revolve. It moves so slowly that they can let each car empty and fill with 25 people without stopping. Not for me, I’ll tell you … this is another way I’m not going to die … in a ferris wheel that’s been hit by a passing plane … or collapses … nor dying of fright on some damned ferris wheel in London. It’s a ghastly sight.

Having been in the must see Tower Of London many times we gave it a pass … most of the executions, incidentally, were on Tower Hill … only a handful, like Anne Boleyn, were actually executed inside the Tower … that was for royalty and such … actually it was quite an honour to have your head cut off at the Tower itself!

We started at St Katherine’s Docks which used to be famous docks in the days that London was a seaport … now it has up market housing, two hotels, some neat shops and a lovely marina where the rich and famous keep their yachts. The marina accesses the Thames by a lock. After some window shopping we crossed the famous Tower Bridge – the one the American from Arizona thought he was buying when he bought London Bridge and re-assembled it in Arizona … and the views were spectacular both ways … another beautiful day and there was St Pauls and the Monument to the right and Canary Wharf to the left.

Across the bridge you soon come to the ancient Southwark Cathedral not much visited by tourists because it’s on the other side of the river from where they usually go. And there is very ancient Winchester Palace, now just some ruins … past the new Globe Theater, a faithful reconstruction of the Old Globe and just a couple of hundred yards from where the old one stood, stopping for coffee at Hays Galleria, a neat little shopping center in one of the old London warehouses. The walk terminated rather suddenly when, just in front of the National Theater, I took a header. London’s sidewalks are series of cement squares. This means a lot of ridges and you have to watch them. Because it was windy I had my hands in my jacket pockets and I hit a bump. I couldn’t really get my hands free fast enough to break my fall … I hit my head, broke my glasses and cut both elbows and my right knee. I was a bit of a mess …Wendy and a kind young woman managed to get me into a nearby restaurant and Wendy retrieved the Reimers who were only a couple of minutes away. This rather altered plans as I had to get new frames which took us to an optometrist I used about ten years ago when I also broke my glasses – don’t ask why I didn’t have a spare … in any event this most helpful store is near Piccadilly Circus and is called Paris Miki … an hour later I had my old lenses in new frames and we were away. Not feeling overly chipper I indulged myself in a new jacket from Austin Reed and repaired home by tube instead of our usual walk. Drinks and dinner with the Reimers as usual and to bed and a lot of sleep.

Saturday November 27 … Another beautiful day … we’ve been so lucky with the weather! After breakfast Wendy and I walked over to Bond Street via Knightsbridge and Piccadilly which is a pretty good walk. Wendy and I have our little sit down as we always do, by the Wellington statue just across from his home in Apsley House … I’m constantly asked by people, "which way to Harrods, please?" If they are English they’re usually amused at getting directions from a Canadian accent. As usual we sidetracked the walk a bit and instead of walking up Piccadilly we take a bit of a diversion through Green Park, so named because Charles II, while walking with his wife through the park one day, plucked a flower and gave it to one of his mistresses who was nearby. The Queen was so angry that she had all the flowers removed from the park which thereafter was known as The Green Park, now just Green Park … a lovely park which is full of 200 year old Plane trees … much like our Maple and this time of the year in various shades of green and brown.

Today’s the day Wendy gets to ogle all the jewelry on Bond Street which is considerable.. It was a delightful walk up Old and New Bond to Oxford Street on the right hand, past Churchill and Roosevelt in bronze on a bench, and back on the other side. Happy to say, no damage was down to the Mair wallet. At 2:30 the Reimers and Mairs went over to the Queens Theater on Shaftsbury for The Lady in the Van, starring Maggie Smith. It was fantastic. The story is by Allan Bennett of Beyond the Fringe and other fame and has two parts for him, one as a young man and one as an older man. The actor playing the older man was ill and, this still being in the rehearsal stage, Bennett played himself in the senior stage which was quite a bonus. The story is of a bag lady, played by the marvelous Maggie Smith, who parks her van in Bennett’s garden for 15 years and the bag lady. Maggie Smith – need I say more? Dinner at a favourite Italian restaurant on the Strand then home for an early night.

Sunday November 28 Met the Reimers at St Pauls for Sung Matins … a beautiful service and excellent sermon. Then to the coffee garden at Covent Garden … took the usual walk down Ludgate, through Fleet Street to the Strand then up Wellington to Covent Garden and managed to finagle four pretty good seats as two sopranos performed… then they left and a tenor and a soprano took over … both groups sang well known arias, some of which the audience joined in … it costs you nothing but the occasional pound in the hat … easily the best value entertainment in London.

Over to Leicester Square where the Carnival is playing … sit awhile and people watch. Then down to the Victoria Embankment which is always a favourite walk and now, of course, there is this giant Ferris Wheel to gawk at. Over to the Parliament buildings where I always love the statue of Churchill, leaning on his cane staring over Westminster Bridge just daring those Nazi bombers to take him on. Then it was St James Park - always such a favourite for Londoners – and us. We sat by the lake for about an hour watching the birds cadge bread from passers-by … then an especially cheeky and highly successful gray squirrel got in the act … it was great fun. Past Buckingham Palace into Green Park to the Canadian War Memorial which Wendy and I plus the Reimers had seen dedicated in June 1994 by the Queen … then home through Knightsbridge and off to the pub for dinner. Another super day.

Monday November 29 … this was the day the Reimers and Mairs were to go to Hampstead Heath … but it rained! But after some debate we decided to go anyway ... and it was great. We walked in the rain and loved it! The leaves are now all brown, yellow and orange depending on the variety and the squirrels are poking in the leaves for the last of the Fall’s goodies. I know this is heresy but it made us wonder if it wouldn’t be a good idea to clear some of the deciduous trees and bushes out of Stanley Park so more people could enjoy a walk in the woods as Londoners can … We walked and walked and got quite lost. Eventually we found that we had walked all the way from Hampstead to Golders Green so we made a virtue of necessity and looked the place over … an old Jewish area … nice homes and shopping district … reminded me a bit of Chislehurst in the eastern part of Greater London … found a Starbucks … had a great muffin and cappucino and it was the tube back to downtown … we decided to hell with the rain and walked home … London in a bit of rain ain’t half bad you know!

… it’s a wonderful walk although the pedestrian traffic is a bit much around Harvey Nichols and Harrods. Met at Jurys with the Reimers for drinks … a light dinner then home. Good day.

Tomorrow it’s Exeter and a sentimental journey.

Tuesday November 30 we, Reimers and Mairs, took the 9:33 from Paddington to the lovely cathedral town of Exeter, on the river Exe in Devon. It was a pretty trip down – not sunny but not rainy either as the day was to remain. The train ran about half an hour late meaning that the journey was nearly three hours instead of the usual two and a bit.

Our first destination was the quay which is a very nice area of restored buildings down on the river. The have taken old docks and warehouses and made them come alive with antique shops and used book stores plus the usual pubs and eating places. After a light lunch we went up to the city and the marvelous 13^th and 14^th century cathedral. Across from the Cathedral is a very commodious Orvis store which, for the uninitiated is a fly fishing shop … a very large American outfit which now has several UK outlets including London and Exeter … they’ve taught Hardys and Farlows a thing or two about merchandising. In any event I found that a man I fished with a couple of years ago has compiled the last writings of the great Itchen fisherman GEM Skues into a limited edition and I just had to have #304 of 750. I read it on the train back and agreed with myself that I’d made a wonderful investment! Disappointed that the restaurant where we wanted to have dinner – Ginos where 5 ½ years ago I had proposed to and been accepted by Wendy - wasn’t open so we went to the little tearoom on the Church common and had, we all agreed, one of the best dinners we’d had thus far in Britain. And reasonable too..

Home on the 7:32 which was a bit late, a quick nightcap at Jurys and to bed. A nice day indeed,

Thursday December 1 Another beautiful day.Wendy and I decided to walk in the Parks a bit. She wants to see the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens so we walked up Queens Gate and entered the Park just west of the Albert Memorial and Royal Albert Hall walking up to the statue of the lady on the horse they call Energy in Motion. Branch off to eleven o’clock to the Round Water and there was the statue. This seemed to be our day for dogs – first a Jack Russell terrier named Billy who managed to get his wet paw marks all over my clean slacks then an unnamed Golden Retriever whose young French lady owner had a sick camera that Wendy fixed … she knew better than to ask me … and after an hour or so of sitting and strolling went over the top end of Hyde Park to Selfridges where we picked up our tickets to Prague. After a muffin and coffee it was off to Waterstones to meet the Reimers and then to the theater for a matinee … strolled down through Mayfair and Grosvenor Square where the Canadian High Commission is … also the US Embassy … then down to Berkeley Square for a sit down where we were greeted by Cleo, a West Highland Terrier who, her mistress told us, had just been on a long diet, getting a bit hefty from all the goodies she manages to mooch from lunchers in the square. As we walked down Berkeley Street with the Ritz in view we somehow found ourselves humming A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square.

It was off with the Reimers to "A Saint She Ain’t", a highly recommended musical about 1944. Give this one a miss … a very wide miss.

After the show we walked through the very colourful Chinatown though Trafalgar Square with the beautiful St Martin in the Fields bathed in light, down to the Embankment Station thence to the Zetland Arms where I had roast beef and Yorkshire pudding that was to die for. A quick nightcap and it was home for a bit of a read and bed.

Thursday December 2 … another beautiful day … Wendy and I were off to Chelsea starting at Sloane Square with the very nice department store, Robert Jones … wandered along Kings Road which used to be the street for funky stores and still is to some extent … lots of women’s fashions, plenty of shoe stores … the real find was Daisy and Tom’s kiddies store … I had more fun than the kids I think. Lunch was a scone in one of the many coffee shops that have sprung up since Starbucks came to town and then it was down to the Chelsea Embankment and Cheyne Walk. This is the area of St Thomas More, Thomas Carlyle and many other famous Londoners. It was said of Thomas and Jane Carlyle that theirs’ was a marriage made in heaven since God only made two people miserable instead of four. One of our favourite walks .. .as usual we cut back up through the Royal Hospital at Chelsea, the hospital for war veterans designed by Sir Christopher Wren … it’s a touching sight seeing the old pensioners in their special uniforms with all their medals on as they walk down Kings Road. There’s a wonderful flower garden supply shop just off Kings Road which is a must … just to see the marvelous makes it worth it … huge array of goodies for inside and outside the house. We window shopped our way home – quite a walk all told and I was glad of the rest and the coffee.

Met the Reimers for drinks at Jurys at 5:30 and they took us to the very posh Sloane Club for a magnificent dinner. I’m very glad Gordon was the host for the prices matched the great food. Back to Jurys for a nightcap where Wendy met a doctor she knew from her nursing days at Langley Memorial … small world, as they say.

Friday December 3 A work day for me … I have an article for the Toronto Star to do and since this is my first for them I want to get off on the right foot … Met the Reimers at their hotel to say goodbye as they go home … it had been pouring rain when but by the time the Reimers left at 1:00 the sun was out. After a late lunch we set out for Harrods – I wanted to check out their outdoor department … and at their prices "check out" was all I was going to do … then we window shopped Beauchamp Place … Wendy saw some shoes she liked but they didn’t have her size … took we scenic rout back home and part way there were greeted by the most magnificent sunset. Time to read the papers then cocktails and a burger at Tootsies, across the road from Jurys … then a bit of a tour of Waterstones next door … then a nightcap with the general manager of Jurys, Michael Neve, and to bed and an early night.

Saturday December 4 … we decided today that we would go to see the Van Dyck exhibition at the Royal Academy … it was another beautiful day so we walked our usual route along Cromwell Road through Brompton, past Harrods, The Scotch House, Harvey Nichols and through Wellington Place with our usual stop for a sit down in front of Apsley House … I helped my usual quota of tourists who were slowly wandering along, nose in a map … and then off we went. At the Royal Academy we found that it would be over $50 just to look at some paintings … usually we just pay without thinking and then are angry later but this time we said to hell with it and did some window shopping in the Burlington Arcade then went to the Starbucks just off Dover Street … what a good thing they’ve become for the Londoner or visitor who doesn’t want a big meal … we had a couple of muffins and some great cappucino and were well satisfied. You’ve probably noticed that shopping streets have one side that’s better that the other … this is true of Regents Street where the east side is to be preferred … after another peek into the new Orvis Flyfishing shop on Dover street we ambled through Berkeley Square and Mayfair to Oxford Street and went down the west side of Regents. Regents on the East side and much of Oxford Street are so busy this time of the year that you quite literally can’t move but this stroll was very pleasant. One very good shop on the west side of Regent Street is Burberry’s and there Wendy found a most fetching skirt which added to the duty to be paid when we get home. It was such a lovely day we walked down through Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square … where we sat for awhile and reminisced about the first time we had been in London and Leicester Square together 6 ½ years before. Down through Trafalgar Square down Northumberland Street to the Thames, walked along the Embankment, through Parliament Square and to St James Park – perhaps London’s prettiest – where we sat for perhaps an hour before walking home … a terrific day … a hell of a lot of walking and a well earned pint of Caffreys when we got home.

Sunday December 5 We decided to take it a bit easy today … after breakfast we took the tube to Sung Mattins at St Pauls which again was so beautiful. I can never get quite get used to the beauty and splendor of St Pauls … more than anything else it marks London for me. As usual we then went over to Covent Garden and sat for an hour or so, over a couple of cappuccino and listened to the two tenors and then the string quartet. For a few pounds for coffee and the performers’ hat, it’s a hell of a deal … It was another beautiful day but a little cold so we walked back to the hotel via Green Park and spent some time reading. Light day but a nice one.

Monday December 6 … to Heathrow Terminal 1 via British Airways to Prague … I think we both were a little nervous about the trip … we knew not a word of Czech … but as it turned out we were to have the best three days we’d spent in many a moon … easy two hour flight and a bus, prearranged by BA took us to the 2 star Cloisters Hotel … a very nice, clean room … a great location. Used to be where the Communist police took their political prisoners … used to be owned by some nuns before that thus the name … they have the property back now.

I don’t know where to begin with Prague … except to say that it’s the most beautiful city I’ve ever been to. Untouched by war, Prague’s a maze of cobble-stoned roads which basically lead into two very large squares. Old Town Square and Wenceslaus Square ... the "new town" incidentally, was built in the 15^th and 16^th centuries … we’re talking a very old city here folks! Old Town Square is overwhelming with the twin spired, 15^th century cathedral – which is bathed in pale blue light at night – dominating one side and the old Town Hall with it’s eyecatching clock on the other … There’s a grand statue of Jan Hus, the great 15^th century Czech reformer and dozens of pedlar’s stalls.

The first full day we took a tour of the city … wonderful guide and much of the tour was a walking tour of the Castle and St Vitus Church which are located high on the left bank with spectacular views. It was cold – around 0 – but bright. I must say that the city is overwhelming. The streets are very narrow and the buildings all very old, most with frescoes and designs and nearly all painted in one or other pastel. To step out of your hotel is to be instantly lost … Wendy and I were lost the whole time … but the good news is that you’re never really that far lost. We found a nice looking Italian restaurant – the city is full of restaurants. The restaurant didn’t take credit cards – we discovered this after we had eaten and since we had only converted 50 pounds into Kroner were worried we might have to wash dishes. The bill, for a fantastic dinner inclusive of wine and beer, came to 484 crowns or about $17!!

Tuesday December 2^nd and Wednesday December 3

We had planned a boat trip up the Moldau River for but it was such a beautiful, warm day that we decided just to walk … and did we ever walk. One of the striking sights of Prague is the wonderful old 15^th century Charles Bridge now reserved for pedestrians and, of course, artists and the like, peddling their wares. The feature of the bridge is the multiplicity of religious and other statues which line both sides. The views from the bridge are spectacular. We re-traced our steps of the day before up to the castle and the Church of St Vitus window shopping, people watching and taking in the great views. Then we walked back across Charles Bridge, into the Jewish quarter, into the old city and through it to Wencelaus Square which really isn’t a square but a very wide boulevard a la Paris. We stopped for cappuccino and a toasted sandwich as a sidewalk café and spent the rest of the day just walking, getting lost, then getting found again.

I must tell you a funny story about our first night. We were in the Old Town Square, looking at our map with that bewildered look all lost tourists have when a lady came up and, in flawless English asked if she could help. It turned out that she was a Czech-Canadian who lived half the year in Prague, the other half in Vancouver. Her name. I think, was Malena, and she not only walked us back to our hotel – on the way she showed us a recommended restaurant called the Golden Lyre. For the next two nights we looked for that damned restaurant and couldn’t find it. We found lots of other things like an Irish Pub full of Irishmen but we couldn’t find the restaurant. On our last full day, when it came time to go home, naturally we were lost. We walked out of the Old Town Square via what we thought was the right road and it wasn’t. But as we walked along we ran into the Golden Lyre Restaurant! Had a superb meal. I had a delicious Chicken schnizel and Wendy had roast goose … plus dessert for Wendy, wine and beer and this time the bill, including a generous tip, cost us about $30 Canadian.

There are lots and lots of great stores and plenty of goods to be sold. The prices are generally good but with things made in the Czech Republic the prices are sensational. We didn’t buy much … some crystal mainly … but also cds of classical music performed by Czechs are dirt cheap. Some Dvorak, Smetlana and Vivaldi performed by the Czech National Orchestra or a string cassette cost less that $10.

The people are fantastic.

The cost? For three nights including airfare about $1000. When you consider that we would have spent about $700 in London anyway, it’s a bargain. We booked through British Airways but from what we learned from people we met, you can perhaps do even better with an independent travel agent. This is not a job, however, for your local travel agent who will tell you as I do that the best way is to deal with an agent in London.

Thursday December 9 we flew back to London which brings us to Friday December 10.

This one is easy to tell you about. Wendy had decided that I would get a new Hardy reel for my birthday coming up and she wanted to look at a pair of shoes at Harrods so we walked to Harrods where first Wendy took pictures of their magnificent Millenium (a year early, of course) window displays. We then went to the shoe department, found the shoes, but they didn’t have her size. So it was off to Hardys on Pall Mall with our usual stop at Wellington Place for a sitdown and Rafe’s London guide service for passers-by with their noses in maps … advising puzzled tourists mostly where Harrods was, then off through Green Park to Hardys on Pall Mall for my reel. We then went up through St James’s to Fortnum & Mason where Wendy wanted to report on our Prague trip to a very nice saleslady we have come to know and who had recommended the trip. Then it was up Bond Street to find a Ferragamo shoe place, which we did, but they didn’t have Wendy’s shoes. We wound up at Selfridges on Oxford Street and in their shoe department, would you believe it, there were the shoes and just the right size. We then took our favourite walk home via Hyde Park, starting at Speakers Corner then down along the Serpentine with a long sit down to watch the birds, thence to Kensington Gardens, and home … then a very welcome Caffreys in the pub and dinner.

Saturday December 12 … our last day. We had a sentimental pleasure to perform at St Georges Hotel at Langham Place at the top of Regent Street where the BBC plies its trade. First, though, we decided to take a last walk up New and Old Bond Streets and had a coffee and bun at a Starbucks … then we dawdled through the shops and over into Mayfair for a bit to arrive at St Georges and go up to their lounge on the top floor. When I met Wendy 6 ½ years ago the group I was leading, including Wendy were staying at St Georges so every year we go back, in celebration, and have a glass of champagne each. We had wanted to have a bite at an Italian restaurant right across from the Palladium Theater but it was chock-a-block full so we went over the Charing Cross Road at Cambridge Circus and had yet another pizza – at London prices they look especially appetizing! Over to Leicester Square and sat in the very mild evening, watched people and the carnival then walked home for a pint with the folks at Jurys for the last time this trip. The next day it was to Heathrow, Air Canada and home.

As I have told you before, Air Canada is my airline of choice for London. I think there are three things especially that set them aside from other airlines. I like to travel Business Class and Air Canada’s Business First is the equal of most First Class elsewhere and better than many. Secondly, I like the Business class lounge which you can use not only as you are awaiting departure but upon arrival where you can have a shower and a continental breakfast before heading on your way. Thirdly, I like the schedule which gets me into London before any other carrier and gives you the whole first day there. It’s not just Business Class passengers that like Air Canada – all I have spoken to who prefer Economy also rave about the service and the efficiency.

My thanks also go out to Jackie Pugh and all the good folks at Carlson Wagonlit Travel who made this trip such a success.

This segment was produced by Shiral Tobin and scripted by yours truly.