Early to bed - Early to rise...

Well, in the words of the old ditty, we were early to bed and early to rise. As to whether it made us "healthy, wealthy and wise," is another question.

After breakfast we headed out and walked up to Paddington Station (home of Paddington Bear), where we got our oyster cards and put a week's travel on them. This is the most economical way to travel since you can use it on the buses as well as on the underground and you pay for a week's travel no matter how much or how little you may use it. The amount you pay depends on the number of zones you want it to work in and we bought one that lets us have unlimited travel in zones 1 and 2.

It is a rather sad commentary on London and tourism that considering the number of tourists who must arrive in Paddington Station, especially since it is the terminus of the Heathrow Express, there is no information kiosk or tourist information site. It just seems ridiculous that you have hundreds, if not thousands, of tourists daily; many of whom would like to know about London or find a place to stay whilst in the city and there is no help or welcome for them. A wonderful opportunity lost and we can't help but wonder if this will improve for the forthcoming Olympic Games.

Anyway, since Viriginia is going down to Bath to see an old friend, and since we were already at Paddington Station, we picked up her tickets and therein lies a tale. If you don't believe the following, you can check it on the Internet.

If you walk in to Paddington Station and buy a return ticket to Bath Spa, you will pay 148 pounds or, if you buy a super off peak fare it will cost you 49 pounds. By buying the equivalent of the ordinary return fare via the Internet, well in advance, the cost was only twenty-three pounds. The only restrictions are that you must use it at the nominated times. After buying them in Australia we were given a code which we entered into a ticket vending machine along with the credit card we had used to pay (this is for verification) and, SHAZAM, out came the tickets.

After almost breaking our arms patting one another on the back for our foresight and intelligence, we wandered up to catch the No. 15 bus. We knew which bus to catch because Virginia loves maps and had pored over and, I am convinced, memorized the entire bus and underground system for London. The No. 15 goes along one of the best routes in the system. It starts from Paddington, goes along Praed Street past Saint Mary's Hospital birthplace (my Royalist wife tells me) of Princes Harry and William, then down Edgeware Road to Marble Arch, along Oxford Street to Oxford Circus, then to Regent Street which it follows to Trafalgar Square, and up the Strand (have a banana) and Fleet Street past St. Pauls and on to the Tower of London.

Covent Garden

We only went half way up the Strand and got off to walk the short distance to Covent Garden where we picked up pre-booked tickets for Sleeping Beauty by the Royal Ballet on Saturday. After wandering around Covent Garden for a while we strolled down a little street and found the Australia shop. Now we are not people who feel the need to spend our time overseas with Australians or seeking out things Australian. However, there is one major exception to this rule, Vegemite! Apparently it is now impossible to buy it in many places including (or so we have been led to believe) the EU. We shall, of course, be taking the small jar of Australia's wonder food on to Paris with us!

Covent Garden is an interesting place. From the 1500s until the mid 1970s, it was the site of a flower, fruit and vegetable market. Now it is full of restaurants and little shops, but the old walls can still convey a sense of the history of the place and if Eliza Doolittle is no longer selling flowers on the steps of St Paul's Church, there are other things to buy and much to see including the Royal Opera House. Just across the street from the Royal Opera is the Bow Street Magistrate's Court (now closed) and nearby a wonderful sculpture of a ballet dancer by Enzo Plazzotto.

After Covent Garden we went back to the Strand and on to Somerset House and the Courtauld Gallery. With impeccable timing we discovered that on Mondays admission is free. If you don't know this gallery, it is probably one of the best small galleries in the world with a very tidy collection of Impressionists and Post-Impressionists including such wonderful pictures as Renoir's La Loge, Manet's Bar at the Folies Bergere, Toulouse Lautrec's Jane Avril and other works by Seurat, Matisse, Degas and more. They also have an excellent restaurant with reasonably priced meals and the most beautifully served tea - not to mention cakes.

By now we were beginning to feel a bit of jet lag so we hopped back on the No. 15 and were back in our digs about 3.00 in the afternoon. Later we went to a nearby Italian restaurant for dinner and then to bed after reading, blogging and watching TV.