The Longest Day

Galatians 6:9:

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

After we left the Mews, our plan as stated was to get on the Red Bus again and ride part of the route to the London Eye, a giant Ferris wheel type thing-y that looked fun. After we got off that we would be off to the river cruise and then to Greenwich. Well, we got on the bus at about 12:00 noon and we were not on the River Thames cruise until 4:00 p.m. (The distance is not that far; but we really didn't know how to get off and get there ourselves.) Evidently there is much more traffic in London on a Monday than on a Sunday. By that point, we had decided not to go on the London Eye cuz it was super, super foggy and we wouldn’t have been able to see much. Part of the fun of going on it is to see for miles and miles. 

Before we got on the cruise, we got off the bus at Westminster Pier about 3:00 p.m.  We were very hungry, and those of you who know me know I am not the most cheery when I’ve gone past mealtime by 3 hours. So we decided to get something to eat before going to get on the boat to take us to Greenwich. We were standing on a street in front of an archway and hanging down from the street poles were two very nice banner type things. One pointed to the Marriott Hotel and one pointed in the same direction to a "Noodle Bar.” They were both printed on the same type of elegant looking fabric. They were both pointing precisely up the walkway in exactly the same direction on the same path, so we followed that direction and ended up at the front entrance of the Marriott London Hotel County Hall. It’s a five-star hotel, I now know.

We were greeted by a doorman in a suit with a red rose in his lapel and one other hotel worker, a stern woman. When we asked for the noodle bar, they looked aghast. “No, no, ma’am, you’ll have to go out and go back down the walkway. It’s not in here.” I’m like “Well, the sign points us right here!” They said, “You can cut through our lobby and out the side door. There are some restaurants on that side. But then please don’t come back in this way.”

Brenda’s like, “No, Laura, let’s not cut through. Let's just leave the way we came. We can’t go through this elegant hotel.” But I felt otherwise. Then this new guy walks up, his position was never revealed,  to see what the brouhaha was about and when we told him we were looking for the noodle bar, he said in a thick brogue that it was closed on Mondays.

The doorman was like, “Oh no really?” I asked, “Well, where can we eat?”
                   

He said, “Nowhere, no place is open on Mondays around here.” Now I had seen some people eating down by the pier, so I said, “Are you kidding me?” Then he started laughing and laughing and so did everyone else. He helped us find the side door and walked with us to that exit. We all said goodbye, after a photo op of course. 

The funny guy

 Once we got out the door, we found “Ned’s Noodle Bar,”  a fine little takeout where we dined in with our cartons and chopsticks, drinking an Old Speckled Hen (Laura), sitting at a high counter. (We don’t think this is what the banner was referring to but we’ll never know.)

Once we finished eating, we walked to the pier, got on the boat, and decided to sit up top, cuz we’re not wimps who need to sit below in the warm covered part of the boat even though it's freezing upstairs!  But as we sat up there, it got colder and colder and foggier and foggier, and the crewman who was giving us a guided narration referred to the low visibility about ten times and we think he’s a little nervous.

Finally we arrived at Greenwich. Yeah! We made it, five hours after leaving the Mews. So we hurried off the boat and asked the first person we could find—a ticket salesman—where the Royal Observatory was. He said, “”Well, you have to hike about (you know what’s coming?) fifteen minutes up that hill, but it closes in five minutes.”

“OK, well we just want to stand on that line where you’re in two hemispheres.”

He said, “That’s in the park.”

“OK. Where’s that?”

“Well, it’s up the hill, but it closed a half hour ago”

(I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me. This is the day that the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. The joy of the Lord is my strength.)



“Well, can we at least have some fish and chips?”

We finally did find a restaurant in this awesomely quaint and cute little town. We were the only customers. It was called The Pier. We had a European waitress serve us while Celene Dion played in the background and looped through Ave Maria a couple times. We were the only customers.

After we ate, we took another form of transportation, the Docklands Light Railway, and then the tube to Sloane Square where we walked home in about fifteen minutes.

Long day, not quite as anticipated, but we’re in London! We’re enjoying the fog, the people, the fish and chips, the ambiance, and one another.If I ever go back to London, I am definitely going to spend a whole day in Greenwich. It looked charming.