End of the day...

After straightening out all the luggage problems I had the "full English breakfast" so I would be superpowered through the day.  The real thing that sold me was the description of the items included:  sausages, bacon (looked like ham to me) baked beans, free-range egg, grilled flat mushroom and grilled tomato!  Delicious and about enough for 3 people.

I made notes about everything I saw today and I will just list the notes so when I read this back to myself after a couple of years perhaps I will remember the great experiences (and forget the frustrations)
- lot of languages incl Indian, Pakistani, German, Swiss (?) Vietnamese, several middle eastern languages
- I can only get wi-fi at Barclays and a wi-fi cafe.  Don't know how long I will have it avalable
- the internet cafe is a little room at the top of a set of winding, narrow stairs.  Very old and dirty - about 15 users each time I've been here
- Sat in the front seat of a double decker bus - hairy.  They can turn out of the bus lane back into traffic on about a two foot radius, and I have to close my eyes because I think the bus will bump into a car or a person any minute!  (I saw a sign posted on the back of one bus - bus drivers wanted.  Anyone who applies must be suicidal)
- Got lost in the underground maze twice.  I kept a little drawing of the maze I was going through so I could find my way back out again.  The underground passages lead from one train/tube station to another, and bisect streets and carry on their winding ways under several blocks!  A real Mario challenge!
- Walked past Harrods department store.  Huge (block and a half, maybe), and looks like a palace!  The windows are fabulous.  Great Gatsby theme, with slinking ladies draped all around.
- Went to Hyde Park.  Rotten Row is still in business where the Regency ladies showed off their side-saddle skills.  Saw a couple of horses, along with bike trails, walkers, and lots and lots of tourists.  There may have been a few real Londoners present too - several men in suits were laying on their suit jackets catching a snooze.  Speaking of suits - the guys in the little food market near me were wearing suits to shelve groceries!
- Saw several statues of Nelson and war memorials - very impressive bronze mega-statues mounted on marble blocks about the size of my house.
- Elizabeth - I passed Baker Street Station, but I couldn't detect any tract of your visit 8 years ago.  I didn't get off the bus for that one, so 221 Baker Street will be remembered at the TV stage, not the 'real' thing.
- Ron - when I was on the rail this morning coming back from the airport, the train announcer kept saying we were coming up to "Cockfoster" station - pronounced very slowly and carefully.  I know you would be rolling if you were here.
- There are still lots of red telephone booths (and some of them still contain telephones) and the policemen still wear "bobby hats".  I saw a car that I think was a police car, but it was disceetly labelled "Royal Borough of Kensington" instead.  The driver was wearing a police uniform though.
- I love looking at the taxi cabs.  They have enough room in the back for fold-out seats so they are elongated and look like toy cars.  The little yellow license plate strips (yellow in the back, white in the front) really look like toys licenses - they don't have the colorful pictures or individualized plates like we have.  I'm sure the numbers are more meaningful to others than they are to me.
- I have walked at least 250 miles ('scuse me - however many kilometers that should be) today and plan to sleep like a baby tonight.