Arrived Safe, Sound and Tired in London

Have had a whirlwind weekend, and I finally have time to catch up on the blog.

We eventually arrived Friday at the St. Pancras International rail station, and made our way to the nearby apartments where we would stay the weekend.

Harry Potter fans may recognize this as the exterior of Kings Cross station from where the Hogwarts students would depart on Platform 9 3/4. But it isn't Kings Cross at all.

Truth be told, the exterior of Kings Cross is rather boring, and the filmmakers chose to use the stunning St. Pancras exterior as a "body double" for Kings Cross.

After resting up, we took off on a trek through Bloomsbury, Soho, Chinatown, Leicester Square, and finally Piccadilly.

In Soho, we came upon a new form of plumbing. I don't expect to see one of these in Texas anytime soon, though you do have to admire the compact efficiency of these quadruple stall fixtures.

And here is rock in' cool half-timbered building we saw as we traversed the rest of Soho.

Here's a shot of the delightful glockenspiel given to the City of London by Switzerland and Lichtenstein in 1985. We were fortunate to have come upon it as it was sounding the hour.

We had dinner at the posh Criterion Restaurant at Picadilly Circus. The walls and especially the ceiling of this 19th century restaurant are covered with mosaic tiles. Quite spectacular! (Sorry — I have no photos of it. The dim lighting made point-and-shoot photography a near impossibility.)

By the time we finished dinner, a light rain had started. Under the conditions, and as exhausted as we were, we opted to take the underground back to our lodgings. Well, we weren't the only ones ducking out of the rain. The train was as crowded as I've seen a subway. We made it safely home though, intact, and with all of our valuables still in our own possession!