Monday, August 25, 2014

Rain and London in August . . .

August 25, 2014 -- We awoke to a rainy day on Canary Wharf. As we made out way into the city, it became apparent that the rain covered all of London. It is wet, but not cold -- so we donned our rain gear and opened our umbrellas. Our goal today is to explore more of London.

Chinatown near SOHO, London.
We walked over to the Underground and took the train to the SOHO section. It took about 20 minutes with a train change at "Waterloo". As stated yesterday, the Underground is easy to use and get around. When one changes from one train line to another, the signage is everywhere and its easy to find where you're going. We started on the "Jubilee Line" and transferred to the "Northern Line" for Tottingham Court". Sounds all very british, doesn't it?? .

Once at the Tottingham Station, we rode the escalator up and onto the streets. It's Monday and the streets are full of people shopping or going to work. One can tell the tourists by the cameras around their necks or backpacks on their shoulders. SOHO is a fairly large area of the Westminster section of London.  It is known as the "entertainment" district. There are a good number of theaters and cinema houses everywhere.  In addition, there are "jazz"  and music clubs here and there. The entertainment available to the customer seems endless.
Linda, SOHO and Umbrellas.

We explored much of SOHO and found our way into Piccadilly Circus. More theaters and cinemas are here too. Even more pubs and cute little coffee houses and restaurants -- large and small -- are all around. It's as delightful an environment as we've seen anywhere. Two Underground stations serve the area -- Tottingham Court and Liecester Square, so it's very easy to get from place to place.

Black Umbrellas Everywhere!
As we ventured into Liecester Square, there were 4 cinemas on each side. One of the two Odeon Cinemas was showing "Sin City", so we decided to get out of the rain and "went to the movies"!  Earlier, during our explorations, we spotted a vegetarian restaurant called Govindas near the Tottingham Court Underground Station. We've decided to have lunch/dinner there before heading back to our lodgings.
The Palace Theater,
The Royal English Opera House.

Exploring London, even on a rainy day, is an enjoyable and exciting adventure. There are so many delightful districts to the city -- South Kensington, Greenwich, SOHO, Trafalgar Square -- that always finds something interesting to do. Each district seems to have a personality of its own.

Jim, as seen on my iPhone!!
Shortly after 6 p.m. in London, around 10 a.m. in Palm Desert, I gave my good friend Jim a call on Facetime. iPhone's have this neat app that allows the caller to use wifi to contact a telephone number with voice and picture. We had a fun visit for about 10 minutes. Linda joined in the fun. At the time, we were sitting in Costa Coffee in SOHO!! Very cool, I would say.....