London 2023 - Day 11 / London

Steps today: 25 716 / 16.95km

Last Day!

Again a walk through the park and a pastry at the Italian Gardens Café for breakfast. I was craving their ginormo Raisin Danish, and since calories don't count on vacation I had to take full advantage!

The goal for this morning was to get to Regent's Park which I have never visited on my other visits to London; it was great! I have been missing out on the previous trips, but it's outside Central London so it's not something you would natural walk by on your way to somewhere else like Hyde Park for example...  well, for me anyway! I suppose if my hotel was out there I would see it more often...

It was beautiful, perhaps this just looks like the same picture over and over, but I just loved it!

I especially loved Queen Mary's Rose Garden with so many flowers still in bloom! I couldn't get enough - so beautiful!

One of the troubles with Regent Park is that's it's also not that close to busy, touristy, popular places so finding a pub after this was not easy! I wanted to visit the Charles Dickens Museum next, so we wandered towards it but not only was the walk to find a place to stop long-ish, it was also not very pleasant. Not as bad as the one in Greenwich, but close. Although there were a few beautiful buildings to admire along the way:

Poor Frank was getting increasingly grumpy because he had to pee and there were NO services around at all. By about 11:45 we reached Russel Square where there was a very nice Italian Café, and we stopped for espressos so he could use the bathroom.  I could tell he really wanted to stay for lunch, but it was our last day and I really REALLY wanted to go to a pub for the last time. If this was not the last day I would have stayed, because I liked it too and the menu looked good, but I wanted more of the London experience. He gave in and 3 minutes away we found a pub so I could have my last Pink G&T of the trip.

The service was not good and the guys were rude. They originally told us the kitchen would open at 12:30 when we got our drinks (just after noon) but then another guy told us 1PM!  Frank was NOT amused, he was fed up and starting a little cold. He wanted to sit, eat, rest. I get it.  I saw thanks to Google that there was an Italian restaurant near by so we went there for lunch arriving just before 1PM.

Turns out it was Frank's best meal of the trip so he was ultimately rewarded for his endurance.

It was a nice place, very lively and authentically Italian. It must have been a family restaurant because the staff spoke Italian amongst themselves.

Funny story: I ordered a glass of wine that was somewhat small and would not be enough. I asked Frank if he wanted the rest of my half-glass and I would order another one for myself. Knowing now that the staff is Italian, I told the waitress in Italian that I would like another glass please... HA! Now, if you ever go to this restaurant in London, you know how to order your wine! Skimpy English size versus generous Italian size.

The meal was great!

So delicious that I even ordered dessert! Lemon Tartuffo which by the time I got to the center looked like an egg.

After this delicious meal, as I stood up to leave and my back spasmed again. Thank God we were next to a wall.  The waitress came over when she saw the look on my face wondering what on Earth was happening, Frank told her it was my back.  I just said: sono vecchia! LOL

We made it to the Charles Dickens museum by about 2:15, I enjoyed it!

The plan after this was to eventually make it to the south side of the Thames to meet up with a friend of mine who was also visiting London and our trips overlapped for a few days.

We just slowly meandered around, saying good-bye to London, but we were both zonked. I think mentally knowing it was the end, the adrenaline of vacation fun evaporates.

We strolled along the Strand for a bit...

This building made me laugh, I joked that I still owed them 11.99 for 20 audio cassettes I bought in 80s! ha!

By 4PM we were saying good-bye to St Paul's

Then we wanted to cross over the river via the Millennium Bridge, but it was closed for maintenance.

We finally met up with my friend around 5, but by then Frank was FINISHED and I was not far behind. It was fun to see her, but it was far from the fun, party-like "how cool is this, we are both in London at the same time" vibe I was hoping for.

To give you an idea: I didn't take a picture of the place, didn't order a drink with dinner, and only ate a small appetizer.

After supper, surprisingly, my back was ok when I stood up!!  But it was not to last, as we were walking towards the Tube, I had another spasm and the only thing that was close enough for me to grasp was my poor friend's arm! I hope I didn't leave bruises. She was having her own problems with a sore lower back, and Frank was a ghost of his usual self... what a pathetic trio we were.

It was an unceremonious end to a great vacation!

Day 11 Map: