After another good night's sleep there is a definite spring in our step this morning. This afternoon we are going into London to meet our friend Maria; but first we needed to pick up our Hertz rental car.
We had booked our rental car online and we had checked online the night before. But still we are assailed with up-selling offers. The selling is obviously designed to bamboozle the recent arrived and jet lagged tourist. “For only 25 pound per day you can have this diesel VW” the rep said. After a little more inquiry what he meant to say was 25 pound 'extra' per day; effectively double the rental charge.
We located our car in the acres of cars ready for dispatch. Check it over and find multiple unrecorded dings, scratches and chips. Spare tyre, check. Jack, check. Tyre brace, NO. At the check out we tell the little man that the tyre brace is missing. “Oh these cars don't have spare wheels”he said. John seen RED. We decline to take this car and return for round two in reception. Finally we get a car and get out of there. Never again Mr Hertz, never again.
After lunch we decide to throw caution to the wind and drive into central London to meet Maria.
With our trusty Garmin GPS “Kathleen” (from the song Take Me Home Again Kathleen) and a new set of Europe maps(brought from a man in Italy on Ebay for $70), we head off. Kathleen does a wonderful job of guiding us into London and Jenelle does a wonderful job as co-pliot. The somewhat scenic route Kathleen takes us on twist and turns but we stick with it with out fault; but it does take two.
We drive to Guy's Hospital where the internet had informed us that we would find a large 24/7 car park. Kathleen says “arriving at destination on right”. A slightly obscurred sign car park sign says “FULL”. Not that we really even seen the entrance into the car park. Nothing else to do but drive randomly ( made worse by the roadworks and detours) to find another car park. Luckily, after only a few twists and turns, we spot a car park that is open and with parks available. Unfortunately it closes at 6.00 pm and we expect our stay to be much later than that. “No bother” the attendant says, “park over there in that vacant lot”. The plain clothed attendant and his “assistants” look more like gangsters, than parking attendants. John's already a little edgy about getting damage to the rental car now he wonders if the car will still be there when he returns in the dead on night in this dark and seedy part of south London.
The after noon is hot and humid. London is full of people, locals and tourist. We wander the Borough Markets (http://www.boroughmarket.org.uk/) for a few hours, inspecting and tasting the wonderful food. It is at this point that a idea beings to form for a long revisit to London next year. Unfortunately we can't buy any produce to take with us because we don't have a fridge at the hotel.
We catch up with our friend Maria over dinner and talk ourselves almost hoarse. We haven't seen Maria for 6 or 7 years but our conversation continues like it was just last week. Amazing!
We find our car (all intact) and set Kathleen the task of getting us home. Unfortunately with road works and detours (London is getting ready for the 2012 Olympics) our route takes though the very heart of London via Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly, Knightsbridge and past Harrod's. The traffic is bumper to bumper, the pedestrians are wall to wall, the roads are in chaos. After 5 minutes we have traveled about 5kms. Once we hit the open roads we make the rest of the 20km in half and hour. Thankfully it is mid-summer here so the sun doesn't set until after 9.00pm. That drive home through London would have been a nightmare after dark.
