Tubes, Buses, Bicycles, Taxis, and Foot Power

Transporting one's self about London is as easy as flipping the Oxi pass, getting on a rental bicycle, or grabbing a taxi. We have been using the bus system to get everywhere and are finding it increasingly easy to find our way, thanks to our handy bus map. Everyone here seems to use either the bus or the metro. There are 500 bus routes within London alone and you never have to wait more than a few minutes for a bus, although Stu and I seem to have a knack for missing the bus by "just that much" and having to wait. Not a problem, more time for people watching.

The double decker buses serve a distinct purpose, holding more passengers. The buses are crowded even when they come by every few minutes. Londoners and tourists alike use them continually. Without even planning it, we are located between two major bus stops--Piccadilly Circus (Circus means Circle) and Trafalgar Square--so there's plenty of choices depending upon the route we're taking.

The metro is much faster, but not as much fun for us as we can't see where we are going as we do when we're sitting on the top deck on one of the famous London double deckers. Besides, the metro is several stories deep and has multiple stairs between platforms. It's common to walk 1/4 mile or more between platforms, changing levels, and traversing rail lines. The stairs are a bit challenging for Stu (he's getting a knee replacement in June) so we stay out of the trains most of the time.

In preparation for the 2012 summer Olympics London is redoing its metro system and there's construction everywhere. The metro is 150 years old and carries 10 million passengers weekly (we may be off on the numbers, but swear they were all in the train with us the day we arrived and had our luggage with us). They are adding more access through escalators, elevators, and ramps. It's quite an undertaking and causing massive "diversions" (British for detours) throughout the city. It's not a wonderful time to be a bus driver, although beginning drivers can earn 13 pounds sterling an hour, about $21.00.

London has a similar bicycle rental system as we found in Paris (but didn't use there and won't use here). You can register and pick up a bike on many streets, then drop it off when you're done with it. We are amazed by the ease with which the bicycle riders maneuver about the roads. There are no bicycle paths, helmets are used but not required. We haven't seen a single accident, although we expect to because the bicycles are maneuvering about through the traffic and they're all on the wrong side of the road!

We love the London taxis, although we haven't used one yet. They are everywhere in the city and easily match the number of cars and buses. We can understand why. Beneath our apartment building parking for 24 hours is 3o pounds, or nearly $50. Besides, why drive when you can leave the driving and parking to the city. London taxis look like our PT cruisers, which were actually copied from the London cabs. Many of them rent their exteriors for billboards and we've seen everything advertised from London theater shows to vodaphones, to travel in Asia and elsewhere. Unlike Paris, you can hail a cab from anywhere as there are few official taxi stands. And, the drivers stop for you.

Of course, it goes without saying that the major means of local transportation is foot power. There's people on the street, moving quickly in every direction, from early morning until late night. We just returned from the show and at 10:45 PM the streets around Piccadilly Circus, near our apartment, are alive and well. We're loving the spectacle and feel perfectly safe. We did have a brief look at the local evening news paper, the Standard, available free every day. There was an article about a Romanian (code for Gypsy) band of 8 that's been picking pockets on the metro, but nothing much in the way of violent crime. The streets are safe. We've read that London has the most surveillance cameras of any major city, and there are cops all about, especially near the attractions and government offices. The cops don't carry guns. In 2010 the police used weapons on only 8 occasions, total. We've passed Whitehall and 10 Downing Street on numerous trips this week and there's always police about and barricades. Still, the city seems very opened and doesn't feel like an armed camp at all. We've felt very comfortable and secure.

Our travels today took us to the Albert and Victoria Museum where we finally got to see a large selection of Rodin statuary (we missed the Rodin museum in Paris), and other fabulous museum finds. No trip would be complete without a stop at Harrods, where we had lunch and did some shopping. We stopped to buy a gift for new granddaughter Ella and selected a lovely Burberry dress. But the price tag was 1869 pounds! That's about $2500 for a size 2 dress. We settled for a Harrod's stuffed animal, the dress will have to wait.

Theater for the evening was a wonderful production of Wicked, followed by a bus ride back to the apartment and a short walk though the neighborhood. Another great day in London.

Adrienne and Stu

PS. Sorry about not adding photos, but the internet is slow and photos are difficult to add. We'll post when we're home in an album everyone can view, if you choose to do so.