August 1st
We left the cottage around 8:00 a.m., driving through Chesterfield and then on to the M1 motorway to Luton. We arrived at Luton about 10:30 a.m. and bought our train tickets. The price for adults was 10.40 pounds, less than I thought it would be. This included the trip to London and a pass on the Underground and buses for the main London area. The tickets had a magnetic strip that was used to read the information on what the ticket was valid for. Unfortunately, of the two days that we used these tickets, at least one of our tickets didn't work and we had to show it to the people in the station to get through the gates. We didn't have to wait too long for our train and arrived about 11:15 into Kings Cross Station. We walked through numerous underground passageways arriving at the Underground Station. We first went to Picadilly Circus to get our tickets for Phantom of the Opera. That went smoothly. The wonders of credit cards. We then went to Buckingham Palace and arrived at the end of the changing of the guard just seeing them marching away from the Palace. The palace is open for visitor only during the month of August; we were just a few days early. We then walked through St. James Park to see Westminster Abbey to find out about Sunday's service times. Then to Harrod's for a quick look around. We didn't buy anything. It was then time to get back to Her Majesties Theatre to see the Phantom. Our tickets were in the Upper Circle and were only 10 pounds and with a restricted view. Even so, we could still see pretty well; much better than Jennifer saw during her trip to New York City. Afterwards we had dinner at a nearby McDonalds. Martha had the vege-burger. We tried to return to the Harrod's area for shopping but everything was closing up. We caught a double decker bus near Harrod's and rode that all the way through the main area of London to the Angel Underground station. That was the first stop I could figure out where we were. Then we caught the underground to the train station and then back to Luton.
We stayed at the Travelodge in Donnington on the M1 motorway. The motel was nice and clean. The room was supposed to have room for four but with only one double bed. It turns out the kids bed was the couch and a trundle bed under the couch. Still it was a lot cheaper than saying in London or in a bed and breakfast. B&Bs charge per person so when you have four people it can get a little expensive. The room telephone though was only useable through credit card or phone card. You prepay your room so once you are ready to leave in the morning you just leave your key and off you go because there are no additional charges.