Jeremy helped me find the train station where I was to meet up with them later in the day. We ran in quickly hoping to find a map of the city that would help me figure out my way around. The attendant there directed us to check the library as they had no maps available. The library was a short distance up the street. The three dropped me off at the library in Southampton at 9:45 am and I had to wait for fifteen minutes before the library opened for the day.
After getting my bearings, as much as a directionally challenged person could, I headed off down High Street on the QE2 Mile. The city had once been a fortress surrounded by a city wall with a grand city entrance. Only portions of the wall remained today, many of which were incorporated in to buildings or preserved. There were some places where one could climb stairs to the top of the wall and walk a short distance.
Southampton was the location where the Titanic set sail. There didn’t seem to be a cruise ship in port as the streets were full of day to day traffic and were not overloaded with wall to wall people. I walked down the street and along the front street next to the docks for a bit, following the original wall. There wasn’t a ton to see, and I wasn’t too much in to the shopping scene. I did walk in to one of the shopping malls—Marland’s—in search of a bathroom, walked around IKEA opting not to go in since I didn’t know if the wifi would be good for getting messages from Chris about his return to Southampton.
I passed by a few furniture stores, walked through a home store where I happened on these interesting items.
I ended up sitting on a couch in a furniture store, logging on to their wifi, and waiting for Chris’ arrival in about 20 minutes. The comfy couch was just what I needed. Chris called and asked me to purchase tickets on a London train with the Waterloo stop. Buying tickets was his thing, but I agreed (hoping I wouldn’t mess up), since he was just going to squeak in to the train station with enough time to get to London for his last meeting of the day.
As I returned to Central Station, I must have looked as though I was pondering the schedule. A gentleman, the same gentleman who had directed Jeremy and I to the library to look for a map, asked if I needed help and if I had found the stuff I needed from the library. His name was Vytenis, from Lithuania, and he was impressed that I pronounced his name correctly. He helped me purchase two tickets. I told him my husband was arriving with little time to spare and Vytenis directed me to Platform 1 which was to the left of the turnstiles and up the stairs, over, and down the stairs to the far side of the station. I also learned from Vytenis, after he learned I was from Colorado, that he was a Denver Broncos fan. Crazy connections. (Bad shot, but it was the only one I took.)
Chris lucked out in that the 1 pm train was 8 minutes late. I met him and Jeremy and Jimmy outside as they dropped Chris and our luggage off, said a quick goodbye, and hurried in to the station. Made it. We had a one hour and 20 minute ride in to London. And on the way, Chris’ coworker that had arranged the work meeting, got on the train at the Basingstoke stop. Amazing how things had fallen in to place for the day.
Since this was Chris’ work trip, and I was sitting on a seat in front of Chris and our luggage, I just let Chris and Drew talk shop until there was a lull in the conversation and Chris said, “And this is my wife, Jolayne...”. I peaked around the seat to greet Drew. We all chatted about some things I could do in London as I had some time while they went to their meeting. I was impressed with his coworkers thus far who went out of their way to make sure I was pointed in the right direction and had land marks to orient myself to so that I could have a fun afternoon AND find my way back to the train station to meet up with Chris. Drew was also great about waiting while Chris and I dropped our luggage off at the Left Luggage area.
I walked up and down the Southbank. I headed off going west at first past the carousel, the London Eye (and the line for the London Eye), and down to the Parliament Building and Big Ben. Both the Parliament and Big Ben were adorned with scaffolding for improvement projects.
At this point, I turned around, figured out that I needed to walk to the Millennium bridge in order to cross over the River Thames to visit St. Paul’s Cathedral. Lots and lots of walking today. There was restoration in process on one section of the dome, but I was able to capture photos without including the construction. After taking a bunch of pictures, I returned to Waterloo Station.
I needed to find a restroom, and I’m really not a fan of having to pay to use the facilities. I found the proper coins in the money Chris had given me, and proceeded on to the bathroom. The machine took my first two 10 pence coins but would not take the two five pence coins. I asked a lady as she tried to rush through the turnstile if she had a coin to exchange for my five pence coins. It slowed her down, but she was gracious enough to help me out.
I found a relatively quiet spot in the station and FaceTimed with Amy for a bit. What a brilliant piece of technology to keep us in touch. Chris called as Amy and I chatted and I hung up from talking to her to answer his call. He was waiting right outside the small alcove I was in.
We had time for a quick dinner at a restaurant across from the station called Arruzo. In fact, we squeaked in four minutes before 5:00 pm before the lunch special was finished. Chris ordered a pizza, and I had spaghetti with meat sauce. It was just the right amount of food, and quick enough service for us to eat, retrieve our bags, and catch a train from Waterloo Station to the London Airport Station on track one.
Security was simply hectic at the airport, but we managed to get all of our liquids and creams and whatevers into a ziploc bag and removed our iPads and electronics from our backpacks before going through. As we got to the very tiny Gate 23 and stood in the queue to board the plane, an announcement told us to sit back down and wait for a maintenance issue to be resolved before we could queue again. We boarded via the back steps of the plane but as no photography was allowed on the tarmac, you’ll just have to use your imagination.
The runway at London airport was short, necessitating a speedy takeoff and a 45 degree vertical ascent soon after takeoff. It felt much like an amusement park ride as the angle pushed one's head and body back against the seat. From there it was smooth sailing for an hour and a half in to Milan.
Our next two nights would be at the Milan Hilton. We were informed on check in that Chris’ room had been upgraded from a King to an Executive King Suite. It was lovely, though not huge according to US standards. The balcony was nice though. We had a one hour time change here. It had been a long day with over 30,000 steps logged on my Fitbit. Chris worked on documenting his expenses, I made notes of the day, and we were sleeping well after midnight. Fortunately he didn’t have a terribly early start the next day.