Our first day in London was fuller than expected. The ferry arrived at 6:30 local time (wake-up call came an hour prior), so we had a pretty early start to the day. We cleared passport control, made our way to the adjacent train station, and rode the train into the city. It was an uneventful ride, though you can tell that England's rail system isn't as nice and smooth as in the rest of western Europe. I was more reminded of the train rides in Chicago, with rocking and rolling noisy tracks, instead of the smooth and quiet glide. After transferring to the Tube (and getting on the Circle Line in the wrong direction, making our ride a bit longer, but we ultimately made it to the Victoria Street Station. From there, it's about a 10 minute walk to our hotel. I'd like to take a moment to voice my disapproval of this European concept of the ground floor being "G" or "0", and not "1", because while a second story walkup sounds tolerable, when it's really a third floor room with loooong stair climbs (the ceilings here are quite high), it takes its toll. My thighs are burning, especially on the trips where we're lugging things. Still, I suppose it's good for me. Everyone needs to go into cardiac arrest once or twice a day to feel alive. Since we arrived before noon, we ended up just dropping the bags and heading back out. First stop, Fleet Street and Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, a quaint old pub that was a favorite haunt of Charles Dickens. I enjoyed a pint of Samuel Smith's Old Brewery Bitter (from cask, of course), followed by a Samuel Smith's Old Brewery Extra Stout. Nice stuff, on both counts, and the atmosphere was great. We then walked from there to the Millennium Bridge (a pedestrian bridge across the Thames), past the Tate Modern and the Globe Theatre, ending up at the Borough Market, which we thought would be still going, but it was dead. I guess our innkeeper had some bad info. (Though, he's great, and super friendly.) Since we were in the area, we stopped for lunch at the Brewer's Wharf, since it appeared they did their own beers. Alas, no, they didn't have any on tap at the moment, so I instead tried a Meantime Maibock. All in all, it was a hip, trendy, overpriced bar. Meh. Beer was good, though. After lunch, we hit Vinopolis, a wine museum that teaches you how to taste wine, and includes 5 tastings. Interesting, overpriced, and not quite as great as I was hoping. (Overpriced is going to be a theme here. This is London.) We also got the upgrade for the whiskey tastings. Don't bother. They had three whiskeys, and one of them was a blend. Dalwhinnie 15, Talisker 10, and Johnny Walker Black. The Dalwhinnie was great (I have it at home), the Talisker was quite peaty (I expect Tisha will want us to get some of that), and the Johnnie Walker was, in my opinion, absent any character whatsoever. I don't go for blends. We caught a series of tube trains back to this part of town, fighting station closures and line disruptions, and went back to the room to recover. After an hour or so, we hit a mall attached to the train station ti get some supplies. Alas, contrary to the mall's website which indicated stores were open until 8, they'd all closed at 5, so we just ate some supper and made our way back to crash for the night. Busy, full day, pics will come later. We are exhausted.