After a leisurely breakfast it was time to leave the ship. Cruising has changed a bit over the years and the departures are really smooth. The ship moves all the luggage to a holding area organized by deck of the ship. Then each passenger has a 3-hour window to leave. In the "old days" it was highly regimented and not a good experience. It also helped that we were headed for London for 4 days and didn't have to worry about flights.

We were going to take a train from Southampton (the port) to London. When we got in the cab (all 4 of us) the size of a Toyota Camry, the driver told us that he could drive us to the Airbnb in London for less than it would cost to take the train plus cabs. So off we went. What he, and we, didn't know is that there were traffic disruptions and the trip took every bit of 3 hours. But it was a nice ride, the driver was really interesting, and we made it safely. All-in-all it was a great deal.

The apartment wasn't ready yet so we took off to explore the area. We're right in the middle of the Covent Gardent district sandwiched between the Holborn and Covent Garden tube stops. Perfect!

There could be no lunch other than fish and chips at a local pub. And there are a ton of pubs! We had wonderful food and cold beer. What else was necessary?

A really cool self-serve kinda grocery store was across the street from the pub and we stopped in there for essentials. One of the unexpected finds was Pastel de Nata. If you've forgotten just how much Diane loves these, flip back to the Libson blog entry.

We checked in to the apartment at about 3 PM and had targeted a pub to go back to at 5PM to watch the Barcelona vs England football (ok, soccer) match in a "proper establishment." Well.... late afternoon cruise naps continued and we missed the start of the match but watched the 1-1 tie game on our TV.

For dinner we just wanted some comfort food. And some ice. If you've been to Europe before, ice is a precious commodity. I walked into a small grocery store and asked if they had ice. They replied affirmatively and said that the receive it twice a week and it sells out within an hour. So we headed to a pizza place just a block from our apartment. They bragged about their sourdough pizza dough and toppings; they had every reason to do so. We had a truffled, basil, burrata pie and a thin sliced sausage, rocket and parmesan pie.

As we were getting the bill, I asked the server if we could buy a plastic bag with ice in it. He looked a me as if I had 3 eyes. Then he said that they didn't have plastic bags but stood for a moment thinking and left. He came back with a large take out container full of ice, completely enclosed in plastic wrap, inside a paper bag with a handle. Perfect!

Tomorrow we start sightseeing before attending a performance of Hamilton in the West End.