Getting Organized in London
The next day the horticultural wives (Master Gardeners) took off to visit a garden. They ended up at the Chelsea Physic Garden which is a collection of useful and medicinal plants. They thought it was great and well worth their visit. The guys had three missions; get train tickets, get sim cards for cell phones, and go to the RAF Museum.
The train tickets were a piece of cake. The hotel was right next to the station. This was planned. We were able to walk in and get the cheapest tickets for the train for the next day. No problem.
The sim cards were more complicated. I had an iPhone 4 which I knew could handle a new sim card. Schuyler had an old cell phone which he assumed would be able to handle a new sim card. We wanted local phones so that we could communicate while on the canal.
We started off at an electronic “superstore” near the station. We walked in and a very helpful young man told us that they were fresh out of what we needed and that we should head down the street to the “3” store and get what we needed from them. That “3” had the best coverage in the UK. We headed down the street. We did not find the “3” store but found a Vodafone store. The friendly and fast talking salesman was able take care of us. There was no problem replacing the sim card in my iPhone. But Schuyler’s phone did not have a replaceable sim card. He ended up buying a new “inexpensive” phone. As it turned out the Vodafone coverage on the canal was awful. We could only communicate about half the time!
After our missions were accomplished we went to the RAF Museum in Colindale. This is an excellent museum; the aircraft go from biplanes to jets. Admission is free. The museum is near the Colindale stop on the Northern Line. The RAF Museum is not associated with the Imperial War Museum, which also has a museum with aircraft.
That evening after we rejoined our wives we had dinner at an Indian restaurant, which was very good. My wife and I have found Indian restaurants to be pretty reliable in the UK.
That evening I also sent an email to the taxi service in Middlewich indicating when we would arrive in Crewe and confirming the pickup.
Pictures are at: https://goo.gl/photos/UzXb1e3GEhhNGMaTA
Most of these pictures have captions. If you click on the "i" that is somewhere on the page you should be able to them