May 4

 Up at 7:45 10 degrees Celsius late rain overnight. Looked at train options-taking an earlier one at 8:53: should get us into London around 1 o'clock. Gobowen to Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton to Euston exactly the same way we came up. Smooth sailing to Wolverhampton; nice warm comfortable lounge to wait in at Wolverhampton.

Dean uses Google Maps to track our trip and it is easy to know when to get off and what platform to connect to. I'm glad I'm traveling with him. We didn't have reserved seats on the last leg which was about two hours but I sat in a seat that was supposedly reserved all the way. Dean had to move once when the true owner of the seat showed up part way through. Very smooth trip. Arrived on time and walked to our hotel arriving 1:35. The Sidney Hotel on Belgrave. 

Rooms were ready by the time we completed registration. Room has two beds, very clean, not large but big enough for two people in single beds. After freshening up we walked around looking for a pub. We passed on two and then chose the Warwick not far from our hotel. The pub food was good. I had a Doombar which I have selected often. 

Then we decided to walk to the Chelsea Physic Gardens.  Along the way we walk past some interesting architecture including the White Swan House, Lister Hospital and the London Peace Pagoda. 

We also walked past the entrance to the grounds of the Chelsea Garden Show an annual extravaganza about everything gardening. It'll be held this year starting on May 20th. Carol did an article for a magazine on this in 2003. I was her photographer. Brings back great memories. 

I've been to the Physic Garden at least three times before- last time in 2010. They were established in 1673. The Portland stone statue at the entrance is Sir Hans Sloan,  a physician who donated his botanical plants to London from which the physic garden was born. 

Dean and I both marveled at the diversity and orderliness of the Gardens.  The signages were terrific and some of the specialty houses really impressed me. It isn't a very big space but certainly contains a large quantity of material and in a way that doesn't seem crowded. We spent about an hour there and took a different route back to the hotel.  Passed by Ecclesson Garden Square a large fenced garden that's only accessible to property owners who reside in the four streets of Ecclesson Square that border the property. Carol and I were there in 2003 when she covered the Garden Show and wrote another article based on a tour and information provided to her by one of the owners.

Back to the hotel by 5 where we relaxed and Dean booked two tickets for National Portrait Gallery and British Museum tomorrow. About seven o'clock we went out on the streets and looked for a place to eat.  Passed up one, another pub wasn't serving food so we walked on and found that Victorian Taps. We ordered a beer, mine was a half pint of London's Fuller's Pride. I ordered a Hoison chicken bowl and Dean had a tandoori chicken bowl. They were both very good, quite healthy and just the right amount. 

While we were there Dean ordered tickets for " The Play That Goes Wrong for  tomorrow night. We'll have a long day but the times and logistics work well. Walked back to the hotel at 8 o'clock. Stopped in a small food and wine store bought wine cheese and snacks. Dean got a couple of wine glasses from the desk downstairs. We're all set.