We arrived in London at about noon on Saturday, June 21, and after clearing customs and picking up our luggage, we boarded the tour bus and set off on vacation. We ended up spending more time doing driving tours on this trip than I'd hoped to do but we'll know better next time. And I got pretty good at snapping pictures out the bus window. For example, my first picture in London:
Our first stop was St. Paul's Cathedral. Since we arrived in London on Saturday so we wouldn't be able to do the tour on our sightseeing the next day. Unfortunately, thanks to the Duke of Gloucester and an event he had going on at St. Paul's, we weren't able to see it on Saturday either.
Instead, we walked across the Millennium Bridge and took photos of the Globe Theatre and the River Thames with the Tower of London in the background.
After we got checked in at the hotel, we were able to explore the area around our hotel for a bit. We managed to successfully make a purchase at a grocery store without holding up the line and enjoyed all the little bitty cars on the London streets. I'm not sure this one was made for someone Paul's size (or if it was, not for him and a passenger).
We had dinner at a nearby pub and walked back to the hotel and were both sound asleep by 9:30 to sleep the sleep of the dead (or the jetlagged). The next morning (June 22), refreshed and ready to go, we headed to Trafalgar Square for a chance to climb up on the lions for a photo op. (And I really didn't intend to take a picture of Mom taking a picture of Dad.)
Nelson's Column
It was really windy that morning although it warmed up and the winds died later in the day.
Paul calls this his favorite picture of the entire trip--Mom needed a hand (although not as much help as she received) getting up on the statue.
The family beside one of the lion's with a glimpse of the National Gallery in the background.
After leaving Trafalgar Square, we spent much of the rest of the morning touring London by bus (saw London Bridge, the Parliment buildings, went down Fleet Street, saw Lloyd's of London's wacky building, Downing Street, lots of other tourists, etc.) with stops for this photo op and at Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards.
The Royal Entrance at Westminster. We drove around Parliment Square but I didn't find the need to take pictures of the various statues around the way. That's another thing we saw plenty of--statues. And monuments galore. I have pictures of monuments that I have no idea what they are monuments to.
The London Eye.
We did take the subway from the Tower of London back to our hotel and then again at dinner from the hotel to the restaurant.
Palace of Westminster
London City Hall
horseguard but I'm not sure where he was guarding
Bond, James Bond's workplace--the MI6 headquarters
Look, kids! Big Ben! Yep, that joke never gets old.
Buckingham Palace before the changing of the guards. We didn't muscle our way up to the front to see the event but we were able to see it at Windsor Palace the next day.
One of the classic double-decker buses. I just noticed the pup in the bottom right corner.
Tower of London
After Buckingham Palace, we headed to Covent Gardens for lunch. We shopped a little and watched the street performers before deciding to go to the Tower of London with Mom and Dad and their friends Jesse and Sheri. This seemed like a good idea except that we didn't know exactly how to get there and there were six people with very definite ideas on what we should be doing (and we were all cranky and jetlagged). As I wrote in my journal that evening: got lost/confused/angry getting to Tower of London--finally arrived by bus. I nearly got taken out by a taxi because they don't stop for anything and I was looking the wrong direction for cars when crossing the street (to my left rather than my right). We finally managed to get on a bus going in that direction, although we got off about a mile before we needed to and walked the rest of way to the Tower of London but we weren't talking by that point so we all went our separate ways once inside (and we were able to laugh about this by the end of the trip).
We just missed the last Yeoman guided tour and when we caught up with the group, it was so large we opted to go back for the audio tours. This gave us all the the fun, interesting, gory facts about the Tower. Below is The White Tower with it's wooden staircase (removable in case of attackers).
The Traitor's Gate
Ravens at the Tower of London. I didn't realize that ravens are carrion birds--there are warnings not to feed them. There are always ravens at the Tower because of the belief that the Tower will fall when the last raven leaves.
with a Yeoman Warder (colloquially known as a Beefeater)
The Middle Tower
Snack time! We decided that everything tastes almost the same but not quite because of the lack of additives and preservatives. Neither of us was crazy about the pepper on the table--always with the white pepper which tastes odd, in our opinions.
That evening, our group attended a Medieval Banquet which sadly fell short of expectations. I think we all went in thinking it would be like Medieval Times or Excalibur in Vegas. Not so much. Oh, well. At least we know we don't have to go the next time we find ourselves in London.The next morning (June 23), we headed out of London to Windsor to tour Windsor Castle. The queen was still in residence when we arrived but because the private apartments are, well, private, we were able to tour the Castle and St. George's Chapel. We walked around the town of Windsor for a little bit as well.
The Round Tower at Windsor Castle with the Royal Standard flying
cat at St. George's Chapel
St. George's Chapel
Changing of the Guards at Windsor Castle. This process took much longer than I expected and because I was in desperate need of food and growing crankier by the second, we didn't stay for the whole thing.
And here some of the guards come back. They came, they left, they went into a little room, they shuffle stepped, there was a band. I didn't understand the whole process. Perhaps if I had been well-fed. . .Gardens below the Round Tower
The King Henry VIII gate (the main exit for the Castle for visitors)
From Windsor, we headed to Stonehenge. It was a beautiful day (as evidenced in the pictures), in the mid-70's, and Paul ended up sunburned on his neck. He jokes that it's obvious he never goes outside when he gets sunburned in England.
We missed the solstice celebration by just a few days but apparently, it was overcast all day so it wouldn't have been much to see.
From Stonehenge, we drove to Bath which both of us enjoyed. It's a really pretty old town and the weather was so lovely that afternoon. The Roman Baths were so crowded that we didn't spend much time walking through them--hit the high points and decided we'd seen enough. We did have a really nice time strolling around seeing the town of Bath. Below is the Pulteney Bridge and the River Avon.
The Bath Abbey from the Roman Baths Gallery
The Great Bath at the Roman Baths. There are also excavated temple steps, remains of the temple altar, auxillary baths, examples of ceiling tiles that were found as well as other found ruins.
Goofing around in the ruins at the Roman Baths.
Enjoying ice cream in Bath--Paul had white chocolate with malt balls, I ate strawberries & cream
One of the shops on the Pulteney Bridge.
From Bath, we headed to Bristol for the evening. One of the guides I read about traveling in Europe said that you should pack your bag, walk for a mile, and up several flights of stairs to get ready for your trip. The hotel we stayed at only had one very slow elevator (lift in the local vernacular) and 40 people with big suitcases waiting to go to their rooms. We, along with quite a few others, opted to carry our suitcases up the stairs rather than wait (our room was on the fourth floor). It wasn't too bad since we hadn't yet bought anything. By the time we reached Scotland, this became a heavier proposition.
But once we got to our room, we were greeted by a fantastic view of the St. Mary Redcliffe Church out the window.
The next morning (June 24), we left England, heading through Wales on our way to the ferry that would transport us to Ireland. I was a little slow on the camera with this one but that says "Welcome to Wales" in English and Welsh.
We stopped for a couple of hours in Cardiff, Wales. The castle wasn't opened so this was as good as it got on this stop.
We wandered around some streets and shops in Cardiff. Everyone we encountered was really friendly as they went about their business and we basically tried to stay out of their way with our browsing. While wandering around, we happened upon a board game shop that carries the uncommon board games Paul likes. It was about 9:45 but the shop didn't open until 10:00. The owner saw us looking in the window, pointing and discussing the various games we could see so he came over and let us in. He and Paul talked about games for a bit--Paul is looking for a specific one that has been released in the U.S. yet and the store owner knew which one Paul was talking about but didn't have it in stock. We did buy another game Paul had been wanting and thanked the owner for opening his shop early for us.
I don't know what cobs are but baps are what we would call hamburger buns. We stopped for a treat at the bakery--Welsh cakes and hot tea.
Back on the road, we headed on the outskirts of Swansea. Street sign outside Swansea in Welsh and English
church in Wales--I don't know anything about it but it shows my prowess in taking pictures out the window of a moving bus
Our ferry left at 1:30 for what would be a 3.5 hour trip across the Irish Sea. Thankfully the weather was calm although it did rain for much of the trip. I had taken Dramamine just in case.
heading toward the ferry
Paul thought this was funny.
This picture could best be described as serendipitious. I was snapping a picture of the scenery as we left Wales--I didn't realize I'd gotten the seagull in the picture until later.
We ate lunch onboard the ferry--fish, chips, and mushy peas. The peas weren't bad--just tasted like peas although we both agreed that the dish could use some salt and black pepper.
To pass the time, Paul, Mom and I played a couple of rounds of one of Paul's cards games. Mom won once and I won once. Paul didn't win at all. We don't know where my dad was during the majority of the ferry trip. We'd decided he was off some place taking a nap and we were right. He showed up later in the trip to confirm our assumption.
A hitchhiker on the ferry. This guy showed up as we got closer to Ireland. One of his feet had been injured at some point, poor fella.
And that is Ireland in the distance. More about that in another post.
