Day 30 Going Home

It is Thursday, June 4, 2009. We have arrived at Heathrow for our flight back home. I thought that 30 days would feel like a really long vacation but the time has just flow by. It is hard to believe that we have actually been traveling for 30 days and we both think we could stay here for 30 more days and have just as much fun. Can't wait to come back.

These photos were on display along the airport walls. I couldn't resist capturing these scenes.

Here are our first class seats thanks to frequent flyer miles!! We really are spoiled.

Facts:

1. We traveled for 30 days.

2. We walked almost 160 miles.

3. Don drove 1650 miles with great help from Susan GPS.

4. The map shows we covered over 2,000 miles.

5. And we can't wait to come back!

I have added a few pics I don't think I have included yet. Each one has a story.

Great Britain--bye for now. June 2009

Katherine Santos

Day 29 Old London and Shakespeare

We have tickets for Shakespeare at 2 pm today so we are exploring for a few hours. It is so interesting to see today's London with London of the past right in the middle of it. In America we would remove everything and start again. And eventually America will have no past to look at except in the museums.

Here is the Millennium Bridge, the first London bridge built in 100 years. What a contrast! St. Paul's Cathedral on one end, the 4th church on that site starting in 606 AD and Tate Modern, Impressionist to Modern art, connected by a bridge built in 2000.

And right down the Thames is The Golden Hind, a replica of an English galleon used by Sir Francis Drake to circumnavigate the globe from 1577 to 1580. It was so tiny for such a long voyage.

The Globe Theater has been rebuilt, half timbered and thatched, just like the original theater of 1599. Shakespeare continues to live here with plays performed year round. You can also tour the theater at different time everyday.

We had tickets for Romeo & Juliet. The ending was just as sad even knowing the story. The seats were hard wood but rental cushions were available. Yes, we did rent them! The play goes on no matter the weather even though there is no roof. It must be beautiful seeing Shakespeare performed with snow falling.

There were two ladies from Cornwall beside us who have been coming to a play every year since 1985. How lucky to come to London every year and just see the sites!

I made some notes for when I get back home. I want recipes for scones, and shortbread cookies and Mushroom Stroganoff. There hasn't been one thing we didn't eat. And another note-bring a few cold weather clothing items. I had to buy a sweater and would have bought gloves if they hadn't been out of season. We finished up today by walking over 7 miles. Tomorrow we fly back home.

Day 28 Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey

Today was our turn to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. Our B & B was much closer that we thought. The show starts at 11:30 am so we started off right after breakfast at 9 am to arrive early and get a good place to stand. Well, we arrived at 9:30 am and had to just stand and sit on the steps by Queen Victoria, watching all the other tourists. Those marble steps were cold to sit on so don't come so early unless it is summer!

The gate was impressive but the crowds milling around were the most fun. The family right in front of us was from France and we had a nice visit with a Michigan couple carrying the same Rick Steves' guide book.

We headed to Green Park and saw this "green" building along the main street. It was pretty cool with all the vegetation climbing up the building from bottom to top.

Westminster Abbey was the last tourist stop for today. We decided to take the guided tour and hopefully learn a little bit. It is a beautiful church where kings and a couple of queens have been crowned and buried (29) since 1066. The original Abbey was dedicated in 1065 by Edward the Confessor and the first Coronation was William the Conqueror on Christmas Day, 1066. Of course the original church is gone but Henry III stated building this church in 1245. The last Coronation was Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. Who will be her successor?

Even with the 90 minute guided tour there was so much to see that we only learned a little bit of the almost 1,000 year history. We did stay for evensong. It was a nice ending to the day.

We had dinner tonight at the above pub after stopping earlier in the week for High Tea, a very English tradition. It is a mid afternoon snack which includes tea, of course, and small sandwiches and scones with jam and thick clotted cream. Delicious dinner and delicious High Tea!! I think I will need a maid when we get home! We walked almost 6 miles and even bought London tee shirts! I am looking forward to Shakespeare tomorrow, our last day.

Day 27 Westminster to Trafalgar Square

We are taking a long walk from Westminster Abbey to Trafalgar Square to look in a couple of art museums. Rick Steves' travel guide has a good read along so we know what we are looking at and it is a beautiful early June day. First stop was The Banqueting House--all that survived of the Palace of Whitehall after the London fires of 1698. It is probably more famous as where Charles I got beheaded by Cromwell's Parliament.

We got an "outside only" look at the New Scotland Yard. Great sign however!

On to Trafalgar Square which has had a face lift and looks very clean now (there was a pigeon problem!). Lord Nelson still stands atop his 185 foot granite column and giant lions look on. Lots of people were just taking a break here.





Our museum requirement for today is the National Gallery, top paintings from 1250 to 1900, and all available for FREE. Next door was the National Portrait Gallery. I liked this one better as it was only portraits from the 16 century to today's Royal Family. There were all different painters and various sizes from tiny to gigantic. It deserves another look!

Leicester Square was nearby so we walked around watching all the other tourists, stopped at a pub and walked home in the early evening clocking over 6 miles today.

I am sad; only 2 more days to explore.

Day 26 London Walkaround

It is Sunday, May 31, 2009. We are going to have a nice easy day exploring some parks, Nob Hill and some shopping at Harrod's. We start off along Green Park looking for art work and London tee shirts. By accident we find Berkeley Square, a very upscale area of London. And there is a Bentley Showroom on the square. Don looked through the window at a model about $456,000 US. It is a bit out of our price range but does have ALL the required bells and whistles.





Right beside the showroom is street parking for electric cars only! Rather ironic we decide. No one was parking at the moment but this rich area would certainly have the latest electric cars. Everyone must have been in the country this weekend!






We walk to Hyde Park and Speakers Corner where every Sunday anyone can offer his or her opinion on "anything". Speakers Corner is a holdover from the days when the gallows were on this spot and the criminal could say almost anything before getting hung. The speakers sometimes bring a ladder to "get about the crowd". We walked through various groups but there was nothing worth stopping for. Hurrah for free speech !!






Notting Hill is a middle class area with flea markets and antique dealers. It was not as friendly as the movie "Notting Hill" showed and I was disappointed not to see Hugh Grant just hanging around! We gave Portobello Market a quick look and walked on to Kensington Gardens. Kensington was a peaceful village well outside London in 1689 when King William




and Queen Mary moved here after turning an existing home into Kensington Palace. This was the center of the monarchy until everyone moved to Buckingham Palace in 1760. (Buckingham is much more "upscale"!) Kensington Palace became home for Princess Diana until she died in 1997.


We walked by the Royal Albert Hall, opened by Queen Victoria in 1871, on our way to Harrod's. Any top entertainers can be seen here from Cirque du Soleil to the Royal Philharmonic. We should get tickets next time as the building is beautiful inside.









But today we are going SHOPPING!



Harrod's has become a major tourist attraction with over 7 floors selling almost anything you might want (elephants to toothbrushes per my travel guide), starting out as a single room grocery on this site in 1851.






It now covers 5 acres and recently sold for more than $2 billion. Don went straight to the men's department looking for a sports jacket. When he told the clerk how much he wanted to pay, the man suggested we might try another store down the street. Things were a bit "pricey." It was fun just wandering around and people watching. This woman was video taping her experience






We finish up today at the 450 foot high Ferris wheel, The London Eye. The views over London were great. The trip takes about 30 minutes and runs silently, none of the usual Ferris wheel/ amusement park noises. The London Eye was originally in place for 5 years but now it will probably stay for ever--to rival Paris' Eiffel Tower!








We returned home extremely tired to discover WE HAD WALKED OVER 13 MILES TODAY! No wonder I wanted to take a taxi home!!