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!!

Day 25 Historic London

We had tickets today for a special exhibit at the British Library. This library is one of the largest in the world, however, you can't just checkout a book. It is a research library with all kinds of special requirements. There are lots of historic documents such as an original Magna Carta, music handwritten by the Beatles, and an original Gutenberg Bible. All were beautifully displayed in a dimly lite gallery.

The special exhibit was "Henry VIII, Man & Monarch" to honor the 500th anniversary of Henry's accession to the throne. We followed Henry's life from birth to death for about 4 hours (and needed twice as much time) seeing original portraits, books, manuscripts and even personal correspondence. It was spectacular!

After a late lunch, we headed to the British Museum. When we visited England 15 years ago we just wandered around and didn't spend any time at the museums. This visit was to make up for that decision. The museums in London are fantastic and everyone was FREE!

This museum is a huge (maybe the largest) timeline history of the world in objects. My Rick Steves' travel book said "A visit here is like taking a long hike through Encyclopedia Britannica National Park." We didn't have the 5-7 days needed to see everything so just spent the rest of today and saw a little bit.

I have been studying Ancient Civilizations so my favorite was the section for the Assyrians, an important people of Mesopotamia beginning about 2400 BC. Assyrians made the first door locks, and developed our system of keeping time. They also had the first paved roads, magnifying glasses, libraries, a postal system and even flush toilets. All pretty important stuff that we have certainly become used too. And that was when my camera ran out of batteries! So much for modern civilization!

We continued looking around at the Rosetta Stone and lots of Greek art, including the "Elgin Marbles" which Lord Elgin brought back when he was the British ambassador, 1801-1805, to the Ottoman Empire (which included Athens). In 1816 the British Museum acquired these sculptures, built a special gallery to house and display them free of charge to the world. Wow, what a display of Greek history. Of course, the Greeks want them back!

After a quick look at several other rooms, we had overdosed on world history and will just have to come back another time. And we had walked over 7 miles by the time we got back home for the night. More sites tomorrow!!

Day 24 Off to London

Sadly, today we are leaving York from this beautiful train station. I think we both have really enjoyed this city. And 4 days wasn't nearly enough; I didn't even get to visit the library for "ancestor history". We had a great B & B so we already know where to stay for next time. We returned the rental car at the station after driving over 1500 miles around this country. We don't need any car in London and this is an easy place to make the return. Don is making friends with the train personal as we wait for our train to London.

The train arrived in London about 1 pm and the taxi found our B & B with no problems. Since it is still early, out we go again for some exploring. London is a huge city but we have been here before. That cuts down the "must see" list a little bit.

First on the list is the Temple Church, built by the Knights Templar (made more famous in The Di Vinci Code movie). It is near Inner Temple and Middle Temple, where lawyers get their start and has become the local church of the two lawyer societies. The Knights fell on hard times about 50 years after this church was built and Henry VIII eventually took over this church as well.

We are having the warmest weather so far on our excursion! We needed our standard South Florida wardrobe today.

We explored all around our B & B before heading off to the Apollo Theater to see "Wicked". It was a 4 block walk back to our room which added 5 walking miles to our exercise today.

Day 23 Last Day in York

The York Shambles is a "traffic-free", 100 yard long street formerly called the "street of the butchers".



In the 16C you could buy fresh, raw meat hanging from hooks right above the windows or laying on the window sills. The smell must have been horrible. But baths were so rare that maybe you didn't even notice! It was a crowded place which now has wonky buildings (no building codes then) and one street just wide enough for a horse and cart. Of course, now it is "the place to be" and a "must see" for all York tourists.

The York Minster is the largest Gothic church north of the Alps. It is 520 feet long and 200 feet tall. Parts of the building are from the 1200s with remodeling and additions to 1472. You can see the spires from almost everywhere in the city. "Minster" means where people go to spread the word of God and originally was Roman Catholic but become part of the Church of England after Henry VIII's break with Rome in 1534.

The inside is beautiful and HUGE. So much to see that we took the guided tour.

See how big some of the columns are that hold up the roof. This cathedral will hold about 4000 people.

Next was the York Castle Museum which was like walking through a time machine. Everything is laid out in date order so we got a good feel about living in Yorkshire. This picture of a house would have been how my ancestors were living in 1850 right before my great, great parents came to America. This is a one room house and barn combination. The animal body heat would help keep the family warm through the cold winter.

We laughed at this book "How to Master a Wife" from one display. The men may have read this book but women ignored the husband's orders then as we do now!

We walked about 7 miles on this last day in York. It will be a city we return too on another trip.

Day 22 York sights

Wow, York is a spectacular city! It was the northernmost city of the Roman Empire in 71 A.D. And Constantine was actually proclaimed emperor in York in A.D. 306 after the death of his father! Here is his statue in front of the York Minster.

This area has a very long history. It has been ruled by Romans, then Anglo-Saxons, and then Vikings. About 12C the Normans rebuilt York, added a castle and rebuilt the wall (3 miles are still here) that surrounded the town.

We explored along the wall and took the free 2 hour Walking Tour. It was well worth the cost!

There were four gates on York's medieval walls that allowed the town to collect tolls of all who entered. The gates/bars were closed at dusk to keep the the town safe.

The gates are called "bars" as a street in York is called "a gate". This sign was posted on the wall

to explain it all.

The final tourist site for today was the Yorkshire Museum which is located in a beautiful park next to the ruins of St. Mary's Abbey. Only parts of 2 outside walls are left and the locals use the park as a picnic area. This abbey was founded in 1055 and closed by Henry VIII in 1539. The model in the museum shows how big the abbey was!!

The Yorkshire Museum has over 2,000 years of treasures from Roman to Medieval times. We asked a few questions of the docent and he followed us around for an hour telling about all we saw. I don't think enough people ask the docents questions and they are very excited to pass on their knowledge.

It was a great, "touristy" day!