Last Day in London

Greetings from London everyone,

Well, it was bound to happen, the last day in London has come to close. It was another jolly in day in England!

We actually slept in this morning which was much needed. This vacationing thing is hard work! I know, I know...you feel so sorry for us. Once we were able to get out the door we headed to the last big thing on our list that was a must see, St. Paul's Cathedral. WOW! What an incredible structure. When we got there, the clouds even parted so we could get some good photos! Photography is not allowed inside the cathedral, unfortunately. However, I think my iPhone accidentally clicked a couple times.

St. Paul's Cathedral is where Prince Charles and Princess Dianna were married (Westminster Abbey was two small. St. Paul's 2500 seats were filled for the event). We chatted a bit with the ticket seller. She was not at all impressed that the wedding had taken place there, in fact, her response was, "Just look how that turned out." She then went on to tell us that there have been only two royal weddings in St. Paul's. We thought she said the other was Mary I of England who is known as Bloody Mary, but haven't been able to verify that. Her point of the story, if you're royal, DON'T get married in St. Paul's. She was quite funny with her dry British sense of humor and made a delightful start to the tour.

One of the surprises for us at Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's, and the other chapels we visited, is that the British entomb people right in the church. There are life size stones in the floor the size of a grave that serve as the tomb stone. These are scattered throughout the church (not in the nave - sanctuary area). St. Paul's actually has a crypt in the basement. The Duke of Wellington, who defeated Napoleon is there, as well as Lord Nelson and many other well known British military figures.

The unique thing about St. Paul's, is that instead of a spire, it has a dome, like many government buildings. After viewing the cathedral floor and the crypt, we hiked up 257 steps to the Whisper Gallery that rings the top of the base of the dome inside the cathedral. The view down below is amazing. It's called the Whisper Gallery because you can sit one side and whisper something and the person clear on the other side of the dome can hear you. No telling secrets up there! Next, we climbed 119 more steps to the Stone Gallery which rings the base of the dome on the outside of the cathedral with spectacular city views through the stone columns...and wind that almost blows you overboard! But wait, there's more...we climbed 152 MORE stairs - iron spiral staircase, to the Golden Gallery at the TOP of the dome - 279 feet above the cathedral floor! The views were fabulous and took the little breath we had completely away. So that's a total of - don't forget the steps up from the crypt, 558 steps! Fortunately, we only had to come down 528 of them back to the cathedral. Whew! No one told us that we were signing up for an exercise program!

Our next stop for the day was Covent Gardens. It's an open air arts and crafts market that grew out of a fruit market in ancient times. We picked up a few items, including a one-of-a-kind hand-painted silk tie for Rich. After Covent Gardens we hiked through the city discovering another open-air market of fruits, vegetables, meats, pastries and other goodies. We also came across another gorgeous chapel in which we got to hear the organist practicing.

Next we hiked to Trafalgar Square, a very impressive plaza in front of the National Gallery. Took tons of pictures, even though the light was getting low. The statues and fountains were beautiful. We could see Big Ben and one tower of the Parliament building from Trafalgar.

Since we had not done enough walking, we hoofed it over to the Piccadilly Circus area to do some shopping and have dinner. We know it's not very British of us, but we ate at the world's busiest T.G.I. Friday's. It was newly remodeled, reopened, and packed!


Needing to walk off a few more pounds after dinner, we walked up into the SOHO area and then strolled along Regent Street, one of the main shopping thoroughfares of London (not that we could afford anything in any of the stores). It was fun just watching the people, the buses and black cabs, and gawking at the beautiful buildings.

So, one thing we did not get use to in London was this whole "keep to the left" thing. We did ride in a taxi on the WRONG side of the road. It was a wild ride! If we had been left to our devices, we probably would not have survived our visit. Since childhood, we have been taught to look left before crossing the street. But NO, not in London. You have to look right because the traffic is coming from the other direction. Fortunately, the British knew we were coming and very kindly painted "Look Right" at every crosswalk for us. If it wasn't for that, we would not be heading to Paris tomorrow. Even in the Tube stations, the signs say keep left, not right. When you meet a Brit on the street, they automatically go to their left instead of right. The problem? I went to my right and ran into more people...trust me, this is not a good way to build good foreign relations.

Well, we've rambled quite a bit tonight. Have to get packing. We head to the train station at 6:30 in the morning. If Paris is half as great as London, we're in for a real treat.

Thank you to all of you who have given us such positive feedback on the our blog. It's fun to know that you are enjoying our trip with us.

The last Cheerio! See you in Paris!

Will and Rich

Windsor Castle

Hey everyone!

Well, we aren't quite as energetic as we were at the beginning of the week. LOL But we still had a great day. We took the train out to Windsor and toured Windsor Castle, the home of Queen Elizabeth II, when she's not at Buckingham Palace. Windsor is a quaint little town at the base of the castle. It has a lot of shops and restaurants for the tourists, but it still has the feel of the English countryside.

Windsor Castle is absolutely amazing. It has the typical castle fortress walls, high towers, battlements, etc. Because the Queen was not in residence, we were able to tour more of the castle than normal. We got to see where the royal banquets are held, where knights are knighted, and where guests are received. The fire of 1992 destroyed a large section of the castle, but it was amazing what was saved. Most all of the art work and furniture was removed before being damaged. The rooms that were burned have been restored to original historical brilliance, and look even better than before they burned. The art work, weapon collections and other museum pieces are incredible. Every room has multiple paintings of royal family members and other notables.

Also on the grounds of Windsor Castle is St. George's Chapel, which is actually a huge beautiful church with incredible architecture. Like Westminster Abbey, there are many royals and others buried there, including King George VI and the Queen Mother Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth's parents.

We had lunch at a British pub in Windsor and headed back to London in the afternoon. This evening, we saw Oliver at the Royal Theater. It was a fantastic production. It seemed appropriate that we saw Oliver for the first time in London.

That's it for the day. Tomorrow is our last day in London. There's till lots to see and, of course, we must do our shopping!

Cheerio!

Rich & Will

A Night at the Theater

Greetings everyone!


It's hard to believe that the week is already half over. Only two more days in London, but still a lot to see.


London is known for its theater, almost as much or more so than Broadway. We were surprised to see the large number of theaters scattered throughout the city. We had already planned on taking in a show, but didn't realize how many there were to choose from. First thing this morning we headed to the half-price ticket booth in Leicester Square, not far from Picadilly Circus. We were pleasantly surprised at the selection of shows and the prices. We ended up getting tickets for Billy Elliot tonight and for Oliver tomorrow night. The Billy Elliot show was fantastic! The young man who played Billy was a phenomenal dancer. It was a great evening in a beautiful old London theater called the Victoria Palace.


After picking up the tickets this morning, we noticed we were across the street from the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. We chose to tour the Portrait Gallery and enjoyed seeing original paintings dating back to the 1600's from England's past up through photographic portraits of current British celebrities and royalty.




Back to the Tower of London we went next. Since we were not allowed to explore the night before at the Ceremony of the Keys, we wanted to go back and get a good look around. The Tower of London is actually many towers that made up a fortress and home for many of the early monarchs. It was also a prison and the site of several beheadings, including Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, two of Henry VIII's wives. Today, the site is mostly a museum and tourist attraction; however, the royal crown jewels are still secured there. The modern day vault is huge with two massive doors. Visitors are allowed to tour through the vault and see crowns of past and present monarchs as well as other coronation regalia. It was quite breathtaking. We spent several hours exploring the Tower grounds and buildings.


Next to the Tower of London, is Tower Bridge, often mistakenly called London Bridge. We were able to climb to the top of one of the towers, also quite breathtaking - literally, and view the Thames River and the entire city from the top.


After a wonderful Italian dinner and the Billy Elliot show, we walked over to Buckingham Palace to view it all lit up. Very beautiful, even in the rain.



We hope you are all doing well. If you enjoy reading our blog, please feel free to leave a comment. We would love to hear from you.



Cheerio!

Will and Rich

A very FULL day!

What a great day! The morning was bright and beautiful, but it did cloud up around noon, and there were a few sprinkles tonight.

We started the morning at the Parliament Building and Big Ben. We came up out of the Underground and there was Big Ben right above us, so majestic. There's nothing like seeing it in person. We walked across the Thames on the the Westminster Bridge and got great shots of the Parliament Building. Unfortunately, it was closed except for viewing the political debates in the afternoon.

Next, we walked across the street to Westminster Abbey. We had no idea how many famous people are entombed there. Most of the kings and queens of England as well as other royalty, friends of royalty, poets, musicians, etc. Chaucer, Shakespeare, Handel, Charles Dickens are all there. It is a magnificent piece of architecture and truly awe inspiring. the admission fee included an audio tour that really made it very interesting.

We then hustled over to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard. The area in front of the palace was packed with viewers. Unfortunately, the changing of the guard was cancelled. We still got to see the guards in the palace yard and saw some royal carriages enter the palace with guests. A horse mounted contingent of guards also rode by the palace, so it was still worth the walk.

Next we hiked up to Hyde Park corner to see Wellington Arch and memorial. Then we walked down Piccadilly to Piccadilly Circus. Piccadilly is lined with shops, restaurants, government buildings, and clubs. Piccadilly Circus is a like a mini Times Square.

At Piccadilly Circus, we jumped on the Underground and took it to Harrod's, London's HUGE department store. Six stories of just about anything you could want. We had a fabulous ice cream sundae and chocolate cake in their Chocolate Bar - YUMMY! Buildings in London number their floors differently. So when we walked into Harrod's we were on the Ground Floor. The basement is the Lower Ground. The floor above the ground floor is the 1st floor, not the 2nd like in the US. So of course, the 3rd floor is actually the 2nd and so on. Harrod's is so large, there's an entire department just for women's scarves! Our daughter's would love it!

Getting around on the Underground is quite easy. We chuckle every time we hear the announcement to "Mind the gap!" In England, they use the word "mind" for "watch out for." The gap is the space between the platform and the train, thus, "Mind the gap." It's even painted on the edge of the platform.

Tonight we experienced one of the highlights of our trip. We went to the Tower of London for the Ceremony of the Keys. The ceremony has been conduced for over 700 years without fail. It's basically the locking up of the Tower of London. A Beefeater with lantern and a ring of keys is confronted by guards from Her Majesty's guard, then together they lock up the Tower. The weather was chilly and misty, which made the whole experience more British feeling. We actually got the chills during the ceremony. It was very moving to be walking the cobblestone walkways thinking about the famous people who had walked the very same paths as prisoners of the Tower, Sir Walter Raleigh, Queen Elizabeth I, Anne Boleyn, Thomas More to name a few. No photography was allowed, so no photos to share.

We then took the Underground back to Big Ben, Parliament and Westminster Abbey for some gorgeous nighttime views and photos.

A jaunt back to Paddington Station on the Underground, a Burger King ice cream sundae, and we're back in our room. It's 12:30 AM here...I think we've adjusted just fine to the time difference. LOL

Cheerio for now!

Will and Rich

We made it!

We're in jolly ol' England! The flight went very smoothly. We left Seattle on time and arrived in London about 20 minutes early. Due to the strike, British Airways had "reduced service." Their reduced service was better than the service we have received on ANY American Airline, so we had no idea what we were missing. The flight was 9 hours with an additional 7 hours on the clock. Sleeping did not got well. We slept fitfully for about 3 hours, so really feeling it now. At the left is the coast of Ireland and the Irish Sea.

Flying in over London was incredible. The Thames was beautiful and the use of green space in London is amazing. There are parks and green areas throughout the city. At the right is a photo of Hyde Park which we ended up exploring today. Our hotel is just above the park.

After we unpacked, we an authentic British lunch of fish & chips at a neighborhood fish shop. VERY fresh. We then explored Hyde Park. The park is huge, reminding us some of Central Park in New York. There were beautiful swans in all the ponds. Located in the park is Kensington Palace. The palace has been closed for renovations, but reopens in a couple days. We're anxious to go back and explore. Check out all the photos on Facebook.

The Brits love their dogs. We saw more breeds of dogs in the park than we ever see at home. The variety was amazing.

After wearing our feet and legs out. we stopped at coffee stand in the park, got a latte and headed back to the hotel. It started drizzling, but made it back for a nice nap. Now we're off to find dinner.

This is going to be a fantastic week! There is so much to see and do here.

Cheerio for now!

Rich & Will

5 days to go!

Monday and Tuesday are done, moving toward Wednesday...it'll be Sunday before we know it. The flight is still scheduled despite the strike, with limited service...but hey, it will still get us there.

One week to go and a strike is looming...

Hey everyone!

The time is quickly approaching! We're on the one week countdown. We leave from Medford next Sunday for London. & Paris. The bad news - British Airways cabin crews have a strike scheduled for next weekend! So far, our flight is still scheduled, but the cabin crew may be replacements from other departments. This could mean no food service on a nine-hour flight. At least we would get there. Currently, there's a 50/50 chance of the strike being averted, so keep you fingers crossed.

We've started packing, I got my new camera and camera bag, and the weather is looking much better in both cities. Hopefully, all will work out.

Stay tuned for more!

Will and Rich