I LOVE EDINBURGH!!!!! This is one of my most favorite places I have ever been in my whole life! The feel of the city is just nice...people are so friendly and helpful, not a hurried pace, just going where you need to go, good food, GREAT shopping! I hope to come back here another time and take time to explore the whole country of Scotland.
We started the day at Edinburgh Castle, way atop a volcanic explosion that happened a LONG time ago. The castle looms over the city and is quite an awesome and awe inspiring sight. We entered the gates and wound around and around to get to the top (didn't want to do the stairs!) Beautiful views over the city and beyond...would have been able to see my Forth Rail Bridge had it not been so foggy...(I will find a way to get to that bridge!) Loved every minute at the castle...the soldier memorial was especially touching, the views absolutely breathtaking. St. Margaret's Chapel was such a cute place....heard one of the tour guides telling a story of a proposal that happened there and an "American chap" who wanted to get pictures with the couple...that chap was Tom Hanks, who was on holiday here at the time and saw what happened and wanted to congratulate the couple! back to today... we wandered through everything, me with my mouth open in a gasp and Cat thinking I was a nut! loved it!
Everything else was downhill...only because the castle is at the top and the Royal Mile is downhill all the way! Went through the area known as the Lawnmarket and shopped...and shopped....and shopped..until we dropped! The tartan plaids were BEAUTIFUL!!!!! pure eye candy for me, but I love plaid! Even saw a machine making the plaid (technology!) and of course bought my fair share of the stuff. This strip was really something with every store having plaids and kilts and beautiful woolens....yum! The streets in this area reminded me of London and Brussels and Newcastle....really tight and close and narrow and chock full of OLD buildings! There were many small gaps between buildings marked something "Close" or "Court" which led to areas between and behind the street buildings. The area of our hotel is called "New Town", still 200-300 years old but newer than where we were today with wider streets.
Partly down the Mile we noticed signs about "no parking today" and lots of women in their finest and men in kilts (their finest here), and Cat jokingly said "oh the Queen is in town" (after all she did find Prince Charles!). Of course I asked someone what was going on and Cat was right! The Queen was in town for a Garden Party and these folks were on the way to Holyrood Palace, the Queen's Scotland residence, to party in the garden. We arrived at the Palace about the same time as Her Majesty, actually she rode right by us but we didn't realize it in time to get the cameras out. drat! The queue (line to get in) wrapped all around everywhere and we were surely NOT dressed to fit in. oh well.... We had hoped to get a good look at the palace but that was out of the question today, with police officers all over the place and all of the fancy people.
Time to go back and drop off all the stuff we bought that was weighing me down..I think we need another suitcase. Since we had been walking downhill all day we now had to go up...and we did...up and up and up... for a while. We were out of the real tourist area, but with the trusty map we made it! Power nap...dinner next door again...and here I am!
observations....
Scotland has the BEST toffee...ie, caramel. It reminds me of some that I had as a child and still remember the taste...YUMMERS!
The people here are so nice! I really love this place and hope to return one day with more time. There's just a comfortable feeling here that I love!
We are in the area known as Midlothian! There is no village of Midlothian here (as I thought from the map) but we are in the middle of the Lothians. That is pretty cool to me!
We will not be going to Crichton Castle...it is a bus ride to the middle of nowhere (a quote from the guy at the hotel) then a 2 and a half mile walk out to ruins...nothing else there...and a 2 and a half mile walk back to the bus. We are probably walking that much but we are with people and where we can find on a map...oh well.... Can't get the bus thing right for Rosslyn either...best laid plans... we are still doing new things I've always dreamed of!
Tomorrow looks to be busy....don' t know if I will blog but will fill in later if not.
HAVING A BLAST!!!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
what a view!
day 12--June 29, 2009
We are in Edinburgh, Scotland!
Hopped aboard a train this morning for the ride up here. Along the way the train suddenly stopped in the middle of nowhere...and we sat...They came on the speaker and said they would get back to us on the reason, then we crept for a while and stopped again. The announcement came that we were checking the tracks between signals and would be on our way. Cat and I said we were the guinea pigs for finding things on the track...Guess it was all ok! We crossed into Scotland, went through an area that almost seemed like going through a mountain pass, and poof!--there was the North Sea right outside the window! It was awesome! I was jumping like a kid and Cat was telling me to calm down, I had seen water before! The cliffs and large hills/small mountain-like land dropped right off into the sea. It was beautiful!
We arrived, did the usual taxi ride to the hotel, and the room wasn't ready. I was assured that it was worth the wait, that we had been upgraded (no idea why) and would have one of the best rooms with a panoramic view of the city. Went walking while we waited, checked out menus (food choices are looking pretty good! 2 Starbuck's in 2 blocks and Hard Rock right across the street so we can fall back on those if need be), bought an apricot scone for a snack (YUM!!!!), found the castle right around the corner (turned to look and there is was), came back to the hotel and sat....and sat.....again reassured it was worth the wait. Finally in the room, we agreed that it WAS worth the wait! On the top/7th floor looking out over everything to (not in the direct on of the castle) out into what lies beyond. We can also see the seagulls on the rooftops close by! Couldn't figure out how to get the lights on and Cat solved that one....you have to put the room key in a slot to make the power in the room come on. Nice trick (and good engineering there!)...you don't leave the lights on when you leave and you remember to take the key!
Went back out to do some shopping and a fog rolled in....it was really strange...everything we had been seeing started disappearing into the fog. And it got cold! The wind was blowing, I was freezing, but my toes in my sandals weren't cold 'cuz the wind wasn't hitting them...it was strange...still we bought some stuff to bring home and shortbread and toffee to eat now! Shopped along Princes street with the castle right on top of us...The wools and plaids are beautiful! Planning to go back to some shops to buy more! (hope the suitcases hold out...)
Had a wonderful dinner at AllBarOne on the corner, Hanover and George Streets. They were out of brownies, which Cat has been craving, so we did dessert at Hard Rock Cafe across the street....couldn't see the hotel for the fog but we found our way back.
First impressions...
The friendliest people we have come in contact with on the whole trip are right here.
This is probably the nicest hotel I have ever in my life stayed in. I do hope to come back and bring Harvey....I think he would like it here!
The pace here is way slower than in London where people on the street would rather knock you down than move aside or say "excuse me". These folks stroll and talk...like real people!
I think I like it here!
Computer access is £9 an hour...that's 18$! So we will blog what we can and fill in when we are home! The US is looking pretty cheap these days!
We are in Edinburgh, Scotland!
Hopped aboard a train this morning for the ride up here. Along the way the train suddenly stopped in the middle of nowhere...and we sat...They came on the speaker and said they would get back to us on the reason, then we crept for a while and stopped again. The announcement came that we were checking the tracks between signals and would be on our way. Cat and I said we were the guinea pigs for finding things on the track...Guess it was all ok! We crossed into Scotland, went through an area that almost seemed like going through a mountain pass, and poof!--there was the North Sea right outside the window! It was awesome! I was jumping like a kid and Cat was telling me to calm down, I had seen water before! The cliffs and large hills/small mountain-like land dropped right off into the sea. It was beautiful!
We arrived, did the usual taxi ride to the hotel, and the room wasn't ready. I was assured that it was worth the wait, that we had been upgraded (no idea why) and would have one of the best rooms with a panoramic view of the city. Went walking while we waited, checked out menus (food choices are looking pretty good! 2 Starbuck's in 2 blocks and Hard Rock right across the street so we can fall back on those if need be), bought an apricot scone for a snack (YUM!!!!), found the castle right around the corner (turned to look and there is was), came back to the hotel and sat....and sat.....again reassured it was worth the wait. Finally in the room, we agreed that it WAS worth the wait! On the top/7th floor looking out over everything to (not in the direct on of the castle) out into what lies beyond. We can also see the seagulls on the rooftops close by! Couldn't figure out how to get the lights on and Cat solved that one....you have to put the room key in a slot to make the power in the room come on. Nice trick (and good engineering there!)...you don't leave the lights on when you leave and you remember to take the key!
Went back out to do some shopping and a fog rolled in....it was really strange...everything we had been seeing started disappearing into the fog. And it got cold! The wind was blowing, I was freezing, but my toes in my sandals weren't cold 'cuz the wind wasn't hitting them...it was strange...still we bought some stuff to bring home and shortbread and toffee to eat now! Shopped along Princes street with the castle right on top of us...The wools and plaids are beautiful! Planning to go back to some shops to buy more! (hope the suitcases hold out...)
Had a wonderful dinner at AllBarOne on the corner, Hanover and George Streets. They were out of brownies, which Cat has been craving, so we did dessert at Hard Rock Cafe across the street....couldn't see the hotel for the fog but we found our way back.
First impressions...
The friendliest people we have come in contact with on the whole trip are right here.
This is probably the nicest hotel I have ever in my life stayed in. I do hope to come back and bring Harvey....I think he would like it here!
The pace here is way slower than in London where people on the street would rather knock you down than move aside or say "excuse me". These folks stroll and talk...like real people!
I think I like it here!
Computer access is £9 an hour...that's 18$! So we will blog what we can and fill in when we are home! The US is looking pretty cheap these days!
to marker, to market...
day 11---June 28, 2009
ahh...the breakfast here! there must be 14 kinds of fresh fruit and several dried fruits and pastries and eggs and ...yum!
There's a market on the Quay (waterfront right down form the hotel) on Sundays so away we went. There was some junk but there was also some pretty neat stuff, too! Beautiful photos taken by the folks selling them, jewelry, wind chimes being made right there..came upon a really funny man form Blythe who makes all kinds of leather things. He heard our accents and struck up a conversation about US politics and stuff. He was quite amusing! We were asked by everyone we purchased from if we were there "on holiday"... a funny concept 'cuz this town is not on the regular tourist line (just for the nifty-bridge nuts like me!) Spent time and money on the waterfront....pretty fun! Cloudy and overcast...perfect outdoor shopping weather.
Walked across the swing bridge...bridge has been on that site for hundreds of years and this one was pretty old itself. Wish I could have seen it operate but supposedly it rarely has to "swing" anymore...drat. Made Cat walk across the Millennium Bridge again...LOVE IT still! Watched it open and close again too..and this time a boat actually passed under it. The other bridges were rail or rail/road combos and you had to get on them somewhere up the hill in the city, so I could only admire them. Did have to walk under Poo Bridge again...really awful! You had to be there to appreciate the nastiness of underneath this bridge....nothing like it....absolute and total YUCK!
We walked up Killer Hill to go to a store for bottled water and drinks. (The hotel, like the one in London, has no vending machines, no ice buckets, so you have to go hunting. Yes there's a restaurant and bar, but for a bottle or can of soda or water you had to go shopping.) A lot of places were closed as it was Sunday, and it was a far smaller crowd than yesterday. Did find a grocery/hardware/garden store/restaurant combo...interesting! Of course when you go up the hill you have to go down....at least we had the route figured out.
The sun finally came out and it ended up a nice warm day!
Went back to Lloyd's for dinner (where we ate Friday and where we saw the excitement Saturday). It was way more dull and quiet than the last 2 evenings! Had wonderful chocolate brownie-fudgey stuff at the hotel later...all the walking makes one hungry~!
This town really isn't a tourist destination. The Millennium Bridge is pretty amazing and how it was brought down the river and put in place is wild. They are tyring to revitalize the waterfront and parts are nifty, other parts not so much. Did not hear any other American English though we were told there was another family in town from the states for a wedding! Glad I came since I love bridges!
Realized that Hanover Street is a block over and we are overlooking Hanover Gardens! good name!
Off to Edinburgh tomorrow!
ahh...the breakfast here! there must be 14 kinds of fresh fruit and several dried fruits and pastries and eggs and ...yum!
There's a market on the Quay (waterfront right down form the hotel) on Sundays so away we went. There was some junk but there was also some pretty neat stuff, too! Beautiful photos taken by the folks selling them, jewelry, wind chimes being made right there..came upon a really funny man form Blythe who makes all kinds of leather things. He heard our accents and struck up a conversation about US politics and stuff. He was quite amusing! We were asked by everyone we purchased from if we were there "on holiday"... a funny concept 'cuz this town is not on the regular tourist line (just for the nifty-bridge nuts like me!) Spent time and money on the waterfront....pretty fun! Cloudy and overcast...perfect outdoor shopping weather.
Walked across the swing bridge...bridge has been on that site for hundreds of years and this one was pretty old itself. Wish I could have seen it operate but supposedly it rarely has to "swing" anymore...drat. Made Cat walk across the Millennium Bridge again...LOVE IT still! Watched it open and close again too..and this time a boat actually passed under it.
We walked up Killer Hill to go to a store for bottled water and drinks. (The hotel, like the one in London, has no vending machines, no ice buckets, so you have to go hunting. Yes there's a restaurant and bar, but for a bottle or can of soda or water you had to go shopping.) A lot of places were closed as it was Sunday, and it was a far smaller crowd than yesterday. Did find a grocery/hardware/garden store/restaurant combo...interesting! Of course when you go up the hill you have to go down....at least we had the route figured out.
The sun finally came out and it ended up a nice warm day!
Went back to Lloyd's for dinner (where we ate Friday and where we saw the excitement Saturday). It was way more dull and quiet than the last 2 evenings! Had wonderful chocolate brownie-fudgey stuff at the hotel later...all the walking makes one hungry~!
This town really isn't a tourist destination. The Millennium Bridge is pretty amazing and how it was brought down the river and put in place is wild. They are tyring to revitalize the waterfront and parts are nifty, other parts not so much. Did not hear any other American English though we were told there was another family in town from the states for a wedding! Glad I came since I love bridges!
Realized that Hanover Street is a block over and we are overlooking Hanover Gardens! good name!
Off to Edinburgh tomorrow!
pubs, pizza, people and poo
day 10---June 27, 2009
Wonderful full English breakfast...these folks eat a lot!
Went down to the Gateshead Millennium Footbridge and saw it open and close! It is the only rotating bridge of its type in the WORLD and I got to see it rotate and open! Felt like a kid in a candy store! Loved it! Once it was back in position we walked across it....Cat did not enjoy the way you could feel it bounce as you walked. There are 2 "lanes" for walking and once on the more inside lane the bouncing wasn't noticeable. Of course once we walked across we had to walk back over it to get where we needed to be...oh darn! (not!) Took pics of the bridge, on the bridge, the view from the bridge....you know the deal by now...
We are staying on the waterfront which is way below the level of the city, so we hiked up the VERY STEEP hills to get tot he town center. On the way we kinda didn't go the way we were planning and ended up at the castle that gave the city its name...the New Castle....the Castle Keep and the Black Gate which date to just after 1000. Old stuff! Finally found our way to the city center and Grey's Monument, the dude for which Earl Grey tea is named! The old buildings here reminded me more of Brussels...really old and covered with soot. Of course Newcastle was the coal capital for a long time so that explains the black on the buildings. (Heard anyone say something is "like taking coals to Newcastle? This is the Newcastle they refer to!) It can not be cleaned off the stone so the buildings look black and dirty. Lots of people in the city center but he market areas were not thrilling, so we decided to hop a bus to Europe's largest shopping mall just across the river in Gateshead. A kind gentleman saw us looking at the map and asked if we needed help and he was able to tell us exactly the bus to catch! (way more friendly than in London!)
The Metro Center, largest mall in Europe....Like a mall at Christmas full of people! Of course we saw McDonald's, Burger King, and Pizza Hut, all in the giant size! One had a sign that said it had 300 seats! and the line waiting for Pizza Hut was LONG...crazy folks! The Mall was divided into color coded areas, so you don't get totally lost I guess. We kinda' went in a circle but I knew where we were. Not too many shops we really wanted to go into, pretty much just regular stores, then we came upon the Swarovsky store...we went in and drooled. I bought some things, Cat debated on a ring that we later returned to buy. Beautiful things there!
Finally found the bus back into town, rode by the ruins of the original town walls dating to about 1200. Later realized that more of these ruins were right across from the hotel out our window.
Hiked down the hill back to the hotel....it was a straight shot down the hill. Boy were we lost on the way up in the morning! This is a small town!
Later headed up the street (not the hill) to an Italian place we liked the looks of and on the way police cars came from all sides with lights flashing and sirens blaring...they stopped at the place we where we had dinner last night! Looked like someone was in handcuffs as we went by....so much excitement! There were big deal horse races in town and lots of people partying, so I guess someone got a bit out of hand. The Italian place was booked with reservations due to race folks in town so we went to Unos Tratorria in the basement next door which was also full of people in race attire and goofy hats (the ladies...just like last weened in London). Shared a delish pizza.
As we walked today we had to go under several of the bridges that cross the Tyne...one in particular we have named the Poo Bridge. It is covered underneath with seagulls and their nests...the smell is horrific, a nasty nasty stench, and you have to dodge the falling poo as you walk in the area, gulls squawking all the way. Cat already had a thing about birds, does not like them flying near her at all, and that just about did her in. Really was pretty gross...
Observations...
People here looked like regular people, not the high-fashion folks in mis-matched fashionista clothing we saw in London, and they smile more and are more helpful and friendly.
You know how in US hotels you have to have a key to get in any of the doors? Not here...things are wide open and folks walking along the riverfront just wander in....a little freaky....I like locked doors...
Wonderful full English breakfast...these folks eat a lot!
Went down to the Gateshead Millennium Footbridge and saw it open and close! It is the only rotating bridge of its type in the WORLD and I got to see it rotate and open! Felt like a kid in a candy store! Loved it! Once it was back in position we walked across it....Cat did not enjoy the way you could feel it bounce as you walked. There are 2 "lanes" for walking and once on the more inside lane the bouncing wasn't noticeable. Of course once we walked across we had to walk back over it to get where we needed to be...oh darn! (not!) Took pics of the bridge, on the bridge, the view from the bridge....you know the deal by now...
We are staying on the waterfront which is way below the level of the city, so we hiked up the VERY STEEP hills to get tot he town center. On the way we kinda didn't go the way we were planning and ended up at the castle that gave the city its name...the New Castle....the Castle Keep and the Black Gate which date to just after 1000. Old stuff! Finally found our way to the city center and Grey's Monument, the dude for which Earl Grey tea is named! The old buildings here reminded me more of Brussels...really old and covered with soot. Of course Newcastle was the coal capital for a long time so that explains the black on the buildings. (Heard anyone say something is "like taking coals to Newcastle? This is the Newcastle they refer to!) It can not be cleaned off the stone so the buildings look black and dirty. Lots of people in the city center but he market areas were not thrilling, so we decided to hop a bus to Europe's largest shopping mall just across the river in Gateshead. A kind gentleman saw us looking at the map and asked if we needed help and he was able to tell us exactly the bus to catch! (way more friendly than in London!)
The Metro Center, largest mall in Europe....Like a mall at Christmas full of people! Of course we saw McDonald's, Burger King, and Pizza Hut, all in the giant size! One had a sign that said it had 300 seats! and the line waiting for Pizza Hut was LONG...crazy folks! The Mall was divided into color coded areas, so you don't get totally lost I guess. We kinda' went in a circle but I knew where we were. Not too many shops we really wanted to go into, pretty much just regular stores, then we came upon the Swarovsky store...we went in and drooled. I bought some things, Cat debated on a ring that we later returned to buy. Beautiful things there!
Finally found the bus back into town, rode by the ruins of the original town walls dating to about 1200. Later realized that more of these ruins were right across from the hotel out our window.
Hiked down the hill back to the hotel....it was a straight shot down the hill. Boy were we lost on the way up in the morning! This is a small town!
Later headed up the street (not the hill) to an Italian place we liked the looks of and on the way police cars came from all sides with lights flashing and sirens blaring...they stopped at the place we where we had dinner last night! Looked like someone was in handcuffs as we went by....so much excitement! There were big deal horse races in town and lots of people partying, so I guess someone got a bit out of hand. The Italian place was booked with reservations due to race folks in town so we went to Unos Tratorria in the basement next door which was also full of people in race attire and goofy hats (the ladies...just like last weened in London). Shared a delish pizza.
As we walked today we had to go under several of the bridges that cross the Tyne...one in particular we have named the Poo Bridge. It is covered underneath with seagulls and their nests...the smell is horrific, a nasty nasty stench, and you have to dodge the falling poo as you walk in the area, gulls squawking all the way. Cat already had a thing about birds, does not like them flying near her at all, and that just about did her in. Really was pretty gross...
Observations...
People here looked like regular people, not the high-fashion folks in mis-matched fashionista clothing we saw in London, and they smile more and are more helpful and friendly.
You know how in US hotels you have to have a key to get in any of the doors? Not here...things are wide open and folks walking along the riverfront just wander in....a little freaky....I like locked doors...
Newcastle!
day 9--June 26, 2009
Hopped aboard the train to Newcastle...choo choo! It got foggy..and more foggy..and more foggy! (or would that be foggier???) But we got there safely.
Nice looking hotel, right on the River Tyne and right in the area of 6 or 7 bridges of all styles crossing, including the one we rode over into town. Walked down the river to Lloyd's for dinner...what a hopping place! When we returned to the room we realized that the ac was not working but almost seemed to be heating. So off we were again, asking to change rooms and told repeatedly that there were no more rooms, everything was booked, no more rooms for 2, on and on, but they could offer us a fan. I declined that offer and somehow she found 2 rooms available...moving time again!
Had an easy night playing cards at a table in the main reception area of the hotel by the river...misty and foggy and couldn't see across the river ( it wasn't far). We were at the bottom of a BIG hill and didn't want to go exploring when we couldn't see where were going! Could see the Gateshead Millennium Footbridge through the fog...it's real close but nasty misty yuck and fog, so we saved that for tomorrow...
After a wonderful and BUSY week in London an easy night was a nice break.
Sunset was around 9:30 in London....even later here but not sure when "cuz of the fog....
Hopped aboard the train to Newcastle...choo choo! It got foggy..and more foggy..and more foggy! (or would that be foggier???) But we got there safely.
Nice looking hotel, right on the River Tyne and right in the area of 6 or 7 bridges of all styles crossing, including the one we rode over into town. Walked down the river to Lloyd's for dinner...what a hopping place! When we returned to the room we realized that the ac was not working but almost seemed to be heating. So off we were again, asking to change rooms and told repeatedly that there were no more rooms, everything was booked, no more rooms for 2, on and on, but they could offer us a fan. I declined that offer and somehow she found 2 rooms available...moving time again!
Had an easy night playing cards at a table in the main reception area of the hotel by the river...misty and foggy and couldn't see across the river ( it wasn't far). We were at the bottom of a BIG hill and didn't want to go exploring when we couldn't see where were going! Could see the Gateshead Millennium Footbridge through the fog...it's real close but nasty misty yuck and fog, so we saved that for tomorrow...
After a wonderful and BUSY week in London an easy night was a nice break.
Sunset was around 9:30 in London....even later here but not sure when "cuz of the fog....
Thursday, June 25, 2009
recording studio and folding bridge
This is our last full day in London...time had flown by! This time last week we were out over the Atlantic on the way here and this time next week we will be packing up our too much stuff to fly back across the pond. Hard to believe! I know there are things we didn't get to, but that makes me want to come back again. I'll have to start saving my pounds, I mean pennies!
I am surprised at how multi-cultural London is. I expected Brits and only Brits on this little island, but it is a melting pot like the US.
Kensington Palace tour today...Walked through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens to get there....love that walk! Not at all what I expected but quite lovely, fun, and interesting. We mostly saw rooms, empty rooms with large ugly paintings on the walls and ornately painted ceilings. The ceilings had to be 30 feet high! Massive walls and doors. There were displays on what it took to be fully royally dressed in the 1700-1800s and all men should be glad they don't go through that today! Layers of clothing and you had to have a valet (pronounced va-let) to help you dress. Have you ever seen the paintings with the men holding what seems to be a hat under the arm when they are all dressed-up? Those aren't hats at all but just something to look like a hat that men simply carried under that arm! A man was never to cover his head in the presence of royalty.... tradition! A few rooms were staged as Victoria and as William and Mary had them with original furnishings. It hit me in the middle of it that I was standing where once had lived the William and Mary for whom my college was named! There was a display on Debutantes of England, a tradition of presenting young ladies to the King/Queen which stopped in the 1950s. And there was a wonderful milti-room display of Diana's dresses with photos and clips of here and the gowns right there. Her gowns were absolutely beautiful! (snapping the camera..) I loved touring the palace and wish I could have seen more! If only Buckingham had been open, but not so until August I think.
Went to the Orangery for tea, but actually I had lemonade and delish shortbread with caramel and chocolate on it! Cat said it was too sweet...no way! Just perfect! We called that lunch today.... The Orangery was built in the era of Victoria (I think) because she wanted orange trees and the trees were gown inside of the orangery. It is a lovely brick building with VERY nigh ceilings and BIG windows. Nice clean atmosphere for a rest and a sip of tea...Cat gave me a sip of hers! With a view of Kensington we could talk about what we had just seen...really relaxing.
We hopped a bus out to Abbey Road where the Beatles are pictured walking across on the cover of their Abbey Road album...we just had to walk across and of course had to do so several times so we could get pictures doing it! There is a live web-cam there so we called Harvey and told him to watch...haven't heard yet whether or not he saw us. That was a hoot! We saw Abbey Road Studios where the Beatles recorded, and of course there was a Beatles junkshop at the tube station there.
Tried to catch the bus back but the bus never came , so we hopped on the tube (for the last time) and got off at what we thought was a close walking-distance station to Paddington, but within a few blocks realized that we were in a not so good part of town (for only the second time on the trip so I think we are doing good!) with homeless people sleeping on the corners. We hailed a taxi for the ride to Paddington, had dinner (early for once since we had only eaten sweets today) at a place that had real American-type chicken strips....yum!
My friend Ginger gave me info on a bridge that unrolls to go across a small piece of water in the Paddington Basin, so we went hunting and Cat's good hunches led us right to it. The bummer is that supposedly you can make it roll up and unroll, but that was not longer possible. It was unrolled with no way to change that. However it was a really neat area with folks docked in their little boaty things and people walking all around and bridges all over the place...loved it!
Walking back we stopped at a grocery store where the guy asked if we were from the states. When we said yes he told us "I like your accent". We don't have the accents...everyone else here does! We had a good laugh on that one...
I am listening to Wimbledon as I write....would have liked to have gone there to tour since I did play tennis as a child and I still enjoy the tourney, but it was closed to the public since the matches started this week...oh well..with our luck we wouldn't have been able to find the right bus there!
This has been a wonderful week full of things I have never done and seen and things I never thought I would see or do! I have loved it all and can't wait to print the pictures (I have taken 600 so far and Cat has taken a lot too!) and relive it all over and over! Tomorrow we board a train to Newcastle Upon Tyne to see the Gateshead Millennium Footbridge...I can not wait! We'll be there until Monday sometime. Don't know if we will have access to computers like here---we have 3 in the lobby of the hotel and Cat and I have monopolized each evening. If we have access we will continue to blog, and if not we will try to resume when we get to Edinburgh on Monday.....
time to repack up all the stuff that we should have left at home....
until next time!
I am surprised at how multi-cultural London is. I expected Brits and only Brits on this little island, but it is a melting pot like the US.
Kensington Palace tour today...Walked through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens to get there....love that walk! Not at all what I expected but quite lovely, fun, and interesting. We mostly saw rooms, empty rooms with large ugly paintings on the walls and ornately painted ceilings. The ceilings had to be 30 feet high! Massive walls and doors. There were displays on what it took to be fully royally dressed in the 1700-1800s and all men should be glad they don't go through that today! Layers of clothing and you had to have a valet (pronounced va-let) to help you dress. Have you ever seen the paintings with the men holding what seems to be a hat under the arm when they are all dressed-up? Those aren't hats at all but just something to look like a hat that men simply carried under that arm! A man was never to cover his head in the presence of royalty.... tradition! A few rooms were staged as Victoria and as William and Mary had them with original furnishings. It hit me in the middle of it that I was standing where once had lived the William and Mary for whom my college was named! There was a display on Debutantes of England, a tradition of presenting young ladies to the King/Queen which stopped in the 1950s. And there was a wonderful milti-room display of Diana's dresses with photos and clips of here and the gowns right there. Her gowns were absolutely beautiful! (snapping the camera..) I loved touring the palace and wish I could have seen more! If only Buckingham had been open, but not so until August I think.
Went to the Orangery for tea, but actually I had lemonade and delish shortbread with caramel and chocolate on it! Cat said it was too sweet...no way! Just perfect! We called that lunch today.... The Orangery was built in the era of Victoria (I think) because she wanted orange trees and the trees were gown inside of the orangery. It is a lovely brick building with VERY nigh ceilings and BIG windows. Nice clean atmosphere for a rest and a sip of tea...Cat gave me a sip of hers! With a view of Kensington we could talk about what we had just seen...really relaxing.
We hopped a bus out to Abbey Road where the Beatles are pictured walking across on the cover of their Abbey Road album...we just had to walk across and of course had to do so several times so we could get pictures doing it! There is a live web-cam there so we called Harvey and told him to watch...haven't heard yet whether or not he saw us. That was a hoot! We saw Abbey Road Studios where the Beatles recorded, and of course there was a Beatles junkshop at the tube station there.
Tried to catch the bus back but the bus never came , so we hopped on the tube (for the last time) and got off at what we thought was a close walking-distance station to Paddington, but within a few blocks realized that we were in a not so good part of town (for only the second time on the trip so I think we are doing good!) with homeless people sleeping on the corners. We hailed a taxi for the ride to Paddington, had dinner (early for once since we had only eaten sweets today) at a place that had real American-type chicken strips....yum!
My friend Ginger gave me info on a bridge that unrolls to go across a small piece of water in the Paddington Basin, so we went hunting and Cat's good hunches led us right to it. The bummer is that supposedly you can make it roll up and unroll, but that was not longer possible. It was unrolled with no way to change that. However it was a really neat area with folks docked in their little boaty things and people walking all around and bridges all over the place...loved it!
Walking back we stopped at a grocery store where the guy asked if we were from the states. When we said yes he told us "I like your accent". We don't have the accents...everyone else here does! We had a good laugh on that one...
I am listening to Wimbledon as I write....would have liked to have gone there to tour since I did play tennis as a child and I still enjoy the tourney, but it was closed to the public since the matches started this week...oh well..with our luck we wouldn't have been able to find the right bus there!
This has been a wonderful week full of things I have never done and seen and things I never thought I would see or do! I have loved it all and can't wait to print the pictures (I have taken 600 so far and Cat has taken a lot too!) and relive it all over and over! Tomorrow we board a train to Newcastle Upon Tyne to see the Gateshead Millennium Footbridge...I can not wait! We'll be there until Monday sometime. Don't know if we will have access to computers like here---we have 3 in the lobby of the hotel and Cat and I have monopolized each evening. If we have access we will continue to blog, and if not we will try to resume when we get to Edinburgh on Monday.....
time to repack up all the stuff that we should have left at home....
until next time!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
ABBA and dueling hemispheres
question: What is the difference between London locals and tourists?
answer: Locals run across the street in front of traffic when the crossing flashy sign says WAIT, and tourists fear for their lives and actually WAIT.
The traffic here is nuts! We were crossing today in the rush hour people traffic and could only get to the waiting area in the middle of the road when a bus whipped around the corner and I know came about 2 inches from my body! No one even notices things like that there. If you are in a crosswalk and the traffic gets the the green light you had better run! They honk horns at everything and nothing, I think they just like the sound or something. I have truly never seen so many vehicles and people in any one place at one time. At rush hour, which seems to always be when we are heading somewhere, the crowds move down the street in waves. Ever done the Monument 10K and seen the jam-packed street moving almost in unison? It's like that on the sidewalks. I read today that London is Europe's largest (population-wise) city. I honestly didn't know that!
Star sighting---We were going down the stairs to the tube today and I am positive that Sean
"P-Diddy" Combs walked right up by us with a bodyguard dude telling him "we have to go to the corner and turn left". I know it was him... wonder who else we will find! Going looking for the Beatles on Abbey Road tomorrow....
Cat tried to kill me by walking me to death today.... We walked to Buckingham Palace and arrived with the horses for the changing of the guard. Hung out by the fence and saw the band and guards march in. Pretty cool! There were LOTS of folks there and we were pretty squished to the fence, but we got some good pics of it all. Quite a production with guards pacing back and forth from fenceline to fenceline for the whole 40 minutes. They came right up to the fence, stopped, drew swords and turned and walked to the other side, back and forth, over and over and over. The really funny thing is that the band played Abba songs--Mama Mia, Ferdinando, and others. Cat and I were singing along! Cat said they also played the Chip's Ahoy commercial song, and they did on that the JMU gals dance to! It wasn't the music I would've expected the Queen's band to play!
We then continued our walk to the Mellinnium Pier, where we rode the London Eye the other day, and caught the Thames Clipper to Greenwich, home of the Prime Meridian. Took about 20-30 minutes and was way not as crowded as the tube would have been. (We were not in a tube-mood today.) We got to "cruise" the Thames, I got to ride under all the bridges that we have been walking over...the engineer in me loved that! Snapped lots of pictures of bridge underbellies!
Greenwich---Lunch at the King's Arms tavern...it was 3:00 and we were hungry again! Then off the the National Observatory and the Prime Meridian! We had to hike a mean hill, but it was worth it. Pretty cool standing in two hemispheres at one time, then standing in one hemisphere while Cat was in the other. We were next to each other but on opposite sides of the world. We had fun with that! They had all kinds of telescopes and time stuff there. Did you know the Prime Meridian has been in several different places? kind of strange! And it dawned on me that the temp gauge and clock that are by Harvey's chair are set by the stuff in the very place where we were!
We attempted to go Westminster Abbey after the return trip. According to all the literature we have it's opened until 6 on Wednesdays, but when we got there it was closed, last tour at 3:30 today. Bummer... Not sure we will be able to get there tomorrow...will have to see.
Of course at this point it was rush hour. Not in a tube mood and having taken 90 minutes to get back via bus at the same time yesterday Cat convinced me we should walk back to the hotel. I will do anything to please my daughter! I actually had on very comfortable shoes today, but I had about walked through the bottom of them...we made it...only 80 minutes today! At least we are getting our exercise! In addition to being pooped when we got back we realized how sunburned we were...noses glowing like Rudolph. Who would have know in London we would get so much sun! No complaints though...has been great weather, is supposed to rain Friday and we head to Newcastle Friday!
Guess where we had dinner tonight! Yep...Bizzarro! It's good and safe food...there's a lot of really weird stuff to eat around here and Cat and I are way picky. I am looking forward to a Ukrop's salad bar visit when we get home!
It's almost 1 a.m. and we need to sleep so we can hit the trail running tomorrow...I am thinking the tube looks good!
having FUN!!!!
answer: Locals run across the street in front of traffic when the crossing flashy sign says WAIT, and tourists fear for their lives and actually WAIT.
The traffic here is nuts! We were crossing today in the rush hour people traffic and could only get to the waiting area in the middle of the road when a bus whipped around the corner and I know came about 2 inches from my body! No one even notices things like that there. If you are in a crosswalk and the traffic gets the the green light you had better run! They honk horns at everything and nothing, I think they just like the sound or something. I have truly never seen so many vehicles and people in any one place at one time. At rush hour, which seems to always be when we are heading somewhere, the crowds move down the street in waves. Ever done the Monument 10K and seen the jam-packed street moving almost in unison? It's like that on the sidewalks. I read today that London is Europe's largest (population-wise) city. I honestly didn't know that!
Star sighting---We were going down the stairs to the tube today and I am positive that Sean
"P-Diddy" Combs walked right up by us with a bodyguard dude telling him "we have to go to the corner and turn left". I know it was him... wonder who else we will find! Going looking for the Beatles on Abbey Road tomorrow....
Cat tried to kill me by walking me to death today.... We walked to Buckingham Palace and arrived with the horses for the changing of the guard. Hung out by the fence and saw the band and guards march in. Pretty cool! There were LOTS of folks there and we were pretty squished to the fence, but we got some good pics of it all. Quite a production with guards pacing back and forth from fenceline to fenceline for the whole 40 minutes. They came right up to the fence, stopped, drew swords and turned and walked to the other side, back and forth, over and over and over. The really funny thing is that the band played Abba songs--Mama Mia, Ferdinando, and others. Cat and I were singing along! Cat said they also played the Chip's Ahoy commercial song, and they did on that the JMU gals dance to! It wasn't the music I would've expected the Queen's band to play!
We then continued our walk to the Mellinnium Pier, where we rode the London Eye the other day, and caught the Thames Clipper to Greenwich, home of the Prime Meridian. Took about 20-30 minutes and was way not as crowded as the tube would have been. (We were not in a tube-mood today.) We got to "cruise" the Thames, I got to ride under all the bridges that we have been walking over...the engineer in me loved that! Snapped lots of pictures of bridge underbellies!
Greenwich---Lunch at the King's Arms tavern...it was 3:00 and we were hungry again! Then off the the National Observatory and the Prime Meridian! We had to hike a mean hill, but it was worth it. Pretty cool standing in two hemispheres at one time, then standing in one hemisphere while Cat was in the other. We were next to each other but on opposite sides of the world. We had fun with that! They had all kinds of telescopes and time stuff there. Did you know the Prime Meridian has been in several different places? kind of strange! And it dawned on me that the temp gauge and clock that are by Harvey's chair are set by the stuff in the very place where we were!
We attempted to go Westminster Abbey after the return trip. According to all the literature we have it's opened until 6 on Wednesdays, but when we got there it was closed, last tour at 3:30 today. Bummer... Not sure we will be able to get there tomorrow...will have to see.
Of course at this point it was rush hour. Not in a tube mood and having taken 90 minutes to get back via bus at the same time yesterday Cat convinced me we should walk back to the hotel. I will do anything to please my daughter! I actually had on very comfortable shoes today, but I had about walked through the bottom of them...we made it...only 80 minutes today! At least we are getting our exercise! In addition to being pooped when we got back we realized how sunburned we were...noses glowing like Rudolph. Who would have know in London we would get so much sun! No complaints though...has been great weather, is supposed to rain Friday and we head to Newcastle Friday!
Guess where we had dinner tonight! Yep...Bizzarro! It's good and safe food...there's a lot of really weird stuff to eat around here and Cat and I are way picky. I am looking forward to a Ukrop's salad bar visit when we get home!
It's almost 1 a.m. and we need to sleep so we can hit the trail running tomorrow...I am thinking the tube looks good!
having FUN!!!!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
London Bridge is...
...not falling down! It is just a regular old street bridge. Not impressive at all, but some of the other bridges here are quite beautiful!
day 6---June 23---bridge day in London!
We slept in until 9, way tired from yesterday, and got walking! Hopped the tube to St. Paul's Station and arose to a lovely area with another huge column-like statue. Asked a guard looking guy what is was and he said it was just a statue, that Prince Charles got involved with the decision of what would be there and that was what it was. Funny response... We were in a totally new part of London for us, the business and financial district, lots of suits. It was a warm day with no clouds in the sky and life was good!
Walking along we turned a corner and there was St. Paul's Cathedral, lovely and huge. We went inside and did a tour, found Sir Christopher Wren's tomb, admired the paintings on the ceiling and the architecture of the whole place, and wished I could take pictures (not allowed), so I bought a book about it. You can hike the 500+ steps to the top to get beautiful views of the city, but we opted out on that one! We did get a cookie in the cafe in the crypt--that was strange buying food in the basement of a cathedral! At one point I went out one of the side doors to get an outside pic from a different angle and there was the Milennium Footbridge, one of the reasons I came here! We finished the cathedral, walked the outside, and we...
Walked across Thames on the Millennium Footbridge! I love the structure of this bridge. It had to be closed a few days after it originally opened because it was swaying too much and considered unsafe. Now fixed, it provided us a safe transport across the river and great photo opts of each other and of St. Paul's. I was in heaven on that thing, Cat doesn't care for bridges but she hung in there just fine. Another highlight!
We walked along the Thames and finally got to the London Bridge, just a plain old bridge for cars and people. Crossed the Thames again and walked along the river some more....walking walking walking! Saw the (replica of) the Globe Theatre, an old prison, shops and restaurants, and people everywhere!
Came to the Tower of London, another massive place! We opted not to go inside, Cat is really creeped out by the stories we have heard about it, but explored the outside quite a while and read everything we found about the gates, the building of it, and even an escape from there. Would have been neat to see the Crown Jewels, but you couldn't just do that so oh well!
Right next to the Tower of London is the Tower Bridge, built in the 1890s. This is one HUGE and BEAUTIFUL bridge! Planned on taking a tour, but found out that we would need to climb over 200 steps, and that isn't possible right now, so we walked across the Thames once more and snapped pics of every part of that beautiful thing from every angle I could find! Absolutely breathtaking and another highlight! (I am a bridge nut for sure!)
Once on the other side of the Thames again we decided to go to Greenwich. Hopped on a bus back across the Thames (4th time!) and went to the light rail station as we had read to do only to find that no one was there to help and we couldn't find the the train we needed.....that and being about walked out in flat sandals (that I will not be wearing for any more walking days) made us decide to hop on a bus and ride London instead. We (after getting on 3 buses and the drivers tell us to get on the next bus each time) finally found a bus going to Paddington Station. The trip would take 45 minutes, a lot longer than the tube but the tubes were having major delays, it was rush hour, and my feet hurt! We crawled along and ended up going by all sorts of things we had seen---Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, St. Paul's and more--and snapped more pics! Cat started snapping pics of things we have in the US too---McDonald's, Starbucks (wish we had counted those!), Pizza Hut. etc and it got rather funny! An hour and a half later (not 45 minutes!) on a hot un-air-conditioned double-decker bus we were in a place we recognized near Paddington and we jumped off.
Stopped by Bizarro on the way home for another wonderful dinner, and crawled back to the hotel, sunburned and sore-footed! We hoped to walk in Hyde Park tonight but were just too tired. We read up on some of the things we hope to do tomorrow and Thursday (can't believe we only have 3 more days in London).
One trauma today---I dropped my tube/bus pass on when we were way far from the hotel. Of course I panicked but my oh so wise daughter guided me back across the street where we had come from and there it was on the ground! I was feeling a bit lucky and I thank Cat for holding it together in my time of freaking out. Being tired, hot, thirsty and with sore feet isn't a good time to lose anything!
more adventure tomorrow!
day 6---June 23---bridge day in London!
We slept in until 9, way tired from yesterday, and got walking! Hopped the tube to St. Paul's Station and arose to a lovely area with another huge column-like statue. Asked a guard looking guy what is was and he said it was just a statue, that Prince Charles got involved with the decision of what would be there and that was what it was. Funny response... We were in a totally new part of London for us, the business and financial district, lots of suits. It was a warm day with no clouds in the sky and life was good!
Walking along we turned a corner and there was St. Paul's Cathedral, lovely and huge. We went inside and did a tour, found Sir Christopher Wren's tomb, admired the paintings on the ceiling and the architecture of the whole place, and wished I could take pictures (not allowed), so I bought a book about it. You can hike the 500+ steps to the top to get beautiful views of the city, but we opted out on that one! We did get a cookie in the cafe in the crypt--that was strange buying food in the basement of a cathedral! At one point I went out one of the side doors to get an outside pic from a different angle and there was the Milennium Footbridge, one of the reasons I came here! We finished the cathedral, walked the outside, and we...
Walked across Thames on the Millennium Footbridge! I love the structure of this bridge. It had to be closed a few days after it originally opened because it was swaying too much and considered unsafe. Now fixed, it provided us a safe transport across the river and great photo opts of each other and of St. Paul's. I was in heaven on that thing, Cat doesn't care for bridges but she hung in there just fine. Another highlight!
We walked along the Thames and finally got to the London Bridge, just a plain old bridge for cars and people. Crossed the Thames again and walked along the river some more....walking walking walking! Saw the (replica of) the Globe Theatre, an old prison, shops and restaurants, and people everywhere!
Came to the Tower of London, another massive place! We opted not to go inside, Cat is really creeped out by the stories we have heard about it, but explored the outside quite a while and read everything we found about the gates, the building of it, and even an escape from there. Would have been neat to see the Crown Jewels, but you couldn't just do that so oh well!
Right next to the Tower of London is the Tower Bridge, built in the 1890s. This is one HUGE and BEAUTIFUL bridge! Planned on taking a tour, but found out that we would need to climb over 200 steps, and that isn't possible right now, so we walked across the Thames once more and snapped pics of every part of that beautiful thing from every angle I could find! Absolutely breathtaking and another highlight! (I am a bridge nut for sure!)
Once on the other side of the Thames again we decided to go to Greenwich. Hopped on a bus back across the Thames (4th time!) and went to the light rail station as we had read to do only to find that no one was there to help and we couldn't find the the train we needed.....that and being about walked out in flat sandals (that I will not be wearing for any more walking days) made us decide to hop on a bus and ride London instead. We (after getting on 3 buses and the drivers tell us to get on the next bus each time) finally found a bus going to Paddington Station. The trip would take 45 minutes, a lot longer than the tube but the tubes were having major delays, it was rush hour, and my feet hurt! We crawled along and ended up going by all sorts of things we had seen---Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, St. Paul's and more--and snapped more pics! Cat started snapping pics of things we have in the US too---McDonald's, Starbucks (wish we had counted those!), Pizza Hut. etc and it got rather funny! An hour and a half later (not 45 minutes!) on a hot un-air-conditioned double-decker bus we were in a place we recognized near Paddington and we jumped off.
Stopped by Bizarro on the way home for another wonderful dinner, and crawled back to the hotel, sunburned and sore-footed! We hoped to walk in Hyde Park tonight but were just too tired. We read up on some of the things we hope to do tomorrow and Thursday (can't believe we only have 3 more days in London).
One trauma today---I dropped my tube/bus pass on when we were way far from the hotel. Of course I panicked but my oh so wise daughter guided me back across the street where we had come from and there it was on the ground! I was feeling a bit lucky and I thank Cat for holding it together in my time of freaking out. Being tired, hot, thirsty and with sore feet isn't a good time to lose anything!
more adventure tomorrow!
what do you call people who live in Brussels?
That has been a question on my mind and Cat's too. At the end of a LONG tr iring day and on 3 hours sleep we decided they are called.....sprouts! Cat has the answer to what you call people who live in Belgium on her blog.....bet you can guess!
Day 5...June 22...Long day.....
We got up shortly after 3:30 a.m. to prepare for out trip through the chunnel to Belgium. The sun was rising by 4:15 a.m.---really weird...(It's after 10 p.m. as I write and it is not yet dark. Kinda messes up one's sense of timing and partially explains why we have been so late getting to bed.) Caught the 4:30 taxi, got to the St. Pancras train station to check in and wait for our 6 a.m. Eurostar train. woo-woo!
Great train ride...the chunnel took about 20 minutes and was dark--we both slept through part of that. Beautiful French countryside with lots of rolling hills, flat areas where you could see forever (reminded me of being in Arizona but was very green), villages along the way, and church steeples sticking up everywhere you saw any signs of life. It was what I had always heard about beauty-wise.
2 hours later we were in Belgium, the Midi train station...and off for an adventure. We roamed around the train station trying to find a bathroom.....found it but had to pay .5 Eruo to go! Of course I only had Euro bills....so...had to find change. The guy at info said I could ask any retailer there, but I asked 2 and had no luck. The first one was quite rude, the second one said to go to the machine but didn't tell me where that was. After another few trips around the station we realized that the machine was at the bathroom entrance. I got a lot of change... Interesting observation...the restroom had one entrance for males and females, and once in there they had separate areas for each. That was very uncomfortably strange and I like how we do that MUCH better!
Next we had to try to figure out how to get to the Grand Place since we were told we had to go there. Out map wasn't much help since it was all in French, and I was afraid to get on the subway or bus when neither of us knew the language, so we agreed on a taxi ride. Interesting...we went thorough some pretty rough looking areas but ended up a block from where we wanted to be, so all was good. Walked that block, went into some wonderful shops full of lace and tapestry, and emerged in the middle of the Grand Place... and WOW!!!!!!!! We were in the middle of an open plaza surrounded by HUGE buildings dating back to the 1400s. I have never seen anything like it....I felt like I was in a movie but the buildings were real. The lower levels were full of restaurants and shops, I don't know what was in the 5,6,7, floors above. The 5 very narrow streets that went off from the open plaza area had more places to shop, so after snapping a bunch of pictures we went exploring. The whole time I was afraid to wander too far because we didn't speak the language (someone had told us "everyone there speaks English", though I now think that is a lie, or maybe they did but didn't want us to know it!) and because we couldn't read the map to figure out where we were. Waffles and chocolate shops were everywhere! We tasted and bought lots of chocolate and caramel... There we a few nice lace shops, but the rest of the stuff looked like junk to me. We walked a few blocks to find the Manneken Pis, a world-famous statue of a little boy doing what little boys do... You are led to believe it is a big statue (like those we are seeing in London) but it is actually quite small and in the corner of a building. Would be real easy to miss if signs were not pointing to it all over town. Right in the plaza on the side of one of the old buildings is the Statue of Everard 't Serdeas. Doesn't' look like a statue at all but is literally in the side of the building. Legend has it if you rub her had you will have good luck (not too sure about that one!) We of course snapped pics of each other doing just that. After more roaming and shopping we decided to have waffles for brunch at a place in the plaza, but since it was very chilly, cloudy and windy we opted to eat inside. We were really pooped, having been up since so early, so we relaxed a while after eating truly delicious waffles with strawberries and bananas. We roamed around and shopped some more, but realized we were exhausted from little sleep, no English, hard-to-walk-on cobblestone streets. We decided to return to the train station and after an interesting cab ride hopped aboard an earlier than planned train back to London. Another wonderful train ride, played some cards along the way (Cat won), took a nap, and got back safely. It really was a neat experience, saw some absolutely beautiful buildings and scenery, but it was good to be back in London where folks speak our language!
We returned to Bizarro, our local favorite Italian restaurant, for dinner. Delish! We tried to find the unfolding bridge that is supposed to be at the Paddington Basin but it started getting dark on us and we were totally beat. Will try again later on that one...
Long but eventful day.....
On the Canterbury post I forgot to mention that I found some plain leather flip-flops in a show store there! And they were on sale! Who woulda thunk it!
Day 5...June 22...Long day.....
We got up shortly after 3:30 a.m. to prepare for out trip through the chunnel to Belgium. The sun was rising by 4:15 a.m.---really weird...(It's after 10 p.m. as I write and it is not yet dark. Kinda messes up one's sense of timing and partially explains why we have been so late getting to bed.) Caught the 4:30 taxi, got to the St. Pancras train station to check in and wait for our 6 a.m. Eurostar train. woo-woo!
Great train ride...the chunnel took about 20 minutes and was dark--we both slept through part of that. Beautiful French countryside with lots of rolling hills, flat areas where you could see forever (reminded me of being in Arizona but was very green), villages along the way, and church steeples sticking up everywhere you saw any signs of life. It was what I had always heard about beauty-wise.
2 hours later we were in Belgium, the Midi train station...and off for an adventure. We roamed around the train station trying to find a bathroom.....found it but had to pay .5 Eruo to go! Of course I only had Euro bills....so...had to find change. The guy at info said I could ask any retailer there, but I asked 2 and had no luck. The first one was quite rude, the second one said to go to the machine but didn't tell me where that was. After another few trips around the station we realized that the machine was at the bathroom entrance. I got a lot of change... Interesting observation...the restroom had one entrance for males and females, and once in there they had separate areas for each. That was very uncomfortably strange and I like how we do that MUCH better!
Next we had to try to figure out how to get to the Grand Place since we were told we had to go there. Out map wasn't much help since it was all in French, and I was afraid to get on the subway or bus when neither of us knew the language, so we agreed on a taxi ride. Interesting...we went thorough some pretty rough looking areas but ended up a block from where we wanted to be, so all was good. Walked that block, went into some wonderful shops full of lace and tapestry, and emerged in the middle of the Grand Place... and WOW!!!!!!!! We were in the middle of an open plaza surrounded by HUGE buildings dating back to the 1400s. I have never seen anything like it....I felt like I was in a movie but the buildings were real. The lower levels were full of restaurants and shops, I don't know what was in the 5,6,7, floors above. The 5 very narrow streets that went off from the open plaza area had more places to shop, so after snapping a bunch of pictures we went exploring. The whole time I was afraid to wander too far because we didn't speak the language (someone had told us "everyone there speaks English", though I now think that is a lie, or maybe they did but didn't want us to know it!) and because we couldn't read the map to figure out where we were. Waffles and chocolate shops were everywhere! We tasted and bought lots of chocolate and caramel... There we a few nice lace shops, but the rest of the stuff looked like junk to me. We walked a few blocks to find the Manneken Pis, a world-famous statue of a little boy doing what little boys do... You are led to believe it is a big statue (like those we are seeing in London) but it is actually quite small and in the corner of a building. Would be real easy to miss if signs were not pointing to it all over town. Right in the plaza on the side of one of the old buildings is the Statue of Everard 't Serdeas. Doesn't' look like a statue at all but is literally in the side of the building. Legend has it if you rub her had you will have good luck (not too sure about that one!) We of course snapped pics of each other doing just that. After more roaming and shopping we decided to have waffles for brunch at a place in the plaza, but since it was very chilly, cloudy and windy we opted to eat inside. We were really pooped, having been up since so early, so we relaxed a while after eating truly delicious waffles with strawberries and bananas. We roamed around and shopped some more, but realized we were exhausted from little sleep, no English, hard-to-walk-on cobblestone streets. We decided to return to the train station and after an interesting cab ride hopped aboard an earlier than planned train back to London. Another wonderful train ride, played some cards along the way (Cat won), took a nap, and got back safely. It really was a neat experience, saw some absolutely beautiful buildings and scenery, but it was good to be back in London where folks speak our language!
We returned to Bizarro, our local favorite Italian restaurant, for dinner. Delish! We tried to find the unfolding bridge that is supposed to be at the Paddington Basin but it started getting dark on us and we were totally beat. Will try again later on that one...
Long but eventful day.....
On the Canterbury post I forgot to mention that I found some plain leather flip-flops in a show store there! And they were on sale! Who woulda thunk it!
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Canterbury Cathedral
Got up this morning, took the tube over to Charing Cross train station and hopped aboard a train to Canterbury, 62 miles away but 2 hours by train. This was actually my first real train ride to go someplace, not a tourist train ride! Pretty exciting! We went all through London to parts of town we haven't gotten to yet (but are on the list for this week), then out to he countryside and some small towns along the way. Being a Sunday, there was "major engineering work" on the line past Ashford so we had to hop on a "rail replacement service"bus the rest of the way. Int resting...we were on a double-decker bus going down little 2-lane country roads. Beautiful scenery---the largest strawberry field I have ever seen, it went on and on, and what looked like a small mountain or a really big hill in the not too far distance, sheep and horses and cute towns with houses crammed on top of each other. The trip out was ok...more on the return later....
Once in Canterbury we stopped for a bite on the way to the cathedral. Bad call....the worst meal so far. A chicken and bacon and cheese sandwich was a few slices of chicken on overly buttered and untoasted plain bread with fried ham type "bacon" that was undercooked, and Cat's didn't even have the cheese! Oh well...won't go there again!
Up the street and through a gate, actually an arched wall built I think 600 years ago that looked somewhat like a castle in the middle of the city, a few more blocks and to the Cathedral. I felt like I was at Busch Gardens yet it was all real and really old. The Cathedral is stuck behind the buildings of the town, all just kind of crammed in there. And it is massive! Parts date to over 1200 years ago. The blocks to build it, the design and intricate carvings and decoration are breathtaking. Not many stained glass windows are left, as many have been destroyed. The area where the choir is was burned and was left a shell 44 years after it was completed, but has been rebuilt. It is full of tombs of former important people in the Church including a prince who died 600 years ago. His funeral garments are on display... The preservation of history is amazing! I read a book about it on the trip back and have bunches of pictures...but I know none will do it justice. Talk to me when I get home and I will bore you with more details!
The bus trip back to the train in Ashford was almost frightening. I think the driver was a bit nutty. He kept running into tree branches that were hanging over the road, swerving and making the kids in the back of the double-decker scream! He was a real grouch too... but we made it back and had a successful train ride back to the city.
We decided to walk to dinner tonight since we rode so long today....we went in search of something good to eat. Really amazing how many people were out on the streets on a Sunday evening, and we aren't really in a hopping part of town. We walked, searched, and finally came to a block with 4-5 restaurants. Did some menu shopping and finally decided on an...Italian
place! It was not as good as last night's but was far better than lunch! Just FYI---a mixed salad here evidently means a mix of whatever you have on hand...mine had lots of leaves (lettuce I guess...looked like stuff from the yard), grapes, olives, tomatoes, topped with cold green beans! It was just strange, but I did eat the beans. Delicious strawberry meringues for dessert made up for the salad.
Got the tube back to the hotel...and the stuck up American in me came out.....Cat and I have been crammed into a room with not enough width to roll our suitcases in all the way (wall sticking out) and no more than 2 feet on either side of the bed. I know rooms in Europe are smaller than in the US but we remembered today that we had booked a room that was supposed to have 2 beds and a seating area....didn't' have either! So I asked if there were larger rooms available. Needless to say we are now on the 9th floor in a huge room with 2 chairs to sit in and separate beds to sleep in. We have a views of the park behind the hotel and some apartment buildings, and also look sideways to Hyde Park. Our bathroom is actually has a door wide enough to get through and tons of space. (the last one was minuscule...like a
bathroom-ette!) I know I should have said something to them before tonight at 9 pm but I really didn't want to cause trouble. However, today when we saw the mold growing on the bathroom ceiling and the whole room steaming up when one of us showered, and the fact that we were literally tripping on each other and could not even walk around the bed....I'd had enough!
Now I need to go that nice big room and catch a few hours of sleep....it's 11pm here and we have a wake -up call at 3:30 am!!!!! (You guys won't have gone to bed yet when we are getting back up!) Our taxi arrives at 4:30 to take us to the station for the Eurostar to BELGIUM!!!!! I plan to sleep on the train but not in the chunnel!
nighty night!
Once in Canterbury we stopped for a bite on the way to the cathedral. Bad call....the worst meal so far. A chicken and bacon and cheese sandwich was a few slices of chicken on overly buttered and untoasted plain bread with fried ham type "bacon" that was undercooked, and Cat's didn't even have the cheese! Oh well...won't go there again!
Up the street and through a gate, actually an arched wall built I think 600 years ago that looked somewhat like a castle in the middle of the city, a few more blocks and to the Cathedral. I felt like I was at Busch Gardens yet it was all real and really old. The Cathedral is stuck behind the buildings of the town, all just kind of crammed in there. And it is massive! Parts date to over 1200 years ago. The blocks to build it, the design and intricate carvings and decoration are breathtaking. Not many stained glass windows are left, as many have been destroyed. The area where the choir is was burned and was left a shell 44 years after it was completed, but has been rebuilt. It is full of tombs of former important people in the Church including a prince who died 600 years ago. His funeral garments are on display... The preservation of history is amazing! I read a book about it on the trip back and have bunches of pictures...but I know none will do it justice. Talk to me when I get home and I will bore you with more details!
The bus trip back to the train in Ashford was almost frightening. I think the driver was a bit nutty. He kept running into tree branches that were hanging over the road, swerving and making the kids in the back of the double-decker scream! He was a real grouch too... but we made it back and had a successful train ride back to the city.
We decided to walk to dinner tonight since we rode so long today....we went in search of something good to eat. Really amazing how many people were out on the streets on a Sunday evening, and we aren't really in a hopping part of town. We walked, searched, and finally came to a block with 4-5 restaurants. Did some menu shopping and finally decided on an...Italian
place! It was not as good as last night's but was far better than lunch! Just FYI---a mixed salad here evidently means a mix of whatever you have on hand...mine had lots of leaves (lettuce I guess...looked like stuff from the yard), grapes, olives, tomatoes, topped with cold green beans! It was just strange, but I did eat the beans. Delicious strawberry meringues for dessert made up for the salad.
Got the tube back to the hotel...and the stuck up American in me came out.....Cat and I have been crammed into a room with not enough width to roll our suitcases in all the way (wall sticking out) and no more than 2 feet on either side of the bed. I know rooms in Europe are smaller than in the US but we remembered today that we had booked a room that was supposed to have 2 beds and a seating area....didn't' have either! So I asked if there were larger rooms available. Needless to say we are now on the 9th floor in a huge room with 2 chairs to sit in and separate beds to sleep in. We have a views of the park behind the hotel and some apartment buildings, and also look sideways to Hyde Park. Our bathroom is actually has a door wide enough to get through and tons of space. (the last one was minuscule...like a
bathroom-ette!) I know I should have said something to them before tonight at 9 pm but I really didn't want to cause trouble. However, today when we saw the mold growing on the bathroom ceiling and the whole room steaming up when one of us showered, and the fact that we were literally tripping on each other and could not even walk around the bed....I'd had enough!
Now I need to go that nice big room and catch a few hours of sleep....it's 11pm here and we have a wake -up call at 3:30 am!!!!! (You guys won't have gone to bed yet when we are getting back up!) Our taxi arrives at 4:30 to take us to the station for the Eurostar to BELGIUM!!!!! I plan to sleep on the train but not in the chunnel!
nighty night!
Saturday...a day late, too!
As I said before, we could not work out the Heckmondwicke trip...no sure way to get all the way there and no known way home, so we decided we would see more of the city. Good thing...Boodie called at 8:30 am our time and Cat talked to her but I could not get myself awake! I drifted off again and before I knew it it was 11:00! I guess I was more tired that I realized but I really felt good once I got up and going.
Since we missed breakfast we stopped by the Swan, pub right smack next door to the hotel (we have been going to sleep by the music and noise from there nightly) and got a bite of lunch. I had a wonderful Jacket with beans and cheese (a jacket is a baked potato). Quite delish and filling, pumping me with the energy to face the rest of the day. Good thing....more walking to do!
We hit the tube and went to Covent Garden, not a garden at all but a major open flea market type shopping area crammed full of people! Ever been to a craft show at RIR? Like that but moreso! There was almost too much to look at with food, street performers, kiosks full of stuff. We did come upon a kiosk with prints of London showing many of the major things in the city. They were beautiful, and the man who painted them was there. We struck up a conversation and of course I bought one (Harvey--got to find another place to hang something! Sorry!) It shows so many things we have done and seen and the things we still have on the list. I just love stuff like that!
We hit the tube again and headed over to Harrod's.... As we came up to the street from the tube we were greeted by protesters yelling and screaming about how Harrod's is the only place in London that sells real fur. Interesting.... Then the store....WHOA! 5 floors with several hundred "rooms" as they call the departments/areas, chock full of everything you could imagine, from crystal chandeliers for £20,000 ($40,000) to a petrified wood desk from Arizona for £70,000 ($140,000 ) and the largest complete in one piece fish fossil in the world for £200,000+ ($400,000! Guess what no one is getting for a trip surprise!) For the little ones they had leather jackets for £369...and to think I clothed my kids at Target! We looked at shoes but I couldn't afford £150 for a pair of sandals so we didn't buy much there. It really was visual overload, add to that the zillions of people there like us...quite an experience! Puts Christmas crowds to shame! We spent several hours there and were ready to search for food, so it was back to the tube. Told you we got that one figured out!
We walked around the corner and a few blocks to Bizarro, an Italian restaurant we had been by, where had a fabulous meal. True Italians speaking Italian and cooking Italian food...mmmmm! Haven't had such authentic food since Grace's mother made pizza on Friday nights when we were in middle school. It was wonderful! We plan to go back again.
Back at the hotel we blogged, called home since it was Father's Day already here, and hit the sack. Doesn't sound like we did much but we were walking and tubing for 6 hours...tuckered us out!
It was fun though!
Since we missed breakfast we stopped by the Swan, pub right smack next door to the hotel (we have been going to sleep by the music and noise from there nightly) and got a bite of lunch. I had a wonderful Jacket with beans and cheese (a jacket is a baked potato). Quite delish and filling, pumping me with the energy to face the rest of the day. Good thing....more walking to do!
We hit the tube and went to Covent Garden, not a garden at all but a major open flea market type shopping area crammed full of people! Ever been to a craft show at RIR? Like that but moreso! There was almost too much to look at with food, street performers, kiosks full of stuff. We did come upon a kiosk with prints of London showing many of the major things in the city. They were beautiful, and the man who painted them was there. We struck up a conversation and of course I bought one (Harvey--got to find another place to hang something! Sorry!) It shows so many things we have done and seen and the things we still have on the list. I just love stuff like that!
We hit the tube again and headed over to Harrod's.... As we came up to the street from the tube we were greeted by protesters yelling and screaming about how Harrod's is the only place in London that sells real fur. Interesting.... Then the store....WHOA! 5 floors with several hundred "rooms" as they call the departments/areas, chock full of everything you could imagine, from crystal chandeliers for £20,000 ($40,000) to a petrified wood desk from Arizona for £70,000 ($140,000 ) and the largest complete in one piece fish fossil in the world for £200,000+ ($400,000! Guess what no one is getting for a trip surprise!) For the little ones they had leather jackets for £369...and to think I clothed my kids at Target! We looked at shoes but I couldn't afford £150 for a pair of sandals so we didn't buy much there. It really was visual overload, add to that the zillions of people there like us...quite an experience! Puts Christmas crowds to shame! We spent several hours there and were ready to search for food, so it was back to the tube. Told you we got that one figured out!
We walked around the corner and a few blocks to Bizarro, an Italian restaurant we had been by, where had a fabulous meal. True Italians speaking Italian and cooking Italian food...mmmmm! Haven't had such authentic food since Grace's mother made pizza on Friday nights when we were in middle school. It was wonderful! We plan to go back again.
Back at the hotel we blogged, called home since it was Father's Day already here, and hit the sack. Doesn't sound like we did much but we were walking and tubing for 6 hours...tuckered us out!
It was fun though!
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Friday...a day late...
We did SOOOOOO much Friday that we were too pooped to come down to the computer to blog the day! We have truly been the ultimate tourists in this town, going and seeing and doing everything we can cram into the day. So far my legs and Cat's knee and hip are hanging in there. We have the "tube" figured out. That's amazing planning and engineering itself. The system goes all over, and it is always full of folks. Neat to see so many really using the public transport. (Mind the gap!) Yet the traffic is absolutely crazy...I would NEVER bring a car into the city! Horns beeping, cars slamming to a stop, and what looks like billions of taxis. Looks like New York but everyone is driving on the wrong side of the road! We are crossing street at crossing signals whenever possible, and otherwise jointly deciding it is safe to go and saying a prayer for safe crossing! Loving being here.....pretty much sunny weather so far (sure I just ruined that!)...warm sun and cool breezes. It doesn't get dark until almost 10 pm, yet the sun is shining before we are awake, we are that far north.
Here's the rundown for Friday June 19...we must have walked a million miles!
Our hotel is literally cross the street from Hyde Park (we look out the window at the park) so we started there. Beautiful fountains, the Serpentine Lake, and space, space, space! Trees and open fields, birds and nature all around and people everywhere walking dogs, pushing prams (strollers), running and walking. Walking down a path we noticed a LARGE building rising in the distance over a hill and turned to see what it was (we didn't' have a map yet). As we got to the rise of the hill we realized we were looking at Kensington Palace! Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens are connected (we would have know that had we a map!). We went on up to the Palace and as we were looking we heard a helicopter that was obviously coming in for a landing, so we turned and followed it to the field behind the Orangery where indeed it was on the ground. Seeing police officers all around and a royal symbol on the side of the chopper we knew something was going on, so Cat asked the officer who told us that Prince Charles was on his way to get the chopper! Soon 2 cars were escorted into the field and the Prince got out (cameras snapping here!) and got into the chopper! We stayed to watch it lift and ride off into the day, Charles waving to us below as away he went! (this was my second sighting of Prince Charles and a chopper---he landed on the campus of W&M when I was there, but I don't think he recognized me here!)
Coming off that excitement we looked around the Orangery and went in search of Diana's Fountain on the other side of the park. It is a lovely serene spot where water flows peacefully and with ripples and waves in a circular fashion. There are places to sit and reflect and enjoy the beauty. It reminded me of the memorial in Oklahoma City.
We finally came out on the other side of the park along Rotten Row, a horse trail that has been there for years (since one of the kings way back) and is still used today.
We were at Hyde Park Corner where we went into an info center and learned more about the area from a cute little old man working there. While talking to him the guards and horses went by, returning from the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace! (cameras clicking again!)
We crossed over through Apsley Arch on our way to find lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, not a true British eatery but we were starving...
After reenergizing we headed to Piccadilly Circus, a total madhouse of confusion! I have not been to Times Square but this is what I imagine it to be like. People everywhere, cars coming in from 6 directions, big signs and video boards on buildings, and of course The Gap right on the corner! Cat had to go just to see if it was big and yep---3 floors! We did find a police officer so Cat gave him one of the VSP patches that Harvey gave us, but he had nothing to trade. (Sorry Harvey---he said they are not issued patches.)
Next off to Trafalgar Square, another really trafficky and confusing area. There are huge statues ( and I do mean HUGE!!!! They do statues in sizes I have never seen before!) and people were climbing and sitting all over them in the middle with the traffic going all around. I think people around her are a bit crazy....
Still walking we ended up in a shopping area and did we find the stores! D&G, Gucci, and Prada, to name a few. We went in to look at the Prada shoes. I am in search of some simple brown leather sandals, and I found some , but I didn't think spending £150 (about 300 USD) was a good idea, so nothing purchased there!
We wandered down the street further and happened upon St. James church, an Anglican/Episcopal church. This place was wonderful! It was bombed during the WW, leaving mostly a shell but the the intricate wood carvings around the altar survived. The church has been fully rebuilt but is in dire need of repair, yet it is beautiful with massive arches conered in carvings and details. I was very overcome just being in there and I left a prayer on the prayer tree...this was another accidental highlight of the day for me.
We finally decided to try the tube (subway) back to the hotel, too tired to walk all the way back and we were far from home! We thought we were getting off at the closest station but we missed and ended up a good ways away and in a somewhat sketchy part of town. We made it though safely but leave it to say I don't think we will get off there again...
power nap time....
And back out via tube to Buckingham Palace. That's a BIG home! People were loitering all around, like us, and again crawling all over the massive statues in front. We noticed that the gates were open and we asked if there was something going on. The officer never missing and mark replied that the queen heard we were there and had the gates open for us to come to tea! Ends up that those particular gates were open to let folks who work at the Palace get out! Oh well...
We hiked down to the river to see Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. Rising from the river, it looks like someone dribbled sand to create the structure. And it is MASSIVE. (things are BIG here!)
Right across from Big Ben is the London Eye, the gigantic ferris wheel built for the turn of the century. We walked across the river, on a bridge of course, and got our tickets. It takes 30 minutes to "fly the eye" as they call it. The views were breathtaking! You could see all over London and I don't know how far beyond. I loved this, Cat was a little creeped out by the height but she did fine! I did drop my camera while on board and the bonk scared everyone...good news...camera survived!
Time to eat again and we went searching....it is hard to find places to eat that have food that sounds normal to us, so we tend to check out menus a lot. We ended up at Waterloo Station (do you see a trend of eating at train stations here?) , dining at Sloe. Pretty good pizzas!
We shopped in the station too, getting some British candies and some snacky things. You can find just about anything you want in the train stations, restaurants, Burger King and McDonald's, grocery stores, tie shops, and dry cleaners! They are like little self-contained neighborhoods.
We got the tube back to the hotel and this time got off in the right place about a block away...totally exhausted ...
After some searching the internet and asking for help at the hotel we realized that the trip to Heckmondwike was not going to be...we could find a train to go to Leeds but couldn't find a bus to go from Leeds to Heckmondwike or the reverses, and we couldn't find a train back from Leeds, so we had to give it up. Even the hotel guy who pulled up train schedules was absolutely no help at all. We were afraid of getting to Leeds and not being able to get anywhere from there.
More on what we did instead in the next installment! I have to go to bed! midnight here.....
Here's the rundown for Friday June 19...we must have walked a million miles!
Our hotel is literally cross the street from Hyde Park (we look out the window at the park) so we started there. Beautiful fountains, the Serpentine Lake, and space, space, space! Trees and open fields, birds and nature all around and people everywhere walking dogs, pushing prams (strollers), running and walking. Walking down a path we noticed a LARGE building rising in the distance over a hill and turned to see what it was (we didn't' have a map yet). As we got to the rise of the hill we realized we were looking at Kensington Palace! Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens are connected (we would have know that had we a map!). We went on up to the Palace and as we were looking we heard a helicopter that was obviously coming in for a landing, so we turned and followed it to the field behind the Orangery where indeed it was on the ground. Seeing police officers all around and a royal symbol on the side of the chopper we knew something was going on, so Cat asked the officer who told us that Prince Charles was on his way to get the chopper! Soon 2 cars were escorted into the field and the Prince got out (cameras snapping here!) and got into the chopper! We stayed to watch it lift and ride off into the day, Charles waving to us below as away he went! (this was my second sighting of Prince Charles and a chopper---he landed on the campus of W&M when I was there, but I don't think he recognized me here!)
Coming off that excitement we looked around the Orangery and went in search of Diana's Fountain on the other side of the park. It is a lovely serene spot where water flows peacefully and with ripples and waves in a circular fashion. There are places to sit and reflect and enjoy the beauty. It reminded me of the memorial in Oklahoma City.
We finally came out on the other side of the park along Rotten Row, a horse trail that has been there for years (since one of the kings way back) and is still used today.
We were at Hyde Park Corner where we went into an info center and learned more about the area from a cute little old man working there. While talking to him the guards and horses went by, returning from the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace! (cameras clicking again!)
We crossed over through Apsley Arch on our way to find lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, not a true British eatery but we were starving...
After reenergizing we headed to Piccadilly Circus, a total madhouse of confusion! I have not been to Times Square but this is what I imagine it to be like. People everywhere, cars coming in from 6 directions, big signs and video boards on buildings, and of course The Gap right on the corner! Cat had to go just to see if it was big and yep---3 floors! We did find a police officer so Cat gave him one of the VSP patches that Harvey gave us, but he had nothing to trade. (Sorry Harvey---he said they are not issued patches.)
Next off to Trafalgar Square, another really trafficky and confusing area. There are huge statues ( and I do mean HUGE!!!! They do statues in sizes I have never seen before!) and people were climbing and sitting all over them in the middle with the traffic going all around. I think people around her are a bit crazy....
Still walking we ended up in a shopping area and did we find the stores! D&G, Gucci, and Prada, to name a few. We went in to look at the Prada shoes. I am in search of some simple brown leather sandals, and I found some , but I didn't think spending £150 (about 300 USD) was a good idea, so nothing purchased there!
We wandered down the street further and happened upon St. James church, an Anglican/Episcopal church. This place was wonderful! It was bombed during the WW, leaving mostly a shell but the the intricate wood carvings around the altar survived. The church has been fully rebuilt but is in dire need of repair, yet it is beautiful with massive arches conered in carvings and details. I was very overcome just being in there and I left a prayer on the prayer tree...this was another accidental highlight of the day for me.
We finally decided to try the tube (subway) back to the hotel, too tired to walk all the way back and we were far from home! We thought we were getting off at the closest station but we missed and ended up a good ways away and in a somewhat sketchy part of town. We made it though safely but leave it to say I don't think we will get off there again...
power nap time....
And back out via tube to Buckingham Palace. That's a BIG home! People were loitering all around, like us, and again crawling all over the massive statues in front. We noticed that the gates were open and we asked if there was something going on. The officer never missing and mark replied that the queen heard we were there and had the gates open for us to come to tea! Ends up that those particular gates were open to let folks who work at the Palace get out! Oh well...
We hiked down to the river to see Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. Rising from the river, it looks like someone dribbled sand to create the structure. And it is MASSIVE. (things are BIG here!)
Right across from Big Ben is the London Eye, the gigantic ferris wheel built for the turn of the century. We walked across the river, on a bridge of course, and got our tickets. It takes 30 minutes to "fly the eye" as they call it. The views were breathtaking! You could see all over London and I don't know how far beyond. I loved this, Cat was a little creeped out by the height but she did fine! I did drop my camera while on board and the bonk scared everyone...good news...camera survived!
Time to eat again and we went searching....it is hard to find places to eat that have food that sounds normal to us, so we tend to check out menus a lot. We ended up at Waterloo Station (do you see a trend of eating at train stations here?) , dining at Sloe. Pretty good pizzas!
We shopped in the station too, getting some British candies and some snacky things. You can find just about anything you want in the train stations, restaurants, Burger King and McDonald's, grocery stores, tie shops, and dry cleaners! They are like little self-contained neighborhoods.
We got the tube back to the hotel and this time got off in the right place about a block away...totally exhausted ...
After some searching the internet and asking for help at the hotel we realized that the trip to Heckmondwike was not going to be...we could find a train to go to Leeds but couldn't find a bus to go from Leeds to Heckmondwike or the reverses, and we couldn't find a train back from Leeds, so we had to give it up. Even the hotel guy who pulled up train schedules was absolutely no help at all. We were afraid of getting to Leeds and not being able to get anywhere from there.
More on what we did instead in the next installment! I have to go to bed! midnight here.....
Thursday, June 18, 2009
we're here!!!!!
Got up at 3 a.m. to get to the airport....long day! but.....
We made it across the big pond! It was really nasty rainy in Newark and we traveled the bowels of the airport going from terminal to terminal, but we made it! Good flight to Heathrow but TERRIBLE food! Hadn't eaten all day, just got a bite, and it is midnight here (7pm your time). Can you say hungry? Here's the fun stuff we've already done though...
Rode a train from Heathrow to Paddington Station where Paddington Bear was found! Did not see the bear though...
Rode in a Super Nanny style cab from the airport to the hotel, then back to Paddington St. (because EVERYWHERE to eat in London is closed by 11pm!), got something to eat at Paddington St, and another taxi back to the hotel.
Walked to the corner store and bought a phone card to call home. It took 3 phones and 3 men to tell us how to use it successfully. It was good to hear Harvey's and Jay's voices finally!
Checked into our hotel...very expensive and nice by London terms, but the room is unbelievably small! There will be pictures! Cat says small rooms is the European way.
Observations after day 1---London goes to bed early...plane food is awful! maybe that's why they stopped serving it on planes!...London hotel rooms are expensive and dinky! That's ok...it has a bed!
We are tired and heading to bed so tomorrow we can go exploring! We have to figure out where things are so we can walk and take the bus....enough of spending money on taxis.
so far so good!
back at you later!
We made it across the big pond! It was really nasty rainy in Newark and we traveled the bowels of the airport going from terminal to terminal, but we made it! Good flight to Heathrow but TERRIBLE food! Hadn't eaten all day, just got a bite, and it is midnight here (7pm your time). Can you say hungry? Here's the fun stuff we've already done though...
Rode a train from Heathrow to Paddington Station where Paddington Bear was found! Did not see the bear though...
Rode in a Super Nanny style cab from the airport to the hotel, then back to Paddington St. (because EVERYWHERE to eat in London is closed by 11pm!), got something to eat at Paddington St, and another taxi back to the hotel.
Walked to the corner store and bought a phone card to call home. It took 3 phones and 3 men to tell us how to use it successfully. It was good to hear Harvey's and Jay's voices finally!
Checked into our hotel...very expensive and nice by London terms, but the room is unbelievably small! There will be pictures! Cat says small rooms is the European way.
Observations after day 1---London goes to bed early...plane food is awful! maybe that's why they stopped serving it on planes!...London hotel rooms are expensive and dinky! That's ok...it has a bed!
We are tired and heading to bed so tomorrow we can go exploring! We have to figure out where things are so we can walk and take the bus....enough of spending money on taxis.
so far so good!
back at you later!
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
PACKED!
It's all in there with a little room to spare for shopping and bringing stuff back. I am taking way too much but you never know what you will need!
Off to get a VERY FEW hours of sleep, hopefully, so we can get up at 3 to be at the airport by 4.
Will post again as soon as we find an internet cafe on LONDON!!!!
WOOHOOO!
Off to get a VERY FEW hours of sleep, hopefully, so we can get up at 3 to be at the airport by 4.
Will post again as soon as we find an internet cafe on LONDON!!!!
WOOHOOO!
lots of thanks.....
I need to thank some special folks---
Thank you mama for helping Cat to be able to go along with me. I don't know how we would have done it without you! I promise we will make good memories to treasure and talk about until you don't want to hear anymore, and we will take lots of pictures and show them ALL to you every chance we get!
Thank you Boodie... that's a big help, especially since we added Belgium at the last minute!
On a different level, thank you, Continental--- we are allowed to check 2 bags for FREE and take a carry-on. We may be able to get it all there! Now just so we don't buy too much for the return trip....
As I write we are exactly 24 hours from our expected landing time in London.....I am excited and full of butterflies! Soooo many things I can't wait to see and do! So many once-in-a-lifetime chances and I want to grab them all! Cat is bouncing out of her skin packing and getting ready (and recovering from a nasty cold/allergy/whatever it is.) She is so grown up I haven't felt like I would be traveling with my kid, but right now I am reminded of that! It's fun...stay tuned!
Thank you mama for helping Cat to be able to go along with me. I don't know how we would have done it without you! I promise we will make good memories to treasure and talk about until you don't want to hear anymore, and we will take lots of pictures and show them ALL to you every chance we get!
Thank you Boodie... that's a big help, especially since we added Belgium at the last minute!
On a different level, thank you, Continental--- we are allowed to check 2 bags for FREE and take a carry-on. We may be able to get it all there! Now just so we don't buy too much for the return trip....
As I write we are exactly 24 hours from our expected landing time in London.....I am excited and full of butterflies! Soooo many things I can't wait to see and do! So many once-in-a-lifetime chances and I want to grab them all! Cat is bouncing out of her skin packing and getting ready (and recovering from a nasty cold/allergy/whatever it is.) She is so grown up I haven't felt like I would be traveling with my kid, but right now I am reminded of that! It's fun...stay tuned!
Monday, June 15, 2009
waffles, anyone?
WOOHOO~!~!~! Belgium is a go! Booked and paid for the train tickets FINALLY after 4 hours on the phone, mostly on hold, with each person we talked to telling us something different. But we have our voucher for tickets so we'll be spending Monday in Belgium! We will leave London on the Eurostar (a train which travels at a speed of 186 mph), travel through the chunnel (the tunnel under the English Channel) for about 30 minutes, and go through the beautiful French and Belgian countryside (so I am told) and arrive in Brussels after a 2 hour ride. Pretty amazing I think! After spending the day in Brussels doing eveything we can cram into a day we'll board a night train back to London. It'll be a long day but way fun!
Tomorrow I really have to pack! :-)
Tomorrow I really have to pack! :-)
Nope!
Contrary to what Cat is saying I am not packing! I am thinking about packing and talking about packing and worrying about packing, but nothing has been done...procrastinating myself on this one!
I am trying like crazy to work out the Brussels trip but it is getting complicated. Will have a definite plan today I hope!
Later~
I am trying like crazy to work out the Brussels trip but it is getting complicated. Will have a definite plan today I hope!
Later~
Sunday, June 14, 2009
new ideas
The laundry is started but I am clueless as to what to pack...will definitely start that tomorrow.
My friend Rose told me we should go to Paris via the train and the chunnel, that it didn't take long and was a beautiful ride, so last night about 11:30 Cat and I started looking into it. Seems we can a go to Brussels, Belgium, in 2 hours and for a few hundred bucks total for both of us, so I am going to talk to the travel agent tomorrow and see if we can arrange a day trip. That sounds so weird to me..."oh we are running to Belgium for the day!" I really hope this works out...we found some really neat places to go and interesting things engineeringwise to see there. Crossing fingers that it works out!
Cat had a dream last night that I freaked out about being on the plane 8 hours and left her in Newark to continue on her own! That won't happen, though I am still freaky about being on the plane so long. Don't know why that bothers me... just a long time in one place I guess. Will be well worth it at 9:30 Thursday night UK time!
Check back later and we'll have a decision on Belgium....
My friend Rose told me we should go to Paris via the train and the chunnel, that it didn't take long and was a beautiful ride, so last night about 11:30 Cat and I started looking into it. Seems we can a go to Brussels, Belgium, in 2 hours and for a few hundred bucks total for both of us, so I am going to talk to the travel agent tomorrow and see if we can arrange a day trip. That sounds so weird to me..."oh we are running to Belgium for the day!" I really hope this works out...we found some really neat places to go and interesting things engineeringwise to see there. Crossing fingers that it works out!
Cat had a dream last night that I freaked out about being on the plane 8 hours and left her in Newark to continue on her own! That won't happen, though I am still freaky about being on the plane so long. Don't know why that bothers me... just a long time in one place I guess. Will be well worth it at 9:30 Thursday night UK time!
Check back later and we'll have a decision on Belgium....
Friday, June 12, 2009
school's out--time to pack!
Today was the last day of school...where 26 years have gone I have no clue! I still love what I do so I'll keep doing it!
Got a new BIG suitcase today (the airlines trashed my other one going to New Orleans and Louisville this year) so I guess I have to start thinking about packing. I never know what I will be in the mood to wear and I am told it will be cooler in the UK, so I am not sure where to start. One friend told me to pack, then leave half of it at home! After getting some sleep tonight and doing a few things in the morning I will start to gather my thoughts on what to take along. It's not a third world country and I speak the language, so I can buy what I need if I forget to take it!
One of this year's parents sent me some left over pounds from a recent trip to the UK...thank you! (You know who you are, too!) I promise will put it to good use...
until next time...I need sleep! I am bushed!
Got a new BIG suitcase today (the airlines trashed my other one going to New Orleans and Louisville this year) so I guess I have to start thinking about packing. I never know what I will be in the mood to wear and I am told it will be cooler in the UK, so I am not sure where to start. One friend told me to pack, then leave half of it at home! After getting some sleep tonight and doing a few things in the morning I will start to gather my thoughts on what to take along. It's not a third world country and I speak the language, so I can buy what I need if I forget to take it!
One of this year's parents sent me some left over pounds from a recent trip to the UK...thank you! (You know who you are, too!) I promise will put it to good use...
until next time...I need sleep! I am bushed!
Sunday, June 7, 2009
cat's blog
check out Cat's blog....more interesting than mine I am sure!
http://catseuropeanadventures.blogspot.com/
http://catseuropeanadventures.blogspot.com/
getting ready...and background
We got new flash cards today so we can take LOTS of pictures! Cat is making the list (I am checking it twice) of things we need to do before we go and things we want to do while there. There is so much to do and I am so excited to do it!
Let me give you some background on this in case you don't know...I won this trip! Yes, won it! I was nominated for an REB Award for Teaching Excellence by the parents of one of my students last school year. The nomination letter the father wrote still makes me cry every time I read it. I was honored by their even wanting to nominate me for the award, very touched by the beautiful things written, quite surprised that I made it past the first stage of the process, and TOTALLY SHOCKED to hear my name called as a winner. Cat had to punch me and tell me to get up and go forward after she screamed out when my name was called! I truly didn't believe it! I know I will be pinching myself the whole time we are in the UK....woohoo! I am extremely grateful for the kindness of these parents. This is the chance of a lifetime, and they made it possible! (You know who you are! THANK YOU!!!!!)
Of course I didn't want to go on this trip all by myself, but Harvey hates to fly, flew to Kansas last winter and proclaimed that he is done with flying! Cat jumped in and volunteered to go with me if I won...so of course she is holding us to it! That's ok---we told her it is her 21st birthday/Christmas/graduation present! (Her trip is not paid for in the award.....) She's ok with that, and we just say "London" whenever she asks for things right now. hahah~! I do feel guilty leaving Harvey and Jay at home...and Jay has to get his wisdom teeth out while we are over there so there is some serious mommy guilt going on...but I think they will be fine and will possibly enjoy the quiet house! Cat and I will have a great time and will talk their ears off when we get home.
For now I have to get through the last week of school and make sure everything gets done so the trip goes smoothly. I forsee not a lot of sleep in the next 3 weeks....that's ok! I don't want to miss anything!
Let me give you some background on this in case you don't know...I won this trip! Yes, won it! I was nominated for an REB Award for Teaching Excellence by the parents of one of my students last school year. The nomination letter the father wrote still makes me cry every time I read it. I was honored by their even wanting to nominate me for the award, very touched by the beautiful things written, quite surprised that I made it past the first stage of the process, and TOTALLY SHOCKED to hear my name called as a winner. Cat had to punch me and tell me to get up and go forward after she screamed out when my name was called! I truly didn't believe it! I know I will be pinching myself the whole time we are in the UK....woohoo! I am extremely grateful for the kindness of these parents. This is the chance of a lifetime, and they made it possible! (You know who you are! THANK YOU!!!!!)
Of course I didn't want to go on this trip all by myself, but Harvey hates to fly, flew to Kansas last winter and proclaimed that he is done with flying! Cat jumped in and volunteered to go with me if I won...so of course she is holding us to it! That's ok---we told her it is her 21st birthday/Christmas/graduation present! (Her trip is not paid for in the award.....) She's ok with that, and we just say "London" whenever she asks for things right now. hahah~! I do feel guilty leaving Harvey and Jay at home...and Jay has to get his wisdom teeth out while we are over there so there is some serious mommy guilt going on...but I think they will be fine and will possibly enjoy the quiet house! Cat and I will have a great time and will talk their ears off when we get home.
For now I have to get through the last week of school and make sure everything gets done so the trip goes smoothly. I forsee not a lot of sleep in the next 3 weeks....that's ok! I don't want to miss anything!
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
getting ready
WOO HOO!!! Just set up my blog for the big trip to England and Scotland!
Cat is being a wonderful assistant and researching the things we want to do while we are there. It's looking good! Stay tuned for the adventures of "Mom and Cat in the UK"!
Cat is being a wonderful assistant and researching the things we want to do while we are there. It's looking good! Stay tuned for the adventures of "Mom and Cat in the UK"!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
