London!

OK, so blogging, as it turns out, takes a little time. We’ve been getting up early, sight seeing all day, having a late dinner and then crashing at the flat only to repeat steps 1, 2 and 3 the next morning. I haven’t been good about making regular entries but I’ll try to get a system going so I can keep up with them. Also, please forgive my writing as my head is spinning with thoughts and I’m trying to type them and include pictures as I go. So no Pulitzer Prize work here. Just some thoughts and experiences that I want to share with you. Also, don’t expect too much from the photos yet. I’m still learning how to use my new camera and my shots aren’t turning out so well. Trial and error, but mostly error!

First stop, London England!


Click to enlarge the map.



My first visit to London has been amazing! What a wonderful city and what friendly people! The city is filled with history, architecture, parks, art, culture, shopping, and more. The people have gone out of their way to be kind to us and to help us. They’ve been truly welcoming.

Our first introduction to this new place was the Gatwick Train Station. It’s a bustling hub of people from all over the world and the historic part of the building contained some very nice architecture. It was fascinating to watch the people come and go and to imagine where they’re from and where they’re going to.

We took the train to our flat in central London, just blocks from The London Eye, the giant Ferris wheel overlooking the River Thames. Our flat is a modest but nicely appointed 2 bedroom, 2 bath and in an excellent location. The views from the living room balcony are wonderful! In fact, we can even see Big Ben from our place and hear the “ding, dong” as it chimes. We’re so close to everything here and just a few steps away from the Lambert North tube station. Oh, “Tube!” That’s what they call the subway here. It’s also known as the “Underground.”

Here are some images of our flat… (I just love saying “Flat”).

Here’s our view of the London Eye from our place…

We agreed that when we arrived we wanted to hit the ground running so we planned to set off on a walking tour to familiarize ourselves with the city. Here are my friends Jason & Merilee with whom I’m traveling. Notice that familiar clock tower in the background?

The very first sites we saw were Parliament and Big Ben, which are located in Westminster, just a few tube stops from where we’re staying. They were really something to see. The Parliament building was stunning with is grand spires and intricate detailing. The gold details on Big Ben shown beautifully!

As we were admiring Big Ben, guess who walked by? OK, not really, but doesn’t this woman TOTALLY look like the Queen?

Here’s a shot of Big Ben, Parliament and the Millennium Bridge at night…

Our next stop was Westminster Abby which is the church of the state. This cathedral is used primarily by the royalty, political party and other celebrities. This is where official religious ceremonies are held such as important weddings, funerals, and the coronation of the monarchs. There is also St. Paul’s Cathedral, which is known as the church of the people. It was a big scandal when Prince Charles and Lady Di decided to get married in the church of the people rather than the traditional place of Westminster Abby. At Westminster Abby there are also tombs of many of the ancient monarchs as well as people like Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton, and others. Here’s a picture of Westminster…

OK, so here’s a funny sight… It’s really hard to see in the picture below, but can you tell who/what is driving this car???

When we saw this we all busted out laughing! Of course, in the UK the driver’s side is on the RIGHT side of the car, and they drive on the left side of the road. However, being unfamiliar with this, when we saw a car go by with a man sitting in the RIGHT seat of the car and a DOG sitting in the LEFT seat of the car, it looked like the dog was driving! Yeah, we got a good chuckle out of that. Even still when I see someone drive by alone in their car it looks for a minute like no one is in the driver’s seat!

OK, so, at this point we are EXHAUSTED! We’ve flown for something like 14 hours, haven’t really slept in almost 48 hours, and we’ve been walking all over London. We took a short break and sat on the curb of a busy intersection across from Parliament. Suddenly, I heard a quiet snoring. I looked over and no sooner had he laid back did Jason fall asleep! Soundly asleep! Too funny! Yes, we’re damned tired.

Here’s an image of the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. The square is a large, famous plaza and the gallery is a huge museum of famous paintings. In the square for the next few weeks the Mayor has put up an enormous jumbo tron where they’re playing the coverage from the Olympics. The square was full of people watching the Olympics, taking pictures and just hanging out. Inside the gallery we saw many incredible masterpieces including van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” and Botticelli’s “Venus and Mars.” It was incredible! It’s such a great blessing to have the opportunity to see such wonderful sights.






Below is Picadilly Circus. And it truly IS a circus! I imagined this must be what downtown Manhattan feels like. The crowds of people rushed along the busy sidewalks, the huge buildings towered overhead, and the flashing lights of the giant advertisement signs shaded the historic buildings with unnatural reds and blues. After we fought our way through the crowds we took a break at a local pub where we enjoyed a pint (or was it two?) and some traditional English food.




Brits have some funny sayings and I’ve gotten quite a kick out of how different American English is from Queen’s English. For example, when an apartment is for rent it’s “for let.” When you make a reservation at a restaurant you make a “booking.” When you are being warned not to trip in the opening between the subway station platform and the doorway you’re told to “mind the gap.” When you’re warned not to bump your head on a low ceiling you’re told to “mind your head.” Dishwashing detergent is called “washing up liquid.” Elevators are called “lifts.” Exits are labeled as “Way Out.” And finally, in order to protect the stupid American’s from getting hit by cars, they paint on the road which way to look before crossing the street! On EVERY crosswalk! Actually, I found it quite useful as I’d forget which way the damned cars were coming from!







Just like at home, food is a big part of my life! We’ve had a lot of fun trying out the local haunts and soaking in the English pub experience. Going to a pub is great fun! You walk in, find a table and claim it, then you walk up to the bar and order a drink and any food if you want. They make you your drink and bring your food to the table. As you sit you may decide you want to munch on some “chips” (a.k.a. French fries) so you wander back up to the bar and order some and maybe another pint! It’s a great relaxed atmosphere with super friendly and helpful staff. I’ve enjoyed several different “bitters” (English style beers), along with fish & chips, meat pies, and jacket potatoes (potato skins). Not a whole lot of veggies here. There are of course “mushy peas” which are like mashed potatoes but made with green peas. Sounds weird but it’s really quite good. Here’s a photo of one of the great pubs we went to…





We decided to take a bus tour as a great way to see a large part of the city. They offer these awesome tours on double-decker busses with open roofs that drive you around town and narrate to what you’re seeing. It was a great experience. However, apparently it rains in London. Yup. A lot. A WHOLE lot. We boarded the bus for our three-hour tour (not kidding, just like Gilligan) and we were off. It was great fun, but it did rain on us for the last TWO HOURS! Fortunately, they handed out handsome plastic bags with head & arm holes in them for us to wear to keep from getting wet. Yes, I looked really, really hot in my wet plastic bag! Nice introduction of me to the very fashionable Londoners, huh?








Here’s just some random but beautiful architecture we saw on our bus tour. It’s incredible but buildings like this are everywhere.





Here’s a really incredible war memorial that is a tribute to the Australian soldiers who assisted the UK in many battles of WWII. Water ran down the charcoal colored stone. The huge slabs of stone were carved with the names of all of the local towns that the soldiers came from, and in many areas the carving of the city names was bolder to form the overlapping name of the city in which a battle took place. It was really quite beautiful and sobering. The British are really good with memorials as they are everywhere in the city. I find their admiration for those who accomplished great things very remarkable.







We visited Hyde Park which is like London’s version of New York Central Park. It was absolutely beautiful! It’s a huge park that includes giant Sycamore groves, English flower gardens (imagine that!), a lake, miles of strolling paths and more. It was really wonderful.

Here’s me walking into the English garden…




Here’s a close up of that beautiful fountain…



There were many beautiful flower beds, but I found a weed so I had to stop to do some gardening…




Another really beautiful park we visited was called Potters Fields. Originally Potters Fields was a burial site for unknown or indigent people. Recently it was renovated as a city park for all to enjoy while still respecting its history. It sounds a little gruesome, but was truly beautiful. Besides, you know me. I love cemeteries. With no land to spare every square inch is precious. To me this is a great use of space and landscape architecture at work. The site was a respectful and contemplative place and was also beautiful to stroll through.








After a long walk through the park we decided to check out the shopping scene. Oh my God! It’s incredible! Every major name you can think of is here. And at twice the price! It was really fun to look though (and shop a little – sorry honey!). We got to visit some of the famous department stores like Harrods and Harvey Nichols. The food halls at Harrods were amazing! They have these huge halls dedicated to selling just about every kind of fancy food you can imagine. I was particularly fond of the candy and chocolate room!









The people there were really interesting too. Harrods in particularly was filled with people from the Middle East and North Africa (we assumed). The women were draped in all black and travelled in large groups. They appeared to shop and spend money as if it were no object. Jewelry, clothes, perfumes, small countries. As we left the store we walked out the door to find a white Lamborghini parked at the curb with Arabic license plates. We ooed and awed at the car and wondered at it’s uniqueness as it was the only one we’d seen. Then, as we rounded the corner we saw another, and another, and a Bentley limo, and a few Ferraris, and more exotic cars. It was just crazy! These people must have so much money! It was really interesting to see as it is so different from our culture and those that I’m familiar with.




We also visited the Tower of London where many famous royal and poliical figures were imprisoned and executed. The building was quite beautiful but gave me a very eerie feeling as I thought about what happened there those few hundred years ago.











Next to the Tower of London was the Tower Bridge. It’s an amazing work of architecture! Funny thing is that as we walked across it and talked we didn’t realize until the other side that it was the “Tower Bridge.” We’d thought it was the “London Bridge” and were making jokes about it falling down. Not so smart as it turns out. Interestingly, London Bridge really isn’t impressive. Today it’s just a large asphalt bridge with not much special about it. Anyway, this damn bridge was beautiful, what ever it’s called!








London has really been amazing and I’m so thankful to have been able to visit. Jeff, honey, I can’t wait to bring you here! Although I am homesick and miss Jeff terribly, I am having a great time. I hope this is a life changing experience to help me grow as a person, and I expect it will be. I send my love to all of you and will share more stories and pictures soon. Tomorrow, Amsterdam! Not quite sure how much of that segment of the trip I’ll remember. :)