Monday we moved from coaching buddy Mike's flat in Hampton to central London. We appreciated using his place during the Olympics. With two big suitcases, a carry-on roller bag, and a backpack we loaded the local double-decker red bus from his street to the Hampton train station. We took the usual 45 minute ride into Waterloo station which is the main train and underground station. We walked the several blocks from the station to the London Marriott, County Hall.
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| Lunch on the Hampton train platform as we move into London |
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| The Waterloo Station - the boards list the train schedules |
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| The London Marriott, County Hall |
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| The view of the London Eye and Thames Clipper from our hotel room. |
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| The view of Big Ben and the Parliament from our hotel room |
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| We used the walking bridge to cross the Thames to get to our restaurant. |
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| Evening dinner at The Sherlock Holmes across the Thames near Embankment. |
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| We had the traditional English roast for supper. Roast beef, roasted potatoes, carrots & cabbage, and Yorkshire pudding with thick beef gravy. |
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| At The Sherlock Holmes |
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| Two tube stations away from supper was Piccadilly Circus, the area of our theatre. |
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| The statue at the center of Piccadilly Circus |
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| We saw Ghost the Musical at the Piccadilly Theatre. It was a wonderful performance. |
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| The County Hall - our London Marriott The former Greater London Council offices now house our Marriott plus a sea aquarium, and restaurants |
Tuesday
Our day started with a ride on the London Eye. Londoners did not like it when it was first put up but it has become one of the busiest tourist attractions. The trip around on the "ferris wheel" type ride took about 20 minutes. Great views from all sides.
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| View of the Jubilee walking bridge that we cross to get to the tube. |
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| Looking down over Big Ben, House of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. |
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| House of Parliament and Big Ben |
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| Looking down the Thames River |
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| Our hotel window - 3rd floor up, 3rd room from left. |
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| Posing with an Olympic Mascot statue He/she/it??? We see these painted differently all around this area. |
We started a planned "walk" through the Westminster area. We started by crossing the Westminster Bridge which is very close to our hotel entrance. The Thames is a 210 mile river linking the interior of England with the North Sea.
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| The London Eye as viewed from the bridge. |
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| Big Ben from the bridge |
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| Big Ben is in the north tower of the Houses of Parliament. Britain is ruled from this building. |
Across the street is Westminster Abbey - the greatest church in the English-speaking world where the nations's kinds and queens have been crowned and buried since 1066. We got tickets to go inside and used an audio tour to find our way around. No photos can be taken inside.
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| Westminster Abbey |
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| A garden view inside the Westminster Abbey area. |
Our walk took us down Whitehall which is a very busy street. Whitehall is now the most important street in Britain, lined with the ministries of finance, treasury, and the home of the prime minister.
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| The Cenotaph - the big white stone monument in the middle of the boulevard. It honors those who died in the two World Wars. |
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| #10 Downing Street - home of the Prime Minister |
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| Horse Guards |
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| Horse Guard Back in the day they guarded the arched entrance to the Mall - the street leading to Buckingham Palace |
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| View on our walk back to hotel |
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| Trafalgar Square Admiral Horatio Nelson - famous for fighting Napoleon |
We went to see Agatha Christie's "Mouse Trap" at the St. Martin's Theatre. It is the longest running play in London of 60 years. It was a fun "who done it" murder play.
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| St. Martin's Theatre |
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| The best find of the day - pepsi in the executive lounge of the hotel!! |
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| Our room at the hotel - lovely! |
Wednesday
The changing of the guards at the Buckingham Palace was our morning destination - along with hundreds/thousands of others! The idea of the ceremony is simple: the replacement of the current guard by a new one. We saw the arrival of the replacement troops, accompanied by a band with plenty of brass and drums.
We went back to Buckingham Palace later in the day to get closer. Buckingham Palace was built in the early 1700s by the Duke of Buckingham as Buckingham House. It was transformed into a palace in the 1820s and has been the sovereign's home since 1837.
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| Buckingham Palace |
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| The band parading into the Palace grounds. |
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| The actual changing of the guards happens behind the gate. We could hear the band but not see the guards. |
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| Umbrellas - yep it was raining through most of the ceremony. |
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| The white marble Queen Victoria Memorial in front of the palace. |
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| One of two guards on duty in front. |
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| View from the side as we walked through Green Park. |
We visited the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms. In the darkest days of WW II - with Nazi bombs raining down on a helpless London and invasion imminent - Britain's government hunkered down in this underground headquarters to direct the war effort. It was here that Prime Minister Winston Churchill lived, worked, and made radio speeches.
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| Don in front of the Churchill War Rooms entrance. |
Walking to and from our destinations today took us through Green Park and St. James's Park.
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| St. James's Park |
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| We walked through the Wellington Memorial arch on the way to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. |
Lunch at 4:00 at the Hard Rock Cafe. This was the original Hard Rock Cafe and has been open 40 years.
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| Fajitas - yum! |
Back to the hotel for some R & R - just 2 underground tube rides and a walk across the Westminster Bridge.
After such a late lunch we decided to go out for dessert and drinks. Well, we were too late for food but enjoyed the pub atmosphere at the Red Lion Pub suggested by the hotel.
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| At the Red Lion Pub |
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| On our walk back to the hotel. We never get tired of seeing Big Ben. |
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| View as we walked the Westminster Bridge of the London Eye and our hotel. Beautiful walk! |
Thursday
The knowledge that our teaching friends are starting school today reminds us how much we LOVE retirement! The Tower of London and the London Bridge are our destinations today!
Walking the Tower Bridge was next on our list of things to do - we walked the bridge level and the upper walkway level. Then we got to see the bridge go up to let a big sailboat through.
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| And we are off for another day! |
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| Looking across the moat at the Tower of London. |
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| the bell tower |
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| The Beefeater who led our tour until it started raining. |
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| The traitor's gate where they brought prisoners in via the Thames River |
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| The White Tower |
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| View of the Tower Bridge |
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| Posing with a Beefeater. They train for about a year before giving any tours. |
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| Chapel Royal of St Peter |
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| Salt Tower - one of the many towers we walked through on our wall walk. |
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| From the wall walk looking down at some of the Beefeater's homes. They live within the confines of the Tower of London. |
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| Museum area within the White Tower. |
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| Waterloo Block where the Crown Jewels are kept. |
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| Late lunch at The Hung Drawn and Quartered Pub |
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| I had an English steak pie and Don had a chicken and mushroom pie. Both were delicious. |
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| Outside the Pub |
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| Approaching the Tower Bridge |
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| Looking back at the Tower of London from the bridge. |
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| The Olympic rings were up because the bridge is about to be raised. |
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| Here it goes! |
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| All the way up and the boat goes through. |
We were off the the Covent Garden area tonight to the New London Theatre to see War Horse. It was well done and we really enjoyed it.
Friday
We are off to see St. Paul's Cathedral. The towering dome of the St. Paul's Cathedral has stood over London for around 300 years. Sir Christopher Wren was the architect to rebuild the cathedral after the Great Fire of London in the 17th century. It remained standing throughout the wartime Blitz of 1940-41. It was the site of the wedding of Princes Charles to the late Diana in 1981. No photos are allowed inside, but it is beautiful! We walked the 257 steps to the top of the dome to look down into the sanctuary.
Late lunch at the Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese - a 350-year-old pub: low ceilings, vaulted cellars and narrow stairs. Food is traditional British - we had steak & ale pie and chicken & mushroom pie. Desserts were yummy - chocolate pudding with ice cream and apple crumbles with ice cream!
We headed to Westminster Abbey which we toured a few days ago for the 5:00 "Evensong" The service was about 45 minutes long and had beautiful music - both choir and organ.
Back to The Sherlock Holmes pub for the evening.
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| Lunch time! |
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| A post box |
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| On our walk back - fun street |
We headed to Westminster Abbey which we toured a few days ago for the 5:00 "Evensong" The service was about 45 minutes long and had beautiful music - both choir and organ.
Back to The Sherlock Holmes pub for the evening.
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| Don's ploughman platter |
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| I had grilled goat's cheese on a salad - it was delicious! I'm glad I tried something traditional for the last meal here. |
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| The Sherlock Holmes - one of our favorite pubs |
Saturday
Time to head home. What a fabulous trip!
We hired a car to get to the airport as we dreaded the tube and train with suitcases and the amount of time it would take at all the stops. It was an 8 hour flight from Heathrow to Chicago. After claiming our suitcases and going through customs we had a 4 hour lay-over there. Then a short hop to CR and drive to Wellman.
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