Thursday and Friday, Day 4 and 5 London Tour 2018

We were on Day 3 of our London Pass. We scheduled another very long day-this one involved more travel. We headed to Paddington station (yes the bear)on the train and subway to visit Windsor Castle.

Windsor Castle has been in the news recently as Prince Harry just married Meghan Markle on the site. Allison and I had already visited the castle, but talked Tom and Scott into a repeat visit as we knew they would enjoy it. We arrived around lunch and stopped into an old pub(of course) in town called The Three Brewers. We had a remarkable lunch and then started off on our tour. Tom and Scott opted to just wander the grounds, but Allison and I waited for a guided tour. Our favorite is the life size dollhouse by Queen Mary. We especially loved meeting up at the end for photos on the stairs of the chapel, St Gregory, where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had recently stood posing in their wedding garb. We also toured the inside of the chapel and watched a portion of the wedding ceremony on a large screen tv placed in the foyer. It was quite spectacular. Especially since we had watched it on tv before visiting. After our tour we stopped into town for tea time. We enjoyed a pot of tea and cake, clotted cream(butter) and scones and then wandered through the small town and the train station filled with shops and restaurants before starting off on the long train ride back to our hotel.

When we returned to Kingston, we walked down to the river to have dinner at one of the pubs and watch the boats and swans go by. We still had one more day planned on our London Pass and the kids wanted to visit the London Zoo.  Allison and I had also wanted to visit Universal Studios in London to see the sets for the Harry Potter movies, but it seemed quite a bit of traveling and expensive for a visit to the movie sets. We also stopped along our way at Picadilly Circus to visit some souvenir shops, although Scott was not too fond of the loud, crowded streets. The kids did not like the Soho area either(a bit to rough for their liking). Very much the theater and arts, music area.

On Friday we planned on spending the whole day at the London Zoo. It is located North of the city in one of the many large parks, Regent Park. We attempted to pick out the nearest subway station, however, once again we had a bit of a problem navigating the streets on foot. I think we could have walked to Scotland and back by the time we found the main entrance. But it was worth it. The London Zoo was quite fascinating, and we saw quite a few creatures and events that you usually don't see in your average zoo. After a very relaxing lunch in the main dining area, we were off exploring. Our favorite events included watching the Komodo Dragon hunt for a chicken dinner, as well as the white tigers who went off looking for their snacks hidden around their pen. They even had to climb up a few trees for their treats. And we especially enjoyed wandering through the pens with the lemurs and monkeys. We had to keep our phones out of their reach while snapping photos-I guess they like to steal them from humans!  We made sure to see all of the zoo before it closed, and we would have stayed for the Friday night food trucks and beer, however, after all the walking we did that day, we decided to head back to our hotel since we knew it was going to be a long trip.

I did notice that the area the zoo was in seemed very familiar. Turns out the Girl Scout World Center was located nearby. Allison and I had visited Pax Lodge during our GS European tour 5 years earlier. The boys really had no interest in visiting the GS center, but we did run across a statue of Lord Baden Powell on our wandering(founder of Boy Scouts). Tom and Scott also managed to locate a monument to the Boy Scouts with Lord Baden Powell when they visited DC for Scott's passport. (I think he is following us!).  After a lot more walking and train/subway rides, we managed to return to our hotel for the night.

We had one more busy day planned-visiting the London Museums and Buckingham palace, Westminster Abbey. More walking!

Day 3 WEds London Tour 2018

So we had spent the first day of our London Pass and still had many more activities on our schedule. We decided to spend Weds at the Tower of London and Tower Bridge located up the Thames river in the area known as The City. After breakfast and our train ride back into London, we boarded a boat for a brief tour up the river to the Tower of London. Seems like we always run into an American or two. Allison and I sat next to a very nice gentleman from Louisiana sightseeing with his adult son(the adult son decided to take a quick trip to Scotland, just so he could say he went there). We very much enjoyed our educational and brief boat trip up the Thames to the Tower of London.

This castle built in 1066 is right on the Thames and was used as a prison for some very famous London residents, as well as the guard house for the crown jewels. We joined a tour already in progress to learn all about King Henry VIII's first wife and how he had her executed at the Tower(and how they cut off people's heads and placed the criminal's heads  on stakes dipped in oil which they posted while on fire along the one bridge into town to keep out any riff raff). Gross. They also used to bring the prisoners into the castle through a gate off the river by boat after sentencing them downriver at Parliament. We toured the many rooms after our tour including the chapel(for funerals mostly), the White Tower that houses suits of armor and weapons, including the suit of armor worn by Henry VIII(quite large for the time) and even suits of armor for the horses. We viewed the crowns worn during coronations of Kings and Queens with incredibly large jewels(no photos allowed), and finally said hello to the Ravens that live in the Tower of London. Legend has it that if any of the 6 Ravens leave the grounds, that London will fall. The guards stationed there or Yeomen/BeefEaters are to keep the Ravens safe, guard the castle(and give tours). Usually retired military personnel. The castle was also home to a zoo at one time.

We had a great time wandering around the buildings and soaking in all the history, and then headed across the river via the Tower of London Bridge. We also had a London Pass to enter the elevator that takes you up to the cross walk at the top of the bridge. They actually have a glass floor so you can see down to the river and the road below. Quite a view up there! And fascinating to see how the bridge was built  starting in 1894 with steam powered bascules(arms) that lift the bridge to allow large ships to pass under.

On the other side we stopped into lunch at another very old pub, The Fishermans Wharf. A favorite of historical writers such as Shakespeare. The rebuilt Globe theater was next door. Allison and I wanted to tour the place and maybe take in a play. But the tours were only in the morning since the plays were scheduled in the afternoon and late evening so we could not go in. For only 5 pounds(about 7 bucks) you can stand in the center of the theater, no roof over your head and watch a Shakespeare play for two hours. For a whole lot more, you could sit on a very uncomfortable wooden bench in the round. Just like in Shakespeare's day. We decided to skip it. But Tom and I took a quick trip up the elevators into The Shard building with our London Pass(the kids were pooped out). The tallest building in London at 800 feet, it has an open sky deck on Level 72 with incredible, 40 mile views of London on a clear day. We had a beautiful clear day and loved visiting the top with the open roof and bar where they serve strawberries and champagne. We skipped the bar and just marveled at the expanse of London and all its historical as well as modern architecture. We then headed down and walked back along the river, across another foot bridge towards St Paul's Cathedral(where Diana and Prince Charles were married).  St Paul's cathedral was rebuilt after the great London Fire in 1666 and looks very similar to the Vatican in Rome. It was getting late and everyone was off work in London, hanging outside in the streets at the pubs. We decided to skip the St Paul's Cathedral tour and instead stopped into a local pub, The Punch for dinner and to wait to visit with one of Allison's friends from GS camp. Many girls from England travel overseas to work at the GS summer camp and we met up with  Nicole  for dinner after she got off work. The girls had a lot of fun catching up while we ate, and then said goodbye as we walked up Fleet Street(also known for the legendary murderer Sweeny Todd the Barber of Fleet Street), to another very old pub, The Olde Cheshire Cheese Shop. This pub was down a side alley, very dark and very cozy and had seen many famous authors and artists in its past.  It was so cozy we sat and chatted with a few young men out having a beer after work, discussing differences between the US and England. It was so much fun. Scott was amazed how friendly and comfortable the pub people were and how chatty. I guess beer will do that to you! We headed back to our train station and the sun was just setting around 9:30 at night. We did not realize how light it stayed during the day which made it even better when we were out traveling. Another great day thanks to our London Pass.

Day Two Tuesday London Trip June 2018

We were up, dressed, loaded with maps, tour books, water and snacks and out the door after our traditional English breakfast. Every morning we enjoyed fried eggs, potatoes, fried tomatoes, mushrooms, baked beans, fish, sausage, pancakes, cereal, yogurt, fruit and pastries. Allison especially enjoyed the hot tea. We also enjoyed the train ride into the city, checking out all the sights along the way, like the Wimbledon train stop-soon to be very busy.

We took the train and subway into London to Trafalgar square. We were a little too late to view the morning changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. Allison and I had a sense of the area since we had an intense, 3 day orientation through our previous Girl Scout troop visit. It was fun to stop into areas again that we recognized. However, it was hard to judge true distance when looking at a map and then actually trying to walk everywhere. Especially when streets and sidewalks were closed off for construction, or when we could not find a road sign. I had to use my homing pigeon sense of direction while Tom attempted to follow his phone app(we decided to follow my homing pigeon directions with my paper map!). I just hard a hard time reading the very small print on my pocket maps since I left the reading glasses at home!  I also forgot how convenient it was to be on a tour and have your very own bus waiting to take you everywhere.

We started our tour at Trafalgar square in front of the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery. We love the 4 huge lions in the square made of bronze from Spanish galleons during the French and Spanish war in 1805. We heard they did not know what the back end of a lion looked like when they made the sculptures so they fashioned them after the shape of a dog. Interesting! The square is a gathering point for many events including concerts and plays with temporary stages, as well as protests! It is also just up the road from Parliament and West Minster. It's also a great place to view Big Ben, but not much to see right now as he is undergoing renovation and covered in scaffolding. And fortunately no protests, but it turns out the Queen was down the street on an outing, so traffic was all backed up as the police(bobbies) rerouted the flow of cars, double decker buses and taxis. Except there really is no other place to go with so much traffic. Most of the streets in London are narrow and curvy(and of course they drive on the wrong side of the road!). we decided to take a quick walk through the National Gallery(no such thing as a quick walk). There were a lot of amazing original paintings from Van Gogh to Monet,  and Picasso. We did not realize however that the National Portrait Gallery was a whole separate building, so we skipped it for another day. We mainly stopped into Trafalgar square to catch a Hop on Hop off Tour bus with our London Pass. We thought it would be a good idea, after speaking to Tom's brother and getting touring tips of London, to do a drive by of all the highlights in the area and then figure out what we really wanted to see and visit. Except our bus was not moving very fast due to the traffic(like not at all), and some of the strong accents of the tour guides were hard to understand. We switched to another bus line with ear phones for a recorded tour and faster moving traffic. There were two bus lines, a short loop and a long loop. We switched to the long loop, but got distracted early and stopped into Harrod's Dept store. Allison and I had so wanted to go in during our last visit to London, but we just drove by in the past. It is an amazing store-the biggest in London with the most fascinating items to buy, including food. The previous owner, from Saudi, Mohamed Al-Fayed, was in the news not too long ago for his son, Dodi Al- Fayed who was dating Princess Diana and also died in the car crash in Paris. It is currently owned by Qatar Holdings and they sell everything from appliances, clothes, priceless paintings by Picasso, electronics, food items and I hear expensive cars, planes, whatever you need to be a rich person! We enjoyed the  cheap souvenir shopping and a wonderful lunch in the cafe upstairs. Tom was taken by surprise with their tasty fresh baked bread and Allison and I loved our dessert chocolates from the food court-favorite of the Queen. We could have just stayed in the food court all day, just amazed at the choices-sushi bar, caviar bar, sandwich bar and of course fish n chips bar. Not to mention a fruit/veggie market and bakery, meat, cheese and seafood counters. But we were back at the bus stop waiting for our tour to continue. We finished the long loop and then switched buses by the Sherlock Holmes museum and Madame Trussauds Wax Museum to take the small bus loop closer to our train station back to the hotel. We got off near the London Tower(another place to visit on our list for another day). We switched to the train station and traveled to Kings Cross, home of the Harry Potter Train Station and Platform 9 3/4. We ate dinner at a pub that overlooked the Harry Potter Store and then Allison posed for a photo shoot with her new Raven Claw scarf. It looks like she is running through the wall with her wand and luggage to the Harry Potter train station. We also said hello to the life sized TRex on display for the new Jurassic World movie. Very fun way to end the day.

London Trip June 2018 Day One

Our flight on British Airways left Sunday evening. Yeah, no problems with the passports!  As we were standing in line to board, someone said Hello to Scott. Turns out, most of his engineering class was on the same flight to London with their families! Looks like everyone had the same idea on how to celebrate their kids graduation!

We had a wonderful flight over-slept and watched movies, listened to music, played video games and ate! British Airways loves to feed their passengers.  We arrived in London as the sun was rising on Monday morning. Tom had traded in all his travel points for a Double Tree hotel in Kingston on the Thames, a small town south of downtown London. In order to be more frugal on our spending, Tom decided we could take public transportation to get to our hotel from the airport. Lots of people in Europe do it-you see people riding the trains and subways pulling their luggage everywhere. Allison and I had to do it when we traveled with Girl Scouts to Europe. So we were all on board to travel around town via subway and train. And if necessary, take an Uber ride (or two). Unfortunately, I am always the big packer and I was hauling the most stuff. But it was the same suitcase I took to Europe when Allison and I traveled and I had to haul it by myself back then, so I figured, no problem.

Since we have never traveled around London by ourselves before, we really had no idea on distance(or difficulty). Just saying. We did do some planning ahead and purchased a touring card from Costco before we left. It was actually an app on Tom's cell phone. The London Pass allowed us access to over 60 different tourist sights, however, you had to use it within 4 days in a row. We also knew we wanted to use an Oyster card for the public transportation. We purchased that card when we got to the train station at Heathrow airport and then started our adventure! I can only tell you that taking public transportation with all your luggage sounded like a good idea on paper. There were no direct lines to Kingston from the airport, so we had to take a train into downtown London and then switch to the subway to another train line to Kingston. And the train and subway stations have a whole lot of stairs! Elevators are not easily located, and not every station has an escalator, so dragging suitcases up and down steps and through turnstiles turned out to be a whole lot of fun!(Not!).

But we made it to the train station in Kingston and then had to find our hotel. Tom had an address on his phone and a walking App. However, the apps don't actually work in real time and we found ourselves dragging our luggage around town, narrowly avoiding getting run over by cars, taxis, buses and bicycles as we detoured around construction and closed sidewalks. We finally arrived to our hotel and discovered that it was just a block or so away from the train station-we took the scenic route. We dropped off our luggage and headed into downtown Kingston after I picked up a paper map. We headed to the river and walked along the bank through a park into downtown. Tom chose Kingston as he has traveled to the area previously on work and was familiar with the hotel and restaurants in the area. We had a great time walking along the river, watching all the swans and boats floating by as well as stopping in to a local pub for a late lunch. Tom had an agenda to keep-to visit the oldest pubs in London and try all the different beer. And because the drinking age is 18, he wanted to introduce Scott to the different beer flavors. Allison and I also enjoyed peaking into a few shops and relaxing outside in the city center which was an old church turned into an antique store with a statue of Queen Anne.

We were all pretty tired, and Tom was worried if we went to bed too early we would be off schedule for the rest of our busy trip, so he tried to keep us awake back at the hotel. Allison and I decided to walk over to a local pizza shop, Pizza Express and pick up some dinner for carryout. Yum. Turns out, Tom and Scott fell asleep before we got back with our dinner. We also managed to break out hotel room as we attempted to plug in all our electronics. Scott had brought a power strip so we would have plenty of plugs. We know we have to use adapters on the electronics, which Tom added to the power strip, but it did not seem to be enough and we blew the power in the room after Tom got a big shock! So we had to request maintenance to come flip the switch! And the bathroom light never worked right for the whole visit after that. It's amazing that we survived day one of

the trip!