Images of London

March 23, 2008 and March 24, 2008

I arrived in London on March 23rd, about 7:30 in the morning. I breezed through customs in less than two minutes, as the airport was very quiet at that time. I took the Gatwick Express to Victoria Station in the midst of falling snow (and saw a fox on the way!), and walked to my hotel, which was about ten minutes away.

I arrived at the hotel at 10:00, but my room wasn't going to be ready until noon. I had wanted to go to Easter services at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, but I was so tired (having slept little on the plane) I didn't have the energy to move. Church started at 11:00, and having rested for half an hour, I boarded a bus for Westminster, whereupon I would change to another bus for Elephant & Castle, where the church was located.

The nightmare of finding the proper bus stops, and then finding the church was epic, and it was compounded by the fact that it was snowing and sleeting. I nearly returned to the hotel twice in the process (only to find the proper site at the last minute). I finally found the church at 11:25, five minutes before they closed their doors. I was utterly exhausted, and couldn't stop shaking throughout the entire service.

The service ended at 12:10, and I waited fifteen minutes for the bus that would take me back to Victoria Station. I walked back to the hotel, went into my room, and crashed. I didn't leave the room until the following morning.

On March 24th, I rose early to catch a train to Stratford-upon-Avon, to visit my host mum and dad and brother, whom I hadn't seen in thirteen years. Again, it was snowing and raining and sleeting at ever-changing intervals. I arrived in Stratford a little after 11:00, and Bob and Chris (my host mum and dad) were waiting at the train station. We walked into town and stopped at a cafe, as our lunch reservation wasn't until 12:30 (I think).

It was so nice to see them again! They've hardly changed at all. And Stephen joined us for lunch. I can't believe he's 26! He has a girlfriend and a car, and is far taller than I am now.

I finally took a picture of Shakespeare's house (below), as I had somehow not done thirteen years ago. Stratford itself was in sad shape. When I was there before, it was a bit touristy, but now....there's a carousel across from Shakespeare's monument (and an entire, though temporary, amusement part near the train station), and they've demolished the theatre. They've also closed the Swan and renamed The Other Place to something I cannot recall. It is so commercialized, it's just sad.

After lunch, we went back to my host family's house. It was so nice to see it again!! It was just as I remembered, and I wish I'd had more time to stay and visit with them (and my mum bought me my favorite...Penguins! and digestive biscuits, which I had to sneak back into the States). Well, I've decided that next time I visit England, I'm going to avoid London and travel around the countryside, so I'll have more time then.

I returned to London in the early evening, and my friend Emma joined me at the hotel around 8:00. We went to Victoria Station for dinner and ate at a really great French cafe, and returned about 10:00, and then stayed up until 2:00 in the morning chatting and watching tv.

Between the two days, I put in nearly 7.5 miles.

Bob and Chris, my host dad and mum.

Street performers

Shakespeare's House. Isn't it beautiful?

March 25, 2008

Emma and I rose around 10-ish and headed out about 11:30. We went first to Kings Cross Station, so I could take a picture of Platform 9 3/4 (of Harry Potter fame). We then went into the library and got a bite to eat before going through the exhibition room where centuries-old documents and books were kept in a light- and temperature-controlled environment. Meaning, no pictures.

I wish I could remember everything I saw, but some of the highlights were:

The Magna Carta
The oldest New Testament (4th century)
One of the original Gutenberg Bibles
A Wycliffe Bible
Ancient scrolls from Japan
An ancient Koran
Original scores from Mozart, Beethoven, and Handel
The original, handwritten ms of Jane Eyre
The very first First Folio (collection of Shakespeare's works)
Old maps
The Lindisfarne Gospels
Beowulf

Click on the link HERE to see images of these treasures, and to read detailed descriptions of them.

After the library we walked about and did a lot of shopping, stopping in at two tea shops (one of which was Twinings), bookstores, a toy store, etc. We walked home, following the Thames, and I was able to get pictures of some of London's best landmarks. After we dropped our bags off at the hotel, we went to dinner at an Italian restaurant just a few steps from the hotel.

I clocked 7.25 miles of walking today.

"Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous." Molly Weasley

Me, being a dork.

The only picture I could take of the British Library.

Royal Courts of Justice. Britain's version of the Supreme Court.

Twinings tea shop. They've been at this location since the early 1700's.

London skyline

Zoom-in of the skyline, with Very Cool Red Bus

Cleopatra's Needle

Plaque beneath Cleopatra's Needle

The Eye

Big Ben

Memorial to Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni

Houses of Parliament

Westminster Cathedral

Westminster Cathedral Doors

Westminster Cathedral

Fun red telephone booths!!

March 26, 2008

Today, Emma and I headed for The Globe and The British Museum. On the way, we stopped by Southwark Cathedral where Edmund Shakespeare (Uncle Will's brother) is buried. Where, exactly, no one knows. Also along the way we came across Sir Francis Drake's ship, The Golden Hinde.

After visiting The Globe (which was still under construction the last time I was in London in 1995), we crossed Millennium Bridge (scenes from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince were filmed there just a couple of weeks before) to St. Paul's Cathedral. It was about $20 for admission, so we passed and just stood inside the entry way and looked around.

We then moved on to The British Museum where we had lunch and looked around for awhile before going back to the hotel to rest. For dinner, we tried out a local Vietnamese/Thai restaurant that played Frank Sinatra music. The food was really good.

I clocked 5.53 miles on my pedometer.

Not all pictures below have captions. Some museum pictures are followed by another picture of their descriptions.

Southwark Cathedral

St. Paul's as seen from The Globe

My Globe. Isn't it beautiful?

Close-up of Hamlet

Click on this picture to zoom in and read the poster.

Illicit picture taken while I was supposed to be listening to the tour guide.

Me. As though the screaming pink raincoat doesn't give it away.

Emma.

The zodiac, and the hole through which certain characters drop.

All the world's a stage...

Tower Bridge in the distance.

Millennium Bridge view of St. Paul's.

Entrance to St. Paul's.

British Museum. They had a display of the Chinese Terracotta Army, but tickets were sold out.

The Rosetta Stone, crown jewel of any museum. Save the picture to your computer and zoom in (assuming your photo software does that)...it is WAY cool.