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London
Tower Bridge, seen from below. Wow!
After a very pleasant train ride from York, we arrived at King's Cross Station in London and were met by a new coach. We loaded our bags onto the bus, and were off to the Tower of London where we were on our own for several hours of exploring. Dennis and I chose to follow along with a Yeoman Warder (Beefeater) for an informative and highly entertaining tour.
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The group met up again after our wanderings around the Tower, and we boarded a boat on the Thames for a leisurely cruise down to Westminster. It was marvelous! The guide pointed out all the historical points of interest, plus all of the new skyscrapers that dot the London skyline. The Tower Bridge photo at the top of this page was taken from the top deck of the boat.
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Our coach met us at Westminster at the end of our boat tour and drove us through London to our hotel, The Radisson Edwardian Vanderbilt Hotel, a lovely old building not far from Hyde Park. As a group, we stayed there for two nights, but Dennis and I had extended our stay for an additional two nights. Some of our group had reserved tickets to various performances in the theater district and Liz led them on a Tube ride to reach the area. Dennis and I chose to simply wander around our neighborhood and ate dinner at a nearby restaurant.
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The following day, after breakfast, our group made our way to the nearby Tube station and went to Westminster Abbey. Dennis and I had both been there before, but never with a tour guide so we were very much looking forward to this. No photos are allowed inside, but our guide, Brian, pointed out so many interesting things. What a thrill to see all that history! To name just a few of the wonderful things we saw: the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Coronation Chair, the tombs of various British monarchs, the Poets' Corner with the tombs of Chaucer, Dickens, Lewis Carroll ...
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After our tour, we were on our own to explore whatever we wanted to see. Dennis and I ate lunch at a pub in Westminster, and then wandered around taking in as much as we could before returning to the hotel to meet up with the group for our final farewell dinner. Liz walked us to Bumpkin, several blocks away. We had a great time ... and a wonderful dinner! Liz even gave each of us memento gifts including print-outs of our group photos! How did she know that we've always collected refrigerator magnets as souvenirs since they're light and easy to pack? What a lovely thing for her to do and so typical of her style.
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We sadly said goodbye to our group the next morning at breakfast. There were just a few of us who were staying on. It helped that we were all busy with our "next steps," whether it was a trip to the airport and home or setting out for the day's activities.
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By now, it was May 19th. Wow - where did the time go? This was the day of the "royal wedding" of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Sadly, our invitation to the wedding must have been lost in the mail. Dennis and I wanted to spend some more time in London and we were curious to see if there would be any wedding impact even though it was taking place in Windsor, some 20 miles away. We saw several instances of people all dressed up in fancy clothing and hats waiting in lines for lunch and their own celebrations, and we heard all the bells pealing at mid-day, but that was the only evidence we were aware of.
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While the Tube is a truly remarkable way to travel around London, it's hard to see anything from an underground tunnel so we opted for the double-decker buses. The top deck would provide a birds-eye view of everything we passed, especially pleasant in the sunshine.
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So onward! We wanted to see the Harry Potter platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Station, the British Museum and St. Paul's. We managed to find them all (and more). It was such a thrill to see the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum and, in St. Paul's, we were truly touched to find a memorial to the Britain-based Americans who were killed in World War II. Unfortunately, no photos are allowed inside St. Paul's. We finally arrived back at our hotel, tired but happy.
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After breakfast the next morning, Dennis and I made our way via the Tube, back to Paddington Station, destination Oxford! We were beginning to feel like old hands on both the Tube and at Paddington Station. After a fairly short train ride, we had all of Oxford at our disposal. We wanted to see Christ Church College and Trinity College, plus simply take in the history and the lovely architecture. We did all of that, and even had time for lunch! History literally oozes from this town. If you open your mind, you can feel some of the illustrious scholars who attended here - Tolkein, Lewis Carroll, C. S. Lewis, Aldous Huxley, Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift, Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel), just to name a few. Plus, there are always the more modern references - the PBS series of Inspector Morse and Inspector Lewis, and multiple Harry Potter scenes.
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We arrived back in London feeling like we'd experienced 9 centuries of history!
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We had to leave for Heathrow the next morning long before the hotel restaurant opened for breakfast. They served us coffee, however, which kept us going until we reached the airport and could find breakfast in one of the many restaurants. Winston was safely tucked inside the backpack by the time we boarded the plane for our 10+ hour flight to Seattle.
Can you tell Winston is excited to be going home? Here he is, in the taxi, waving the Stars and Stripes! In all honesty, we were excited as well. Traveling can be fun and hugely rewarding, but it's always nice to come home.
And then we were home!
Winston, greeting us at the door. Where were you guys???
Magical moments:
- Our fun tour of the Tower of London. The Yeoman Warders look downright forbidding, but our guide was almost like a well-trained comedian.
- The wonderful cruise on the Thames. Glorious sunshine, all the sights, etc.
- Being able to experience touring Westminster Abbey with a guide who could show us many things we would have missed.
- Being able to see the Rosetta Stone!
- In St. Paul's, finding the memorial to Americans who were killed defending Britain in World War II.
- We felt especially privileged and awed at being able to feel all the history of Oxford.
- Encountering the Harry Potter sights at King's Cross Station and in Oxford.
Sit down, Dad! I need some serious lap time!
We were curious about:
- Why do people believe that English cooking is boring and bland? This may have been the case 50 years ago, but things have definitely changed. We never had a bad meal during the entire trip and have fond memories of many of them! And ... sticky toffee pudding!
- What's so special about the ravens at the Tower of London? Legend has it that, as long as there are ravens at the Tower, the British Empire will survive. Nowadays, they clip the wings of a few of the ravens to ensure that they stick around ... just in case.
- Where did the name "Rosetta Stone" come from? Although almost everyone has heard of this stone, we never knew how the name originated. It was discovered near a place called Rosetta, in Egypt. Simple! We were also amazed at how small it was. I had a mental image of something gargantuan, but it's only about 3.5 feet tall. We heard other folks saying, however, that they had always pictured it as much smaller. Hmm. I guess it's all a matter of perspective.
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