life in the district. : London: Mind the Gap

Ok. So here's how its going to go. London will be split into about 3 posts... I don't want to overwhelm you, so we will start with todays. At the end of the saga ... I will have a link to all the pictures I took as I do not plan on putting every shot in the blog. If you would like to flip through them all - be my guest. If you would like to stick to the "highlights" ... that's fine too.

Wednesday June 1, 2011 - 6pm.

Dad and I boarded a plane bound for Heathrow Airport in London, England.

My first trip to England ... first to Europe. Bags packed, Passport ready, excitement ... not going to lie ... there was a lot of it.

A 7 hour plane ride in front of us, I loaded up my iPod and Kindle ... and ended up not using either - as we had inflight movies and TV (The Office and 30Rock!) .. I also didn't sleep at all, which isn't too surprising. 7 hours later ... we were there.

Thursday June 2nd 6am London time ... 2 am Raleigh time. Wait, whats happening?!

Yeah. It's how I felt...quite confused.

After a quick 3 hour nap - we decided to tackle the Tower of London on the first day. We were told its a good walk from the hotel ... but doable. No one bothered to really explain it was a 45 minute walk. However; we walked along the Thames River alllllllll the way to the Tower taking in some London sights along the way.

Passing first -- the Millenium Bridge ... which yes, folks ... WAS the bridge the Dementors destoryed in the opening scene of Harry Potter. Good to see it's been repaired ;) but more on HP later...

OK, but back to actual London sight-seeing! So what felt like 3 hours later, we arrived at the Tower and quickly joined in a tour given by one of the Beefeaters, or Yoemen Warders, of the Tower. The Tower of London is actually a series of towers and buildings that make up the whole area. It is the site of where they beheaded people, including Anne Boleyn. It was also the original palace for the Kings and Queens before they moved out to Buckingham Palace. It currently is (obviously) a tourist attraction, historical site and still holds the Crown Jewels.

The Tower of London

The part of the Tower where the Crown Jewels are kept

I picked out my crown ... it should be mailed to the States shortly.

Me with one of the BeefEaters

John Deere and the Tower of London? Why not.

You can't take pictures inside the building ... so here's the best I could do.

Contrary to most people thoughts -- this is NOT London Bridge (yes, start singing

the nursey rhyme song now...you wont stop for days, trust me)

This is me in front of the Tower Bridge, located right outside the Tower of London.

Friday 3 June 11 (they write the date like that, I kept thinking it was June 11th and was very confused all week)

Today was our BIG day. Lots accomplished.

We started first at Westminster Abbey, site of all the Royal Coronation Ceremonies, Princess Diana's funeral and countless Royal Weddings, clearly including Wills and Kate's in April. We weren't allowed to take photos inside the Cathedral ... but I was able to take some of the outside as we made our way through the line to enter the Abbey. We were greeted first by the welcome sign ... and maybe signs with Kate and William and their Wedding ceremony.

I walked through and added my own information to the Audio Tour - telling Dad all about the Royal Wedding and where the Queen sat and where Kate and William stood...and then moved here...then walked there and sat ... and Kate started her processional here ... and, oh wait. He wasn't listening. Whatever, I walked the same path that Kate Middleton did.

While we walked to the Abbey ... we passed Parliament and Big Ben which

are located right across the way.

The famous 2 towers of the Abbey from the Cloisters.

walking out of the Abbey

For those that rememeber: the gate which the carriage and cars

pulled up to, to drop off the Royal Family and such at the wedding,

and there it is ... the famous entrance to Westminster Abbey.

This is where we exited the tour.

Next we walked over to the Churchill Museum and The War Cabinet Rooms, where Churchill and his men directed their part in WWII. They had to go underground due to the bomb threats and the Battle of Britain. The war rooms were pretty much left untouched and put on display for the public years after the war. While we were walking down there, TOM BROKAW, was walking out. I tried to be sneaky and take a picture with my camera, but I think he caught me and I chickened out and moved too fast ... instead ... this is what I got:

So this is my version of Tom Brokaw.

Dad outside the Churchill War Rooms.

Heres the thing about England. It's all backwards. But we know this ... they drive on the opposite side of the road and you need to get used to looking the opposite direction when crossing the street. I never did get used to it and just started looking both ways ... not mattering what the direction ... just to make sure at least once I glanced the right way. The city of London even painted "Look Right" and "Look Left" reminders on the street. It still didn't help. They could tell we were tourists.

After the CRW, we walked through St. James Park and made our way up to Buckingham Palace. We arrived just in time to see the Changing of the Guard (not the big ceremony where they change the whole group in the morning...but the one where they just change each guard standing outside the main door). We saw the balcony where the Royals come out and greet the public and Queen Victoria's Statue outside.

The Royal Parks ... and finally a glimpse of Buckingham Palace below

One of the entrance gates ... and you can see the Queen Victoria Memorial behind it.

Here comes the gaurds to change!

The porch where the Royals come out to greet the public

and site of the famous Wedding Kisses.

We walked up The Mall for a little way ... which was pretty lined with the British flag ... and then hopped in a cab to St. Pauls Cathedral ... known for the wedding of Charles and Diana as well as other Royal occasions.

The Mall.

St. Paul's Cathedral:

which survived the bombings of the Battle of Britain.

Most known for its Dome ... I was greatly impressed with this Cathedral. The dome and the artwork were amazing. We didn't climb all the way to the top -- it was something like 500 stairs, and I opted for the "visual tour" that was on our Audio iPod Tour (look at the Church getting all technological savvy)

I tried to get artsy and take a photo of the reflection of the Dome in the windows

of the surrounding buildings. I suppose it kinda worked.

Bobby's on Horses outside the Cathedral.

Lastly, that night (are you exhausted yet?! Don't worry ... we were too) we went to Prince Edward's Theatre for the musical Jersey Boys. I know, I know ... a very American play ... but I had never seen it and it was phenomenal! Such great music, such a fantastic stage set up and even the Brit's who might not have understood all the New Jersey jokes ... loved it as well.

Saturday 4 June 11:

I struggled to wake up most mornings. I am not sure if it was due to still not adjusting to the time change - or the fact that I am simply NOT a morning person.

After breakfast at the hotel again (a great buffet spread of eggs, bacon, hashbrowns and baked beans...wait? baked beans at 9am?! I didn't...but some others did)

We decided to conquer The Underground today. I'll be honest: we attempted yesterday, but Dad looked at the map for a bit and then turned around and we decided to walk. Was it because he realized we could walk it? Or because he couldn't figure it out? hard to decide...

Today we had to get on the Tube though.

We navigated ... or should I say ... I navigated ... through the Underground and we arrived a little ways outside of central London at the Collins stop ... home of the Royal Air Force Museum.

The RAF Museum holds planes, artifacts and displays of the Royal Air Force mostly from WWII. They had all sorts of planes from German, US and of course, Britain. They had a lot of information on the US Air Force and the help that we brought over during the war. It was a giant museum made up of 3 separate hangers and was really enjoyed by Dad ... and me ... for the first hour of so...

this was a British bomber that sunk in a lake in Norway. They brought it up and restored it.

Me in front of one of the US Air Force's bombers.

That afternoon on our way back, we hopped on the Picadilly line and stopped at Harrods (the Macy's of the UK) and walked around admiring all Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Jimmy Choo's and other items they had on display. We shared a milkshake down in the Food Hall ... but oddly skipped the long line at the Krispy Kreme Stand. Seriously, huge line waiting for the Winston-Salem based Donut.