Our British Isles Adventure begins....

Off we go on another travelling adventure.  This time it will be a week in London where we meet up with Terry’s brother, Ernie, and friend, Mark.  It will be a week packed with siteseeing every day as there is so much to see and do in London.  It was hard to choose what we should include in our short time here.  We want to see it all, but that is unrealistic, especially in August when it is very, very crowded.  Most of our tickets were prepurchased on the internet and that helps to avoid the long lines of people waiting to buy tickets.

After a week we’ll say goodbye to Ernie and Mark and then Terry and I head to Southampton to board the Caribbean Princess cruise ship for a 29-day cruise that includes the British Isles and then transatlantic to New York City.  We have been wanting to do this trip for a long time and that time is finally here.  Posting will be sporadic as I find time to work on the blog.  As I begin to write this, we have already been on the ship for 6 days.  We visit a port almost every day and that leaves little time to blog and our days were so filled while in London that I never turned on the computer. If you wish, follow along as we begin another Angell Travels.   

Saturday, August 10

We arrived at Heathrow Airport shortly after noon and were in our hotel in a short time.  Ernie and Mark arrived late last night and we met them coming in the door from a walk right after we checked in. 

The Park Lane Hotel

We’re tired from our travel but in order to stay awake and fight the jet lag, we all head off toward the Thames River and do a walk in the Westminster area.  Our first stop is on the Westminster Bridge for views of Big Ben and Parliament.  Big Ben is actually “not the clock, not the tower, but the bell that tolls on the hour.”  Big Ben is on the north tower of the Parliament building.  Britain is ruled from this building. 

Across the Thames is the London Eye, an observation wheel which slowly spins 32 capsules filled with up to 25 people for a view of London.  It was to be a temporary fixture in London but was such a success that it stays on.

Parliament Square is filled with statues of famous Brits.  The statue of Winston Churchill, the man who saved Britain from Hitler, shows him in the military overcoat he was fond of wearing.  According to tour guides, the statue has a current of electricity running through it to honor Churchill’s wish that if a statue were made of him, his head wouldn’t be soiled by pigeons.

#10 Downing Street is Britain’s version of the White House, where the prime minister and his family live.  It looks modest but there is an impressive mansion in the back.

#10 Downing Street is the black building behind the gate.

For 200 years soldiers in cavalry uniforms have guarded the arched entrance along Whitehall that leads to Buckingham Palace.  The Horse Guards Parade is where the 2012 Olympics beach volleyball events were held.

Trafalgar Square is London’s Time Square.  Admiral Horatio Nelson stands on top of the world’s biggest Corinthian column looking over London in the direction of one of the greatest naval battles in history—when Napoleon was threatening to invade England in 1805. 

Round the corner we found the Sherlock Holmes Pub and we all decided this was the place to relax and end our first day in London.

Sunday, August 11

We have tickets to "A Royal Day Out" at Buckingham Palace for the morning hours today.  The Queen is out of town now that the royal baby has been born and opens the palace for public viewing during August.  We are able to visit The Queen’s Gallary, the State Rooms, and the Royal Mews.  Photographs were only allowed in the Royal Mews.

A view of the palace (photo from internet).  We did not see the changing of the guard.

In front of Buckingham Palace

Gates at Buckinham

The Queen’s Gallary is Queen Elizabeth’s personal collection of art and is on display in a wing adjoining the palace.  Her 7,000 paintings make up the finest private art collection in the world, rivaling Europe’s biggest national art galleries.  It’s actually a collection of collections, built on by each successive monarch since the 16^th century.  Most of the paintings we saw are of the royals throughout the years.

The term ‘State Rooms’ is applied to those rooms that were designed and built as the public rooms of the Palace, in which monarchs receive, reward and entertain their subjects and visiting dignitaries. Today the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace are used extensively by The Queen and members of the Royal Family to receive and entertain their guests on State, ceremonial and official occasions.  Sadly no photographs were allowed.  The rooms were well worth seeing.  The British certainly know how to put on the pomp and circumstance!

On the back steps of the palace after the tour.

The backyard of Buckingham!

The Royal Mews provides road transport for The Queen and members of the Royal Family by both horse-drawn carriage and motor car.

The most dazzling of all coaches housed in the Royal Mews is the Gold State Coach, which has been used at every coronation since that of George IV in 1821.

Then we climbed aboard the HOHO bus for an overview of the city, enjoying the time to relax as we rode through London on the top of the bus.  

On the top of the Hop On, Hop Off bus.  The gal with the glasses is the guide.

Yes, it's crowded here in London on a Sunday afternoon

We did make a stop at the National Gallery and did a whirlwind tour through the rooms to check out some famous paintings, including Monet’s Waterlilies.  Sadly, again no photographs were allowed.

Our last stop was at Tower Bridge, where we walked back across it to the Shard where we had tickets for 7:00 pm entry to the observation floors. 

 

Tower Bridge

The Shard is an iconic, landmark building on the London skyline, designed by Master Architect Renzo Piano. At a height of 1,016ft, it is the tallest building in Western Europe.

The View is situated at the top of The Shard, on floors 68, 69 and 72, and almost twice the height of any other viewing platform in London.  It just opened up this summer for public viewing.  We lingered up on those top floors enjoying the London landscape until the sun set.  The workers at the Shard said that this was the best viewing day they had in the past couple weeks.  It was clear and no London haze.  We are happy that the weather has been good—not too hot and no rain!

It was a busy 2 days.  We’ve gotten a good taste of London so far and we LOVE IT!