Day 18 Historical Quests

I started the day by river Thames at the Tower of London.  The tower is the home to the royal jewels, history for the last 1000 year including the beheading of Henry the VIII's wives and the bloody tower.  I spent more time there than I expected to, almost three hours.  There are two wall protecting the inside structures along with a drained moat.  The moat was drained in the 1800s because it was built at a lower level than the river Thames so water could come in but became stagnant because it could not flow out.  

Today it is just grass.  I was able to walk the majority of outside wall from the entrance about 3/4 the way around stopping in various towers that had sorted histories.  Some of the towers were the homes to the kings prisoners.  Some of the carvings that they did in the wall still remain.  Some where messages to God, some where astrological drawings and others were messages to those who they loved.  There was also the bloody tower where 2 princes mysteriously disappeared while they where being protected by the King.  

The best part of going to the Tower of London was the tour guides called the Yeoman Warders.  They are all a part of the military and were given this position for years of good service.  The tour guide I had had a great sense of humor.  There were about 100 people who chose to go around with the Yeoman but he did a great job talking loud enough for everyone to hear.  I got a lot more information about the past than I could walking around by myself.  He told more history about the killings done at the Tower and the prisoners that were held there. 

 We concluded the tour inside the chapel which I had not visited on my own.  This is where the bones of all the traitors that where executed.  They dug up many of he final resting places and found 400 sets of bones including those from King Henry VIII reign.  Some of the bones where relocated whole those of the likes of Anne Boleyn remain inside.  The tour with the Yeoman was the best part by far and worth price of entry by itself.

 I found the displays around the Tower to be aimed towards the casual tourist and not the history enthusiast.  There is even more history there than they presented and I really wanted to know more.  It was good to visit once but I don't think that I would go back again.  

From the Tower of London I walked down the river Thames to the Tower bridge.  The Tower Bridge is the most iconic bridge in London.  It's not the London Bridge like the song but another bridge at the end of London city.  I went into the bridge up to the pedestrian bridge above the driving bridge.  There was a short video describing the need for another bridge for transportation around the turn of the 1900s, a competition that was held and a winner was chosen and the bridge was built.  They say that the bridge raises and lowers seven times in one day.  

Up on the viewing platform you got a fantastic view of the River Thames but not much to write home about, even though that is what I'm doing right now.  I walked across both viewing platforms and took the elevator back down to the engine room.  The bridge operates with multiple power systems to raise and lower the street.  Also when I was visiting there was the Paralympic logo right below the pedestrian bridge that also raised and lowered along with the bridge.  

Once I stopped in shop and bought some post cards and stamps it was time to head down the river into the city of Westminster.  My London pass included unlimited journeys on the River Thames via City Cruises.  I was told that the boat was just about to depart so I huffed down to the loading area only to find out that it had probably just left.  So I sat down on the ground to write out some of my post cards before I struck up a conversation with a couple next to me.  About 30 minutes later the boat finally arrived.  There was an open deck on the top and since it was a beautiful day outside I sat up top.  

One of the crew members on board narrated our journey down the river, even though his job description did not include narration so he asked for tips on the way out.  It was a smooth ride down the river which took about 20 minutes until we arrived just across from the London Eye.

Just across the river from the London Eye sits the Parliament building and Big Ben.  Now Big Ben is not the nickname for the whole bell tower but only the bell itself.  So if anyone asks you if you saw Big Ben tell them no because it is only the bell.  Well it was beautiful outside that day with fluffy white clouds passing though a bright blue sky.  I took about 25 or so so at least one had to turn out.  Thank goodness for digital cameras and practically unlimited photo taking.

My next stop is literally right across the street from the Parliament which is Westminster abbey.  This is probably the most famous church in the English speaking world as it the wedding place for William and Kate and where the Queen was crowned.  Did I mention before that they love the Queen there.  I mean, they LOVE her.  60 years on the throne and they wish she would live for another 60 years.  Well anyways into the abbey I went with my London pass.  It was so nice not to keep bringing out my credit card for all this stuff plus I did a lot more things than I would have without it.

Once I was inside I grabbed an audio guide and off I went.  The layout of the interior is very similar to other churches in the area.  There is the seating area in the front, the choir section and then the alter.  Because of the shape of the gallery, usually in the shape of a cross, many people seated in the gallery could not see the alter or even the preacher.  And unlike American churches there is not a ton of audio visual camera and screens all around.  But I wouldn't mind because there is so much to look at.  If I haven't said it already I would go to church again if I had had much to look at around me.  I walked round the alter area around the top of the hour when they do a small prayer and a moment of thought.  It was a nice reminder where you truly where.  Once the moment passed I walked behind the alter into where most of he crypts lay.  Different from St. Paul's many of England's monarchs where buried here.  In fact there is a section that was added on the back that they call the women's section because it had the crypts of Elizabeth I, Bloody Mary and Mary Queen of Scots.  The details of each tomb was incredible with a likeness of many of them laying on top.  And the ceilings where truly out of this world as they were outlying white with incredibly intricate carvings.  One thing to remember if I ever get a chance to visit Europe again is to always look up because most of the time there is something to look at.  I passed through the other crypts from monarchs to authors and politicians.  

On my way out there was a display for the Queen's diamond jubilee about her history with the church.  From when she was a child to her coronation, the marriages of her children, the death of Diana and the wedding of Willamette and Kate.  It is quite a history which had been detailed through photographs over her entire lifetime.  Truly the first British monarch who has really had their whole life seen through photographs.

I was just about to go out the exit door when I noticed something to my left.  I almost missed the coronation chair!  The chair is clearly very old, hundreds of years.  The style and wood are nothing from this century.  This is the chair that at least the last 600 ignore more where all monarchs where crowned.  And this is the chair that sits on top of the Scottish Stone of Destiny that was returned to Scotland 15 years ago.  I'm glad I was trained not to follow the crowds around because I might have missed if I did.

Ruhr next to the Abbey is the remains of an old castle called the Jewel tower.  It is very small building three stories tall that gave the history of the building.  It was mostly used as a place of standards including weights and measures.  They also explained the history and the practices of the parliament as it sits right across the street.  It was a quick visit that also included a door that was built in 1621 and is still in use today.  Very cool.

Once I left the Royal area around the Abbey I took the tube over to Hyde park.  I went to a different station that I had not used before which was in a shopping area of the city.  I would have stopped in the TK Maxx, no that is not a typo even though I know I have made many of those.  Yes TK Maxx.   I needed to make to over to Kensington palace before they closed their entries for the day.  This was the favorite palace of Diana and still to this day there is a memorial fence one one side that people lay flowers for her.  I saw a couple people lay some flowers down some 15 years after her death.  And inside the palace one of the exhibits had 5 of her dresses and style that she was so famous for.   

Two of the other exhibits were celebrating the only other monarch to reach their Diamond Jubilee which was Victoria in 1937.  The first one showed the celebrations all around the city bad the reactions from everyday people.  The interesting thing about these exhibits was that they seemed more like an art installation rather than a history exhibit.  The other Victoria exhibit was about her life.  She was such a small woman.  From the dress that they had inside a case I don't think that she was any taller than 4 foot 8 inches.  She had such a loving relationship with her husband Albert and was just totally destroyed when he died.  She never wore anything but black again.  

The final display was from the beginning of Kensington palace and the tumultuous time with a king and queen coming from abroad after the previous king left his throne.  The new queen had only one of 18 pregnancies live to be 10 years old.  The king then died, the queen died and her only surviving son died.  He throne was passed 32 spots to the next monarch.  Talk about a lot of drama.

After exploring everything that I could inside the palace I breezed through the shop.  I had another non buyers remorse issue with a ruler that had all the kings and queens on it.  A ruler ruler, get it?!  Oh well.  So I ventured northward in the park towards my hotel to find the Peter Pan statue.  I asked a couple different phere it was and I fianlly got an answer after about the fifth person.  The statue has Peter on the top with his pipe flute and all the mermaids around him.  Very cool.  Plus there were some other people around the statue so I asked them to take my photo with Peter.  I don't have a lot of proof that I exist in front of the camera.

I bade farewell to Hyde Park and walked back up to my hotel.  Another really exhausting day that did some great work on my legs.  Only one more day in London left and then off to Paris!

Day 16 Finding Free Things to do in London and Muggle Tour

My first whole day in London started early with stuffing myself full of breakfast.  They had tons of fruit available to I took more than my fair share.  I put what I thought was yogurt on top only to find out that it was whipping cream.  So I got a little sugar high this morning.  I stole a banana and an apple for my day and out I went.  Only to turn back about 20 feet outside the hotel door because I forgot my conformation sheet to pick up my London pass.

 After finally getting everything together at he hotel I got though the tube well this morning.  I only got turned around at one station for about a minute.  Once got off I found someone to talk to.  I know that comes as a surprise.  Around London because of the Paralympic games there are London ambassadors all around town.  I spoke with one probably not on duty and on her way to work but she pointed me around where I had gotten off.  It was Trafalgar square with an stage and screen set up for the games.  Lots to do and see in that area.  From there I found my pick up location for my pass but it was Sunday so they didn't open until 10am.  So I had 30 minutes to burn.  I wandered up the street to find myself in the West End.  

All the famous theater show were everywhere around me.  And a ton of tourist shops too.  I continued walking up the hill to find myself at Piccadilly circus.  Lots of sculptures around that area and even more tourist shops!  By then it had been 20 minutes so I walked back to the kiosk.  I got my London pass after only about a 5 minutes wait.

Let the stair climbing in London begin.  Getting my pass I had to go down a spiral staircase and to get into my next place I had to go up a large staircase.  Londoners really love their cardio. 

 I had an hour before my tour started so onto the National Portrait Gallery I went.  Practically to use the restroom, since other places in town you have to pay, and to check if I would be worth coming back to.  I looked around the gallery that was about the road to the 2012 games. I had about 40 minutes until the tour so I went for a walk to my meeting point for my Muggle tour.  I found Horse Guards Parade where they do stand guard on horses.  Not a lot of imagination naming some things I tell ya.  The guards were just leaving to go down the mall towards the palace for the changing of the guard.

As the ambassador suggested I walked along the Thames for a good long while enjoying the misty morning on London.  It was a quintessentially English morning.  As it was a Sunday in the morning not a lot of people were out.  I was enjoying my walk seeing all the monuments along the river but it was taking me too long to walk.  I thought I wad going to miss my tour so I booked it to the closest underground station and ran up and down the stairs into each train.  Of course I had to transfer from one line to another because things can't be that easy.  

I got off at the right station but came out the wrong side.  Usually stations have more than one above ground entrance and I moped for the street name but was unsuccessful.   I walked briskly around, stopping at a store for directions which was unsuccessful and walked around above the station area until I found them.  At exactly 11!  I paid my money, which I was not the last person to pay, and then we were off right back to place where I was previously lost. 

Our first stop was at the front door of Bridget Jones.  Right because that makes since for a Harry Potter tour but many of the actors from Bridget were also in Harry.  We walked through a weekend market to a flower shop.  The flower shop had been transformed into the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron for the third film.  Our tour guide was great because not only did she point out Harry Potter stuff but just London facts in general as she is a tour guide for multiple companies.  Like getting two tours for the price of one.

 We around that area a bit more and the we headed down to the underground.  On the underground we figured out which house we belonged to.  I had already done this quiz before and I come as a Ravenclaw.   We arrived at the station where Harry and Mr. Weasley went into the underground to take Harry to his hearing at the Ministry of Magic.  

From the underground we came up into the area where I had been earlier around Horse Guards.  Our guide told us that every day at 4 they do a parade.  This started because Queen Victoria found one of the guards drunk on duty so as punishment for 100 years they had to parade.  Well the 100 years were completed 15 years ago but they still do it for tradition.

And following Horse Guards we ended up right next to Scotland Yard.  As we talked about the scenes shot here some police officers on horse back came in.  Very cool.  Some scenes were shot around this corner in the seventh Harry Potter film.  

Not too far off was the head quarters of the Order of the Phoenix   Who knew that it would be this very strange and awkward stand alone building in the middle of London.  I suppose it fits for this magical building that sits unseen between two buildings. 

Our last stop were two streets that connect together to create Diagon Alley and Knockcturn Alley.  They shot scenes for both alleys in the film at the alley JK saw as Knockturn. The Diagon Alley that JK Rowling wanted them to use was a bit too open so they created a set that would meet her idea and the directors.  But the layout of the two streets in the film mimic how they are set up in London.

I really enjoyed the Muggle tour.  Lots of good stops and Harry Potter trivia.  Plus it was nice having a tour guide that did other London tours for extra knowledge.

After the tour I walked around town which was right off the Trafalgar square area.  I strolled around for a bit before deciding that I had to visit Buckingham palace.  

It was not far of a walk.  On a normal day you would be able to see it from the top of the Mall but there were still tons of setups for the Olympics.  It was interesting to see how everything was set up, all of the signs around, fences, Olympic branded walkways and security.  From the mall I walked down to the palace.  The place is huge not that's a surprise.  There is a huge open area behind the gates.  

Tons of people were around the gates taking photos as I did the same.  I didn't see the Queen, not surprisingly.  I think she is in a different castle since this one is partially open during the summer for tourists.

From the palace I walked through Green park.  It sits right next to Buckingham Palace and has a very ornate gate.  You can walk around to the inside of the park on either side so I'm not sure why it is there.  But it is pretty none the less.

I hopped onto to the tube after walking a bit too much to walk around even more at the British Museum.  

Wow what a place that is.  I spent three hours looking around at everything.  Its a huge place with history from around the world.  

They have a massive collection of Egyptian artifacts included mummies, sarcophagi,  huge stone idols and even animal mummies.  They also have pieces from the Parthenon.

  The British museum is also home to the Rosetta stone.  The place is huge with so many exhibits.  I spent about 3 hours inside and to describe everything that is there would take me even longer to write. 

 I would go back there any day to explore the exhibits that I just breezed by.

After walking almost the entire British Museum I decided to get a good view of the Parliament building and Big Ben.  It was overcast that day so the pictures were not as pretty as they could be but. I started off across the Thames to get the view from the other side but I came out from the underground a bit too far away for that iconic photo but my legs were already to tired to walk closer to it as it would have been about 2-3 bridges over.  I found another food market that was open and found my dinner there.  Because when I think England I think French crepes with nutella and bananas.  

It was an excellent on the go treat while I walked across the bridge to get photos of the riversides.  But little did I know that the pedestrian bridge was split in two by a train line so you could only see one side of the river and I was on the wrong side from Big Ben.  Shoot.  Well I walked across.  Walked down the stairs and back up the other side.  It was worth it.  I walked halfway down the bridge to shoot some more photos.  So many photos!  

Finally I decided to call it quits after being on my feet all day.  Not that I regretted it one bit.   Once I got back to the hotel I looked my London Pass guide to figure out how to attack the next two days.  I wasted some money on the underground by not grouping things together so I could only get better at traveling around the city after having 1 1/2 days under my belt.

Day 14 Adventures through Wales

Our next days adventure and the second to last on the tour took us from Llangollen to Cardiff, both in Wales.  Wales is truly one of the most beautiful areas I have ever visited.  It reminds me of if Oregon and Colorado were combined with sheep.  

Green hillsides, steep climbs, rivers and streams and quaint little towns everywhere.  On our way to Cardiff we stopped at the tallest and longest Aqueduct in the UK.  The water way was only about 5 feet across with a 3 foot walkway on one side.  These days you can hire a little boat for a day though the transportation waterway is Wales. 

Our morning and early afternoon was a lot of driving.  We again drove thought beautiful scenery. We drove along side or through a Welsh national park.  If I were driving I would probably stop every 10 minutes or so to take a better look at what was around me.  A very nice thing about the bus tour is that you don't have to worry about how you get there, where you stay and your daily timelines.  If I ever get the chance to come back in he future I will know better where to stop again, what to skip and where to base a trip around the area that I would like to see.

We arrived at Cardiff at 2 pm after another long day of driving.  Our hotel happened to be in the center of town next to all attraction.  Around town was a beautiful university, bell tower, large shopping area and a castle.  Another country and state capital down.

I met in the lobby 3 other people who wanted to go to the castle.  Yes another castle.  We walked along a park wall with stone animal sentries.  They were really cool but they had crazy eyes!

We started by grabbing the included audio guide and watched the most horrible introduction video of all time It was pretty much laugh put loud bad.  Past the video we were free to explore.  This castle had a fantastic keep in the center of a large green surrounded by a barrier wall.  Within the barrier wall there were tunnels that where used more recently as shelters during the air raids of WWII.  Those tunnels went along he emitted barrier wall.  Lots of distance to walk all of them but not a lot of space as they were very narrow.  

Most of the castle is a reconstruction from the late 1800s.  Along the wall there were red bricks that divided the original remains of the Roman castle and wall from the reconstruction done.  The Grand Marquis Butte and the following Marquis took it upon themselves to build it again but not without making themselves a very posh living space.  The living spaces were redone in an over the top Victorian living spaces.  They must have spend hundreds of thousand pound in the 1880 to create these spaces.  Ornate details from bible passages, specifically themed rooms, a library with busts of authors and an out of this world staircase. 

The keep at in the center of the green on an earthen mound.  To get to the top of the keep it took about 90 steps of very narrow staircases.  Castles in the UK and Ireland seemed to have been very keen on very narrow circular staircases with tiny steps.  I suppose when you think about it the people who built them 700+ years ago may have been a bit smaller than we are today.  Well needless to say I climes to the top to he rewarded with a pretty good view of the city.  My calves are in really awesome shape after all the climbing around that I have done.

After exploring the castle ground for almost 2 hours I headed out into Cardiff.  There is a huge shopping area right across from the castle so I went in for a bit to explore.  I found an Americana candy shop that had Tab soda, which I haven't seen in forever and tons of candy I'd never seen before.  I guess I don't know what candy is in America I guess. I also found a teacup that I really liked with the classic Alice in Wonderland style of art but the handle looked a little flimsy for traveling so I didn't purchase it.  That's what Amazon is for.

Shopping was not really what I wanted to do at that moment so I wondered to the Cardiff University area.  They have a large clock tower on a main building so it was easy to get to.  I ended up finding the national museum there but only had about 15 minutes to explore as they were going to close soon.  I found some weaponry from Welsh past, took an illegal picture and off I went to the shop.  I was hoping to find a reusable bag from Wales with the flag or a dragon on it but no such luck.

From the museum I walked around the campus to find a small rose and statue garden.  Again lots of tributes to those who were lost during WWI along with the other more recent conflicts.  I still cant get over the amount of statues and memorials in the cities and even the small towns.  I guess I need to enjoy KCs statues a bit more.

I then found a park that went along the outside of the castle, enjoyed a quick walk, took pictures from the outside of the castle and found my way back to our hotel.  But I wad determined to fin some little trinket to take back with me so I abet back to a little tourist shop.  I met the girls that I explored the castle with and one pointed out my name on a magnet.  That was he first time I have ever seen my name on anything that we did not have to get specially made.  Score! and purchased.

We had our final group dinner not to far from our hotel at a gastro pub.  I had fried calamari, which was ok, and a Mediterranean pizza which wasn't as good as other ones I've had in the States.

After the who group went to a bar nearby.  It was a Vodka bar so I only got one drink which was very weak and not that good.  Well I didn't feel like sticking around for too long so back to the hotel I went to get a good nights sleep for a very busy last day of the tour.