Monday, May 18th - We only had one day to see London so we decided to take the Hop-On-Hop-Off City Tour Bus. The small roads through the city were quite congested. We could have walked much faster than the bus was traveling.
The different sections of London were once individual villages which grew so large they merged into a very large city.
As we rode passed many places of historical significance, I marveled at how many things in our lives that have sprung from England: many movies, Peter Pan, the Beattles, Paddington Bear, to name just a few. Even Mozart wrote his first symphony here. We passed the Marlybone Church where Robert Browning & Elizabeth Barrett were married before running away to Italy.
Kensington Palace, former home of Princess Diana, now is the home of William and Kate, and around it are some of the most expensive homes in London.
Kensington Gardens includes a memorial to Prince Albert, The Round Pond, The Long Water (a small river), and the Diana Memorial Playground which includes this pirate ship. It is a free playground but closely monitored because so many people come. Only children up to the age of 12, accompanied by an adult, are admitted.
The Peter Pan Statue.
Notting Hill really does have the longest outdoors street market, just like we've seen in the movie.
Oxford Street has the best shopping in town including the 2nd largest department store, Selfridges, which is the name of a BBC series, which I've enjoyed watching. Mr. Selfridge originated many of the practices in department stores today.
Oxford Circus so named because "circus" means circle or roundabout.
Soho is famous for "late night" London. The name came from an old hunting call.
Haymarket Street was an old German street where hay and straw were sold.
Trafalgar Square is the main gathering place on New Years Eve because there is a clear view of Big Ben.
Included on our City Tour was a boat tour headed to the Tower of London. There are lots of
The London Eye: Not like the usual ferris wheel, each of the 35 cars holds 25 people and it goes around v e r y slowly. Sunset was recommended as the best time to ride it.
The height of the river is measured by the lions' heads carved into the side of the river. It is said that "if the lions are drinking, London is sinking."
The tall building, called "The Shard" was designed by an Italian who was given the top floor . It costs 30 lb to go to the top for the view. The design of the roundish building was inspired by the Globe Shakespeare Theatre, which is nearby.
The Tower Bridge is beautiful even in the rain. It is not to be mistaken for the London Bridge which now lives in Arizona.
Nearing our goal: the Tower of London.
The men whose jobs are on the river are called "watermen," and must hold a license to work the River Thames. They must serve an apprenticeship and usually have come from generations of watermen.
The Tower of London was built in 1066 as a protective fortress when William of Normandy conquered England. With almost 1000 years of history, it has seen many battles, royalty, and executions, all the while continuing to increase its size.
This is the White Tower.
Wild animals were kept here to amuse royalty and their visitors and included snakes, monkeys, lions, even a polar bear. One king was presented with an elephant as a gift, but no one knew how to care for it properly. By 1830 there were nearly 300 animals in the menagerie and it was decided to give most of them to what is now London's zoo.
Though they look fierce, they are only made from wire!
No one knows when ravens arrived at the Tower. Legend says that Charles II ordered them to be killed but someone told him that if the birds went, the Tower and the kingdom would fall. So ravens have been kept at the Tower ever since, with their wings clipped so the can't fly away. A "Ravenmaster" looks after them.
Now the Tower houses the Crown Jewels (no photography allowed). The armory displays many weapons and pieces of armor actually worn by royalty in battle.
The Tower of London is probably best known for all of the dastardly deeds that occurred there. Because it was such a strong building, prisoners were kept there from the beginning Some prisoners carved their names or messages into the stone walls of their cells.
It was a place of execution...many of them. Because of the awful ways people were executed, beheading was actually thought of as an easy death!
Ann Boleyn, Henry VIII's 2nd wife, is one of the more well-known individuals to have met her demise here (1536). This picture shows the location of most of the executions.
The Yeoman Warders (called Beefeaters) and their families live on the premises. Wearing the distinctive uniforms, they give the informative and entertaining tours as only one of their many duties.
I love their uniforms!
Hooray! The weather cleared up!
Ken's new toy (Selfie Stick) came in mighty handy!
As you can see from the time shown on Big Ben, it was too late to see anything else so we rode the City Tour bus back to our hotel. Dinner was at Nando's, a combination of Portuguese/Brazilian/African food...Yum
It is said that "when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life."
This was my 2nd visit to England and Ken's first. My first trip, in February 1998, was with our sons, Marty & Marc and our friend, Geri Christensen. We first went to France to visit Geri's daughter, Anna (now married to a great Englishman, Steven Lord) who was working there as an au pair. We covered a lot of ground with Anna as our tour guide and had a wonderful time!!!
No, we are definitely not tired of London yet!
We'll be coming back.
The next morning we took to the skies to get back to Frankfurt, about 1/3 of the cost of taking the train. Good decision because there is yet another train strike in Germany now.
We decided to take a taxi to the airport, a good thing because we were told that taking the underground at this time of day would be like sardines in a tin. Even so, it was slow-going. Out of 5 airports in London, we had to pick the one which was clear across town. Who knew?
It takes 3-4 years to prepare to take the exam to become a taxi driver in London, the most extensive testing of any city anywhere!
Our driver was a very nice man from the former Yugoslavia who told us that in London you need 18 eyes around you. He spent the whole time talking about how he is trying to teach his children good values. We gave him a Pass-Along Card and suggested he look up the website because it could help him in teaching his family.
Taxi drivers are great to talk to about the Church...they are a captive audience!
PS.
Popcorn is my favorite treat, but it looks like I've been missing out on the "Proper" kind!
PSS.
I'm sure the popcorn was not meant to be a joke, but this next picture was (I think). We saw it on a train.
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