Three Days in London and the Trip Home

Our first day in London almost began with disaster as at 8:55am we realized the breakfast ended at 9.  As we raced downstairs, the breakfast guy was quite abrupt with us and offered us toast and cereal and coffee.  We apologized, ate hurriedly and left.  The rest of the day was quite fine.  We took the tube to Picadilly Circus (which we thought was a market, but was actually a square a bit like Times Square in New York).  Since there wasn't much to see, we began to walk toward Hyde Park.  Along the way we happened upon Watermarks bookstore (the largest in the world) and spent some time browsing the titles.  We also found a flyer for a Wallace and Gromit exhibit nearby.  We checked it out, but the drawings were all around £150 to buy.  We also came across a little market in a church yard.  We ate lunch in Hyde's Park and took a tour of the Wellington Arch.  We also went through Apsley House, the Manor House of the Duke of Wellington.  It was pretty neat to see all of the paraphernalia given as gifts to the Duke by various Kings, Tzars, Dukes and other friends.  The Duke was made famous in the battle of Waterloo where his soldiers defeated Napoleon.  There is a giant statue of Napoleon at the base of the spiral staircase.  Apparently, Napoleon rejected it , saying it was too athletic - done in the Greco-Roman style.

From here we walked over the Buckingham Palace, the Parliament Buildings and Westminster Abbey.  The abbey was closed for the day but we took pictures of the rest.  On our way to the Parliament Buildings we stopped in at the Winston Churchill and War Times Rooms Museum.  This place was great.  It was the actual headquarters for him and his administrators and generals during the second World War.  Nearly everything was left just as it was after the war was over, and if it was altered - it was recreated for the exhibit.  It was interesting to learn about Churchill, his life, and the war effort in England.  It was a different feeling, being in a city that had been indiscriminately bombed and feared invasion at any moment by the Nazis.  Hearing snippets of his speeches to Parliament and the people was pretty fantastic too.

After Parliament we took a walk down by the Thames, passed the London Eye.  We grabbed a quick bite at the docks and some tea and began the walk home.  As we wandered, we ended up in Trafalgar Square.  This was a beautiful square that has the National Gallery, Nelson's Memorial, fountains and other statues and sculptures. 

We caught the Tube not far from here and after we had got some snacks (and some to spare - since Keith was still recovering from the hunt in Paris) we headed home.

 

Our second day in London was a Saturday - market day - so we headed to Camden Market.  It was awesome.  Huge and sprawling this market area was our highlight in London.  There was so much to look at and so many people, strange smells, cramped stalls that it really was sensation overload.  After a bit of shopping we were looking for a bank machine (or cash point) and we came across a hemp store.  Isaiah has fallen asleep so we must have spent over an hour in this store, trying things on and debating with ourselves.  It was cheap and the clothes were well-made and sweatshop free.  We pretty much bought new wardrobes here - but it was so fun!  We actually had to buy a new backpack to carry it home.  We even bough Isaiah a little hemp shirt and pants (not that he knew or cared).

We ate lunch at a Chinese restaurant and found shelter as it had started to rain a bit.  As we moved on and picked up a few more things it became apparent that I was not going to find any place to change Isaiah's smelly diaper and we both could use a break from carrying the bags - so we opted to stop at home for a few minutes.  Isaiah loved this since he got out of his stroller for a few minutes, some food and got a fresh nappy.  We loved it because we got to unload our burdens and rest our feet.

We took the tube down to London Bridge and walked across to the London Tower.  We had planned on seeing it, but the ticket lady told us that we only had an hour and twenty minutes left to see it and they recommended two to three hours.  These tickets were pretty expensive and we really wanted to see the whole tower, so we opted to eat some fish and chips and wait until the following day for the Tower.  After our dinner we walked over the St. Paul's Cathedral, took some family photos in the drizzle, walked passed the Tate Modern Museum, the Millenium Bridge, Blackfriers bridge, and another statue of Queen Victoria  before we went home.

The next morning was Sunday, and although Westminster was closed to visitors, it was open to worshippers so we attended Matins.  Much of the service was sung by the choir but there was a brief sermon that was great, as you would expect.  Unfortunately, Isaiah was very tired but not at all willing to sleep during the service and although Keith and I switched off walking and holding him, it was Keith who got stuck outside with Izer, trying to keep him from eating centuries-old dirt in the courtyard and missed much of the service.  He was pretty disappointed.  Although we couldn't take pictures, we did see the memorials of Shakespeare, Jane Austin, the Bronte sisters, Charles Dickens, Handel, Shelley, Keats, and many others.

From here we caught the tour boat at Westminster Pier and headed down river to the Tower.  The captain of the boat gave us an informative if un-official guided tour of the sights from the river.  He was clever and funny and made it a great ride.

At the tower we got our lunch as Subway (yes Mom, I ate veggies from time to time) and entered the Tower of London.  We picked up bits and pieces from the guided tours given by the Beefeaters going by and spent a couple of hours going in and out of the buildings, learning about who had lived there, where and how they tortured prisoners, who had been beheaded (how many strokes it took), and so forth. We caught a drama being acted out about the Duke of Monmouth.  It was really well done - although grotesque at times (the axeman describing why it took 5 strokes and still he had to use his butcher's knife to finish the job). 

I think my favourite part was learning where Lady Jane Gray had been kept, and Anne Boleyn as well.  The engravings in Beauchamp tower were amazing to see as well.  Here, prisoners had carved their names, crests, art, poetry, stories into the walls of their cells.  It was haunting.  So was the Chapel Royal.  Here, the bodies of Anne Boleyn, Jane Gray, Catherine Howard and over 2000 others were found under the floor in 1876.  In front of Chapel Royal was Scaffold Green.  Here, the private executions were performed.  The others were done on Tower Hill a little ways from the Tower itself.  There was a little garden and plaque commemorating the spot. 

People killed on Tower Hill had their heads taken to London Bridge and rammed on a spike as a public display of what happens to traitors. Their bodies were carried back to Chapel Royal and buried beneath the church. People beheaded inside the tower on Scaffold green were buried, body and head, in the chapel.  The place really was filled with sad and tragic deaths.  I was surprised to learn that Mary Queen of Scots was never kept in the Tower, but remained as far from London as possible.  She was tried and executed at Fotheringhay Castle.

We finished here just before the warning bell sounded the closing of the gates.  The Beefeaters live and work in the Tower, which we thought was pretty neat.

We ate fish and chips for dinner again and then walked to All Hallows Church (the oldest church in England).  We also walked passed the memorial on Tower Green on our way to catch the Tube home.  We had quite a bit of miracle packing to do before bed to get everything to Canada.  I am pleased to say that we were successful!  We had to leave some diapers and wipes behind but that's about it!

The following morning our cabbie was right on time and we arrived at Paddington in plenty of time to catch the Heathrow Connect back to the airport.  The only sticky business was getting our oyster cards cashed in (these were what we used to pay for the subways - you got your unused money back).  Once we had succeeded with that at Heathrow we quickly checked-in and were freed from our many bags. 

The flight was interesting since it was an afternoon flight.  Isaiah slept a fair bit, but was a bit wild the rest of the time!  Fortunately there were a tonne of babies on board so he wasn't the only fussy one.  It was a relief to know we didn't have to sleep on the plane as we did on the way there. 

Praise the Lord, all of our luggage made it back to Canada we well.  Meredith was waiting for us when we finally made it through customs and out into the Canadian air.  We got most of our unpacking done when we got home last night and I started the laundry - ugh.  Isaiah went to bed at 5:30 - which was about 10:30 to him.  Keith and I followed at 8:00.  I'm glad we didn't try to flip back to our time zone by staying up late last night because I got up with Isaiah today at 4am.  I actually felt quite refreshed J

 

And so ends our epic adventure in Europe.  Here are a few final remarks: Firstly, we almost never had sheets on our bed.  Just a bottom sheet and a comforter.  We thought that was weird.  Second, I never saw another woman breasfeeding her baby. No once.  I also thought this was odd.  Third, we had two cloudy/rainy days in England.  And finally, UK toilets are weird.