From London with Love

• Joanandjames's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Emmeloord

Trip Start Dec 26, 2010 Previous
Entry Trip End Dec 15, 2011 Next
Entry

  Emmeloord, Flevoland, Netherlands
Friday, September 30, 2011

And we did love London.  We spend 5 days there doing as much "touristy" stuff as we could!  We bought something called a "London Pass" that allows you "free" access to many of the big attractions. We spent one morning exploring Covent Garden (no garden but a busy market area) and Piccadilly Circus (no Circus-we were beginning to smell a plot!) We had to move from the tour hotel to our slightly less poss digs for the next few nights but it was in a very convenient area very close to the busy Earl Court tube station and the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Natural Science Museum., both of which we visited. The next morning we had to look for a Rail Europe Office to book our tickets on the Eurostar train to Brussels and then we went to the theatre to buy tickets for another show called "War Horse".  Once again, we were offered concession tickets and got great seats that would normally cost 85 pounds each for 25.00 pounds each.  The next day we were up early and our first stop was the Tower of London.  We arrived just as a guided tour offered by the Yeoman Wardens that was very entertaining and informative.  The crown jewels are stored there and we got a close up look at some of the most expensive jewels in the world.  The Tower also has a bloody history of torture and execution and we saw some of that as well.  There is a a resident colony of ravens and the story goes that if the ravens ever leave the Tower then the tower will fall,  so they keep them caged now just in case.  From the Tower we went to the Tower Bridge and had a tour of that.  I didn't realize that it was a drawbridge and the next day  we saw it opening to let a big paddle boat through.  From the Tower Bridge we walked along the south bank to London Bridge, the one that according to the old nursery rhyme, is always falling down.  The most recent bridge isn't very picturesque, unlike it's neighbour down the river. We toured something called the London Bridge Experience, which was a combination of hokey and freak show and then checked out something called the "Britain at War" experience that had lots of displays and information on what is was like to live in London during the war.  They used the underground as bomb shelters with bunks lining the tube stations,  That night, we went to the show in the West End called "War Horse".  We first heard about it earlier this year when we were watching some of the Tony awards from Broadway and it was cleaning up.  The show features many amazing "puppet" horses that are animated by puppeteers right on stage. They were so life like you soon forgot they weren't real. 

The next day we went back to Buckingham palace along with thousands of other tourists to watch the changing of the guard,  The weather in London has been spectacular and it was nice to sit in the sun and watch all the interesting crowd.  The Guard arrived and did their thing, all very formal and military like.  I couldn't help but wonder how many poor bears gave their lives for those big furry hats. After the formal ceremony, the band played a few pop songs, including the theme to James' Bond's Goldfinger!
We walked from there to Westminster Abbey and took a guided audio tour of that as well. Many famous writers are buried there in an area that is known as Poet's Corner. The throne used for coronations  is displayed there, but it is currently undergoing conservation, perhaps they suspect that it's going to be needed soon? 

We went for "afternoon tea" at a nearby restaurant.  Afternoon tea for two consists of a plate of sandwiches, scones with jam and clotted  cream and an assortment of desserts along with tea or coffee, for 10 pounds, so that seemed like a pretty good deal. After this little break we wondered down to the Thames and took a River Cruise that was very relaxing and entertaining. Our London Pass included free entrance to one of several movie theatres so we checked our map and started to walk to the closest one. As we approached the the theatre there was a small mob of paparazzi and autograph seekers, and they aren't there to see us. We had inadvertently stumbled on a London premier of a movie called  Melancholia" starring Kirsten Dunst and John Hurt. Both stars were outside the theatre working the crown and posing for the photographers so that was kind of fun to watch. Needless to say we weren't able to get tickets so we kept walking and went to Harrods and had a quick look around and grabbed something from the food hall to take back to our hotel for supper. The next morning we were up early to catch the Euro star high speed train from London to Brussels. From Brussels we headed to the Netherlands where we are tonight, visiting a friend from Halifax, Lori Duin and her husband Robert, and their lovely little son Casper.  Today Lori took us for a wonderful tour of this area known as the Noordoostpolder, or North East Polder.  The word Polder refers to the land reclaimed by the dykes. We went through some beautiful and picturesque towns along the canals and waterways, through beautiful farmland, and even hired a small boat for an hour and James captained Lori and I through beautiful canals with  wonderful old homes with thatched roofs. Tonight Lori's in-laws joined us and we BBQ'ed and ate outside. The weather has been unseasonably warm, it was up to 29 degrees today.  

This morning James and I are going to take the train to Amsterdam for the day and then on Sunday, Lori is taking us to the town of Nijmegan where my father was posted during the war. 

Slideshow Share

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

Jelly Bean Shrek	Our version of Abbey Road	Pretty London Alley Way	The M&M Changing of the Guard!   Comments!
Entrance to the Victoria and Albert Museum   Comments!	Our Yoeman Warden Guide at the Tower of London	Entrance to the Tower of London	Torture this way...   Comments!
Tower Menagarie	The Rack at the Tower	Suits of Armour   Comments!	The Engine Room of the Tower Bridge
Looking out on the Thames from London Bridge	The changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace   Comments!	Those poor bears.....   Comments!	The London Eye...   Comments!
Tower bridge closed....	And 90 seconds later, open for a boat	John Hurt signing autographs at his Movie Premier	Hey Aaron, a whole showroom full of Ferrari's   Comments!
Harrods at night	Memorial to Diana and Dodi at Harrods	Our Harrods purchase, dinner for two!	Lori, Casper and me
A wedding at	A traditional dutch lunch !   Comments!	Canal at Gifthoorn	Captain James on the canal
A weddiing party on the canal	On our canal boat   Comments!	The canals of Giethoorn	BBQ at Lori and Roberts

Previous Entry Next Entry