There is one final day left in our fun-filled trip and it was the day we went to London! Unfortunately for you, we have perfected the selfies by now and there are plenty here. Matthew has been to London several times with work and he really wanted to go show me the sites. Honestly, I think he really just wanted a Pasty - said with the 'a' like 'pat', but I kept either saying the 'a' like 'ate' or patsy to tease him. They are like this stew in a pastry kinds of meal thing you get at the train stations. Well... anyway...
It was the wee hours of the morning and we had to get up to be at the train station at 5:45 for our train that departed at 6:15. We were taking the Chunnel! Under the ocean we go! Sorry, no windows in the Chunnel for our deep sea diving people, it would be dark anyway! But that's the first thing people have asked. We took a taxi to the station and ended up a bit early. Shocker! When we did finally get going the train ride was about two hours.
When we arrived in London we walked across the street to King's Crossing. Sound familiar? King's Crossing, platform 9 3/4? To Londoners it's just a train station, to the rest of the world it's a must see! The entrance to a world of wonder, Harry Potter style! There is a store there, which was... awesome. All things Harry Potter, things you have never seen, amazing things. Wands, tickets, magic, awesomeness. We decided at this point to get Michael, one of the biggest Harry Potter fans we know, a house tie, which house was the question. Matthew said Slytherin and it was up for discussion. Everyone wants Griffindor right? So we acted all nonchalant and sent Michael a text hoping he didn't know we were in London. Then we went on our way. (We had no idea what went into the house decision but it was an involved process.)
We had a tour of Parliament all set up and we needed to be there and ready. We took a taxi to drop us off in the general area and I admit, I was totally taken aback! Big Ben's tower was HUGE, and Parliament was HUGE and what a cool building. I was really in awe. It was more than I expecting (not knowing much about England to start with...) The sound of the bell ringing. Amazing. It was also VERY touristy there! A lot of foreigners!
Parliament was amazing! The history was very cool and it was great to do the tour and hear all the bits of information the guide had to offer. From the sounds of it, the government over there seems like it really knows what it's doing. But... I guess learning how the government sounds like HERE makes it sound like WE know what we are doing too. And clearly... there are flaws. And Matthew assures me they have their own flaws too. Learning about Parliament, customs and traditions was great. I never *got* History when I was in school. I viewed it as a bunch of memorization and it was HARD for me... but maybe I would like it now.
After that we walked around a bit and went to the Churchill War Room. Pretty awesome to see what life during the war was like. Scary! Crazy! There is a new Churchill Museum with information about Churchill and his life and there is and electronic information table there that was fascinating. Search Churchill Museum Interactive Table, there are YouTube videos people! It was this huge long table with fils folders running down it on screens on each side. (By long I mean like... 25 feet x 4 feet). The folders were calendar dates, in order, and you could navigate to them, open them, read what happened on that date, look at photographs, make the photos larger. On certain dates, like Churchill's death, or when the Titanic sank, the table would come alive and animations would take over whatever people were looking at (meanwhile, only you knew why the animation was happening.) For the Titanic the table looked like it was reflecting off pools of water, the sound filled the room. For the first WWII bombing there was a procession of airplanes that flew along the length of the table with the sounds of a flyover. You could spend HOURS looking at it and reading all of the information, and you wanted to! Oh you wanted to! But you only had one day in London to see all you could see so you couldn't. Amazing. It was more interesting than I expected (come on... war rooms? A girl who hated history?), so glad I went.
After that we went for lunch and I had probably the best meal of my trip which everyone thinks is hilarious since Englanders aren't actually known for being decent cooks. I had a stew with a dumpling and mashed potatoes. It was so good! Yum!
After this we headed over to Westminster. We needed to be there by three so we could be first in line for the Evensong service. Matthew had attended it before with one of our friends from work and was really looking forward to it and experiencing it with me. We got a seat in the very back, the wooden benches. And there we were. It was fun, hearing those men and boys sing... but I prefer unscripted church services better. I was kind of bored (sorry! I know! Terrible!) But you can't even rest! It's up and down and on your knees and singing, and up and down and no. No. No. Boring. They sang from the Book of Psalms and I just personally am not sure the Psalms are supposed to be just belted out like that unless the intention is to bore people. The songs, amazing... singing from the bible... not so much. Long. Sorry! I prefer the "you never know what might pop out of someone's mouth on the pulpit" kind of church. I like the good and bad of it.
Once that was over we weren't sure what would still be open, the London Tower? We didn't know and just opted to walk around by the river. There was a street festival going on and it was crowded! The items being peddled were much like any other fair anywhere in the world. Same old crafty stuff for the most part. We walked by a skate park, the people watching was fun. We picked up a gift or two and just had fun with the crowds.
We decided to head back to the train station to get a, now officially decided, Slytherin tie for Michael and get Matthew the freaking patsy he had all day been talking about not having gotten that morning. It was good... not exactly crave-worthy but it was fine enough and a fine dinner. Our train left around 8 maybe? and with the time change got us back to the hotel around 11:30 or so. What a big day! Lots of cold. It was cold in London, far more cold than Paris. Kind of the biting, nippy cold. Lots of walking. Seeing things taking it all in. Fun.
And that was the end - I was to go home the following day. I was excited to see my kids though, more excited to see them than they were to see me. Isn't that how it always goes?
He is pointing the "William Wallace stood here" plaque. He was very excited about this, maybe it's a guy thing...
No cameras allowed - I am a rule breaker. This was my seat during Evensong.
The London Eye - The line was HUGE and I find Ferris Wheels as boring as scripted church anyway.
1 comment:
You and your husband take the best selfies :) Glad you guys enjoyed your trip!
Post a Comment