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Published: November 16th 2013
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Proof We Made it to London
with Tower Bridge in the background. We are in London for the next six months – what will we do with our time? According to our fellow cruisers the choices of free activities include museum, lunch time concerts, lectures, festivals and guided tours is amazing. Of course once you add activities that charge a reasonable price the list becomes staggering.
Way back when we first came up with the idea of staying in London for the winter we had contacted the OCC port officers Gus and Helen, Americans who have been in London for 5 winters. Before we arrived we had been told that there was a Ukrainian festival going on the day after we arrived. With our love of festivals we headed over there with 2 other couples on Saturday, the day after we arrived. We listened to some traditional music, watched some fencing going on, saw numerous handicrafts such as woodcarving, embroidery, pottery and many more. It is obvious there is a large population of Ukrainians living in London based on the number of people attending and the amount of Ukrainian we heard being spoken. After wandering around for some time we were invited by Gus and Helen to go out for dinner at
A View From Across the Thames
looking toward the Tower of London. a local pub. They gave us a guided tour of this area and took us to see a wonderful kinetic sculpture in the Hays Center. The Hayes Center used to be a dock for clipper ships and is now a shopping and residential area. We ended up walking to the pub for a great meal while sitting overlooking the Thames. Bob had fish and chips and a pint of bitters. What better way to start our visit to the UK. A nice first full day in London.
The weather was so pleasant we wandered around St. Katharines Dock in the evening getting ourselves oriented and seeing the lights of the City. Everywhere we look we find well-known landmarks, the Tower of London, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Big Ben, the London Eye (looks like an over-sized ferris wheel), Tower Bridge and many others. We have found many of the new buildings have also been named (or at least have nicknames) such as the Shard (it really is a good description once you see it), the Gherkin (the Pickle), the Wedge, and we can’t leave out the Walkie Talkie. The Walkie Talkie, between the shape of the building and the cranes on
St. Paul's Cathedral
is an impressive structure and we look forward to seeing the inside some day. the top it really looks like a walkie-talkie, once they finish it, they really should leave those cranes there!! Once you hear the names you can easily figure out which buildings they are referring to.
Our birthday week we decided to celebrate by getting tickets to see Madame Butterfly at the London Coliseum. Even though we have seen this before, this was an excellent production with fabulous voices and set with an unusual use of puppets in the production.
When walking to the Visitor’s Center it took us close to St. Paul’s Cathedral which is an impressive structure indeed. Other landmarks we have walked by are the Monument to commemorate the Great Fire of London (1666), All Soul’s Church, Sir Francis Drake’s ship, and numerous other sites. We found ourselves making turns down streets only to find the Golden Hinde (a reproduction of Sir Francis Drake’s ship ) is located there or another turn led us past the Winchester Palace where we learn more from the excellent signboards located at these noteworthy sites. We have started using the tube (subway) system and have picked up discount tickets for the train which make it quite affordable. With the help
The Millenium Footbridge
for crossing the Thames down near St. Paul. of our friends at the marina we have become quite comfortable with central London. Each day we find ourselves stepping into a new area and discovering new amazing parts of this incredible city.
Another festival that occurred is Diwali, the Indian Festival of Light. When we were in Trinidad two years ago we enjoyed this festival so we had to go. In London it was held at Trafalgar Square which was a new part of town we hadn’t made it to. We had a nice walk there along the Thames River with new cruising friends (Peter & Wendy) that we have met since arriving here. Once we got there and saw the size of the crowd we split up and tried to find a spot to stand and listen to the music. The crowd was overwhelming, but it was fun listening to the music, watch the dancing, smelling the food being sold and people watching. While here we walked around the area and found that St. Martin’s in the Field is located near here. Bob has numerous recordings of music performed in this church and we can't wait for the opportunity to attend one of the performances.
In
The Millenium Footbridge
has quite the lighting at night. talking to other cruising friends, Ed and Sue, Bob found out that the Apple Stores in town offer excellent free courses on Apple software or hardware. Bob has taken advantage of a couple of these already and will definitely take more in the future. Hopefully with a better understanding of iMovie he will start to edit many of the videos we have taken and be able to share some of them in the blog. While waiting for him one afternoon, Janice took a wander around the Oxford/Regents Street area and took in an art gallery and visited the All Soul’s Church. No matter where you are, you can find something to see and do.
When we first arrived here we were very concerned about having the boat moored in the center of the city with tall buildings blocking out the sun. Well, after only the first two weeks we are very glad we came even though it is true that the basin we are in is hidden from the sun – oh well, you take the good with the bad.
We had signed up to do house/pet sitting with the intention of using that as a way to
An Excellent Replica
of the Globe Theatre which still puts on productions here. see other parts of the UK. Fortunately we have arrange to go to Malvern Links (about a 3 ½ hour train ride from London) to take care of a dog for a few days. Janice has researched this area as well as been given tips from the homeowners of things to do while in that area – next installment will give you a rundown of what we see there.
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