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Published: January 25th 2012
I arrived in London on the 13th of January. After a 9 hour flight, it was great to see my sister, Sue and brother, Marty waiting for me at the condo we rented for the week. We had a quiet night. We had dinner at a local pub, The Ship and Whale, and then went to bed. The birthday celebrations were about to start and we needed our rest to keep up with one another.
We woke up on the 14th and I was greeted with cards and gifts from my siblings back home. Thanks to all for your messages. After breakfast we hit the streets of London to see what we could in one day.
We took the Tube to the Charing Cross Station. Our first stop was Trafalgar Square. We did a little people watching and then we went to The National Gallery. Not being "Museum People", we decided we would try our hand at some culture. The three of us walked in. Marty went one way. Sue and I went another. We walked through four rooms before I told Sue I had seen enough. She agreed and we looked at our watches. We had been in
there for a total of 7 minutes! We laughed and headed for the door where we waited for Marty.
After The National Gallery, we tried to redeem ourselves by going to The National Portrait Gallery. Again, with very little success. We saw people examining the paintings and photographs... They would step back from the work, hand to mouth, drumming their fingers on their lips, taking in what the artist was trying to convey in his/her work. We shrugged our shoulders and kept moving.
From there, we went into St. Martin In The Fields Church before walking The Mall to Buckingham Palace. On the way, we stopped by the Canada Gates as well as the Canadian War Memorial. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip were in residence, but they didn't come out to greet us... not even one lousy "Happy Birthday, Bob!"..... All I can say to that is, "Who needs them?"
After that, we walked through St. James Park and onto the Churchill War Rooms. This was a very cool place. It is all set up in the actual rooms that Churchill and his team worked out of during the war. It is very interactive so even the
average person (me) will enjoy it. I highly recommend it.... BUT, while we were there, I came across a couple touring the rooms who were getting hot and bothered with eachother. Maybe it was Churchill and his power, or maybe it was the darkened rooms, but this couple was making out like teenagers. I took pictures of them as my sister Sue died laughing at my behaviour.
It got so hot in the war rooms with that couple making out, that we walked the chilly streets towards Big Ben to cool down. Following that, we cross The Thames and walked along the South Bank and pass The London Eye before heading home. It was a great first day of the trip and a great brithday... if that day was any indication, this year is going to be amazing.
Thank you Sue and Marty for making my 50th so memorable.
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nerene and al
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A "platinum blonde" with a personality that illuminates London
I didn't want to give them your email address without your O.K. so Ralph Macchio, Meg Ryan, Scott Baio, George Clooney, Eddie Murphy, Tom Ford, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, James Gandolfini, Heather Locklear, Laurence Fishburne and Woody Harrelson are excited to tell you "Welcome to the Half Century Club, Bob, and Happy Birthday!"