London

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Rajesh found the best deal to London in British Airways. Air + hotel for $400 a person. It was an offer we couldn’t resist and with kids out of the way in India, we decided to go for it. We both are normally non-touristy people, hate hopping on and off tourist attractions. But London was an exception. London is a great city and definitely a place to see all the important landmarks of history. We stayed at the Hilton London Kensington, close to the Kensington Palace that was home to Princess Diana and Prince Charles. The tube in London is a very convenient way to travel all over London, so we bought some travel passes and made full use of the tube.

The first thing we did was to visit Windsor Castle highly recommended by Valentina. Windsor Castle is located in Windsor, in the English county of Berkshire. We took the train from London to Windsor. It is the largest inhabited castle in the world and, dating back to the time of William the Conqueror, is the oldest in continuous occupation. It is one of the principal official residences of the British monarch. Queen Elizabeth II spends many weekends of the year at the castle, using it for both state and private entertaining. We toured through the grand apartments; seeing the various exhibits and walked through the beautiful gardens. I loved the doll collection and doll houses in one of the princesses apartments. Rajesh spotted a cricket pitch and was itching to play there. We roamed around the village of Windsor and lunched in a village pub watching Scottish men dressed in Scottish skirts perform on their instruments. Windsor was absolutely charming!

That evening we decided to visit Harrods, the world-famous department store in Knightsbridge. We marveled at the luxury of the interior and the expensive merchandise and services offered in the store. Rajesh insisted I buy something, but I literally fainted seeing the price tags. Harrod’s is the Queen’s official greengrocer and their grocery department was huge with every possible food product and meat. We roamed around the store and Rajesh just couldn’t convince me to buy anything.

The next day we decided to sight see inside London. So after breakfast, we set out to Westminster Abbey, England's main religious place. Originally built in the 7th Century, its real importance dates from 1065 with Edward the Confessor setting up his throne here. We went on a guided tour of the Abbey and it was really interesting to learn all the ancient facts. Every monarch since William the Conqueror has been crowned in the Abbey. The Abbey contains some 600 monuments and wall tablets. 300 people are actually buried in the church and its cloisters. As well as the tombs of kings and queens, and important military memorials, the Abbey has been for several centuries the place where the nation commemorates those who have achieved greatness in many different walks of life, including literature, science, music, religion and politics. What a great piece of history!

The Tower of London is one of the world's most famous and spectacular fortresses. In its time it has been a royal palace, a fortress, a prison, an armory, a treasury and an astronomical observatory. The Tower's greatest attraction - the Crown Jewels are housed in the White Tower. Some of the world's most precious jewels are set into swords, robes, and of course crowns. The Imperial State Crown is still used today by the Queen of England for ceremonial occasions. We walked round and round the jewels and Rajesh said that most of them were stolen from India and wondered how to take some back. He even said that to the guard and I was scared if he would be arrested, but the guard just laughed.

The Beefeaters gave us a tour of the Tower of London. The various ravens in the courtyards gave us an eerie feeling because the Tower's history is associated with legendary figures imprisoned and executed there. The Green Tower has the scaffolding where some private executions and hangings took place. Three of them were queens of England: Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, wives of Henry VIII, and Lady Jane Grey - condemned on the orders of her cousin Mary I. The gate exiting out directly to the river is known as 'Traitors' Gate' because of the number of prisoners accused of treason who are supposed to have passed through it.

The Bloody Tower was where some of the Tower's most famous prisoners were housed. St Thomas's Tower, the Wakefield Tower and the Lanthorn Tower lay at the heart of the medieval royal lodgings at the Tower of London. Today they are known collectively as the 'Medieval Palace' and contain exhibitions and reconstructed interiors that give a sense of life in royal residential rooms in the 13th and 14th centuries. I was utterly amazed at the Tower of London which reeked of history and I’ve never heard anything so bloody and eerie as I heard from the Beefeaters that day.

Madame Tussaud’s wax museum was much spoken about, so we headed there. I had read that other wax museums imitate, but none match the original in London. Celebrities and the famous have modeled for Madame Tussaud's, we spotted the latest pop/film stars as well as political figures; Indian personalities like Gandhi, Amitabh Bachan and Aishwarya Rai too. At the end of the tour, we found ourselves in the Chamber of Horrors, where brutal, vicious and bloodthirsty serial killers and scary people confuse, disorientate and totally terrify visitors. I clung to Rajesh and screamed my lungs out, then closed my eyes till we made the exit. Such a scaredy cat I am!

Oxford Street is London’s busiest and most famous shopping area. We walked into Selfridges, BHS, Mothercare, Marks & Spencers and many other small shops and boutiques. Rajesh bought some chocolates, food and wine in Marks & Spencer’s. I bought a flashy copper colored jacket in one of the boutiques. We rode in London's famous red double-decker bus and it was an awesome experience. Sitting on the top deck, we could peep into the windows of some of London’s luxury homes. We passed the Marble Arch, Annabel’s, the prestigious nightclub in London where you have to be invited to visit; Prince Charles’ shoe-maker and many other quirky expensive and important places that the rich and famous frequent.

Each day, late into the night, we would walk the length and breadth of Piccadilly circus, which is the area for ultimate London night life. Rajesh made really crazy remarks about the British that made me laugh uncontrollably. We walked through Soho and saw all the prostitutes. My mouth opened wide at 2 desis who came out of a brothel with such an unforgettable expression on their face that is hard for me to ever forget. We wandered into China town and ate dinner at an aromatic Chinese restaurant, people watching and enjoying the delicious meal. The Chinese food in London was more like Indian-chinese.

We loved walking on Tower Bridge, grasping the sights and sounds of London. Tower Bridge is one of London's main thoroughfares for crossing the river and has a medieval appearance to complement the Tower of London. Only when commercial need arises, the bridge raises itself to let the carriers pass by. The walkways above the River Thames give good views up the river including landmarks like St Paul's Cathedral. We took an excellent picture of the two of us by the bridge.

Whitehall is lined with government offices, including 10 Downing Street. We hoped to glimpse at Tony Blair, but that didn’t happen. I was thrilled to see Big Ben, the international icon of London. Big Ben is an integral part of the Houses of Parliament - the seat of UK government. The light above Big Ben is illuminated when Parliament is sitting. We ate dinner at an Indian restaurant, decided to try out one in London. Food was actually good when compared to Albany’s Indian restaurants. But service was so bad. When Rajesh asked for a non-smoking seat, the waiter looked at us as though we were aliens. There are no such seats in the UK apparently. A lesson learnt!

Trafalgar Square is the best known square in London and it honors one of England's heroes, Nelson. The square is dominated by Nelson's column. At the base are a set of giant Lion statues. Other lesser statues are dotted around the rather barren, paved square. The square is a centre for political demonstrations that still regularly occur today. It also is the main point in London for new year celebrations and is the image transmitted around the world of London celebrating a new year in, like Times Square in NY. We saw swarms of pigeons and lots of tourists posing for photographs.

Lot of souvenir shops and pubs lined the square. We ate a bland lunch at an English pub. After lunch we walked around the corner of Trafalgar Square past The Mall which is a long, straight and wide boulevard that connects Trafalgar Square with Buckingham Palace through St James Park. We passed the Admiralty Arch, a grand imposing Arch built as a memorial to Queen Victoria. Today it houses government apartments and offices. We walked past the Buckingham Palace, didn’t go on a tour as it was closed. I thought of mom and dad touring through London, in the 80s and watching the Changing of the guards in Buckingham Palace. I thought of my grandfather who would visit London when he was a student in Bolton to watch Shakespeare’s plays. We once passed the Crystal Palace on one of our double-decker rides, the replica of which he built our Crystal house in Coimbatore.

All tourists headed up to the London Eye. But somehow it did not interest us. So we took the cruise down Thames river. It was a memorable one and it covered all the famous landmarks and sights of London. Rajesh felt that he definitely should buy me something from London. So he approached a couple of college girls in the tube and enquired casually where they shop. They asked us to try out Prime Mall. So we went in search of Prime Mall only to find out it was actually Primark. Damn the British accent! Everything was cheap in the store, but Rajesh didn’t let me buy clothes; he thought they looked dirty; so I picked a couple of trendy bags.

London was fun and we were sad that our wonderful vacation was over. I wondered when we would visit next!

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