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Published: September 8th 2011
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August 30th - September 2nd -- London
Took the train from Bath to London. In London we boarded a train on the Underground and arrived at the station near our hotel. The Sheraton Park Lane Hotel is a five minute walk across Green Park to Buckingham Palace. We dropped off our luggage and went on a tour of the palace. David’s camera and pack were taken away prior to the tour as photos are not allowed in the palace. It saved his back, but he didn’t seem to appreciate this. (David’s comment: Took part of my soul away..., it was troublesome...).
There is so much to write about for this part of our journey, but I want to make this brief. Some of places we saw were the Tower of London, The Tower Bridge, St. Paul’s Cathedral (my favorite!), Hampton Court Palace (the boys thought Henry the VIII “owned”!), the Wellington Arch and Westminster Cathedral.
So many unique and wonderful sights and sounds; London is a feast for all the senses. The food (one of my other favorite topics) was incredible! We tried a number of different cuisines including Greek, Persian and Italian -- red wine goes great with
all of them!
The architecture (although less tasty) is just as varied as the food. Looking over the city from the Tower Bridge, one can see stone buildings, like the Tower of London built in the 12th century, St. Paul’s Cathedral built in the 16th century, and Butler’s Warf built in the early 19th century, along with new buildings of glass and steel, like the pickle-shaped Gherkin, the armadillo-shaped City Hall, and the still-under-construction, Shard.
Other than a boat trip down the Thames, we used the Underground for our transportation. For someone whose only experience with trains has been the C-Train, this was like entering a whole new world. Indeed, I’m convinced there are some people who live in this world and rarely see the light of day! You can get all your needs met down in this labyrinth -- buy your food, get your clothes cleaned, and even get your shoes re-soled. Learning how to use the ticket machines and escalators took some getting used to. Like driving, everyone stands on the opposite side of the escalators than we do at home. I would have loved the photo of all seven of us standing on the wrong
Canada Gate at Buckingham Palace
This is a huge gate that sits in front of a park. I don't think it really opens -- just for show. side of the escalator. Or even better, the look on our faces when David decided we were on the wrong train and quickly exited with Matthew leaving Curtis and I behind the sliding door! Thankfully, David and Matthew used their wilderness training and stayed where they were while some kind people helped Curtis and I navigate our way back to them -- looking helpless does have it's advantages.
David’s photos will tell the rest of our story in London -- he took hundreds. Stay tuned as it may be as many years before he posts them .... (He has over 900 photos of the wedding before these are processed!)
Matthew, Curtis and Josh returned home to Canada on September 3rd. David and I headed for Scotland and Terri and Ted went their own way for a few days. Kinda felt like the end of a fellowship.
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