Tag: London

After a late night last night, we took it easy this morning. Around noon we left the hotel and headed to the National Gallery. Along the way we walked down Denmark Street which is the setting for the Cormoran Strike books, one of my favorite series.

The National Gallery has a wonderful collection.

Outside the museum, in Trafalgar Square, there were pro Ukrainian and pro Russian demonstration going on. Duke voiced his opinion.

From the National gallery we walked down Whitehall towards parliament while listening to the Rick Steves Westminster audio tour

We had a tour of the Houses of Parliament scheduled for 3:30. It was a 90 minute tour and it was wonderful. We saw both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The guide walked us through a history of how democracy developed in the UK, how it all works and where things happen. We were not allowed to take pictures most place inside the building. But picture taking was allowed inside Westminster Hall where the Queen laid in state and where speeches from visiting heads of state are given.

The walk back to our hotel was cold. So it was nice to listen to jazz in the bar, eat in the hotel restaurant, and not have to bundle up and go out again.

The British Museum is stunning and overwhelming. It’s impossible to see everything but we did explore and see a lot today.

The museum has displays of several hoards, or collections of treasures, buried for safekeeping and forgotten. I have always loved the idea of how exciting it must be to discover a hoard.

For dinner we went to a restaurant my sister, Betsy recommended. Rules is supposed to be the oldest restaurant in London. We shared the roast rib of beef for two with Yorkshire pudding. For desert we had an English classic, sticky toffee pudding. We could only get a reservation for 10pm. So by the time we walked the .9 miles back to our hotel, it was after midnight. Given how full I am, the walk in the cold was a good thing!

I’ve visited London several times over the years. In fact I graduated from an American High School in London, London Central High School. But, before today I had never been to Greenwich.

This morning we had a chilly but enjoyable walk from our hotel near the British Museum to the boat docks on the Thames by Westminster.

We took a Thames tourist boat down to Greenwich.

We briefly visited the Maritime Museum

Then we toured St Alfege Church. We learned lots of interesting tidbits. Alfege was Archbishop of Canterbury. He was killed by marauding Danes who were camped in Greenwich in 1012. The church was built where he was killed. It is believed that Henry VIII was baptized there. During the Blitz in 1941 over 1000 bombs and incendiary devices were dropped on Greenwich. Two of them went through the roof and badly damaged the church.

We also get to visit the crypt. When the bombs hit the church there were more than 100 people sheltering in the crypt. It was so strong that no one was hurt.

We took the bus back from Greenwich. The 188 bus route ended right around the corner from our hotel.

For dinner we went to a nearby pub, The Swan. We had fish and chips and steak and ale pie. It was so much fun to be in a London pub!! I especially liked the mushy peas and mint..

After more than 24 long hours of travel we made it to our hotel in London. Tuesday morning we drove from Reno to Walnut Creek where we left our car. Allison gave us a ride to BART and we rode BART to San Francisco airport.

Our flight from San Francisco to Copenhagen was long and uneventful. The plane was only about a third full.

We spent a couple of hours in the SAS lounge in Copenhagen.

And then flew to London. The immigration check in London was 100% automated. I put my passport into the slot, looked into the camera, and the gate opened. We got our bags and caught the Tube into central London. The weather was cold but pleasant as we walked to our hotel.

It was about 10pm when we got to our room. It felt absolutely heavenly to get into a real bed and sleep!!