While the girls and I were in Paris, Dan was in Saint Andrews, Scotland, golfing with Sean, Mike and John. Somewhere back in time on this blog I have already posted a bunch of pictures of Saint Andrews.
Sean teeing off at the Old Course.
The day we left Paris, Dan also left Scotland. We met up in London! Another hour and half ride to our Airbnb and we were ready to begin the next leg of our trip. Our flat was at Canary Wharf, close to a subway station, just like in Paris. We relaxed the rest of the day and ate a nice dinner at the restaurant in our condo building.
Our rental is the third one from the top.
Day 2: We were up and out of the rental early and hopped on the On and Off Bus to tour London. The first place we decided to get off at was Harrods. Unfortunately, it didn't open until 11:30! It was Sunday, after all. We walked around the corner and ran into the most delightful little bakery/cafe.
We never saw a spread like this in Paris!
We all ordered a little something, or a lot of something as in Mia's full English breakfast.
By the time we left the cafe it was opening time at Harrods, for which you must wait in line! We picked out some chocolates and went to pay for them. But no, it's browsing time. Sales don't start until noon! Very clever, by noon we had several other purchases ready.
It was early afternoon by the time we left Harrods and we went a few more stops on the bus tour, though we did not get off.
Paddington Station
Crooked, leaning house
Houses specifically built for painters with large windows to let light in
Time was running out to get to our Jack the Ripper tour on the other side of London, scheduled for 2:00. Even though this tour was part of the bus tour, we never would have made it in time if we stayed on the bus. So we hopped off the bus and on to the subway and made it just in time for our three and half hour walking tour. Unfortunately, it was advertised as 90 minutes! Needless to say, we were wiped out for that day after the tour.
This wall divided the East End and West End of London back in the late 1800's. The East End is where the poor lived. All of Jack the Ripper's victims were poor. Most were not prostitutes as believed, but women trying to make a living in various ways, laundresses, cleaning women, etc. Because they were out late at night, they were reported to be prostitutes.
Day 3: We were up very very early for what turned out to be an 18 hour day! We had to get to the main bus station by 7:30. We found our bus and headed for Windsor Castle, an hour away.
Windsor castle had a distinctly different style than Versailles. We learned that a palace is a home and a castle is a fortress that can also be a home. There were no pictures allowed inside as it is still a working castle for the royal family.
After the castle, we hopped back on the bus and headed to Stonehenge, about an hour and half away. We passed several of these little dungeons on the way, holding cells for people to be executed.
Stonehenge looks exactly like the pictures. You must stay behind the ropes. Every once in awhile they let some people in to walk around but it's hard to get an invite. Our tour guide on the bus got to go last year. BTW, he was the best tour guide we'd ever had!
We didn't stay long at Stonehenge before we headed to the Roman city of Bath. On the way we passed many very old thatched roof homes.
The city of Bath was truly ancient with very narrow streets.
We took an audio tour of the Roman bath house. This one was was less germ infested than most of them because it was built on, and fed by, the natural spring waters.
You can still drink from the springs. I was shocked Mia chose to do so.
I wasn't shocked she chose ice cream afterward.
Anna chose a giant bun. 😂
On our three and half hour drive back to London we saw some beautiful scenery. Stopping by the grocery store to pick up dinner, we got back to our rental exactly 18 hours after we woke up, exhausted.
Day 4: Today was an easy going day. We took the subway to check out a few sites I wanted to check off before we left London, namely Big Ben. It ended up being a bonus site as I did not realize it was connected to Westminster Abbey.
We also made a stop at Trafalgar Square. Love the subway systems in Paris and London!
We spent the majority of the day resting and doing laundry. We headed out later to have dinner at an Italian restaurant and then see SIX! Anna had been asking to see this musical for awhile. I can't think of better place to see it than on the West End!
Six was the perfect show for two female teenagers. It showed how far we have come as women, what it was like to be a woman in the dark ages and how we must be supportive of one another!
Day 5: Harry Potter! I must admit I'm not a huge fan but I'm so glad we made this tour. The tour takes you through many original sets in the building where all seven of the movies were made. The logistics were truly fascinating.
We learned many many facts about the making of the movies. One interesting one was that they used real flames in the beginning but they burned through the filament wires and candles would come crashing down to the ground all around the actors.
We also learned that they used 400 school children from the local schools as extras. Many of these kids were in every movie.
The same actor played all four of these characters.
The model of Hogwarts is huge! It has its own room.
I have over a hundred pictures from this tour but just chose a few to put up here.
We made the most of our five days in London! Everyone but me liked the much cooler weather in London than Paris!
No comments:
Post a Comment