Trip to Europe- May19th-May31st 2006
May 19th -20th 2006
Leave for Hartsfield-Jackson airport in Atlanta. Check our bags, and when heading to security gate realize the singer James Brown is just 3 feet in front of us when we heard that classic “I feel good!” . We wave to him as he is escorted to a private area. He smiles and waves back. Great way to start our trip!
The plane flight is uneventful until we get over the English Channel and have to circle around Paris until weather clears enough to land.
Finally do land, and get off plane and into shuttle bus. Have vouchers for shuttle to hotel. After a bit of a mixup about which terminal to wait for the shuttle, it finally arrives. Sit next to two talkative Americans from Texas. The shuttle driver drives like he is doing an audition for a chase scene in the movie “The French Connection.”
Arrive at the Hotel Des Batignolles. It is not quite what we expected. J It is definitely immersed in the local community. Most American hotels tend to be away from regular neighborhoods. We are right in the heart of everyday Paris. Bonus: an award-winning bakery is right across the street. Cannot check in until 2:00! But it is only 11:00 AM. Rats! Leave bags head to downtown Paris to look for places to redeem our tourist vouchers, get lost. Have to dodge the rain a few times as it starts and stops.
Get back to hotel and check in. Our room on 4th floor, no elevator. I take the big bags up while Cheryl waits. Quite a process manhandling those bags up the stairs. It is humid and I am tired. Hotel room. The walls are paper thin! The bathroom doesn’t have much space to put our toiletries. The TV is mounted from the ceiling like in a hospital room. It is tiny and doesn’t work very well. No bureaus or real closets, either, but can actually open a window. Not sealed shut like modern hotel rooms.
Change clothes for dinner at Eiffel Tower and cruise on River Seine. We go to Tuileries Metro Station to the tourist office. We board a bus to the Eiffel Tower! Fantastic! We go to the first level to a really great restaurant. Afterwards we go around the tower to soak in the sights and take pictures. Then we head down to where our guide had asked us to meet to board the boat for the river cruise. I am so tired I keep nodding off and Cheryl keeps poking me to tell me I am missing the sites. But she is taking pictures. J “Look, there’s Notre Dame!” “Look, there’s the Louvre!” I wake up periodically and say, “I see it”. LOL
May 21st
Leave for our "Fat Bike Tire" bike tour of Palace of Versailles. (Cheryl note: In both Paris and London, there’s very little, if any, need to rent a car. Subway system, trains and buses go most anywhere one would want to go. The Paris Metro was clean and efficient, and used heavily. Saw lots of tiny “Smart cars” and motor scooters being used by the locals. Not a pickup truck to be seen.)
River, our guide, is a young white American with very long dreadlocks. Quite the free spirit. Has traveled all over and is a latter day hippie. An American in Paris. I say to Cheryl, "I hope this isn’t going to be the Tour de France." We're assured the bike ride is designed for everyone, even beginners or out-of-practice cyclers. We're definitely in the latter category. We ride the bikes to train station, board the train to Versailles. Ride into town from train station. River says we need to buy our lunches at the outdoor market or the shops right around it. Now this is living! We have to struggle a little bit in the shop we enter in ordering sandwiches. (Note from Cheryl: my four years of French in high school have faded quite a bit in the last 30+ years.) We are not quite sure what we are ordering. But when the proprietor says "jambon" and makes a motion like he is spreading something on bread we think he means mayonnaise and say yes. Jambon turns out to be ham so we order two ham sandwiches. (Cheryl: The irony is that Scott, one of our companions on the bike tour wanted to order a ham sandwich, and I could only come up with the word for “pig.”) LOL Discover Pain Aux Raisin at the same place. Its literal translation of “raisin bread” doesn’t begin to describe how good (and addictive) it is! As we head back to the meeting spot for all the bicyclers, we buy fresh-made crepes at a little stand. The proprietor, like many others at places we go today, knows River by name. He's quite the character.
We set off on our bikes for a tour of the palace grounds. We start at Marie Antoinette’s cottage on the property, a sanctuary for her to get away from prying eyes at the palace. We then head around the man made lake, “the Grand Canal” in the shape of a cross. We go to the far end which faces the palace for a picnic. River tells us it is 6 miles all the way around. As a consequence not many tourists ever get out there. It is a perfect day. We lie in the grass just 30 feet from the lake and have our picnic. Cheryl takes pictures of several white swans along the shore. There is an American couple from Florida not far from us. I lie there and look up at the sky and say, “Look at that French sky. Is it any different than an American sky? Yes, it is much bluer”. This prompts a conversation on the environment with the Floridians lying near us. We don’t like the sprawl happening in America and all the SUV’s running around. Plus there is no smog in Paris or later in London. But that is another world.
We finish lunch, with Scott proclaiming his “pig sandwich” to be very tasty, and head towards the palace. We run into a strong headwind which makes it hard to pedal, and then a hill that just about kills us. I leave poor Cheryl behind. She is struggling with the camera bag. I had volunteered to keep it. I should have insisted. I thought she was right behind me. So much for a tour designed for every level of cyclist. We persevere, and go inside the palace for our tour. Get audio guides for that. The Hall of Mirrors is only half available due to a restoration taking place. After viewing all the riches of Louis XIV's day, we bike back to the train station and take the train back to Paris. We ride our bikes back to the bike shop through the streets of Paris. Nice to see the city this way. Turn our bikes in and give a tip to River. Cheryl buys a Fat Bike Tour T-Shirt, and has River sign the sleeve.
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Rain again! It starts pouring rain as we leave. So glad it was considerate enough to wait till after the biking adventure, though. We duck into a French café-restaurant for dinner.
May 22nd.
7:00 AM appointment for motor coach for guided tour to Normandy Beach.
Stop at mini mart. They are much better than the American kind. When entering the men’s room a young woman is in there cleaning. She pays no notice to the men around her as she goes about her business. I forgot what it was like in Europe. J
Really like the French countryside. It's so green! Love the white cows we see everywhere. Take pictures of highways signs for posterity. J
Stop at Pegasus Bridge, and the first house liberated in France. It's now the Pegasus Bridge Cafe. Very cold and windy day.
Stop at Utah and Omaha beaches. The first beach we stop at still has remnants of the artificial harbors used that day. The second beach, Omaha, is huge. Can see the remains of German bunkers on the hilltops above homes overlooking the ocean.
Stop at American Military Cemetery where there are over 9,000 crosses. Cheryl gets mad because when I sign the guest book, I neglect to put her name down as other couples did. Sorry. (Cheryl’s note… I was tired, wet, cold, and obviously crabby)
Wind and rain!!!
May 23rd
On this day we have nothing on the schedule until the evening. So we go to the Arc De Triomphe. The first time I was there back in 1987 I had no idea you could walk to the top. We do that this time and have a magnificent view of the city.
Stroll down Champs Elysees and see a McDonald’s mingled in with the expensive shops like Cartier. Take a picture next to a McDonald’s French menu. Go to Eiffel Tower, too windy so the top level is closed, again. We take pictures, on our way to the tower, of the tunnel where Princess Diana died. Go to Napoleon’s Tomb at Les Invalides. See his actual jacket and hat and other personal effects. The grounds include a working veterans’ hospital.
Head to Notre Dame Cathedral. It is still a working church. I buy a tribute candle but burn myself when trying to light it. LOL. Next stop is Sacre Couer de Montmartre. Not far from our hotel. Amazing white marble, high on a hill. We’d seen it earlier in the distance from the top of the Arc de Triomphe.
Dinner at a French gourmet restaurant, Le Boeuf sur le Toit, where Robert DeNiro is known to eat. There's a little dog sitting with a couple at one table. We joke that his owner must be a very important man to be allowed to bring their small dog in. Maybe he is a mafia kingpin. Do they have those in France? J (Cheryl: apparently! The waiters were all crowded around their table, bringing gourmet tidbits for the dog!)
May 24th
Try Eiffel Tower again, no dice! Yet another windy, wet adventure.
Louvre!! See the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo and tons of other things. All the walking around the huge grounds is very tiring for Cheryl. But oh, the art we see. It is overwhelming, as is the size of the Louvre. After much turning around we make it to Napoleon III’s apartments. The modern addition to the Louvre, the Pyramids, is in stark contrast to the medieval architecture. Can see why many Parisians consider it a scar on the face of Paris.
Later we walk through Tuileries Garden and take pictures and videos of a mother duck with her 9 babies in the pool of a large fountain where little kids are sailing toy boats. Next to Tuileries, we go to Place de La Concorde where over 1,300 people were beheaded.
We then go to Pere Lachaise Cemetery where Jim Morrison is buried. Also see graves of Richard Wright, Sarah Bernhardt and Isadora Duncan. Richard Wright’s remains are in a wall with hundreds of others. He was cremated and placed in a mausoleum. He was a great black American writer. I don’t know how I feel with him there like that. He left America due to the racism of his day.
We're on our way to find the grave of Oscar Wilde, as I have a former co-worker who is a huge fan, when a French policeman shows up on a scooter and shouts "Fermez! Fermez!" I say I don't understand and he says "Sortie! Sortie!" Still I don’t understand. He seems to think that shouting the same words louder and louder will help. Apparently he was right. Cheryl finally says, "Closed?" And he barks "Closed! Closed!" The cemetery is closing in just 15 minutes and we have to go. We're not 30 feet from our goal but have to leave. We are forced to exit on the other side of the cemetery from where we entered. Somehow we avoid getting lost and make our way to the nearest Metro station. on to Moulin Rouge to take pictures at night. Fantastic!
Back at the hotel, there's a loud couple upstairs from us. Hear everything. Cheryl makes a funny comment after about 20 minutes of this: “Oh now he is just showing off”. LOL. (Cheryl: Note to self; next time bring earplugs!)
Click here to see some photos taken during our visit to France
May 25th
Leave for London a little reluctantly because we loved Paris, but are looking forward to England, too. We won’t have to struggle with a language barrier anymore. Not much anyway.
Go to the front desk to check out. Ask attendant to call taxi. He does and we wait out front of hotel. And wait, and wait some more. His boss shows up and tells us the taxi drivers won’t come. Dash through the streets trailing bags to flag down a taxi. First one to stop is a brand new Mercedes taxi but he won’t take luggage for some reason we cannot fathom. Finally flag down a taxi. He takes us to the train station and the fare is 6 Euros but I give him 10; we are so grateful to make it.
Gare du Nord train station. The British customs official berates us for not filling out some form. He says we don’t like to listen. I say we're sorry and Americans do listen. I guess something in what I say strikes him as he lets us go through. Board high speed train and go under the Chunnel. Comfortable, fast, but the view leaves a lot to be desired. Ha ha. .
Arrive London. Just as I see the sign for London, the line from Rolling Stones song plays on my iPod: “in sleepy London town there’s just no place for a Street Fighting Man”. Ah London, capital of the British Empire, land of the Beatles and the Stones.
We arrive at Marylebone, a massive train station. Make way to Underground. Or the "tube" if you prefer. Whatever we call it, w get on wrong line. We are on the Circle Line and not the District Line. Get off and get on correct line and finally get to Earl’s Court. A nice British official helps us to a lift when we arrive. Our hotel is just around the corner. My Place Hotel.
This hotel has us on the 6th floor and we are praying there is an elevator or lift. Our prayers are answered. J
Much better room here than in Paris. Roomier and the bathroom has space for our stuff. We actually have a dresser to put clothes in! TV is better too but doesn’t get many channels. No cable. An antennae! Haven’t seen rabbit ears for years.
Leave bags and head to St. John’s Wood, home of the Beatles studio at Abbey Road.
Take pictures of crosswalk. Cheryl remarks: “That’s it?!” LOL I think she was expecting something grander. But it is still a thrill to be outside the place where so much great music was made. We add a message to the many others on the stone fence. I show her the gate, now locked, that I walked through the last time I was there in 1986. She takes pictures of me crossing Abbey Road like a true Beatle.
Go to Paul McCartney’s house at 7 Cavendish Avenue just a little ways from the studio. His is the only house without a number on the gate. Probably ripped off by souvenir-hunting fans. There are two cars parked outside with men in suits in them. Are they waiting for someone or are they security? We take pictures and head back to the Tube.
Go to Baker Street to visit Sherlock Holmes’ house. Of course Holmes never actually existed so this is made up, but it is at Baker Street at the correct address. An old man acting as Holmes himself seems a bit too much into his role, but enjoying himself. Cheryl takes a picture of me wearing Sherlock’s hat and “smoking” his pipe. When I was there before it was an insurance company. Stop at a shop that sells Beatles merchandise. I am wearing a Rolling Stones T-Shirt bought at a concert in America we went to last year. The shop proprietor says, “That shirt is brilliant!” J
Next, to Buckingham Palace. We follow someone who came out of Palace and is being interviewed by the media and posing for pictures with some British people. We have no idea who he is. J He’s accompanied by a well-dressed woman with a big feather sticking up from the back of her head.
On to St. James’ Park. What a great place! And the size of the trees. They do value green space here. Wish we did back home. See some amazing birds in the wildlife sanctuary. Some we have never seen before. Go to Downing Street; Big Ben and Parliament. Cross the Thames and try to get on the London Eye. Too late. Plan to come back some other time but we don’t.
May26th
Go back to Buckingham Palace to see changing of the guard. Hard to see. We wait quite a while, and unknowingly leave a perfect spot for photographing the guards on horseback and a band, who pass right in front of where we'd been standing.
Have lunch at a pub. Cheryl doesn’t like her BLT sandwich. I like their bacon. She says it's undercooked (note from Cheryl… IT WAS ALMOST RAW!!!) . I don't think so.
Next stop is Trafalgar Square. Lord Nelson’s statue is unfortunately covered in scaffolding. In preparation for the 2012 Olympic games in London, many landmarks are being renovated and have scaffolding around them during our visit. Go to Tower of London. Didn’t realize how much stuff is in there! We should have chosen another day as we have to hurry due to the dinner and tickets for the show tonight. Oh well. We get to see Henry the VIII’s armor with a 54 inch chest. We also see the crown jewels and an amazing assortment of ancient firearms.
Before the show we have dinner at Christopher’s at 18 Wellington Street. We thought we had prepaid for a 3 course meal but it was only two. We order three courses and that is what they bring us without comment. When we try to leave, the most proper English waiter reminds us of the matter of the bill. We get that straightened out and I give him a proper tip. J On to the show! We have tickets to a show in the West End Theatre district. Theatre Royal Drury Lane to see “The Producers”. Wonderful show in a great old theatre. Sit next to two wonderful British women who were originally from London but now both live in Cornwall. I tell them we love their accents and they laugh. But they say they don’t like to hear the accents their kids have picked up living in Cornwall as they sound like farmers. They demonstrate by saying words like grass. Very funny. They explain why theatre is so hot. It's so old that it is protected by law. It cannot be air-conditioned as it may ruin the historic design of the building. This is the same reason many of the tube stations have no lifts. Wonder what will happen when tourists flock here in even greater numbers for the 2012 Olympics.
After the show, we head to Picadilly Circus. I don’t tell Cheryl where we are going or why. We come out of the Underground station and ask Cheryl to turn around. She does, and is met with the bright nighttime lights of Picadilly Circus. We take some pictures and stroll around for awhile. It's Friday night so a lot of young people are out heading to clubs.
May 27th
Get up early to head to Victoria Coach Station, down the street from Victoria Station which is both a Tube station and National Rail terminal. Very confusing. Anyway we catch a coach for an all day tour of Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral.
We meet an American woman, Jenny, on the tour with her two daughters. They are from the same state Cheryl is from, Maine. Not only that but they live just an hour from her home town and one of the girls takes gymnastics lessons where Cheryl’s family lives. We hang out with them for most of the tour. Very nice people and though we get pictures of them and they of us we neglect to get their last names or any contact information. Another great group of people we should have found a way to keep in touch with. Jenny tells us a story of how Piccadilly Circus got its name. Back more than 100 years ago English gentlemen would go to that part of London looking for women to hire for the night. The women were nicknamed Dills. So the expression pick a “dill” was born. Hence, Piccadilly! I don’t know how true this is but it is a nice story.
So on to Windsor Castle. Very nice part of Britain. We get to see what it is like to travel on a British highway. Experiencing driving on the other side of the street is interesting. We have to get used to looking the other way when crossing the street. J While on the bus I notice they pass on the right in Britain while we pass on the left. And of course the steering wheel is on the other side. The first few times we saw a car coming down the street we thought no one was driving it. J Windsor Castle is the largest occupied castle in the world. The Queen isn’t in residence while we visit. But it's fascinating to see, and the surrounding countryside is absolutely beautiful. We get to see the gravesite of Henry VIII. I can’t believe that.
We're shown where the fire stated in Windsor Castle in 1992. They had an ingenious but simple method of dealing with the damage to the wood floor. They simply pulled up the boards and turned them over. Voila! J Cheryl and I get a little lost heading back to the coach. But we find our way back in time. Some people are late, which makes our guide a little mad, or cross with them. J
Oh by the way , on the way out of London our guide had pointed out a flat we drove by that Sir Alfred Hitchcock once lived in. I was thrilled, as he is my favorite director of all time.
So we get to Stonehenge. Amazing! 5,000 years old and people are still debating who built them, why they built them and how they built them. It's raining, windy and cold . I have to keep shielding the camera with my rain jacket. The same blue and white jacket seen in most of the pictures of our trip. J
Back on the warm coach for the next stop, Salisbury Cathedral. Now not many people were excited about going here. We didn’t know much about it and wondered if they could have put in a trip to someplace more exciting instead, or eliminated a third stop to allow more time at Stonehenge. But once we get there I change my mind as do most other people. I had no idea there was an original copy, one of only a handful remaining, of the Magna Carta. Not only that but Runnymede Field, where it was presented to King John, is nearby. The Magna Carta was the first time in history that limits were placed on a head of state. The concept of limited power of a sovereign. This was worth a tour.. Salisbury Cathedral has the tallest spire in Britain. It is also one of the few medieval cathedrals done in one style.
Back to London. We neglect to get the last name and addresses of our American friends. L
We relax that night in our hotel and watch British TV. Definitely different than American TV. There's one show with two female police officers which is a comedy, I think. J They're in a stakeout in an old lady’s house watching a house across the street. Another show is very good. It has paramedics and doctors and nurses in it. The paramedics are taken hostage by some yobs trying to make a drug deal that goes very wrong.
May 28, 2006
A lifelong dream, at least since my teenage years, was to visit the birthplace of William Shakespeare the greatest dramatist, the greatest writer in the history of the English language if not of all languages and all time. We go to Earl’s Court Underground station to head to Marylebone Station to catch a Chiltern Railways train to Stratford-Upon-Avon, Shakespeare’s hometown. Very exciting. It will be a two hour 20 minute train ride. We leave at 8:40 AM. We see the English countryside so much better from the train than from the coach. The scenery is breathtaking. Like France, it is so green. Our guide from the day before had said the most valuable crop in Britain is grass. Grass to be fed to livestock mostly. I see so many inviting fields. I want to get off the train and go out there and sit under one of those trees and wave at the trains as they rumble by. I take video of some of the scenes. I listen to English Rock and Folk musicians on the trip. Most of the music fits perfectly with the passing scenery. We arrive at the train station, consult our map and walk into town. We get to Shakespeare’s house. We buy tickets to get inside and soon there we are, standing in the room where William Shakespeare entered the world. Not a replica or a rebuilt place but the actual room. It is a little overwhelming really. This was someone you read about in books. But in this place he was born and raised, was nurtured here and probably yelled at here. J That great mind took root here. Cheryl and I lingered there for awhile. I am very glad that many people saw fit to make sure this house was preserved over the years. In America it probably would have been torn down and paved over for a parking lot. The area right around the house is a little touristy but not too much. There is a great bookstore right across the street from the house and we head there afterwards. Then it was off to a pub in town called the Garrick I believe. It is quite old and is next door to Harvard House which is where the mother of John Harvard, founder of Harvard University in America used to live.
We then walk to Holy Trinity Church, where Shakespeare is buried. This is right on the Avon River. Another awe-inspiring moment to stand over the great man’s bones inside the church. What went on in Stratford that inspired such greatness? You can tell this is a medieval church as it has graves all around it. A hallmark of medieval churches. We go for a walk along the Avon River. There are some people in small row boats on the river. Across the river is a large field where people are playing soccer, that is, football. J A funny scene on the river. A young British man, his wife and child are having a heck of a time with a rowboat. He can’t get the oars to work just right. The boat is drifting all over the place and many people are looking and offering advice from the shore. His poor wife looks mortified. Finally someone in a motorboat comes along and tows them back to shore. I get video of that. J Excitement over, it is off to Anne Hathaway’s cottage. She was William’s wife. This is the house she lived in before they were married. It is quite likely he courted her here. There is a coach to her cottage more than a mile away, but we decide to walk. There is a footpath to the place. It's quite a walk. Thank goodness the weather is perfect. One of the few times it's warm out. We get to escape from the tourists and go through some typical British neighborhoods. It is so quiet. We pass a big field where families are out with their kids on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Our footpath borders the field and a school. At the end of this field we come upon a small enclosure with a single horse. A magnificent looking animal. We get a few pictures of him. Then we come out in a neighborhood, and don't know which way to turn. Not 10 feet from us are a man and woman in their garden working. The man sees us, points and says,"that way." We all laugh. . I guess they see a lot of lost tourists and know exactly where we are going. The Brits are so polite. J We finally come upon the cottage with its wonderful thatched roof. The house was lived in by descendants of the original family for over 300 years before being purchased by the Shakespeare Trust.
We walk back to the Shakespeare bookstore. We get a couple of children’s books for kids back home and some other things, then on to an ice cream and chocolate shop. We eat our ice cream right in front of Shakespeare’s house! J Oh the bagpipe player. Earlier in the day there was a bagpipe player in front of Shakespeare’s home. He had a case on the ground and some people threw money in as they walked by. Well the proprietor of the bookstore had had enough of bagpipes and she marched over to him to ask him to move away as he was driving her crazy. He did not look amused. I like the bagpipes myself but many people don’t. Cheryl is one of them. But she wouldn’t have expected him to move and never would embarrass him like that! J
Back to the train station to head back to London. About 20 minutes from the city we stop somewhere and pick up a bunch of drunk, rowdy Irish football fans. They crowd onto what was a quiet car and brought mayhem, and several bottles of beer, with them. I can tell Cheryl is uncomfortable but I'm annoyed. Not the way to end a perfect day but that is okay. Back to our hotel and more British TV. J
May 29th.
Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral and Tower Bridge.
Westminster Abbey has been the scene of every coronation since 1066. Many famous people are buried here: Charles Darwin; Laurence Olivier; Sir Isaac Newton; David Livingstone and the poet Ben Johnson, who was buried standing up.
St. Paul’s Cathedral we visit next. Scene of so much history: the funeral of Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson, funeral of the Duke of Wellington, wedding of Prince Charles and Diana. The organ built in 1695 is still working. We hear it while there and it was once played by Mendelssohn. We climb to the top of the dome. Quite a climb, over 500 steps. The whispering gallery is very unique. You get to the top of the inner dome and you can just whisper and it can be heard clear around the other side of the dome by another person. A girl speaks to her friend on one side and the sound is carried around to us. It is like an invisible speaker is next to us. When we get up higher and outside near the very top, the height is a bit much for me. I don’t like heights much so I sit down most of the time out there while Cheryl is zipping around taking pictures like it's nothing. J
Tower Bridge is next. The elevator isn't working on the side we"re on, so another troop up some stairs. When we're in the passageway that connects the two towers we hear someone talking to a guide about a scheduled raising of the bridge to allow a boat through at 5:00 PM. That's only 15 minutes away! So we rush through and go outside to wait for the boat and take pictures. It's so windy and cold out there! The weather has changed again. We have a nice chat with the guard whose job it was to make sure people stay in the viewing area, and to assist in raising the bridge. Our wait isn't in vain as traffic is stopped, gates put in place, and the raising begins. Cheryl takes pictures and I take video. A very large sailing ship eases through. From beginning to end it all takes about 7 minutes. Traffic resumes as before. Excellent timing.
I think we're done for the day. We get something to eat and go back to the hotel. [This may have been the night we ate at an Italian restaurant near our hotel, next to the Earl’s Court station.] One thing we notice in the pubs of Britain. They do not take your orders at the table. The equivalent to pubs in America always do. Earlier we had gone to one pub where we had to sit upstairs and then I had to go back down, place the order and go back up with the drinks. No free refills on drinks either. J The good thing about being upstairs is that it was a RARE non-smoking area in a London pub. Or restaurant. Or store.
May 30th.
Our last full day in Great Britain. We go to Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, Charles Dickens Museum, London Bridge and the rebuilt Globe Theatre.
At Madame Tussaud’s I get my picture taken with The Beatles. J A a little disappointed in London Bridge, since the original was actually taken apart 35 years ago and shipped to Arizona, for some reason. Next, to the rebuilt Globe Theatre where Shakespeare put on his plays originally. The original burnt down centuries ago. This one was rebuilt on the same site with the same building materials used in that day with the same techniques. Unfortunately we get to Charles Dickens Museum 10 minutes before closing and no one else is being admitted. L But at least we get pictures of the outside.
We head to Hyde Park next. Another great park. We walk by the Princess Diana memorial while there. When heading out of the park towards the tube I spy The Royal Albert Hall to our right, down the street! What a fortunate circumstance! We go there and take pictures. A memorial to Prince Albert is across the street. I go to stand in front of the hall so Cheryl can take pictures of me, and some British guy keeps trying to sell me tickets for a David Gilmour (member of Pink Floyd) concert taking place later tonight. I tell him no very nicely and finally have to ask him to go away. J This is also the building that inspired the lyric in the Beatles’ song “A Day In The Life”, ...now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall… We head towards the Tube again in Knightsbridge and I see another building that looks familiar. Harrods! A woman is walking along the sidewalk carrying a Harrod's bag with Krispy Kreme donuts in it. Yes, we get to go to Harrods! We go inside and they actually have uniformed people to open the doors for you. We find the Krispy Kreme donut shop in there. We can’t believe it! From Georgia to London. Harrods is huge! Unbelievable what they have for sale in there. Back in 1963 or 1964 they closed Harrods for a day so the Beatles could go through and shop unmolested by their fans. Can you believe that? Earlier in our trip we had stopped at Marks and Spencer’s to buy Mr. Kipling’s Cherry Bakewells on the advice of a British friend. J Marks and Spencer cannot compete with Harrods. J We buy a half dozen Krispy Kremes, and a tin of cookies, or biscuits as a souvenir from Harrods and headed back to the hotel.
May 31st.
Check out of My Place hotel, and wrestle our luggage to Earl’s Court station. When we get to Victoria we find no lifts available. London is not a very kind city to those who are disabled. I have to carry the largest bags up the stairs while Cheryl waits below to watch the other bags. Lots of commuters rushing around us, and it's very stressful. We make it to our train to Gatwick Airport. Clear customs and board the plane for home. I am very depressed as I so thoroughly enjoyed myself. I think the people of Britain are wonderful. “This happy breed of men….this blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England”.
Click here to see some photos of England
I get sick about halfway back home on the plane. Probably picked up a bug. Sick for the next few days. But at least it didn’t happen while I was over there. That would not have been good. Can’t wait to go back.