There are a few major sites in London that we have so far failed to see on any of our visits. We made a list, and created a full three day weekend out of it.
We took the train out of Oxford Saturday morning of the MLK holiday weekend in January, arriving in Paddington Station. We dropped our luggage off at our hotel (I felt very bright for booking a hotel near the station) and caught the bus over to St. Paul's cathedral.
This was the first time we used the buses in London, we usually use the Underground. It was fine, but people are rowdier on the buses in the evening than they are in the Underground.
On the way, we drove down Fleet Street. Like, where Sweeney Todd lived? Mmmm, pies. :)
Outside St Paul's Cathedral
Scott and the girls on the steps of St Paul's - it's huge!
We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, more's the pity. It was beautiful inside, and we were surprised to learn that they have a whole American Memorial Chapel dedicated to the service members who gave their lives in World War II. We had a live tour guide, and he said they're not allowed to talk through that chapel, out of respect. We also saw some bombing damage to the cathedral, and some repairs that had to be made.
We did enjoy the Whispering Gallery as well, but we were still inside and not allowed to take photos. I found this one online. It's a huge dome, with a walkway and bench seating around the edges, and you can speak in a normal voice and be heard all the way on the other side. Pretty nifty! The stone walkway between the benches and the rail (over the rail you can see down into the main floor of the cathedral, yikes) is worn down into a U shape by people walking on it for centuries. That does not make it feel extra safe, to me. :)
So after climbing to the Whispering Gallery, we decided to go all the way up. Uff da. Here's a sketch of how many steps it takes (528). Talk about a quad workout!
These are some of the series of staircases up to the top. There were many, many, creepy, barely attached, metal staircases. There was a lady behind us who was freaked out too, but trying to join her group which had gone ahead of her. We coaxed each other through the fear, laughing at ourselves in our barely controlled panic.
Part of the problem is that you can see through the steps - my palms are sweating just looking at the picture. No joke. BTW, I love my cute green boots. :)
Scott and the girls in front of the Cathedral. The arrow points to the top gallery, which we climbed to. And as everyone said, the view really was worth it.
You can see the rail (sweaty palms!) the Thames and the London Eye in the background. Wow.
The Millennium Bridge and the Tate Modern Art Museum
There's the Globe Theater! Our next stop! So exciting I'm ready to get off this high platform now. Seriously, now. Before I hyperventilate.
Another look toward the Eye - you can see the Jubilee bridge in this one too.
We made a little video - it's hard to hear because of the wind, but it's pretty neat seeing how hard the wind blows at that elevation. :)
Me, pretending to lean casually on the rail. Do you see the little ant people? Itchy feet, sweaty palms. Mind over panic!
Scott and the girls, more realistically enjoying themselves.
Get. Me. Outta. Here.
So we climbed down, (ouchie quads!) and headed across the street to our family's favorite UK restaurant, Yo! Sushi. I can hardly convince the kids to go anywhere else if there's one in sight. Good thing we all love sushi, and we adults split a large hot sake too. Yum!
Cambria's salmon smile
After lunch, we walked toward the Millennium Bridge, and came across some mounted police. They're not looking at us. Really. There were some hooligans behind us, skateboarding amongst a bunch of pedestrians. They handled it.
Me and the girls on the bridge
Scott on the bridge - this is the bridge the Death Eaters twisted and tore up at the beginning of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Check it out:
Good thing the Death Eaters didn't attack while we were crossing.
On the bridge, with St Paul's in the background
Oooo, artsy. LOL
Meridian at Shakespeare's Globe Theater. OK, so the real one burned down. But still. Neat-o.
I told the girls they each had to have their photo in front of it. It's one of those things.
Meridian and a costume for an actress playing Queen Elizabeth I.
Scott, being a groundling. But not throwing food.
Our tour guide talks to us while we have a seat in some of the "best" seats of the house. Apparently, it wasn't about seeing, but being seen. If a special patron was in attendance, they'd sometimes be seated above the stage (so everyone could see how important they were). Ha!
Me, being a groundling. Wow. Even now, you only pay £5 to watch a show from the floor, but you get rained on and you have to stand. I hope we can do it sometime.
Fantastic!
The view from the upper gallery. The seats are numbered now, but back then they just crowded in.
I realized we were going to be really near The Clink prison, yes THE original Clink. So we had to walk by...
We happened to watch Dumbo not long after this, and the mouse explains to the crows that when Dumbo's mom protected him, "you know what they did? The threw 'er in the clink!" Ha! See, kids, mama knows what she's talking about, dragging you to all these places!
I also noticed, on Google maps, that The Golden Hinde was nearby. So we walked over there too.
It looked deserted, but Cambria really wanted to go aboard so we read the fine print, and figured out where they sold tickets.
Scott went and got us tickets, and we boarded! No guide, just a code for the lock. Suh-weet!
Cambria and her favorite - a cannon! I should do a blog just of her pictures with cannons. I'll put it on the list.
By the way, Cambria is wearing Meridian's rain jacket, because Cambria walked out of our house at 7:30am in January WITHOUT her coat. We didn't notice until we got out of the car in Oxford, at which point we'd miss our train if we went back. Thank goodness Meridian had packed two jackets!
Meridian had to walk bent over on the middle deck - we don't know how sailors got along for a year walking like that! Maybe they were all super short.
Cambria really dug being on the ship.
The mast.
We were the only ones on the ship. So great. Cambria had a seat in the Captain's chair, in the officer's mess.
And she took a rest on the Captain's bed.
Meridian could touch the ceiling in the Captain's quarters. Not much room to move around in!
After exploring The Golden Hinde, we had dinner at a The Real Greek restaurant facing the water. It was underwhelming. I guess we were expecting actual fantastic souvlaki, and what we got was ok. Meh.
After dinner, we popped into the Tate Modern museum, since it's free and open til 8pm. We learned that for the most part, modern art escapes us. I did enjoy the Russian Propaganda poster art room, but the bucket with a sheet around it left me nonplussed.
Here's something... ummm, interesting. We saw it from above first, and it looked like carpet. But the sign said sunflower seeds. Thinking it was metaphor, we went to have a look.
Upon closer inspection, it's actually sunflower seeds. 10 million of them. Small, ceramic, fake sunflower seeds.
Handmade. Each one.
Apparently in the beginning, you were allowed to walk on and touch them. But they were roped off by the time we got there - too much ceramic dust, they said.
Looked cool to actually touch them:
We walked back over to St Paul's to catch the bus back to our hotel. It was pretty at night.
On the bus - the kids always want us to sit in the very front of the top deck, so there we sit. :)
Our room at The Pavilion Hotel. Funky.
Meridian dug our room. She has officially protested against Holiday Inn Expresses. OK, so she does not always get her way, but I did take her opinion into consideration when booking for this trip.
Cambria on the settee.
Our light. OK, Maybe Meridian was right about skipping the Holiday Inn Express for once. :)
Day 2 to follow...
