London
is amazing city. Yes, it is big. Yes, it has SO many people. Yes, there are
aspects of it that are not pretty, but for the most part, it is really amazing.
Lady Hiva and I instantly noticed a few things about London that hinted we were
no longer in Istanbul. 1-There was a drastic decrease in the amount of smokers.
If there were smokers, they smoked in select areas—away from children. That was
such a wonderful change. 2- people actually drove in their lane and obeyed
traffic rules. 3- There were parks and trees everywhere. 4-There were
sidewalks. 5-They speak English. 6-They didn’t serve Limonata anywhere! On
these hot days we were walking around all I wanted was a nice cold lemonade. I
finally gave up after asking several times and being told “no” or given Sprite.
Just for the record, Lemonade is NOT Sprite and is definitely NOT carbonated.
Hehe.
Equipped
with our London Pass cards, we were determined to see everything possible. We
made use of buses, water ferries, the “tube”/metro, taxis and our feet. After
two days of exploring the city we decided that we should dub this trip “the
trip of stairs.” Everywhere we went there were small spiral stairs we had to
lug the stroller up and down! Our Lucky Dragon was toted around like a king and
we were his servants bearing his burden! (he is totally worth it and did not
fuss at all during our long days).
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An example of the stairs we climbed up and down the entire trip |
We
started the first day of exploration at Westminster Abbey. This is the famous
cathedral near the House of Parliament and is where the Kings and Queens hold their
coronation ceremonies. It is also where some of Britain’s most famous people
are buried; including some of my ancestors—like King Edward I. This remained
one of mine and Lady Hiva’s favorite stops on our entire trip. The building and
history you learn while in the Abbey are amazing. Sadly, you cannot take photos
inside so you will just have to take our word for it.
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Waiting for the metro (at the non-rush hour time) |
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We came out into the Shopping district to which Lady Hiva proclaimed, "This is my kind of tourism!" |
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Westminster Abbey |
We
wanted to take Tau’aho to see the Royal Horses at Buckingham Mews and he fell
asleep as we walked there. Poor guy, that was maybe a good thing because the
only rain we had on the entire trip was during that hour. We saw all the Royal
Carriages and learned about the care for the 30 horses that carry the Royal
Family during events.
After
that we had a quick stop and Wellington Arch, saw the views from up top, and
took a bus to Kensington Palace. Kensington
Palace sits on one edge of the large Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. It was
the childhood home of Queen Victoria and the home of Prince William, Kate and
George. They have recently redone the museum inside the Palace and it was fun
to walk through history. Many of the rooms told the story of those who lived
there with hands-on objects. Great for kids (and us that want to explore). This
included meeting an actor portraying Queen Caroline. We were able to see her
daily routine and learn how everything the King and Queen did was viewed by
public—eating, going to the bathroom, and dressing included. (It apparently was
an honor to be the one to stand in the bathroom and hand the King his toilet
paper after he was done…hmmm not sure having a captive audience of the king
would be worth it to me).
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Wellington Arch |
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Inside Kensington Palace |
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Queen Caroline (an actress) |
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Posing for a photo and Lucky took the chance to eat Mum's ice cream while she was distracted...! |
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Royal Gardens at Kensington Palace |
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Kensington Palace |
We spent
some time touring the city via the tour buses and walking and then went to eat that
Trafalgar Square and walked through some of the National Art museums. Both of
us really liked the National Portrait Gallery.
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Lady Hiva and the Tongan Flag |
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Trafalgar Square |
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Piccadilly Circus |
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On the tour bus |
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St. Paul's Cathedral |
We happened
to walk passed Buckingham Palace again and learned that they were opening for
their short annual season where “commoners” can enter the Palace. We booked
tickets for the opening day (our last day in London).
The next
day we had a list of places we wanted to see and started out at the Tower of
London. We walked up and down more stairs with the stroller. (Many people gave
us odd looks of ‘why are you toting that stroller around?’ But we wouldn’t miss
having our little guy with us for anything—even if we do look and smell like a
sweaty mess at the end of the day.) The Tower, of course, holds so much history
within its walls. We loved walked around and seeing the Crown Jewels, hearing
about the many people how lived there and were killed there. It was especially
interesting to me to hear stories of some of my ancestors who were there as
royalty and what their lives would have
been like (some of them were not kind people). I also had to think what
it must have been like to be imprisoned there and know that your day to be
killed was coming soon. There were so many of the stone walls in the tower
cells that were covered with names and quotes etched into the stone as a last
momentum before the person earthly journey ceased.
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Entrance to the Tower of London |
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Poppies to represent each British person who died in WWI |
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Recreation of the bed where my great-great-great.........great Grandfather slept |
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Lady Hiva and Tau'aho, the Hawaiians with the Captain Cooke statue! |
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Names and signals in the Tower of London--the people who didn't come out alive |
We then
went up into the Tower Bridge and that was a quick trip. It was also full of
history. We went to the “London Bridge Experience” that was less history and
more spook alley so we left after the first part in Tau’aho’s benefit.
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We survived on water and snacks from Pret a Manger--they were EVERYWHERE |
We
hopped on a train and headed out to Hampton Court—the favorite home of King
Henry VIII. It was a beautiful place and we wish we had more time to spend
there. The gardens were spectacular and the history of the events that occurred
made it an intriguing place to be. It made me want to go back and re-read all
of the books I have read over the years about the Tudor Era now that I have
seen where they walked, lived and slept. It is clear that Henry and his court lived in opulence. When later queens and kings lived there, they too added a flare of richness (including a royal chocolate kitchen)We had to rush back to London for our
appointment at Buckingham.
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Entrance to Hampton Court |
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This fountain would flow with wine from time to time during the Tudor era |
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The Grand room where Henry VIII and his many wives ate |
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The room where people would wait all day to get a 'glimpse' of the king or queen |
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The Chocolate Kitchen |
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We met some random Turkish people that took this picture for us |
The
train took a long time to leave the station and we made several stops along the
way. Tau’aho made friends with the people around us and because he was sitting
in his stroller in the aisle of the train he was able to see anyone that passed
him. One lady passed him wearing orange stretch pants with gold glitter on
them. They must have been interesting because Lucky reached up to touch it and
ended up grabbing her rear-end a few times. I apologized in his behalf but she
must not have minded because later she gave Tau’aho a fresh peach out of her
bag. He was in heaven—sticky mess of a heaven, but heaven none the less.
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Tau'aho still eye balling the sparkling orange pants...hehe |
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Do you want some? |
When we
arrived in London we had 15 minutes to get from Waterloo Station to Buckingham
Palace. I knew it was cutting it WAY too close, but the distance was not far
and Lady and I decided a taxi would be fastest. Yet, after we ran all the way
from the train, dodging people as we went, we jumped into the taxi and he told
us the most direct route to Buckingham—over the bridge--was closed. We jumped
out and ran back in to take the tube. We ran all the way down, up and over the
many random staircases (still with the stroller) and when we arrived at the
platform we were informed we were at the wrong one. Retracing our steps, now
fully sweating in their non-air conditioned cement corridors, we found the
correct line and rushed there. We rode over to Westminster station and came out
to find we were 15 floors below the surface which meant we had to take 5 escalators
up. They seemed painfully slow as we rose to the top. As we did, we started to
notice people with protest materials (Living in Istanbul you pick up on these
cues quickly).
Sure
enough, we came out of the station right in the middle of a strike over Gaza. People
were ALL Over the place. Police and Swat teams were all over the place. Rubbish
and flags and signs were all over the place. And we were right in the middle of
it with our baby and late for an appointment at the Buckingham Palace! All we
know about protests is—WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE! We set our direction towards
Buckingham and moved as quickly as possible through the crowd.
Once
farther away we could run, we started to run. We were now a few minutes passed
our appointment and hoped that they would have mercy and still let us in. But I
also knew that in 10 minutes the “last entrance would happen.” We were just under 2 miles from the Palace. We
started to run…I had the stroller and backpack. We saw two taxis speeding away
from the protest area too and neither would stop so we kept running. I am sure
that Lucky’s cheeks were rattled from the cobblestone sidewalks. Once we were
far enough away from the protestors, I ran ahead to at least let the people at
the Palace know we were coming. Lady would come behind. I arrived to the gate
with a back and Tau’aho in tow. By then I was soaking wet, panting like a dying
race horse, and surely completely red. The young (fit looking) guy at the gate
said, “Mate, you OK?” I had to laugh. He had NO idea that we had ran to a
train, sweated it out in a car, tried a taxi, tried two metro lines, accidentally
joined and ran through protest, and sprinted two miles with a 20lbs bag and a
stroller with a one year old to be there for this Palace experience. All I
could say while mopping my face and huffing was, “Yes. I am.”
It was
SO worth all we did to be there. The Palace is beautiful. Everything is ornate.
If a palace’s job is to empress those that enter, Buckingham Palace surely does
that. Again, we could not take photos inside, but think of your wildest dreams
of what a Palace looks like and realize that is a true dream in this case.
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Royal Gardens behind Buckingham Palace |
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Back of Buckingham Palace after our tour |
We ended
our tour in London with dinner at a cute Italian restaurant in Piccadilly
Circus. It was beautiful and delicious and surprisingly affordable (London is
SO expensive). The only draw-back is that they didn’t serve lemonade either.
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Treat for being good |
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Piccadilly Circus |
The next
several days we were driving throughout the country so we will have a few more
great posts to come!
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