A Mile In Our Shoes: Across The Pond

We have been waiting with great anticipation for our trip to London. This city is one of the biggest international cities in the world so we are looking forward to being immersed in the many cultures that make up this great city. There is so much to see here, so much history.

We started our day early to get to Stratford (East London) to meet up with one of Rowan’s students, Erin, who just happens to be here with her boyfriend James, who will be part of the 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremonies. He was picked in a lottery to participate, so is here going through rehearsals for the event. He has today off from practice, so we are all skipping off into the center of London to see the sights.

On our way to the tube station we passed a row of rental bikes……simply put your money in the machine and off you go on a bike around London. Just leave the bike at any other bike station around town when you are done. Brilliant! Just like the ones we have seen in Washington DC (See blog post on - - - - -). What a wonderful way to see a city and get some exercise too.

Once in the Bow Road tube station, we started teaching Pat & Jake about the maps and how to get around London in the Tube.

James, Erin, Pat, Jake & Rowan waiting for train

Our first stop was at the Westminster Station. It is really a big scene when you come up out of the tube station. There to greet you is none other than Big Ben himself, and the Houses of Parliament. Quite a sight indeed.

Jake got really crafty about taking some illusion photos. Here is him holding the London Eye between his fingers and leaning against Big Ben:

We then walked down to the Prime Ministers house at #10 Downing Street. My first time here back in the late 1970’s we were able to walk right up to the door and take a photo of ourselves with one of the Bobby guards. Boy how things have changed in this new age of terrorism and blowing things up. This is what the entrance to #10 looks like now:

We continued down an alley that took us in the direction of St. James Park and Buckingham Palace. Much of the park is still closed off as they are cleaning up the event stuff from the Diamond Jubilee celebration, so we wound our way around many paths and finally came to our first view of the palace

Go here for some really great history on Buckingham Palace: http://www.royal.gov.uk/TheRoyalResidences/BuckinghamPalace/History.aspx

We suddenly heard a band playing in the distance and realized the changing of the guard must be happening, so we picked up our speed to try and get a look at the tail end of the parade ceremony.

We were able to catch the guard band playing their little marching song as they were returning to the guard camp at the palace. Here is a short video of the parade:

Grenadier Guard

We were also able to watch as the guard came back out of their post to return to the palace.

Buckingham Palace is really something to see. The ornate gates and statues and guilding,……all so very British. We noticed the royal flag was flying on top of the palace spire which is a sign the Queen is here. We are hoping she will wave at us :o)

This is the magnificent statue of Queen Victoria right in front of the Palace. A great image of 'Vicki" (as I call her) in all of her splendor.

Here is one of the Rampant Lions on top of the Canada Gate at the Palace.

Jake in front of the Canada Gate

The royal crest on the vehicle entrance gate at the Palace

Pat between the Palace bobbies. She is being VERY careful not to step across the line that will get her arrested for stepping into the Palace grounds.

In front of the main Palace gates

Crossing the street is fun. First, don’t forget to look right first before crossing instead of left like we do in The States. Every street crossing has the words LOOK RIGHT painted on the ground at the curb. It’s amazing how confusing this can be for those of us who drive on the other side of the road (our first approaching vehicle always comes from the left first). It takes our brains a while to adjust to this simple idea.

Oh, and one always has to remember to look for the horses too. Here is my favorite street crossing sign:

We walked down the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Walk to get to the Bomber Command Memorial.

As we walked through Green park (around the Palace), we came upon the brand new Second World War Bomber Command Memorial, just dedicated by the Queen the day before we were here. It was a very moving sight to see. 55,000 Bomber Command airmen died in WWII. The detail in the piece is amazing. Here are a few photos of the memorial. Go here for the history (highly recommended): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18600871

Only 1pm and we have already had quite a whirl through London. We were suddenly having hunger pains, so we stopped in Green Park to have the picnic lunch we brought along. Rowan and Jake got right to the business of sorting out what direction we would take off in after our meal. Still lots more to see……

We headed back to the tube to get us over to Picadilly Circus, London’s Time Square. Lots of shopping here and where all the major live theatre can be seen (just like Broadway in NYC).

Piccadilly Circus

....all dressed up for the Queens jubilee

Britannia, the major British store where EVERYTHING is British. Here’s my sis with the ultimate Union Jack Mini Cooper (she owns a Mini so was very excited to see this one):

We also made a stop at Lillywhites, one of the largest sporting goods stores we have ever been in. Jake wanted to look for a new pair of tennis and I thought his head would explode from retail overload when we realized there were well over 5 floors of sporting goods to be found here. It was amazing! We made a few puchases and continued on our way down to Trafalgar Square. Go here for the history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trafalgar_Square

As we walked down the side of the square we ran into US NBA star Scotty Pippin. We said hey Scottie and he was very gracious to say hey and give us a thumbs up.

Approaching the square......