Across The Pond - London

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......

 Jake up on one of the fabulous lions.......

 The National Gallery

 The three of us in front of the Olympic Countdown Clock......

More London coming.............Stay tuned..........

Across The Pond - England - Post 2

..........to carry on...........
It would be so unlike me to keep you all waiting for a food item in one of my posts, so here we are.........our first big meal at the folks house was lamb steaks with onions and apples. Rowan and I put the dish together under major jet lag duress, so it ended up a little over done, but still filled our bellies. We can't forget that after each main meal here, we get the cheese corse and then the pudding course (dessert), so one NEVER goes hungry if something happens during the main course (pictures of the other courses are coming later). Thank goodness sis and I brought a pair of those stretchy spandex yoga pants along on this trip. We are already planning on wearing them home on the plane. :o)

The lamb and apples served with steamed new potatoes & fresh peas

 The hens sitting around snapping the peas

 Now to breakfast.........A traditional English breakfast item - beans on toast. My favorite and I couldn't wait to share it with Jake. He loved it! It's very simple - heinz baked beans sitting on sharp cheddar cheese and a piece of toast. Sticks with you a long time. Thud!

 Pat and I found our favorite store. The slogan 'The home of family value'. You betcha!

We arrived in the UK just after the Queens Diamond Jubilee. Here are a couple of newspaper covers of her majesty from The Daily Mail...........(she looks SO happy)

......and The Daily Telegraph. 

 We will see many towns,villages and certainly London still all dressed up for this event. Those photos to come. We also just happen to be here during the Wimbledon tennis tournament and of course the 2012 Olympics are just 3 weeks away. You must be thinking we are insane to travel here at a time like this. Maybe, but it will be fun :o)

Our next day trip took us to the southeast coast of England to a little fishing village called Burnham-on Crouch - http://www.burnham.org.uk/ . We decided to go here this day as the temps are supposed to be 80 degrees inland, so we are looking for that sea breeze.  Jake was having a blast walking down the street and having his photo taken in front of doorways that were shorter than him (and there were lots). Many buildings here were built in the 16th and 17th century (older than the USA!), folks just weren't as tall then. We told Jake he needs to get ready for a few head banging experiences while he is here..........ouch!

 Sis had to get a photo in the red phone box. And, yes, there was a pay phone inside that works! Do we still even have phone booths in the USA?

 Here is Guy Fawkes. I found this painted on the wall of a building along the river pathway.
The Occupy movement in the US has adopted this mask as a symbol for their movement. Those Occupiers are EVERYWHERE! Go here for an explanation on who Guy Fawkes was:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2058020/How-Guy-Fawkes-masks-symbol-anti-greed-protests-globe.html

 Me, Rowan, her dad David, Jake and Pat sitting having a pint on the river.

So, all of the cottages in these little towns have names instead of street numbers. When you address a letter to someone here, you use the cottage name, street name and town name. This is our favorite cottage name we found today.......

and we just happened to find the Queen in the window (with her handbag, of course).

It was really funny that just a couple of doors down from the No-No Cottage, there was a pub called The Queens Head. OUCH! They have a very good sense of dry English humor with the Drachma crack, doncha think? :o)

Going to the coast just wasn't enough for one day, so we all went off to Rowan's friend Hilary's house in Great Baddow for dinner. Hilary lives in a historic house, Mary Brittern Cottage, built in the 16th century (again, older than my country the USA!) The house is framed out of old ship timbers older than the Mayflower. It is just fabulous to see how this house is put together. The dining room ceiling was shorter than Jake so he had to really watch his head.

 The beautiful English garden in the back.

 Hilary making a really funny face (sorry Hil, I had to post it!) :o)

 Nachos and a drink in the garden before dinner

 Jake about to hit his head on the beam in the dining room

 The doorway from the kitchen to the dining room. Jake did get his bell rung on this doorway once during our visit. It just about shook the room when he hit it. OUCH! Hilary said you can always tell who her daughters boyfriends were as they all had bumps on their foreheads. She said you could walk around town and when you saw a chap with a bump on his head you could just say, I bet you have dated Philly. HILARIOUS! Now, everyone will think Jake is dating Philly. Too funny :o)

We just happened to be at Hil's house during the Euro football (soccer) semi-final between Italy & Germany. Jake was in heaven watching it all happen. Italy won and will play Spain in the final.

Just HAD to let you-all hear the old phone ring...

more coming...........

Across The Pond - England -Post 1

These next few posts are very exciting indeed! We are on a trip to the UK, where we are meeting my sister and nephew, who are flying from Seattle to meet us at Heathrow in London. Rowan and I have had the FLIGHTS FROM HELL............but still arrived at Heathrow in good spirits (mostly because we ARRIVED IN ONE PIECE! :o). Our first flight was delayed because of thunderstorms in Newark, NJ and then we missed our connection to London in Newark. We were fortunate enough to get a Virgin Atlantic flight later out of Newark (the last one!). Upon our relief about getting on the later flight, we got in our seats and were just finishing our emergency video and about ready to pull away from the gate.............poof! the entire plane lost power! All I can say is, thank god it didn't happen in the air! :o) It is now almost 90 degrees in the plane (the AC works only when the engines are engaged). Almost 3 hours later sitting on the tarmac, the engineer fixed the computer system, and after many glasses of water, plane gifts and apologies from the steward staff, we finally took off. With fingers crossed we took off and 6 hours later landed at Heathrow. Things could only get better from here on out. The great thing about our delay, is that we now are arriving just 30 minutes before my sister and nephew (it was going to be a 4 hour wait if we hadn't gone through the delays).

Remember to always keep looking for that silver lining......................

Here is a smiling Rowan as we got on the Heathrow airport tram to get to terminal 4 to meet my sister.

I'm not quite sure how she managed to look so fresh and happy in this photo after our crazy travel day. Must be that she actually SLEPT on the plane. I don't know how she does it, but I am hopeless at doing it (which is why you see no pictures of me here :o)

A video showing our rendevous at terminal 4, Heathrow, London. Very fun to travel so far from different places and have the meeting go so well.

We are staying with Rowan's parents in East London (Chelmsford) for the first week of our visit, so we collected our rental car and headed east. We are all pretty pooped from our nearly 15 hour travel day, so we are looking forward to some R&R in the country, some good English cheese and a pint in the nearest pub.

 Our first walk to the little village Sandon, just up the road from Rowan's parents house, my extremely cute, funny and engaging nephew Jake and I were very excited to share our first British beer together. 

 Pat & Rowan walking down the Bridleway and  happy to have their feet firmly planted on the UK ground

 Woohoo! Nothing like a pint of English beer in a small town country pub to really get one into the spirit of being in the Queen's country. The local pub folks are also EXTREMELY entertaining and love to have foreign visitors stop by. We were extremely entertained by one local chap who came out to poke fun with us.

After our local village pub experience, we walked back to the house and prepared to TRY and go to sleep at a reasonable UK hour. NOT! It will certainly take a few days for us to get our circadian rhythms in sync with the 5 hour (for Rowan and I) and 8 hour (for Pat & Jake) time difference.
After our almost 10am rising time the next morning, we decided to take it slow on our first full day here, so our major outing for the day was going to the grocery store. Not just any grocery store, but Sainsbury's. It is truly an eye-popping experience to step into a Sainsbiury's. The English way is so different and fun. Jake was totally into the scanning wand we got as we came into the store. Rowan's Mum, Paula, swipes her card as we enter and we get our very own UPC scanning wand so we can scan our own goods as we shop. Then when we are done, we just hand the wand to the check-out person and they total it and we pay. BRILLIANT! Can't wait for this idea to get to the states. Very easy and fast. Here is Mum getting her scanner.

Jake (with Mum), having a blast being our scanner boy.

 I could have taken millions of photos of our shopping spree (we had a BLAST!) watching my sis and nephew on their first visit, but come on, we are in a grocery store so I will save shooting photos for the really, really fabulous stuff. :o)
I did have to take a photo of this chunky chocolate dessert just because it is outrageous! I mean LOOK AT IT!!!!! Pudding, cream, chocolate, choc chips, chocolate cookies, chocolate moose, caramel...........good lord! These folks really do know how to do pudding (dessert). The dessert isle is something to behold.

After our shopping spree and lunch of cheese and pickle sandwiches, Mum took us off to a local RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) garden called Hyde Hall only a short 15 minute drive from the house. Go here: http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardens/Hyde-Hall?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=mv_gardens&utm_content=gardens_brand_hyde%2Dhall&utm_term=%2Brhs%20%2Bhyde%20%2Bhall  We figured it was a good idea to stay close to the house in case we were suddenly overcome by sleep anxiety and began speaking in tongues and rolling our eyes back in our heads, etc. It is really not good to scare the locals so soon after arriving :o)

The photos from the garden:

Mum, Rowan and Pat amongst the foxgloves......

 The Coi pond with water lilies.....

There are thousands of flowers throughout the gardens. I will only share a fraction of what I photographed........
 
Sis and I on the edge of the gardens looking out into the English countryside.......

Jake on top of a rock wall overlooking the wet garden.......

We found a coffee wagon in the garden. THERE IS A GOD! Something to help get us through our jet lag stupor.........

This is REALLY cool. A bug hotel made out of recycled garden and household items. This is where the working bugs for your garden can live so they can help out when needed. We will make one of these in our garden when we get home...........

Here is the hotel........

 Roses, so many roses in the gardens.........

My favorite photo of the day was taken in the dry garden. All of these plants are drought tolerant.
Something we will take from as we plant our new yard back home. Really beautiful!

Much more coming in my next post........stay tuned......