Out and About: Day Trip #1

*Note: This entry covers the events of July 6.*

I had planned back-to-back day trips from London with Golden Tours, the same company I used for the hop on, hop off tour. My first day trip was to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath. I had a fabulous tour guide named Antonio who is a certified Windsor Castle guide. When we arrived at the castle, he showed us the best places to eat and shop, plus made sure to point out the section of the castle the Queen actually stays in when she is home. While she wasn't there the day of my visit, I still enjoyed getting a glimpse into the royal lifestyle.

Even though we couldn't take pictures in the castle, I took quite a few on the grounds. I even got to see the Changing of the Guard, a very different experience from the other ceremony at Buckingham Palace. I got to see the doll house of Queen Mary, the grandmother of Queen Elizabeth II, and I was able to tour the State Rooms of the castle that are used entertaining foreign dignitaries.

My two favorite parts of the castle were the china display and the banquet hall. One of the first rooms on the tour was comprised of huge glass display cases filled with examples of the different china patterns used by the royals over the years. The artwork on these pieces was simply exquisite! Additionally, the banquet hall really captured my attention because of its huge crystal chandeliers, enormous dining table, and numerous royal portraits encircling the walls. I wish I could capture the grandeur of the castle, but it is really one of those things you'd have to see to believe!

I grabbed a sandwich to eat on the motor coach as we drove toward Stonehenge. This was really the first time that I had gotten a good glimpse of the English countryside, and the land is beautifully maintained farmland. I got to see an assortment of cows, pigs, and sheep grazing along the roadside as we made our way to Stonehenge.

The day had turned cold and windy as we exited the bus at the Stonehenge Visitor Center. Our driver was not allowed to go all the way to the stones, but we were able to catch a shuttle. Our tour guide explained various theories about what Stonehenge's original purpose was, and he felt as though it was probably an ancient means of keeping up with the seasons. While we may never know the true purpose of Stonehenge, it was amazing to see it in person. I was able to encircle the whole structure, taking pictures from almost every angle. Once again, the experience was almost too overwhelming to describe. Here was an ancient structure that I had seen many times in books and documentaries, and I was seeing it with my own eyes.

After finishing up at Stonehenge, we headed to our last stop, Bath. Originally the site of a Roman hot spring, the waters of Bath were thought to have healing properties. For those Jane Austen fans out there, this city is where young Jane grew up. It is a truly charming town, and I wish we had had more time to explore it on our own. However, I had just enough time to work my way through the bath house, marvel at the heat still being produced by the flowing water, and take copious amounts of pictures of the beautiful town church, Bath Abbey.

We all had the chance to grab a cup of Italian ice cream before heading back for London. It was a whirlwind day, but it was another great one to add to my list of great days here in London.

Understandably, I was pretty tired when I returned to my flat. However, given the experiences of my trip, I was already looking forward to the second one I had planned for the next day. The next blog post will cover that glorious adventure!

Long days and pleasant nights!

**Good night, Mrs. Hall, wherever you are!**

Festivities, Fiction, and Fantasy

*Note: This entry covers the events of July 5.*

As I prepared for the second day of my hop on, hop off bus tour, storm clouds rolled in over London. Thank goodness I had packed an umbrella! I made my way to the London Bridge area to catch my bus, then waited patiently in the rain. The first stop of the day was the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. In this ceremony, the old detachment of guards on duty at the palace is replaced by a new detachment; the pomp and circumstance of the event are legendary.

Even though I was over an hour early for the ceremony, people had already begun to gather. I chose to stand on the steps of the Victoria statue; being on stairs is always beneficial when you are as short as I am! I had a perfect view of the bands and soldiers marching in and out; however, thanks to a ridiculously high number of selfie sticks, my picture opportunities were limited. Also, the actual ceremony happened behind the closed gates of the palace. While officers cleared the area of spectators prior to the band marching in, people were allowed to pass in front of the gates while the ceremony was happening. Talk about frustrating!

Next I had hoped to take in Madame Tussaud's; that changed once I saw the line. I decided that waiting in an extremely long line for what would have been hours and paying 33 pounds to see imitation celebrities was not my cup of tea. I elected to walk a little bit from Madame Tussaud's to Baker Street to check out the Sherlock Holmes Museum. The ticket was less than half the price of the wax museum, and it was a great deal more interesting to me. The lower floors of the former boarding house were set up to replicate the rooms Holmes and Watson inhabited in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's works; the upper levels of the Victorian dwelling contained scenes from some of the best known cases Holmes ever solved. I thoroughly enjoyed myself in this museum, and the gift shop was very nice as well. Upon leaving, I popped into an Italian restaurant for a quick bite, then climbed back aboard the bus in search of another fiction related experience.

King's Cross Station is a bustling train station where you will see people from a wide array of nationalities. It is also where one can find Platform 9 3/4 of Harry Potter fame! A long time fan of all things Potter, I could not pass up the opportunity to snap a photo of Harry's cart, chocked full of wizarding goodies (including Hedwig), disappearing into the wall. While I could have waited in a gigantic line to have my picture made pushing the cart, I opted to quickly grab a photo between other people's photo opportunities. This preserved the "magical" feeling of the photo and gave me more time to explore the Harry Potter Shop.

I came back to my flat a little earlier tonight so I could post this blog and get a good night's sleep; however, the building's internet is out as I type this first draft, so I have no idea when I'll actually get to post this entry. Regardless, I can say that I highly recommend hop on, hop off style tours to acquaint yourself with London. After only two days, I feel much more confident about the layout of the city, and I have a better understanding of the history of the area.

Tomorrow I will be visiting Stonehenge, touring Windsor Castle, and exploring the city of Bath. As I type these words, I am still in awe of the fact that so many of my dreams are becoming realities! I cannot wait to share tomorrow's visit with you all--not to mention sharing today's post once my internet finally gets fixed!

Long days and pleasant nights!

**Good night, Mrs. Hall, wherever you are!**

Independence Day Abroad

Today was my first full day of sightseeing in London, but I must admit it felt very odd to be spending Independence Day in a foreign country. Never before have I spent July 4th away from my homeland; ironically, the first time I did so was in the country we won our independence from! While I did not find any stars & stripes or fireworks, I did manage to find Abraham Lincoln, which I took as a very good sign!

However, before I get to Lincoln, I need to start at the very beginning of my day. As I stated yesterday, I had paid for a hop on, hop off two-day bus tour of London with Golden Tours. I left my flat early this morning, wanting to roam a little before meeting my bus near the Globe. After taking the Tube to the London Bridge station, I walked across the bridge to snap a few shots of Tower Bridge. Lovely weather made for some good early morning photos.

I then walked through the Borough Market, where you can buy any kind of food imaginable, strolled along the banks of the Thames, and finally caught a glimpse of my entire reason for being in London: the Globe Theatre! Oh, I forgot to mention that on my way to the Globe, I saw a dead body hanging over the street; no biggie.

 

 

Moving on from the Globe, I wandered around the area and managed to find the apartments I will be staying in after my sightseeing week is over and  I have to get down to work. I must say that I'm excited about the location of the Bankside House! After my rambling, I met my bus and began a full day of hopping on and off.

Taken from the top of my tour bus

 

The London Eye!



Catching a glimpse of Big Ben for the first time was amazing! I alighted from the bus to get a closer look at the clock tower and explore the statues near Parliament. While perusing the statues, I found Honest Abe, accompanied by Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, and Winston Churchill. After taking several pictures of and with Big Ben, I moved on to a wonderful tour of Westminster Abbey.

 

 

I could probably write a novel about all the information I gathered at Westminster Abbey. Suffice it to say, it was a tad overwhelming. I have been in cathedrals in Spain, but there was something special about Westminster. Even though it just happened this morning, the events of my tour already seem almost dreamlike: viewing the tombs of Elizabeth I and the other early monarchs of England; seeing the Coronation Chair which has been used for every monarch since 1308; standing where Will and Kate exchanged their vows in 2011. For me, though, the crowning moment of the tour was Poets' Corner. Chaucher, Tennyson, Dickens, Spenser, Samuel Johnson: I saw them all today. As someone who has loved literature my entire life, this was an unforgettable experience. However, the most poignant moment happened as I stood at Robert Browning's grave. Who would have thought that this girl from tiny Pippa Passes would one day stand at the grave of the man who inspired the co-founders of Alice Lloyd College to give our city such an outlandish name? It was one of those full-circle moments which can hit you hard when you least expect it. I wish I could have taken pictures of all the tombs, stones, and memorials, but photography was not allowed in the Abbey. However, I got a pretty good picture from outside the building.

 

After hopping back on the bus, I made a quick stop at Hard Rock London to pick up a shirt. I already have one from Madrid, and, hopefully, I will pick up one from Paris later this week. After making my purchase, I rode to Buckingham Palace. While not open to the public at the moment, I was able to get some good pictures outside, including some interesting shots of the tribute statue of Victoria.



The sun and clouds made the angel look very "divine."

The angel is actually VERY gold!
 

Moving from Buckingham Palace, I did a whirlwind tour of the Tower of London. Once again, there was a lot to take in, but it was an amazing experience. The Crown Jewels were absolutely stunning! Too bad no pictures were allowed!

As you can see, this has been a very busy day! I'm going to close this blog with a few other photos I took around town. Enjoy them, and be ready for another installment tomorrow!

Long days and pleasant nights!

**Good night, Mrs. Hall, wherever you are!**

Nelson Column at Trafalgar Square

Burberry store!!!

St. Stephen's, where T. S. Eliot attended church

Harrod's

Victory Arch to commemorate Wellington's victory at Waterloo

The Marble Arch

Great London Fire Memorial

Elephant at London Tower

Crossing the Tower Bridge

 

Mind the Gap: The Struggle of Relocating to London

As I type this, I am sitting in a very cozy London flat. While I am currently a picture of happiness, earlier in the day I was a bit more frazzled than I currently appear. It had been ten years since my last international flight, and even though I spent quite a bit of time preparing for my trip to London, I encountered some mishaps along the way. However, this is how memories are made, so I'm not complaining.

Flying turned out to be the easy part: no major problems checking in, no baggage check issues, no violations of TSA liquid regulations, and every flight I had ended up arriving at the next destination early. I was extremely appreciative of this when I way transferring in New York, because I did not want to O.J. Simpson my way through a crowded airport! (If you're under a certain age, you won't get that last reference.) Anyway, the real fun began when I touched down at Heathrow.

When I visited Spain ten years ago, I do not recall having to fill out a lovely little form called a landing pass. Because of this, I did not realize that I needed to pick up one of these snazzy little papers to be ready to pass through immigration. So I hopped off the plane at 6:15 a.m. (London time) and jumped right into the line of people getting ready to cross the UK border. When did I realize that I did not have the same form as everyone else? Around about the time I was getting ready to go visit an immigration officer. I had to leave the line, go back for a form, fill it out, and move to the back of the same line. As you can see, things were not off to a good start!

I cleared immigration with ease (once I made it through the line again), and headed to pick up my luggage. This time, luck was on my side, as my purple bag with bright green Duct tape handles was waiting for me at the American Airlines desk. I then decided to give my folks a call on the "international" phone my wireless provider had procured for my trip; as it turns out, the phone wouldn't work in the UK anymore than it had in the US! I won't go into details on here, but the phone situation had been a pretty long struggle for me, and I was livid about the whole no-phone situation. I had made it safely to London, but I had no way of contacting my family as this point.

I headed to an ATM to get some British pounds; I will have to do a separate post on British money, simply because I find it beautiful! With pounds in my pocket and my rolling suitcase by my side, I made my way to the one phase of this trip I knew I could handle: the Underground! Those who know me will vouch for the fact that I *love* the Washington, D.C. Metro. For this reason, I knew that riding the Tube would be one of my favorite British things to do. I have spent a good deal of time studying the Underground map, and I am happy to say that I navigated to the appropriate stop without a slip. With my "Oyster" card (as their fare cards are named), I could conquer the city! I was slightly hampered by my rolling suitcase, however, as there are no escalators in the Tube; I survived though!

When I got off at the Borough station, I found Great Dover Street and my apartment building. What I did not realize was that I would arrive four hours early for check-in! I was tired (I had been awake for over 24 hours as this point) and sweaty, but I had to wait until check-in time in a small, hot lobby. I was able to get the WiFi working, which enabled me to get a Skype call through to my mother, who was relieved to finally hear from me. At one point, I ventured to a small sandwich shop and had a delicious chicken and cheese Panini; finally, I was able to get my room.

Found this when looking for a bite to eat!

However, as my luck was running today, there was one small catch; my room is on the top floor, and the elevator in my block happens to be on the fritz. They graciously allowed me to use a different elevator, then access my flat through the fire doors in order to get my luggage upstairs without a hassle. Later, when I popped out for groceries across the street, I had to lug the bags up seven flights of stairs. Great workout and the Dr. Pepper Zero was totally worth it!

My flat itself is a very nice little dorm room. There are three apartments connected to one bathroom and one kitchen; so far, I am the only occupant. I have a view of some new skyscrapers being built and a sweet little park when kids have been playing basketball most of the day.

Entrance to the Great Dover Street Apartments

View of the Courtyard

My block of the building

The following photos show the view from my flat

I haven't seen any of the city proper yet, but that will all change tomorrow, as I have a two-day pass for a hop on, hop off bus tour of the city. I will be sure to share all the details with you all as soon as possible!

Long days and pleasant nights!

**Good night, Mrs. Hall, wherever you are!**