The last part of our family vacation was London. I have to say that after three weeks, I was starting to run out of steam. But, I psyched myself up and looked forward to new adventures.
We took the Chunnel to London. Like many things, I don't remember my last experience taking the train, but it was a pleasant train ride. It seemed like at least half of the trip was above ground enjoying the countryside view.
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| We enjoyed a game of cards during our journey under the English Channel. Ivan seemed to have lost interest |
We stayed at the 3-star hotel that was not far from St. Pancreas...sorry St. Pancras station. Of the various places we stayed at, it was probably the most "mid" as my kids would say. The place was a little shabby and climbing the stairs to get the the room was quite an adventure, especially for me. I would say the final flight of stairs was at least at a 65 to 70 degree angle. But if that was the price to pay if we wanted a room with our own bathroom. Me and my bladder is way too old to trek downstairs in the middle of the night to relieve myself!
British Museum
Another plus was that our hotel was within walking distance to the British Museum. We had to have a hardy breakfast before going to the museum. English breakfast, though there was no blood pudding. We were okay with that. Keona opted for some porridge, however, she did indulge at a later breakfast. I have to say, that was the tastiest bacon I've ever had!
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| King Ashurbanipal's Flood Tablet |
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| Rosetta Stone. Unfortunately, a lot of reflection. The kid in the back does not look impressed. |
Tower(s) of London, Tower Bridge, and HMS Belfast
Seemed to me that it was more than one tower. You'd think the ominous clouds would be a bummer, but instead, it added to the ambiance of the place. I wanted to go onto the HMS Belfast, but they had closed early for a private party.
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| Probably the one suit of armor I'd be able to wear comfortably! |
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| You know its chilly out if I'm wearing a jacket even if it has stopped raining! |
Natural History Museum
Being that I am a vertebrate paleontologist (or at least pretended to be one for the past 40 years) and teach comparative and human anatomy, I was all about seeing the Natural History Museum. The last time I was there was around 1998 using the collections for my Ph.D. research. Here is the weird part about this whole Europe trip. So, back in Paris (and I can't remember what street we were walking down, but we had just come out of a pastry shop), we ran into two younger sisters of a friend from my daughter's high school tennis team. Here at Natural History Museum, we ran into one of my daughter's childhood best friends. Then at the Trooping of the Colors, amongst the bazillions of people present, we run into the parents of another of my daughter's childhood best friends. What are the odds?
Two things about the museum. First, they seemed rather obsessed with whales. Second, and I can be critical since I've been to a huge number of natural history museums all over the world, I was rather disappointed with the dinosaur exhibit. I remember it differently when I was last there. The lighting was pretty bad. Many of the specimens were elevated about 10' above the viewers. That made it difficult to really see them. Finally, it seems rather jammed in forcing the viewers in one direction. This was not so in the other galleries such as the mammals.
National Gallery, London Theater District, and Chinatown
Buckingham Palace, and the Trooping of the Colors
We did Buckingham Palace on the same day as the National Gallery, but I added it to this section. We didn't know that the Trooping of the Colors was going to happen on the day we were scheduled to go to Stonehenge and Bath, but the company I booked with allowed us to change dates.
Trooping of the Colors was an event. Xiaohui (my wife) really likes going to events, so we went. It reminded me too much of New Years Eve in Times Square at the millennium. Yes, I was there, but its not something I have a big desire to relive.
It was soooo packed with people, I'm surprised that I got the photos that I did. It started at about 10:00 (I think) and didn't end until 1:00. We got there an hour and a half early and it was already packed with people. My kids and I stayed along the main parade route while my wife went down the the Household Guard's parade ground where a lot of the marching and band playing took place. My kids got pretty burned out, so once we saw the royalty go by, we slowly made our way to the parade ground to find my wife. I think the most exciting moment was when we ran into the parents of Keona's friend. Afterwards, we wondered if the royal family really enjoy this. It was supposed to celebrate King Charles' birthday, but someone in the crowd said his birthday is in November.
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| I had another picture of Nelson above, but it was not a good one. This is better and I tried moving this to where I had the original photo, but Blogger likes doing weird formatting issues, so here this one stays. |
Stonehenge and Bath
Stonehenge has been on my bucket list to see, so now I can check it off! Bath was pretty interesting but I wish we had a little more time there.
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| The Keystone |
Parliament, Westminster Abby, and Big Ben
We didn't do any tours, and Westminster Abby was closed for an event. We just walked around.
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| Monty and Me |
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| I just had to add this picture in. Is this where Mary Poppins gets her umbrellas? |
Imperial War Museum
For our final day in London, we split up. Keona and Xiaohui went off shopping while Ivan and I went to the Imperial War Museum. We both really enjoyed it, but one of the biggest deal for Ivan was that we took a double decker bus to and from the museum. Of course we rode on the top!
The museum was the least crowded of the museums we went to and I'm okay with that. One of the interesting things I noticed was that D-day did not have a big display in the WWII hall.
We then went to a gaming store, but even though it was an independent shop, it was 99% Games Workshop...big surprise there! They had a Fellowship of the Ring set on display, which I would have bought, but it was a mess finding things and the two shop keepers were of little help.
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That is it folks. I hope you enjoyed my travelogue. Now to get back to hobby stuff.
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