London Part Two!
See Below for London Day 1....
This post contains 57 Photo's, sorry for the delay, I am a great procrastinator!
But this shall hopefully not disappoint!
- I also intend to do several posts this week to get through Europe and maybe stay ahead of Grant's trip back home... (BTW don't think it was your threats hitting home Carnie... I have had the intention of doing these updates now that I am in Sydney for a while!)
Ok, well, we had just arrived in the UK the day before this and seen the some of the more popular sites of London.
May 1st was a special day, it was Allisons 21st! Besides treating ourselves to a sleepin Rueben had a cake for Allison, which he later thought was his since his birthday was coming up rather soon.
Recovering from a long day yesterday and the jetlag of a six hour time jump... We had a quiet day that ended in a trip to Windsor Castle and feeding some Swans on the Thames. Want to know more?
The next day we headed into the city again, with the hope of visiting the Tower of London and seeing some more of Sydney.
We made it in, and took the free tour by a local Beefeater. (Noone knows for sure why they are Beefeaters...) They tell a good story about all the people that have been kept in the tower and who died and where. They also keep the crown jewels in the Tower, which we had the pleasure of seeing, here is a picture of each of us with the guards. The closest we got to any of the stereotypical English Royal Guardsmen.
They were a bit strict about cameras were the Jewels were, so no photos, but imagine LOTS and LOTS of multicoloured gems and gold and shiny stuff everywhere, then triple it, and triple it again, and you are getting close to the number of gems and gold they keep in the vault...
Next we visited the actual tower, kind of the keep for the area.
Nowadays no Royalians, actually live in the tower, they use it as a Mueseum for all the ages that the tower has been used.
By this stage I think we were getting a bit hungry and we decided to move out of the Tower, and onto some greener pastures. So we crossed the Tower bridge to find a bizarre monster. This monster is supposed to be the amount of major appliances a person goes through in their lifetime. From lightbulbs to ovens to Dishwashers rather bizarre really.
After resting on the grass for a period, we made our way along the Thames, past the new London Bridge, (since the old one burnt down in the childhood jingle). Through some back streets to find shakespeare's globe theatre.
It was getting late at this stage and the night could still get a little chilly so we looked into crossing the Thames and finalising our sightseeing. We crossed the river on the Millennium bridge which lead us straight up to St Peters Cathedral.
The train was caught and we went to another of Allisons families away from home, Marie, Keith and Tomas's house. (See how the train has a rounded roof, I couldn't stand up inside the train unless I stood in the very centre of the car, rather useless when you want to lean against the wall and sleep (remember jetlag)).
The following day, we organised to meet up with my great uncle, Ross in town where he has some stables for horses that ride in Hyde Park. Apparently there are only three inner city stables in london now, His, one just nearby and a Royal Horse unit. The rest have been bought out and are now used as inner city houses. Following our visit, where we enjoyed a civil cup of English tea in the house above the Stables, Ross drove us around Hyde park with his dogs, we took a small walk and heard some of the history behind the big park. Later we went on to find the famous Harrods bumping into some other aussies heading in the same direction. I have to say we spent some time in the Food Court where it was pretty fancy! And then spent the rest in the two section. (we were just getting some presents for Allisons family...) THE TOYS THOUGH! OMG I wanted to be a kid again.. with 20,000 pounds to spare... I mean a toy hummer... with a CD player it was that big... (with a detachable face... :P) alternatively a nice convertable? Or some Harry Potter lego?
So that was fun... Next day it was all about the English version of an amusement park... At the end of winter. Fairly quiet and fairly cold.. especially when mixed with water! After getting some 7 of us in a 5 seater Land Rover, we took the drive out to a theme park not far from London Heathrow. Rides I can remember, an entirely inside roller coaster... so that its always in the dark.. (and backwards to come to think of it...) The Tidal wave! The silliest decision we made... Essentially think a log ride, then think tower of terror car sized boat, now think big bulldozer scoop on front of boat. Now think 100m slide into pool of water, now think 200ft wave, onto boat. Now think 10-15 degree day... (and cold water temp too).... Now think no one waiting to ride behind us so we go again.... Stupidity.... One bonus though, for 4 quid, you can get a giant body dryer going just outside the ride...
Then I was roped into a teacup ride, and later we went onto the resident farmyard, where we took a miny train, fed some goats and watched Tomas attempt to chase down and maybe kill some of the local geese, (which we were just waiting to fight back...).
Overall the day was tiring for most and Allison became a nice pillow for the kids in the back... Somehow I got the front seat... Marie was in the back too off to the right of the frame.
Now, hopefully you can see why I have been procrastinating, this takes a while!!!
(I have some 450 photos of London alone!)
By this stage I think we were getting a bit hungry and we decided to move out of the Tower, and onto some greener pastures. So we crossed the Tower bridge to find a bizarre monster. This monster is supposed to be the amount of major appliances a person goes through in their lifetime. From lightbulbs to ovens to Dishwashers rather bizarre really.
After resting on the grass for a period, we made our way along the Thames, past the new London Bridge, (since the old one burnt down in the childhood jingle). Through some back streets to find shakespeare's globe theatre.
It was getting late at this stage and the night could still get a little chilly so we looked into crossing the Thames and finalising our sightseeing. We crossed the river on the Millennium bridge which lead us straight up to St Peters Cathedral.
The train was caught and we went to another of Allisons families away from home, Marie, Keith and Tomas's house. (See how the train has a rounded roof, I couldn't stand up inside the train unless I stood in the very centre of the car, rather useless when you want to lean against the wall and sleep (remember jetlag)).
The following day, we organised to meet up with my great uncle, Ross in town where he has some stables for horses that ride in Hyde Park. Apparently there are only three inner city stables in london now, His, one just nearby and a Royal Horse unit. The rest have been bought out and are now used as inner city houses. Following our visit, where we enjoyed a civil cup of English tea in the house above the Stables, Ross drove us around Hyde park with his dogs, we took a small walk and heard some of the history behind the big park. Later we went on to find the famous Harrods bumping into some other aussies heading in the same direction. I have to say we spent some time in the Food Court where it was pretty fancy! And then spent the rest in the two section. (we were just getting some presents for Allisons family...) THE TOYS THOUGH! OMG I wanted to be a kid again.. with 20,000 pounds to spare... I mean a toy hummer... with a CD player it was that big... (with a detachable face... :P) alternatively a nice convertable? Or some Harry Potter lego?
So that was fun... Next day it was all about the English version of an amusement park... At the end of winter. Fairly quiet and fairly cold.. especially when mixed with water! After getting some 7 of us in a 5 seater Land Rover, we took the drive out to a theme park not far from London Heathrow. Rides I can remember, an entirely inside roller coaster... so that its always in the dark.. (and backwards to come to think of it...) The Tidal wave! The silliest decision we made... Essentially think a log ride, then think tower of terror car sized boat, now think big bulldozer scoop on front of boat. Now think 100m slide into pool of water, now think 200ft wave, onto boat. Now think 10-15 degree day... (and cold water temp too).... Now think no one waiting to ride behind us so we go again.... Stupidity.... One bonus though, for 4 quid, you can get a giant body dryer going just outside the ride...
Then I was roped into a teacup ride, and later we went onto the resident farmyard, where we took a miny train, fed some goats and watched Tomas attempt to chase down and maybe kill some of the local geese, (which we were just waiting to fight back...).
Overall the day was tiring for most and Allison became a nice pillow for the kids in the back... Somehow I got the front seat... Marie was in the back too off to the right of the frame.
And tomorrow, On to the great Badminton of England!!! Think Horses, Dogs and big green grassy meadows!
Now, hopefully you can see why I have been procrastinating, this takes a while!!!
(I have some 450 photos of London alone!)
posted by Philip on 12:46 pm
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