London, part trois...

After two days of exploring, we were tired and slept in on Wednesday. Instead of returning to London, we walked to the Oxford University Museum of Natural Science and the Pitt Rivers Museum of Anthropology. They are co-located, free, and only two miles from home. (http://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/). We took the mini-tour and learned that the Pitt Rivers museum was started to study the development of various civilizations to better understand ours. Matthew was intrigued by the shrunken heads (I did not include a photo as they are disgusting.) There are so many items on display that we will be making many return trips.

We walked past our doctor's office. Very '40ish.

Matthew entering the Museum of Natural History.

After the museums, we walked to St. Giles Street (pronounced Jiles) to eat at the Eagle and Child Pub. This pub was affectionately known as the Bird and Baby by the Inklings (C.S. Lewis, J.R.R.Tolkein and Charles Williams were the core members). Matthew and I had fish and chips. Lori had the chicken pie.

We ate in the conservatory. Fish and chips with non-alcoholic ginger beer.

Matthew has a new favorite drink. Ginger beer is a like a cross between ginger ale and root beer.
(Read the sign behind his head.)

The Inklings corner.

Plaque in the corner.

This looks like a page from a guest book.

http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/themes/92/92544.html

On Thursday, we once again boarded the bus for London. Our single goal on this trip was to explore Westminster Abbey. We arrived before the 1:30 opening time so we ate lunch and walked down Whitehall Street from Parliament to Trafalgar Square and back.

A mounted guard has been posted on Whitehall Street for over 300 years.

Lord Horatio Nelson defeated Napoleon's fleet and died at the Battle of Trafalgar.

There was a lot of security around 10 Downing Street.

We were surprised to find a statue of Abraham Lincoln in Parliament Square.

Walking through Westminster Abbey was impressive. I have never seen so many sculptures in one place. Since we couldn't take any photos inside, you will have to visit the website to see where all of the English sovereigns are buried and many others have memorials on display to them. The tomb of the unknown soldier is near the exit. I was impressed by the sheer amount of history represented here (http://www.westminster-abbey.org/).

My gorgeous wife and handsome son at Westminster Abbey.

As always, we ended the day with cream tea (tea, scone, jam, and clotted cream) in Victoria before riding the bus back to Oxford. Since we arrived at the bus stop early, Matthew could sit in the front row on the top deck of the bus.

London, part deux...

The Oxford Tube is a 24 hour bus service that operates between Oxford and London. During peak periods of the day, a bus departs in each direction every 12 minutes. During the night, a bus departs every 30 minutes. We were surprised how full the buses are most of the time.

On Tuesday, we caught the 8 am bus from the Oxford park-and-ride to London. Traffic was relatively light and we made the trip in good time but were too late to catch the Big Bus Waking tour from Trafalgar Square. We got off at the first Victoria stop, right across from the Big Bus Tour office to ask for suggestions, because we wanted to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. They were not very helpful so we set off to the palace (only 2 blocks away) on our own.

We arrived at the palace and found a spot right next to the fence. Although the angle we were looking through the metal bars made it difficult to see, we hoped to catch some of the ceremony.

Our tour bus driver told us that this is the less busy season. It seemed busy to us!

Some guests of honor for the ceremony. I think that they were Polish army officers. This one seems to be taking our photo.

Our view of the palace 30 minutes before the changing of the guard. Not a bad spot?

A nice gentleman let Matthew stand next to fence but as soon as the music started, everyone pressed him against the fence. One guy actually squeezed right in front of me and was pressing Matthew against the wall while he tried to take pictures. The families near the fence lifted their children on their shoulders until we could not see anything.

The crowd that gathered around us. Yes, there is a band in this photo. They are marching from Whitehall to the palace.

A second band arrived.

The two units inside the palace parade ground.

The crowd became so obnoxious, and Matthew could not breath, so we left. (We couldn't see anything anyway.) Feeling more confident now, we looked for an Underground station to head for the London Bridge area of the city.

A view of Buckingham Palace as we walked.

The "small" crowd on beautiful autumn day.

We found the Green Park Underground station. What steep escalators.

The train cars are smaller than the Washington D.C Metro. There is just enough room for us to face each other with a walking aisle in between us. The stations are maze-like, too. To exit, you have to walk through several train platforms to find an escalator or stairs.

We rode the Underground to the London Bridge Station and visited Churchill's Britain at War to see how the people in London experienced World War II. It was a unique way to see the war from the view of families and non-combatants. Afterwards, we had lunch at a French bistro across the street. Our grilled ham and cheese sandwiches had the cheese on the outside of the bread.

Matthew at the dress-up area. Gas Attack Matthew.

Air Raid Warden Matthew. This is his Winston Churchill pose, minus the cigar.

Sailor Matthew.

We caught the Big Bus Tour bus for the short ride over the Tower Bridge to catch the Thames River boat tour. The boat took us up the river to Westminster, near the London Eye.

On the top deck of the boat with the Tower Bridge.

The Tower of London. The square center section was build by William the Conqueror in the 11th century and houses the crown jewels.

The London Eye.

Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. The large chimneys (right) are on the top of the new Parliament Office Building.

The pier for the boat tour was near the Parliament Office building and directly across the river from the London Eye. We walked over the bridge and waited about 30 minutes in the queue to buy tickets. We then walked outside and right into our capsule. I think the ticket wait was longer than the 30 minute ride. At the top, we were 135 meters high and could see approximately 25 miles!

The Eye is suspended over the River Thames (pronounced Tems).

Higher than Big Ben!

Lori near the top.

Matthew at the top.

At the top. Parliament and the City of Westminster is on the right.

The bank opposite Big Ben.

More information re: the EDF London Eye here - http://www.londoneye.com/ExploreTheLondonEye/InterestingFacts/Default.aspx

With our feet back on the ground, we decided to go underground to Oxford Circus; the shopping district. The train took us to the very busy Oxford Street in front of the Selfridge store (founded by a man from Wisconsin) where the phrases, "The customer is always right," and "Only ___ days of shopping 'til Christmas," originated. We were tired so we didn't fight the rush hour crowds. We walked toward Victoria to find tea and our bus.

Rush hour on the Underground. We felt left out because everyone was reading papers and we didn't have one.

Success! We had tea in Piccadilly Circus near the Ritz Hotel. Matthew likes tea and scones.

Monday in London

Since I took this week as holiday (vacation), we spent last weekend shopping for necessities. On Saturday, we drove the 1.5 hours through 999 traffic circles to Milton Keynes and visited the downtown shopping center Poundland (Lori said that the U.K. needs a "Dollar Store" and shortly after we found a Poundland!) to buy clothes hangers, hand soap, etc...  We stopped at the nearby IKEA and had lunch (Swedish meatballs, of course) and picked up an inexpensive reading lamp and some decorations for the apartment. The IKEA store was huge and there was a ASDA (Wal-Mart) Supercentre next door. We wish this shopping area was closer. Oxford only has smaller stores.

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Matthew enjoying his Full English Breakfast.

Monday morning, we drove to the Thornhill Park-and-Ride in Oxford to catch the Oxford Tube to London Victoria. We bought a Tube 12 pass that gives us 12 adult trips (one way) to & from London. Matthew travels free. The pass will give us three round trips and is good for one year.  There was a lorry (truck) accident on the M40 so the bus driver took the back roads. The 1.5 hour trip took 3 hours. Even though the bus is very comfortable, we couldn't wait to get off. We had a full English breakfast at a little cafe next to the Big Bus Tours office. The breakfast consisted of ham, sausage, hash browns, baked beans, brown toast with butter and jam, cooked mushrooms, grilled tomato, and an egg, We skipped the black pudding (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_pudding); I was warned that it is a standard breakfast item here. Lori and I had some strong coffee and Matthew had still water.

Our coach is arriving at the Thornhill Park and Ride.

Matthew on the Oxford Tube.

We crossed the street and bought our Big Bus Tour tickets from the very pleasant tour guide on the sidewalk. We purchased the 48 hour ticket that gave us unlimited hop-on-hop-off bus privileges, the Thames River boat tour, and 4 walking tours. We spent the entire afternoon riding the tour bus through the City of Westminster, City of London, and the borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

Our heroes on the tour bus.

The Wellington Arch. The Duke of Wellington defeated Napoleon at Waterloo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Wellesley,_1st_Duke_of_Wellington

We had to get off the bus for a while. Here I am at the Baker Street bus stop with  Sherlock Holmes. Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum is in the background.

Lord Horatio Nelson defeated Napoleon's fleet at sea.

Big Ben clock tower at the Houses of Parliament. Big Ben is the name of the bell inside the tower. It rings on the hour only. The Chimes of Westminster rings every 15 minutes. 

St. Paul's Cathedral. Notice all of the police vehicles. There was a protest re: the economy going on the other side of the building.

Westminster Abbey.

After riding around for several hours, we left the bus and caught a famous black cab to Harrod's. The store is huge and has everything that anyone could want. Some of the prices were outrageous but others were reasonable. If the dollar were stronger in relation to the pound sterling, we might have purchased more.

Off the Big Bus...

....and into a very clean and roomy taxi cab.

Lori riding the Egyptian escalator in Harrod's.

At the bottom of the Egyptian escalator, we found this memorial to Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed.

Tea at Harrod's

After a short cab ride, we are back to the Oxford Tube and uneventful trip home.

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