One nice thing about the hotel that Kellee found, it was less than a mile from the Brent Cross station, so the hotel shuttled us there. The four boys ready for the days adventure!!!
Michael and AJ on the train and ready to go to London!!!
So who goes to London and doesn't get their picture in one of their red phone booths!!! It was a must do!!!
And yes we had to get in on the action too!!!!
We headed to Trafalgar Square to start our adventures. It is the center for national rejoicing, assemblies and rallies of various causes. The present square was laid out between 1840-1845. The square commemorates the famous victory at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805 against Napoleon. The Nelson Column, on top of which is the Admiral that died in the battle, is one of London's most famous landmarks. Around the base are four bronze panels depicting his naval victories.
You can see one of the battles behind AJ and the lion. The four bronze lions are made from recycled cannons from the French fleet.
Who doesn't love a big blue statue of a rooster. It is called Hahn/Cock. It is 15 1/2 feet tall and weighs over 1,760 lbs. And I am still not sure why it is there but hey who am I to judge. :-)
The four boys in front of the cool fountains in the square.
There were two guys that were painting all the flags of the world, so each boy put a coin on a flag. Michael chose the USA flag and AJ the Canadian one for our neighbors. Then Jack chose the Belgium one since that is where they are living and Joey Australia for our Australian friends!
Then we headed onto our bus tour. We chose the Big Red Bus one and it was great!!!
We drove by here, they stand guard on their horses every day, all day. I knew they had a lot of "guards" in London, but I can't believe how many there are that are really just standing around, just wondering if it is more for the tourists than anything.
We got off the bus and walked over the bridge and stopped to look at the London Eye - it is an impressive sight!!
These guys were all along the bridge, it is the old game of guess where the ball is. They were betting 20 pounds per guess (almost $40). I wondered how many of the people winning were plants. But it was fun to watch them.
Then the mighty Big Ben! Everybody knows this sight because it is so well known. The official name of it is St Stephen's Tower. The most widely accepted theory of how it came to be known as Big Ben is that it was named after Sir Benjamin Hall, the commissioner of works at the time of the clock tower's construction. It occupies 40 square feet and stands at a height of 320 feet. The clock faces are 23 feet in diameter with the minute hands 14 feet and the hour hands 9 feet.
Big Ben's most important aspect is its symbolic status. The light above the clock shines whenever the Parliament is in session, indicating the continued functioning of the British government. This was particularly notable during the Battle of Britain in the early days of WWII as the clock remained undamaged and continued to operate in defiance of the endless waves of German bombing waves.
This is one of the walls of Parliament next to Big Ben - just amazing all the intricate details and the glass. An interesting fact, Sir William Wallace was tried and sentenced to death here.
The top of Parliament with the British flag waving.
The guards just chilling
You can see the London Eye behind Big Ben
This is ST Margaret's Church, better known as Westminster Abbey. This building was consecrated in 1523 but is the third on this site. It is still in use for worship and recitals for music.
This is the back side of the church. We decided not to go inside this one and save the boys for other tours. :-)
This is the Sovereign's Entrance. It is used by Her Majesty the Queen when arriving for the state Opening of Parliament and other royal functions at the Palace of Westminster. They are in the middle of some construction on it to take it back to more of its original state.
This is a statue of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. That is one thing they LOVE is their statues, there are statues all over the place.
Next we took a short cut to the palace through Hyde Park which is one of the biggest parks in London. AJ thought this stump was pretty cool! Hyde Park used to be a royal hunting ground. When people hopped the fence and poached they were executed.
There were a TON of squirrels in the park and they were looking for food! The boys started counting them and on our short walk I think they counted almost two dozen.
Then we made it to the palace. They only do the changing of the guards once a day this time of year and it was earlier in the day. But it was still cool checking it out. The queen was on vacation so you were able to take a tour, but we only had two days and had to pick and choose.
One of the gates - quite impressive!
Michael wasn't feeling the best. I think he was going through a growth spurt where he gets tired a lot easier, not the best time for one but thank goodness Daddy is so awesome and carried him. Michael actually fell asleep for awhile in his arms.
Behind the boys is Wellington Arch. It was built in 1825-1827 as part of a campaign to improve the royal parks. Intended as a victory arch proclaiming Wellington's defeat of Napoleon, it is crowned by the largest bronze sculpture in Europe, depicting the Angel of Peace descending on the four horsed chariot of war.
I just thought this was funny, police with scooters. Can you see getting pulled over by one of these?!?
I LOVE this picture and the expressions on both of their faces!!! It cracks me up!!! Michael's mischievous grin and David's resigned face.
Look out the rooster is on AJ's head!!
So they had these all over the place on the roads making sure you look the correct direction when you crossed.
I do have to say I had to think about it because you are so used to looking the opposite direction.
Then the boys were ready for a beer. They had been walking around all day and we all needed some refueling. We decided to go to the Sherlock Holmes Bar. The boys trying to make their choice.
They decided to try the Sherlock Holmes Ale and they both thought it was pretty good.
Us ladies needed a glass of wine also! A good break in the afternoon.
Then we headed off again and we were making fun of all the tour guides that had their umbrellas, or whatever they could hold up, so here Kellee is being our "guide!"
We headed back to see if we could catch the horses, but they were already gone, but the guards weren't so we took the opportunity to get our photos with them.
And my turn with the picture. I thought about putting my arm around him, but then decided that probably wasn't a good idea. :-)
This was just in the middle of a street. Again, another monument. This time it was to the women of WWII. Like I said, they LOVE their statues.
This is what they call their public bathrooms. I thought it was kind of funny.
After that we headed to our river cruise. It took us from Westminster Bridge up to the Tower of London. The river is 60 feet deep. It used to be shallower, but they made it deeper and not as wide to make it faster to keep it from freezing.
Along the way we saw many neat buildings with very different architecture.
The boys thought this was so cool!! First it was a pirate ship and second it could actually come out into the river!!
Then we saw the London Bridge!!! It was cool to see it from the water. It took them 8 years and 5 major contractors and labor of 432 construction workers to finish the bridge. There are 11,000 tons of steel for the framework for the towers and walkways. It only takes about a minute to raise the bridge.
AJ in front of the bridge!
Then we took the bus and headed back down river to go to the London Eye, it was one of the things we wanted to do. It took seven years and hundreds of people from five different countries until it was finally erected. It cost around 75 million Euros (over 100 million US dollars) to build it. However, it booked huge profits in the first few months and recovered the expenses. It takes about 30 minutes to make one revolution. It's total weight is 2100 tons with each capsule weighing about 10 tons. It is 445 feet high.
Headed up in the London Eye.
You can see just a few lights coming on, we hit it at the perfect time as we were going up, the sun was going down.
We saw a beautiful sunset from a great vantage point.!!
David and AJ with Parliament behind them starting to light up.
I am not sure if I like it better in the day or all lit up at night - It is impressive both ways.
The had tablets in each pod that showed you pictures of what you were seeing and told you some history. Michael was really getting into it and checking out the pictures!
The pod that was behind us to show you the size, there are four people on the left of the picture and three on the right.
Next to the London Eye is the London Dungeon. The boys really wanted to go in there, but it was really expensive and we were just plum running out of time. But we stopped for a photo op in front of it!
It is fully dark now with Big Ben all lit up!!!
Looking back at the skyline with the London Eye on the right. We headed for the nearest tube station so we could head back to the hotel from some dinner and rest.
One thing that is really funny is this - it is at every tube station. At this one in particular there was a live man saying this about 20 times each time a train came in and they come in every two minutes. So a six minute wait was excruciating. :-)
This was a poster in the station and this one is for David. It is Jack Daniels. It states that he never knew his birthday so the entire month of September seemed like a reasonable compromise. :-)
The boys each bought a Rubik cube with different pictures of the London landscape. It kept them busy on the 30 minute train ride home. It was a great and exhausting day!!! We were all ready for some time sitting down. We had a lovely dinner and then the girls planned the next day while the boys had another beer!
No comments:
Post a Comment