Hampton Court

This is Hampton Court. This palace has two types of architecture. The Tudor part of the palace was started by Cardinal Wolsey and finished by Henry VIII. The Cardinal "gave" the place to Henry. The other part of the palace was built by William and Mary. William used the palace to get away from all the pollution in London. He had asthma. The idea was to make a mini-Versailles but wars and Mary's early death put a stop to that.

There are three free tours. A general tour of the palace, a tour of the Tudor part of and then a tour of the royal apartments of King William. All the tours are done by people in costume. But there are also real people from the time. They were really informative.








































































































































































Now this fine gentleman showed us around King William's apartments. As he said I am just a commoner. But dear friends I happen to know that the king is not in residence today so let's take a peek inside.

Hyde Park

These pictures are from Hyde Park on the beautiful Sunday. They include the Wellington Monument and Wellington Arch.

























































Taken from the observation area of the Arch.
























This is part of the New Zealand memorial.

Exterminate, Exterminate

Here are some pictures from the Dr. Who exhibit.

I know a little about what the new season will bring. I got to watch the first episode when I was in London last Saturday and then companion show that aired after it on BBC 3. Also I got some information from a newspaper article which I wished I remembered to bring back with me.

Rose is going to be back somehow. In fact she was in the first episode. Only for a few minutes and then she faded away. Sarah Jane will be back along with Martha Jones. We'll see the return of the Sontarans. The Daleks will be back too but the info on them was a little vague.

Lord of the Rings

Saturday night I went and saw Lord of the Rings.

There were some amazing effects in this show. Shelob oh that was a creepy scene. The balrog. Galadriel's appearance. The sets in general were very well done. The fight sequences were just amazing and very realistic. Several occasions the actors came out into the audience. In fact between acts two and three the orchs roamed the audience starring people down until they got a reaction from them.

There were some problems. Several roles were played by understudies. I'm not sure if that was a problem or not. The guy who played Sam was very good. In fact he looked like one of the guys from the movie the actor who ended up being in Lost. Gandalf was too strident he seemed less wise and just more pissed off. The elves were just strange. They talked in sort of this sing song voice and did these odd hand movements. It was sort of like tai chi on speed or voguing on Valium.

I'm glad I saw it. It was an experience and I had a great seat!

More pictures from the bus and boat

Original London Bus Tour

The London sight seeing tour I took on Saturday. You went a fairly fast pace so many places were more of a blur than anything else. At places that were really interesting, I always hoped we get a red light so I could take some better pictures. The really great thing about it was there was a free river cruise as well with the bus tour. So you got to see things from the top of a double decker bus and from the view point of the river. Two pretty unique ways of seeing London.

More from the British Museum

The British Museum

The incomparable, the incredible and the amazing British Museum

Piccadilly Circus

I have to say this is one of the few times that I was in Piccadilly when it wasn't crowded.

















This is just a beautiful statue that is right off the Circus.

First Stop Mamma Mia Tickets

I decided that, if everything about arriving went well, I'd see a show.

I thought the perfect way to start would be to see Mamma Mia.

I went down and got a ticket to the 5pm Friday performance. the theater was packed. As with every production there are differences. I thought this production was a little bawdier then other ones I've seen.

The big difference was that no one got up for the encores. I sat through Mamma Mia. No one got up. Then came Dancing Queen. No one got up. Well once Waterloo rolled around I decided I had to put a stop to this. I got up and slowly but surely so did about 2/3 of the audience in the stalls (that's what they call the orchestra section).

Here Come the Pictures

I'm going to start posting pictures from the trip. I'm also going to add some additional commentary on what I did each day.

First off about the flight over. It went well. It was not completely full which was nice. I got a pair of noise reducing headphones from a friend. I got them the morning I left. I didn't listen to any music on the flight over but I did watch a movie. I used the head phones to listen to. The difference they make is incredible.

The flight arrived about an hour early. The line at customs was long but moved really well. The one thing I will say is that once I got off the flight I really needed to find a bathroom. It was a very long walk to customs and I couldn't find a bathroom on the way at all or maybe I just missed them. Anyway there was one at the customs area.

Once I cleared customs I found an ATM machine and used my card. I did this to make sure I could actually get money. The guy in front of me had problems so I went to another machine. It worked just fine. I thought since I was at Heathrow and that it has a train station I'd go and see if I could get my train tickets for the two day trips I was going to take. No such luck. So I got my Oyster Card and headed off for the B&B.

I took the Piccadilly Line and then transferred to the Northern Line at Leicester Square. The Piccadilly Line's finally destination was Cockfosters. Only in England. I didn't have any problems getting to the B&B. My trip now officially started.

Pictures of the trip, Olympic Torch Relay

I was going to post pictures in order, but, in light of all the news about the Olympic Torch Relay, I decided to post some pictures of the relay that I went to on Sunday. I hope to get some video up about it later in the week. Here they are.

Best Send Off Possible

I saw Hairspray tonight. Wow. What a great send off to what has to be one of the best vacations possible.

I'm heading off to bed and will be back in the States tomorrow. I hope to start posting pictures in the next couple of days. And there are a great many pictures to post.

I'm going to give myself a pat on the back for coming here and planning such a great trip.

All I can say is WOW!!

Great Last Day

Wow what a great last day. I made a quick trip to Little Venice. It is a really cool place. You can take a canal boat trip to the London Zoo. On another day I would have spent more time there but it was a little too cold.

I headed back to the British Museum. I discovered several galleries I hadn't even seen yet. They were very cool. I then went down to get a ticket to Hairspray. I got a £60 plus ticket for £25.

From there I decided to go to Buckingham Palace. I got there just in time to see the end of the changing of the guard. I then went to the Queen's Gallery. The exhibit was called Amazing Rare Things. They were rare indeed. It was a very impressive collection. You got an audio tour included in the price of admission.

Then I went back to my favorite restaurant Rez's Italiana at 17-21 Tavistock Street, Covent Garden. I had once again another great meal.

This indeed has been a truly wonderful trip. The weather except for two days was fantastic. Several of the days were actually warm. I saw just about everything I'd planned on. A couple places I decided not to go to simply because I thought they cost too much. That is something you have to get used to when you come to London just about every attraction costs money to get into.

Well I'm going to take a little nap, finish up packing and then head out to Hairspray.

Cheers

The Story of the Bobbies

This is a very funny story. I was heading down to the National Gallery yesterday morning. There were needless to say many police around because of the torch relay. Well there were two groups of two walking my way. One of them decided to have some fun with the snow that had fallen. He made a snowball and tossed it at one of the guys in the other group. There was some back and forth and the snowball thrower and his partner went ahead of the other two.

There was a slight bend in the road and the one Bobbie made another snowball and was going to ambush the other guys who trailed behind. The two bobbies who trailed behind were very wary when they rounded the corner. One of them took a wide berth of the corner(he ended up getting hit with the snowball). The other one hugged the wall of a building. It was very funny.

What a Day

I got to see the Olympic Torch relay. I also got to see several people arrested and very scattered anit-China pro-Tibet protests. Several people got into the fountains at Trafalgar Square. It was snowing and you could tell they were freezing. There was a large contingent of Chinese there with banners in Chinese supporting the Olympics. Some of the signs talked about One Dream.

There were a couple of pro-Tibet protesters across the way from me. They were spoted by the police and a couple of policemen showed up behind them. I will say that when the pro-China people got pushy with the ant-China people the police immediately stepped in and broke it up. One policeman very aggressively pushed one pro-China guy back.

I got some really great video which I hope to upload at some point.

I went to the National Gallery and the wandered around for awhile. I went back to the London Eye and went up in it. I thought it would be really cool to get pictures of London at night. It wasn't completely dark but it was very cool.

I have a funny story to relate about two groups of bobbies and the snow fall of today but that will have to wait until tomorrow.

A Snowy Day in London

Yes, I woke up this morning and it was snowing. It will probably snow for a good part of the morning. I'm going to try and see the Olympic torch relay but not sure exactly what the weather will do to the plans for the relay.

I went out for a long walk last night. I went down Shaftsbury Avenue to Piccadilly wandered over to Leicester Square and then ended up in Covent Garden and the took a long meandering walk back to the B&B. It was starting to get cold but there were still lots of people around. I started back to the B&B just as all the theaters started letting out.

It was a nice fun low key night.

Dr. Who Season 4, Episode 1

I get to see most of the first episode of the new season of Dr. Who tonight on BBC 1. Then right after that on BBC 3 Dr. Who confidential. The episode was really great. This brings back the runaway bride, Donna Noble, from a few seasons ago. They keep missing each other in the episode but finally see each other at the most in opportune time. It was a really good episode.

I took a nap this afternoon and feel better. I went down to Covent Garden and wandered around there. Watched several performers one who juggled among other things a chain saw. I ate Chinesse. The meal was good the service was not. In general it seems that restaurants here don't know exactly what to do with a person eating by themselves. The exception has been the really good Italian place I've had dinner twice before going off t the theater.

The Olympic torch is town and is going to be in a relay through London tomorrow. I might try and see it but there might be way too many people. As we say in my family, we'll see.

Kensington Palace

I went to Kensington Palace this morning that was Diana's residence. The grounds were very pretty and I got to see some cherry blossoms. The palace was first used by William and Mary. It was also were Queen Victory grew up. She came to the palace once it was figured out that she would be the next queen.

The weather is a little colder today. But there are still patches of sun here and there. I've headed back to the B&B. I picked up lunch from Pret which is this great sandwich place. I got dinner form them last night. I'm a little tired today so I think I might eat and take a short nap and then head out again. I will say that figuring out lunch is sort of a pain. I found that it is easier to eat on the run. You loose too much time if you sit down at a place.

A couple of quick observations. It seems that England had been invaded by French high school students. I noticed them one of the days I was in the British Museum. They were all over the place at Bath. I have to say not all that well behaved either. Then again they are high school students. I will say there never seemed to be many adults around. The kids seemed to have free rein.

A couple more things on Spamalot. Some of the jokes did not go over like the line that goes will be shoot by Michael Moore. I think not many people in Britain know who he is. One funny thing is that at the very end of the show the actor playing King Arthur muffed one of his lines. He carried on but both he and the actress playing the Lady of the Lake had a hard time not breaking up.

The trip is winding down. I've seen just about everything I've wanted to. The weather could not have been better. The shows have been great. I might try and see one more show Monday night. There are a couple of places I want to go back to: British Museum, National Gallery, Covent Garden. I might try and get in a visit to Buckingham Palace but that's more of a maybe.

Right now I need to eat lunch.

Fun Friday

I went to the Science Museum yesterday. A very interesting place. Lots of hands on exhibits. In one you were the energy minister for a fictional country. You had to decide which forms of energy to use to meet the power demands of the citizens. You had your job for 25 years. There would be messages from time to time from the prime minister charting your progress. Sometimes you'd get a good message that the form of power plant you selected say wind went over well. Other times the minister would ask what you were doing because people were up in arms over what you'd done.

Then I went over to the Natural History Museum. The building is very ornate and beautiful. Many interesting things to see there. The formation of the earth, rocks, fossils and of course dinosaurs.

Then I just wandered around going into shops and looking. Buying was sort of out of the question. Then I bought a sandwich and had dinner in Leicester Square. I thought well I'll just go home and make it an early night. I went by the half price ticket place just to see what was there. They had Spamalot tickets. I thought no. So I sat down and had dinner. I looked at my watch it was 15 minutes before 7 and I thought what the hell. It turns out the show wasn't until 8:30 (some shows has like a 5pm maitntee on Fridays and so the evening show is later). So I had time to dash back take a shower and get down and see the show. It was very funny as always.

I'm way behind in journal entries I think I'm just going to do bullet points from now on.

I'm heading off to Kensington Palace. Then I'm not sure what I'm going to do. The weather has turned a little colder but the sun is still out.

Thursday Night

I had a nice little rest. I headed out for dinner had it at the same Italian place where I ate the other night. It has some really good food. I had dessert this time. Oh my oh my.

Then it was off to see the Lion King. It was enjoyable. It certainly is a spectacle. A very imaginative way to stage the whole thing. Of course the opening number Circle of Life with the "animals" walking down the aisle certainly makes it open with a bang. Some of the additional songs I thought didn't measure up to the original material but then again you sort of have to expect that.

The audience certainly enjoyed it. They applauded after the intro by the orchestra. One thing that I have noticed that British audiences do not seem to give standing ovations. There was no question that people loved it but very few people stood up. I think there would have been a differnt reaction in the States.

Afterwards I took a slow walk up toward home. London was a busy place Thursday night at 11.

Since I did so much yesterday I'm going to take it a little easy today. I'm going to go to the Science Museum and maybe Natural History. Then do a little shopping well more like looking since prices are high here. It looks like this will be the last full day of warm weather. It is supposed to turn cold over the weekend but I'm not sure exactly how cold. Guess I'll find out.

Steps and Steps to the Top of St. Paul's

It is 434 steps 85 meters to the Golden Gallery at St. Pauls' Catherdral. That's what I did this morning. It was a lot easy the last time I did it but then again that was 20 years go.

It is a very beautiful cathedral. The views from the top are amazing. I took some really good pictures from the top or at least as far to the top as you can get. I got there soon after it opened so there were very few people there. There are needless to say many many steps. The passage ways are not very high nor are they very wide. Some of the stairs are in a tight spiral and that made me a little dizzy.

From there I walked across the Millennium Bridge to Tate Modern. I spent a little time there. Then walked down the Thames. I went up in Tower Bridge. It was really interesting to get to the top of the bridge and look down on London. It was still early and I decided that I'd go on to the Tower of London. Got a guided tour by a Beefeater. Then wandered around. There were hardly any people there so getting into see the Crown Jewels was very easy.

I've headed back to the B&B to get a little rest. It was another sunny day until mid afternoon when it clouded over. Supposedly over the weekend it is going to get colder. I have to say that the weather has been fantastic. I couldn't have asked for anything better.

I'm going to take a little rest then head out for dinner and the Lion King.

A Small World in London

I had a great time at Bath. The range of history in one place is breath taking. More about that a little later.

Here's what happened to me. I was waiting at Paddington Station to take the train to Bath. I notice this guy in a very loud shirt. It seemed really out of place. Most everyone else looked like they were traveling, like me, or on the way to work. His shirt had very bright blue, purple and pink vertical strips. His hair was all spiked up too. It looked more like he was going for a night on the town. He was also very big. His arms were probably larger than my thighs are. My point is he stood out. More about that later.

I go to Bath. Have a really good time. The Roman Baths are really cool. The source of water is the same source that was used in Roman times. The size of the complex ishuge. Only a small part of it has been uncovered. The are still doing work on excavating it.

The cathedral is fantastic and you can take pictures in it. A high school group from Rochester Minn. no less sang there. They were very good. I also there was a great street band that played jazz. They looked like high school age. I'm very glad I brought my video camera.

I'm on my way home. I'm walking down Gower Street. A few doors from the Jesmond a couple of guys come out from another B&B. And in it's a small world after all it is the same guy that I saw at Paddington Station in the morning. He'd changed clothes. I wasn't sure at first but you don't forget a guy that is that big and his hair was a dead give away.

I think wow small world. I go in take a shower go off and wonder around Goodge Street have dinner. I'm heading back to the B&B and who do I see again walking up Gower Street but this guy again. What are the odds in a city of this size for that to happen three times in like 9 hours.

British Museum

I went back to the British Museum on my way down to see 39 Steps. Took my camera this time. I got shots of some of the things that I missed the last time. One small problem with the camera is that it got set to manual instead of automatic. I'm not sure how some of the pictures I took will come out.

I did figure out that I could use my video camera and film some of the objects in the museum that the still camera couldn't catch. I can then make still photos out of the video pictures that I like.

In general I think I could spend a couple of days just in the British Museum. That's why I like where I'm staying so much it so close to the museum. It is also close to central London. It is about a 20 minute walk down to Piccadilly.

Once again last night Piccadilly was full of people. This is really a great place to visit.

I have to figure out how to get to Paddington station so I can take the train to Bath. I probably won't post again until tomorrow.

Cheers

More on the 39 Steps

Just a quick couple of things on 39 Steps. Near the end of the show all four actors are on stage. The bad guy is about to shoot another of the characters. A hand parts the curtain and shoots the bad guy. The bad guy and the rest of the cast looks completely stunned. The bad guy then goes this was supposed to be a four actor play.

At one point they are on a train, one of the actors is playing a policeman looking for the main character. But he's also playing the train conductor. He switched hats back and forth as he plays each character. There's at least one sight gag in each scene. It was just a very very funny play.

39 Steps; First Rate and Very Funny

Saw the 39 Steps tonight at the Criterion Theater. It was hysterical. There were four actors and they played all of the parts. I'll post more about it tomorrow. THe play starts with a blank stage and the props are very minimum. A picture frame is used for a window and they're held by the actors. It was just very very funny.

I need to head off to bed. Tomorrow I'm heading off to Bath.

Wee Bit of a Rest

I took a little nap and feel much better. I'm ready to head out again. I'm going to drop by the British Museum (I have to say I love writing that) and then head on to 39Steps tonight.

A couple of things to note the @ on a keyboard is above ' not 3. It took me awhile to find that I had to ask the guy at the Jesmond about that.

I got a blister on one of my toes (which is a huge surprise seeing how much walking I'm doing) so I put a plaster on it. See if you can figure out what that is.

I'm hoping that there won't be a diversion on the road on the way to the museum.

And of course you need to make sure to mind the gap while getting off the Tube.

Tate and Westminster

Another full day here in London. I headed off for the Tate. Took the Tube there. It is sort of in an out of the way place.

I went there mostly to see the Turners. They were of course spectacular. They had an exhibit on his water colors and they were incredible. I bought a couple of post cards. I stayed for about an hour and looked around and decided it was time to go.

I then headed out to Westminster. I was going to go into the Houses of Parliament but there was a wait to get in so I headed over to the Abbey. I got the audio tour which was narrated by Jeremy Irons. Very informative. I stayed there for about an hour. There were again a great many people there. I have to wonder what it is like during high season.

I then walked down White Hall. I walked past Downing Street and past the horse guard and up to Trafalgar Square. I grabbed a quick bite for lunch and headed to Piccadilly and took the Tube back to the B&B.

I still have 39 Steps tonight. But I'm going to take a little rest. I might stop by the British Museum on the way down to the dinner and then the show.

Oh and the weather continues to be great. It started out overcast but then it cleared up. It is bright and sunny. I didn't bring an umbrella thinking I'd buy won here but so I've really not needed it.

Another Day in London Town

A few more words about Hampton Court. The guided tours were great. There were three in all. One was a general tour of the castle. One was a Tudor Tour. One was of King Williams' apartments. Each was done by someone in costume of the the period. They were also actual people from the time period.

In the final tour half way through your guides are switched. We got into the King's apartments because he was not in residence. Our guide was a commoner and under normal circumstances would not have dared show us this rooms but he could because the king was out. He told us that even when the king was away you still bowed to the throne. At one point my back was to the throne and our guide comments one does not put ones ass toward the throne. I assume sir you must be from the colonies.

As I said Waterloo station was just full of people. I had to use the bathroom so it cost 20p to pee at Waterloo.

The weather again held for the day a few drops but no real rain. When I got back into London I went up in the London Eye. It gives you some really great views of the city. And it never stops except if someone is handicapped needs to be helped off. It means that you board your capsule while it is moving.

I came back did a quick change and headed out again. I ate at a very good Italian place. It was right next door to Phantom. It was great to see it again in the theater I saw to so many years a go. And it is rather small. The stage is not anywhere near as large as the one at the Kennedy Center. It isn't as wide or as deep. But then again this theater is rather old in comparison. So some of the staging was different. It was very good.

I'm off to Tate Britain in a little while followed by Westminster and Parliament.

I'm getting good use out of my Oyster card most days my final trip on the Tube are free.