April 3, 2010 (Saturday)

Bummer, it’s another dreary, rainy, cold, wet day outside! Have breakfast at the hotel, and then, armed with instructions for taking the “tube” to Big Ben from the hotel proprietor, we head out. Before going to the tube, we go to British Museum to take a few outside pictures. We then found the tube stop on our way for a “walk-a-bout” to see the traditional sites.

We arrived at the Big Ben tube stop and what do you know? The sun popped out! Yea! Thank you God. We really needed a weather break. We’ve got blue sky for pictures of Big Ben and Parliament. We first get a shot of the World’s Fair ferris wheel on the bank of the river.

We tried to take self portraits at Big Ben by holding the camera out ourselves with some very funny results, but finally got a good one. Well, we got some good laughs out of that process.

We then walked over to Westminster Abbey. What a magnificent church! There’s been an operating church on this spot for over 1000 years. The architecture is intricate and just aesthetically perfect. We spent several hours until lunch time in the Abbey. Pictures were not allowed inside, so these are scans of postcards.

As we were leaving, I asked a guard if he knew of a good place for lunch close by. He recommended the Albert Pub on Victoria Street which he said was about a 5 minute walk. So, we had our “English pub experience,” and the meal was quite good. Jerry had Italian chicken and I had a Caesar salad.

After lunch at The Albert pub, we headed off to find the “tube” system again to go to the Tower. Some of the tube lines are not working today so we had to get instructions for an alternate route. We finally got to the Tower and walked around taking pictures. We decided not to do the tour. The day has turned off pretty, so we’re happy to be outside looking at the Tower and Tower Bridge.

On the way back to the tube station, we stopped at the Fire Monument (the monument on Pudding Street where the great London fire started at a bakery). Jerry climbed the 311 steps to the top while I sat outside at a sidewalk café. I just didn’t think I could make that climb at this point in the day. Jerry loved it and took lots of pictures from the top.

Off to the tube again and back to the hotel. After freshening up, we headed over to TAS Restaurant for dinner which was delicious again. Jerry had some great rice pudding for dessert! We went across the street to a Baskin Robbins and bought a bottle of diet Coke and then back up to the room to “charge up” everything.

I paid our hotel bill and asked about arranging a taxi for the next morning to the chunnel for our train to Paris at St. Pancreas station. The hotel tells us getting a cab will be “no problem” in the morning, and they will help us catch one. So, off to bed.

Out with the “pounds” and in with the “Euros.”

April 2, 2010 (Friday)

Up at 7:00 am for breakfast at the hotel, which was pretty good for British food. With instructions from the proprietor to get to the “tube” (London’s subway), we headed off to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the Guard.

It’s a cold, windy, rainy, blustery morning. Seems a typically British day. While waiting next to the iron fence at the palace, we met a nice family from Boca Raton, Florida (he’s an ophthomologist) with two children. When the guards started the changing processional, we let the kids stand in front of us so they could see. The ceremony was very intricate. I need to do some research to find out what all those maneuvers mean. After the changing of the guard, we took a few pictures of the palace and the Victory Monument.

After the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, we tried to find lunch, but it’s Good Friday of Easter weekend, so lots of places are closed. Since the day was rainy and cold, we thought to do the Big Red Bus Tour of the city. We tried to find the Big Red Bus Co. on foot but gave up and took a taxi. The taxi dropped us off at the Big Red Bus Co. office, where inside a manager, Peter,  was very helpful with information on options for the tour and how to maximize our time.

After getting our tickets, we ate lunch at a little place recommended by Peter, the City Harvest. We had a delicious sandwich and some beans.

After lunch we got on the Big Red Bus and stayed on for the whole tour. The bus had a ½ cover so we were able to stay dry. Our guide was very funny and found out where everybody was from “in the world.” When we said New Orleans, he started talking about the Saints and said he stayed up to watch the Superbowl game, which for him was at 3:00 AM, and he took the next day off from work. There were people from Eygpt, Mexico, Sylvania, Belgium, Norway, America. What an interesting mix of people. What an international city!

After the tour, we attempted to eat at the Hard Rock Café but the line was too long so we ate at a “Pret-A-Manger” sandwich/coffee shop. Jerry had a Swedish meatball sandwich and I had chicken salad. Then we took the tube back to the hotel. Jerry was able to use the computer for a while in our hotel’s tiny, little lobby, while I searched the TV channels for news about the potential train strike. I learn to my relief that the train strike has been averted, so we’ll have no trouble getting the Chunnel to Paris.

Here is a video of the London action.

April 1, 2010 (Thursday)

After an all night flight, we have arrived at Gatwick airport in London at 7:00 am. We will have to push through the time change fog our brains are in and pretend we are at the beginning of a new day after a good night’s sleep. (Not!)  Because of construction at the airport, we have to take a shuttle bus to the Gatwick Express train. Caught the train to Victoria Station, then a cab to our hotel by around 9 am, so about two hours to get from airport to hotel.

Jean had found a nice little boutique hotel named Morgan Hotel on Bloomsbury Street right around the corner from the British Museum. We were rushing to try to get on to the British Library, which required taking a bus. The proprietor was very nice and offered us a cup of tea, which was exactly what we needed after the long transatlantic flight.

After tea, we stowed away our luggage with the hotel proprietor and headed a few blocks away to catch the No. 73 bus, which would take us to the British Library. Unfortunately, the “73” was not running its normal route because of road construction, so we couldn’t catch it. A bus driver told us we should take the “29” bus instead, which turned out to be a major misdirection. We ended up at a public library (not the British Library), so we asked the lady at the desk how to get to the British Library. This lady was so kind! She literally walked us to the correct bus stop.

Finally, we arrived at the British Library! Jerry was so excited to see the Sinaiticus and Alexandrinus Greek manuscripts, the original Beatles lyrics, etc. The only negative at the Library was that NO photos are allowed, not even without flash, which was very disappointing and tough for the camera bug!

After finishing our quick but fun tour of the Library, we got a quick lunch at the museum and then caught the bus back to the hotel. That journey was also a little difficult since we have to determine which side of the street to catch the bus going the right direction and then have to know exactly where to get off. Fortunately, the bus went right down our hotel’s street of Bloomsbury, and we just happened to see our little hotel entrance and got off just in time! Whew!

We retrieved our luggage and finally checked into our room. After getting arranged, we then headed off to the British Museum, which was just two blocks down the street! (Jerry says way to go Jean. You are a great travel agent!)

The British Museum was wonderful and full of such amazing things. Unlike the British Library, pictures were allowed, so that was a huge relief to Jerry, because one of his main academic objectives for the trip is accumulating an archive of museum pictures for use in his classroom presentations.

Jerry gets pictures of Assyrian reliefs documenting the story of the capture of the Jewish city of Lachish:

The famous Rosetta Stone allowing archeologists to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics for the first time:

After finishing at the British Museum, we went to the TAS Restaurant (a Turkish restaurant) right next door to our hotel to end our long day (really two days straight since leaving New Orleans). It was very good!