Tag Archive for 'England'

The Last Post…

Published on May 18, 2005 in Travel. 11 Comments Tags: England, Europe, London, toronto, Travel.

Well our journey which began what feels like a lifetime ago on March 21st is about to come to an end. This afternoon we catch a plane back to Toronto. We’re looking forward to seeing many of you in person, getting to sleep in our own bed, etc., but we’re also going to miss exploring new cities, seeing new sights and learning how to say “Can I have a beer” in another language.

Our last stop was back in London where it all began. We spent Monday in the British Museum which we had skipped our first time through and yesterday we hopped our last train for a while to Canterbury.

The British Musuem is much too big to see in one day however we got a good taste of it with a focus on Greek and Roman antiquities as we thought they’d resonant with us after our travels in Italy and Greece. Before we got into the museum however we encountered these great African sculptures made from decomissioned weapons…

Of course once we entered the museum our first stop was the Rosetta Stone probably it’s most famous treasure…

From there we wondered through the antiquities galleries paying particular attention to the frieze’s and statues from the Parthenon in Athens that were ‘acquired’ by Lord Elgin. The Greeks say they were ‘stolen’ as Elgin bought them from the Ottoman’s (who ruled Greece at the time and had for 400 years or so, but weren’t of course Greek) and want them back…

The museum is bursting at the seams with other great Egyptian, Babylonian, Greek and Roman treasure’s which I’m going to have to let speak for themselves if we don’t want to miss our plane…

George and I tried to figure out a way to heist this one of Bacchus as we thought it belonged in a bar rather than a museum…

We spent yesterday in Canterbury, setting for the Canterbury Tales and seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The catherdral house’s the grave of the only King Henry I think we missed at Westminster, Henry IV.

The place is most famous of course as the site where Thomas Becket was murdered on the orders of Henry II.

The most interesting thing to me however were these two towers at the western end. One was built in 1832 to replace a 1070 original, the other was built in 1434. Can you tell the difference? I couldn’t. The one on the left is the new one.

Beyond the Cathedral the town has lot’s of well preserved medieval buildings including the earliest Dominican monastery in England, and a hotel that Henry II gave to Thomas’ widow as penance after he had him whacked.

Back in London we grabbed a final pint at George’s favourite pub in Nottinghill…

Well, that’s it. We’re back to the ‘real world’ Thursday. Thanks for all of your comments and e-mails they really helped us feel that we were connected with everyone back home. Hope you enjoyed seeing the sights with us.

Until we rack up a few more frequent flyer miles and can come back….

Cheers,

Mark & Ali

~5,000 years in 12 hours

Published on March 26, 2005 in Travel. 7 Comments Tags: Bath, England, Europe, London, Stonehenge, Travel, Windsor.

Yesterday we took a bus trip to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath. The trip covered about 5,000 years of British history in about 12 hours.

We started at Windsor Castle, the Queen’s main digs. They make Buckingham Palace look like a bit of a dump by comparison, I can see why she likes to spend most of her time there. Our guide told us that the entire royal family was there for the Easter weekend however we were not invited to tea.

We then toured the very picturesque town of Windsor where I think the highlight was this crooked tea room.

We stopped in at an old thatch roofed pub for lunch and then on to Stonehenge.

After the mystical Stonghenge of ~2,600 BC on to Bath which has an interesting history. The Romans built a city here in what was once a swamp after draining it. They had a temple, an amphitheatre, baths, etc., however when they left around 400 AD the drainage system deteriorated and the swamp returned. The British ‘discovered’ the place again in the 1700s and built new baths here, this time for the ‘healing’ powers of the waters. A hundred years or so later a lady complained that her basement was leaking and when they dug it up they found this:

Anyway we are off to enjoy our last day in Britain, tomorrow we take a train through the Chunnel to Brussels and then on to Antwerp where we’ll hook up with “The Dutch”.

Cheers,

Mark & Ali

Two Churches and at least 1083 Stairs

Published on March 24, 2005 in Travel. 2 Comments Tags: England, Europe, London, Travel.

Today we toured Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral, great day for it as it was a little overcast and chillier than it’s been up till now and both churches were bustling with clergy preparing for Easter services. Neither of them allow photographs inside the building so we’re only able to show you the outside but I think you’ll find them gorgeous anyway.

First Westminster;

First monks settled here in 960.
Our friend Willy who built the Tower of London was crowned here in 1066
The present church was started by Henry III in 1245
The latest addition to the Abbey are the West Towers added in 1745 so Sara you’ve got 499 years of renovations ahead of you if you want to match the Abbey’s record

Inside we saw the Tombs of various Kings, Queens, poets and other notables. I think the most intriquing was the tomb that Elizabeth I shares with her half sister Mary I. They weren’t exactly buddies in life but Mary’s son James I put his mother in the same tomb as her half sister once he became King. Not sure who he was trying to punish but the place certainly didn’t feel like they slept easily together.

Dad, Dylan Thomas’ epitaph reads: “Time held me green and dying/Though I sang in my chains like the sea . .”

After the Abbey we walked past Parliment and cajoled a passerby into taking our first picture together…

Then it was on the Tube to St. Paul’s. St. Paul’s is a baby compared to Westminster having been begun in 1675 and completed 35 years later. It’s huge; 157 meters long, 76 meters wide and 111 meters high. Keep the height in mind. Here’s what it looks like from ground level.

Again we can’t show you any of the inside but it’s all very ornate and the main dome which stretches all the way up those 111 meters is inspiring.

Inside on the main floort the other highlight for me was the tomb of Arthur, Duke of Wellington and the memorial for Horatio, Lord Nelson.

After looking at various plaques, monuments and tombs to the ‘great and good’ we climbed up 259 steps to the Whispering Gallery. Here we saw the fantastic painting on the dome of the cathedral close up. You’re also supposed to be able to hear a whisper from the other side because of the great acoustics but between shouting kids and a crew who are restoring the paintings we couldn’t get it to work.

Up another 378 steps you come to the stone gallery. This one is an outside gallery and we were able to take some pictures here.

We climbed another 259 steps to the Golden Gallery where we took alot more pictures, here’s a few of the highlights.

We then climbed back down (which is 13 extra steps at 543) for a total of 1083 stairs (so far). We then descended into the crypt where we saw Lord Nelson’s actual tomb, Florence Nightingale’s tomb and the Winston Churchill memorial gates.

After all these steps we descended into the Underground (we were way to tired to count how many steps down) and grabbed some dinner.

Tomorrow it’s off to Stonehenge and Windsor at 7:40 in the morning so we’ll sign off here.

Cheers,

Mark & Ali

P.S. Our more observant readers will be wondering “where the heck is George?”. Well at Westminster we took him out but the first thing he saw was this; He was so frightened he refused to come out for the rest of the day.

P.P.S We’re going to have to skip Gretna Green; much as we’d love to see Scotland our next stop is Brussel and then Amsterdam before heading south.

The Changing of the Guards, George and the Lion, The Tower of London

Published on March 24, 2005 in Travel. 6 Comments Tags: England, Europe, London, Travel.

I can’t seem to escape my role as unofficial tech support guy, just got the hotels internet back online after getting some guy in Belgium to reboot the router so here’s yesterday’s recap.

We started out walking down Regent Street towards St. James Park; Henry VIII created this out of part of his own gardens probably in penance for lopping the head off one of his wives. Our peaceful walk was interrupted by these guys who seemed to think they had the right of way. We then walked through the park to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard; Once we were sure the Queen was safe we decided to walk back through St. James Park, as you can see it’s a lovely spot and BIG so I stopped for a quick nap . After the nap we walked up to Trafalgar Square where George got into a bit of tiff with a lion over who is really “King of the Jungle” , needless to say the lion won and George’s pride was seriously bruised.

We took a heartbroken George down to Victoria Embankment where he spent some time on the phone with his shrink back in Canada, while Ali and I took in the sights along the Thames, , , . We then headed for the Tower of London, built in 1038 by good old Willy the Conqueror. Legend has it that if the ravens ever leave the Tower and Great Britain will fall, so naturally they clip their wings. The Tower was simply spectacular and we took dozens of shots, here’s a couple of highlights; We then walked along Tower Pier to Tower (not London) Bridge, . And finally to the Monument.

All in all another very full day.

Cheers,

Mark & Ali

P.S. This one’s for Andrew, ’tis good to be King.

Around London on a Double Decker Bus

Published on March 22, 2005 in Travel. 7 Comments Tags: England, Europe, London, Travel.

Today we thought we’d take the hop on hop off double decker bus tour around the major sites in London with an eye to covering ‘everything’ quickly and then going back to see certain things in more detail starting tomorrow. Unfortunately almost as soon as we boarded the bus George pulled a loaded bananna and demanded to be taken the the Tower of London . The bus driver turned out to be a former SAS man and disarmed George quickly and got us back on track. We saw all of the major sites and managed to get pictures of many of them, some of them even good pictures. This is one of the not so good ones, not because Ali doesn’t look great but because I managed to cut off the top of the statue which looks like this, . The statue is known as the Eros statue though it’s supposed to be an Angel not a greek deity. Next stop Marble Arch, the backside of Buckingham Palace , and Little Ben. Ali also got a great shot of his big brother; Big Ben . Past the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and into Trafalgar Square. Where I being a dutiful son took a dozen or so pictures of Nelson’s Column, the best of which is unfortunately this; . Finally we went to Canada House where the bobbies had released George into the custody of our ambassador after his unfortunate behaviour in the morning. This evening we took in Les Miserables at the Queens Theatre in the West End. All and all a real busy day so we’ll sign off here with a quick thanks for all of your great comments and wishes.