November 1 2018

London in a Week

At the end of September, hubby and I went on our second trip to London. We were with a group of 22 people, I was the youngest in the group. We went for the first time in September 2015 with a group of 29 people. That trip was fun and we knew when we got back that they planned to go again in about 3 years. I wish I could say we spent those years saving up to go back, but we, for any number of reasons, never quite got around to it. Once it became certain that the group was planning to make the trip again, we hustled to do whatever we could to make sure we could go with them.

Traveling to another country is not something we do usually. There is so much of our own country yet to be explored. But when an opportunity to go with a big group presents itself and someone else is planning all the things for you, I recommend you jump at the chance and go with them. When we travel, I am usually the one that has to book the hotel rooms, reserve the rental car, and all those pesky little details. It is a treat to have someone else buy all the tickets to all the things and all you have to do it pay the money and show up at the airport ready to fly away.

Note: This post is graphically intense, but a picture’s worth a thousand words, right?

Here is the list of where we went and the photos I took while there. They are in chronological order so it is almost like you were there seeing it all with me, I hope.

Friday:
Flew from Indy (IND) to Newark (EWR) to Heathrow (LHR)

Saturday: On our own until dinner.
Travel from Airport to Hotel via Motor Coach/Tour Bus

Check into Copthorne Tara Hotel
Tube ride from South Kensington to High Street Kensington where several museums can be found.

Science Museum of London (yes, of all the museums, we chose science)

Hubby barely got in the door of the museum before he started drooling over the vast assortment of steam engines.

Thought the sign here was interesting “American mass production” in a museum in London…yep that is hubby enthralled by the thingamabob!

The lathe and lens below were for Hubby too.

A Fresnel lens is a type of compact lens originally developed by French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel for lighthouses.

Took the picture to the left with the red beetle is for Hubby’s sister. Also, like the way they made maximum use of the floor space by stacking the cars.

Found these things noteworthy or interesting in the gift shop:

Thought my scientist daughter would appreciate these books — (above & below).

Knew a few of you would get a kick out of this “prescription coffee” mug.

The George Inn (pub dinner with the group)

After dinner cup of tea. Thought the message on the sugar tube was great, and completely forgot to take pictures of the dinner before it was nearly gone, so didn’t bother.

Sorry, this photo is so bad, I took it through the bus window. In my defense, we had been up for about 2 days except for cat naps on the plane, and we were exhausted.

Sunday:
Hotel Breakfast Buffet

The breakfast was the same every day except that in addition to orange and apple juice, one day they had tomato juice and the next cranberry juice. Both the fried and scrambled eggs were very runny. The bacon was more like thin ham and they had sausages. Grilled tomatoes, cooked mushrooms, a Japanese rice dish of some sort, baked beans, fruit, assorted breads, mini muffins, pastries, cold cereals, and more. There was a lot to choose from but exactly the same for the whole week.

I chose what looked like a giant-sized shredded wheat and crumbled it into yogurt and stirred it in. Granola in plain yogurt is something I began eating in London 2015.

Hour-long bus ride to Windsor Castle

Thought this flowery tree thing was very pretty near where our bus was parked.

Tour Windsor Castle

Trying to take selfies, really not good at it, but will keep trying until I get better.

The gardens shown below are in what used to be the moat.

There is Julie with the multi-colored umbrella pointing things out to us so we get the complete tour experience. She is awesome!

Yes, that is me in the walking boot in front of Windsor Castle. Never could have made it without that boot. It was a Godsend.

The station at Windsor reminded us of a certain wizarding world.

That is our wonderful tour guide Julie with the multi-colored umbrella. She did a fabulous job of leading us all around London during our week there.

After leaving the castle we walked around the village on the way back to the bus.

Hubby liked this bull because it was art made from car parts and other scrap metals.

In the USA, the store is called TJMaxx but when it expanded to Europe, they changed the name to TKMaxx to avoid confusion with the TJ Hughes stores not affiliated with them.

Souvenirs I could have but did not purchase. Because who wants to store and dust more stuff, and we are saving money for retirement.

Walked to The Goat Tavern with Hubby for dinner.

This is what I ordered, it was an excellent choice. Hubby got the fish and chips.

Monday:
Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace

Tour Buckingham Palace

Tower of London/Crown Jewels/Ravens

Drove past Tower Bridge

Tuesday:
Tour Westminster Abbey

These were the twentieth-century martyrs on the front of Westminster Abbey, a close up of Martin Luther King, Jr is shown below.

I am a sucker for stained glass.

Above is what the stained glass windows look like from the outside.

Ride the London Eye

The photo below shows the needle and the train station among other things.

Julie our tour guide was willing to go above and beyond for us (literally she climbed on the bench so she could see over our heads and point things out).

Our group in the London Eye capsule.
That’s me second in from the right.
Thanks to Beverly Stout for letting me use this photo.

We were told the colorful buildings shown below are the Google Offices in London.

Lunch on our own near the London Eye

It seems there is always a child underfoot when a woman is trying to get work done.

Tour St. Paul’s Cathedral

Wednesday: (Ladies Only Day 1)
Tour Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace

Our tour guide Julie posing in the carriage for that purpose and dreaming of her prince charming perhaps.

Above is the posing carriage from further away.

Child-sized wooden pony, I loved the wood grain and how it helped define the pony.

This carriage was used with the top removed for the most recent royal wedding.

Walk/Taxi to Santini Restaurant for dinner

Walk/Taxi to Apollo Victoria Theatre to see Wicked

This is the taxi with 4 of the 5 ladies who needed to ride inside. I had never seen the inside of a London taxi, so I snapped this before walking to the theatre with the rest of the group.

Wicked

The map of the Land of Oz was on the screen before the show.

The theatre as we walked in. We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto!

Photo by Beverly Stout, who is much better at selfies than I am.

Our usher who assured us he would be famous someday and kept us in water with ice during the show. He was great! He wanted a photo of the group in the steps with him.

Our group of wild and crazy women after seeing Wicked, with Carl our usher. That’s me in the back and Julie, our guide, on the front left. Photo by Beverly Stout.

Thursday: (Ladies Only Day 2)
Bus to Kensington Gardens
Walk through park

Tour Kensington Palace

Here is a closeup showing the letters carved into the woodwork just to the right of the left corner.

I made sure to take photos of all of Diana’s outfits because my older sister was a huge fan. I also remember the general styles from my teen years and thought it might be of interest to others.