I can’t believe how fast our time in London has come and gone.
We spent our first day recuperating from our 18 day dash through Western Europe, this involved a nice little sleep-in then 6 hours of sorting through and editing around 700+ photo’s from Barcelona and Paris in the lobby of the 4th floor (The only place that our computer would allow us to connect to the internet).
Day 2 and 3 were jam-packed with sightseeing, We went on board the HMS Belfast (The ship that shot the first gun on ‘D day’ off the shore of Normandy), we saw the London Bridge, walked along Tower Bridge, took a tour of The Tower of London with a very comedic and larger than life ‘Beefeater’ (The Queen’s Guard), It was fascinating learning about the dark history of England with all of the murder, betrayal, and conspiracy (…and that’s just the Royal Family!). We also saw the Crown Jewels, We then had some very English Fish and Chips, visited the Queen’s Gallery, Went to the WW2 London life Museum, and finished the evening with a tour of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.
We began the following day with a trip to St Paul’s Cathedral (You may remember me from such events as Prince Charles and Lady Diana’s Wedding) which was absolutely stunning, instead of the ceilings being covered in painted murals (as most of the places that we have been were) the ceilings were covered in murals made completely from mosaic tiles that had gold flickers through them, as the light hit the pictures it was totally stunning to watch them sparkle. It was also interesting to note that all of the paintings and statues were of Jesus rather than Mary, it was quite refreshing, they also hold prayer there every hour for various needs, while we were there it was for the sick and mainly the sick at the near by hospital, it was also great going to such a beautiful place that hasn’t lots the heart of the reason that the church exists, not to be a building, but to be a people being active in their community attending to those in need.
That day we also went to Buckingham palace (this is where the Queen lives), took a stroll through Hyde Park, went to the Australian War Memorial, and stopped over at Harrods department store, which was an experience in it’s self! (It’s like an upper class Myer on steroids).
On Thursday we took a 2 ½ hour train ride to Hull, Yorkshire. We then found a vague map of the area and took a bus over to the western side of town where we found the house that My (Jo’s) Dad was born in, it was a lot smaller than I had imagined my whole life, and surprisingly well kept by the current owners. We knocked on the door, unfortunately no one was home, so I took some photo’s and walked. We then realized that we had a whole lot of time on our hands as our train wasn’t due to depart for another 6 hours! We walked down the street and found a quaint 1950’s style hairdresser where matt decided to get his hair cut for ₤5.70, the best part was having a chat to the hairdresser, her accent was SOOOO THICK! For half the conversation all I could do was smile and nod, at one point she told me that I sounded like ‘Cowlie’ - I thought she was implying that I sounded pompous, as in ‘cow-like’, because compared to her I sounded like the Queen herself! However once we left my smarter half realized that she said I sounded like ‘Kylie’ as in Kylie Minogue….. duh!
We then walked along the grotty mud-slushy sea port area, it’s sounds bad, however other than the ‘water’ with sunken shopping trolleys and sections of fence in it, the area was really nice as all of the old buildings had recently been restored. Something interesting that is must mention though - one of the boats in the harbour had a Pirate Skull flag, it was just perfect as my Dad had always told me of how he was related to Pirates, this along with his one missing tooth may just confirm that theory?!?!?
Fast forward a few days to today (Saturday 26th) – We began our second Contiki Tour with a brief look through London (There is way too much to do and see there!!) and then a drive out to Windsor Castle (The Royal’s weekend residence) we arrived about 1 ½ hours before the changing of the guards ceremony, after a delicious full English breakfast we took a stroll back to the place the changing of the guards takes place and it was PACKED!! They were getting ready for a parade to welcome back the troops who served in the Middle-East! The streets were barricaded and there must have been several thousand people lining either side, there were police and TV cameras everywhere. We waited for over 1 ½ hours and managed to strike up a great conversation with a group of old ladies who all wanted to hug Matt. It was wonderful being there, first the changing of the guards occurred, then the Marching Band came through followed by the injured troops and then all of the troops on foot, it was very moving as many of the Soldiers were crying, and I couldn’t help but think about the men who didn’t come back, it was a strangely proud moment, and a great honour to be able to honour the men at least in a small way by cheering.
We spent the afternoon in Oxford, it is a quaint college town (Yes the home of Oxford University, Cambridge University, and a ridicules multitude of other universities) had a nice English dinner and are now watching Jurassic Park in the hotel room. If you’ve made it this far, thanks for taking the time to read what we’ve been up to!
We love you all and miss you a bunch!
Love
Matt and Jo
20 °C
