London

Other than some harping in the mornings before leaving for the day to be touristy, London was about seeing the sights. How much can you do in London in just a few days? We were determined to find out.

We stayed in Kingston, just a short train ride from the city. There was no way I was about to deal with driving in London. The car went into hibernation in a garage. As soon as we left in the morning we saw this phone booth art on the way to the train station. I had seen pictures of it, but had no idea it was right by our room.

(Some of these pictures need to be seen bigger- so click on pictures to enlarge)

We got our oyster cards so we could hop on and off any train or tube any time.

The day we got there, there was a Tube strike. So we walked. And walked. And walked.

Piccadilly Circus-their version of Times Square. Or I guess Times Square is our version of Piccadilly.

Other iconic London stuff:

We went up in the eye

Tower of London

Tower Bridge

Tower Hill, where Henry VIII had his wives beheaded. This was the spot that royalty reserved for private beheadings. It was an honor to be executed here, rather than be fodder for the entertainment spectacle that was made of public executions.

The moat was here. It used to be filled with water, feces, and dead animals.

More Tower Pics

Wimbleton was happening while we were there. We didn't go see tennis, but I did take a picture out the window at the train stop.

Ever been to a cereal bar? They didn't have any Quisp.

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We went to the British Museum. They had lots of old stuff. Really really old stuff. I had seen pictures of a lot of the things in history books, but it was cool to see it in person. We were particularly fascinated with the Egyptian exhibit and all the mummies. And cat mummies. Cat Mummies are cool.

The Rosetta Stone

2000 year old shoes. Jo Ellen said they look better than some of mine.

Supper in Soho. Hi Jo!

We went to the British Library. We couldn't take pictures of the exhibits, but looked at original manuscripts of Handel's Messiah, Debussy, Mozart, Bach, Beethoven and Beatles lyrics. DaVinci drawings, Guttenburg Bible, letters from Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII, Thomas More, a book and letter by Galileo,  Alexander Fleming's notes (the discoverer of penicillin) and bunch of other cool old stuff. 

Near London we went to Hampton Court, a palace built by Henry VIII.

He was a legend in his own mind.

You do NOT want to mess with this dude.

There was a central wine fountain. Everyone there seemed happy.

 Britain's oldest surviving hedge maze, built in the 1690's. No they did not have a piece of cheese waiting for us at the end.

Henry didn't like the pope. I think he was sore at him for not granting him a divorce. Here is a painting he commissioned of the pope being bludgeoned. 

 Cache of weapons on display in the great hall.

Paintings of kings, queens, angels, and big shots.

Great gardens and gates at Hampton Court. 

Goodbye London. Next up: Nottingham, York, Scotland.

This is the seventh blog post of the journey.  For previous posts scroll down or see "blog archive" at the top of this page. See you soon....