London in a Whirlwind
First of all, for all those who have been wondering - we’re safe! Sorry we have not posted earlier, but it’s true what Shaun has said, we’ve been very busy… and have been blessed with some very good weather! We’ve had no rain yet, but it has been very cold. I (Gina) practically have been wearing everything I packed all at once.
After our pretty much sleepless 9 hour flight we arrived in London in the morning. The day proved to be very long, but we decided to pack in a touristy day anyway. We headed to Picidilly Circus and Leichester Square and did a lot of wandering. We visited the National Gallery… and probably didn’t enjoy it as much had our eye lids not been wandering to the floor. It was pretty amazing, to see oringinals from Rembrandt, Michaelangelo, VanGogh and others. We did cut that day short to have one long sleep.
The following day we went on the New London tour… a free walking tour that Brenda and Sharelle highly recommended from when they had travelled this past summer. It was excellent! I (Gina) ended up doing just like Brenda and took pictures of everything she talked about so that I could remember all of the stories. It was a tour that covered what is now considered the buisness district… but is where a lot of the historical places like the Tower of London and the London Bridge are located. Following the tour we found a unique cafe in the bottom of a cathedral. It was very difficult to find, however, as the entire cathedral was covered in boards and scafolding. One thing we have noticed is that probably the down side to travelling in the off-season is that a lot of the buildings are undergoing improvements.
Just a note: one thing that is currently striking me about as odd in this entirely different country is that a few of the letters on the keyboard are mixed around… and its driving me crazy!
Later that night we went to our first of two Musicals! We went to see Wicked, which is a different take on an aspect of the Story Wizard of Oz. It was amazing!
The next day we started again at Leiscter Square to pick up half price tickets. We then made our way to a pub that boasted cheap traditional English breakfasts. We believe it was microwaved… it wasn’t the best meal we’ve had but it was cheap. It actually made me (Gina) sick for the rest of the day. For this reason, I don’t know if I’d recommend dieting prior to travelling… my body sure isn’t used to greasy, heavy foods.
We then toured the Parliament Buildings, Westminster Abbey, and visited Buckingham palace and Speakers corner. It was right near here that we completed our first geocache find! That night we went to Les Miserables… another amazing musical.
We were feeling pretty tired after our three very packed days so the last day in London, the day we flew out, we took easy. We had breakfast at a little cafe near the hotel that we stayed, and an elderly English Lady sat with us! I (Gina) particularly loved this “English” moment! The rest of the day was also amazing. We completed 4 more geocaches in Kensington Gardens followed by afternoon tea at the Orangery at Kensington Palace. Ashley, I kept thinking of you particularly and how you would be both jealous and thrilled for me!
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This is Chris speaking now. A few things that stood out to me about London:
- There are a lot of tourists! In my head I had a fun game of spot the tourists. Lot’s of people from all over of course (not just North America).
- Museum’s are interesting… to a point. One can definitely overdo it with the museums. Some of our favorite moments in London have been wandering and stumbling upon something of interest.
- The GPS our parents gave us has been indespensible! It’ll find everything from restaurants to major sites to specific addresses.
Definitely one of the most interesting London experiences is the tube or the underground. Everything and everyone moves at such a fast pace. We were definitely envious of their system and wished Canada had something like it. Compared to Berlin, London is much faster. In Berlin for example people take their bikes and dogs on the train, they would never be able to do that in London.
Sorry, no pictures this time… the computer we are on won’t allow it.
We’ll post about Berlin in a second post. We don’t want to make this one too long.
Love
Chris & Gina
It is great to hear from you. Sounds like things have started well. You mentioned meeting the women at breakfast ..I think that is one of my favorite things about travel - when you meet the locals and gain local insights.
Gina, just giving you a heads up for when you’re in Paris…the keyboards get even weirder…watch out - it’ll be far more than just the z and the y that are in different places.
I’m still so, so jealous of your being there.
Once I saw the train, subway and bus systems in europe, Vancouver drove me crazy. What Rembrant’s did you see? I love the museums, but you’re right, you can overdue it.