HMS Belfast, Royal Navy vessel in WWII.
As mentioned, our trip to England was lovely. Weather in England was wonderful (for us). It was cloudy, cold, and rainy which, after the endless summer here in Texas, was a treat. Gloves. Rain coat. The whole thing. Bliss. I did notice that people in London only wear shades of black, grey/gray, or dark blue so my bright pink raincoat stood out a bit. 🙂 No worries. I embraced “being American” (as usually these are the people wearing really bright colors in UK), and I got to stay nice and dry under that colorful exterior.
The flight to the UK ended up being fabulous as, although we bought the cheap seats, the flight was almost empty and so I ended up being able to lie down across three seats the whole way. ZZZZZ. Still, ended up with jet lag and taking a nap about 4p the first day, but wow. What a difference a sleeping flight can be! I’ve flown back and forth across the Atlantic regularly for 30+ years, but this “being able to sleep across a whole row” thing has happened only a few times so I really appreciate it when it does. Hooray for traveling off-season.
The River Ouse in Bedford, England. We spent a lot of our childhood messing around on the river (a la Toad and Mole).
The first few days were spent in Bedford, the town in which I grew up and where my lovely mum still lives. Lots of memories for me as we wandered around and down by the river (see right-hand pic), and for the first day or two, the streets seemed to be like Toy Town as they were so much smaller than the streets in Texas! Got used to that pretty quickly though, but did keep on having to remember to “Look Left” instead of right when we were crossing the roads.
When we finally arrived in London (where my brother and family live), we had a really in-depth tour of the Houses of Parliament, and I think I finally have the House of Lords vs. House of Commons sorted out now. (Only taken 50 years!) I also learned a ton about the HoP which I didn’t before, so thanks to a good guide (and a former teacher), we had a good time. Did have to have a cup of tea to recover after that though. 🙂
The Queen’s Coronation Carriage.
Another place that we visited was the Royal Mews, which is where the Queen’s horse-drawn carriages (pic above) are kept and the horses looked after. We’d never been before, so it was really interesting to walk around and see all the carriages in the collection.
Visited the British Library (which was a joy), and saw some of their treasures there (including an original copy of the Magna Carta [sort of the British Constitution] and one of the journals from Captain Scott’s doomed expedition to Antarctica. (Really interesting as I’m reading Volume 2 of the diaries of the men who were on that 1910-1913 trip and who returned in one piece.) Collection pieces ranged from ancient music texts to the original draft of some Beatles music to more up to date stuff, and if you’re ever in the range of the British Library, I really recommend a stop there. You won’t regret it.
Saw my Favorite Uncle Peter (:-)) who took us to a historical clothing exhibition at the Barbican (fascinating) and then out to dinner (yummy). Visited HMS Belfast, a WWII naval ship permanently lodged on the river, and walked across the top level of the famous Tower Bridge. (Well worth doing. It has a glass floor and a mirror ceiling as part of the visit, and this was really discombobulating for lots of people including me. Very fun though. (Check out the pic just below the Tower Bridge pic below. I’m taking the photo looking up into the mirror which is then reflecting the view down [where you can see the traffic]…)
Got to hang out with my bro and see where he works (University College of London). They have a long tradition of bringing the mummified corpse of the founder (Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux ) to various special meetings and then keeping him in a glass case when he’s not working. Hilarious. Heard my bro play blue grass at a pub with some friends of his, and really just had a good time.
The UCL Founder’s mummified corpse who actually attends meetings every now and then.
And maybe, just maybe, brought back some Jaffa Cakes (above) and other pieces of deliciousness that I couldn’t live without… 🙂
Speaking of food, we went into a McDonalds for a drink, and saw this sign where one can order a meal using the Welsh language and others. (The “Cymraeg” button in the middle.)
Watched three movies on the plane on the way back. (Just couldn’t get into reading for some reason, but that’s ok.) I regrettably watched the recent Absolutely Fabulous movie (but I wish I could get that time back, to be honest). Then I watched Enough Said (which was fun and poignant), and then one more which I can’t seem to remember… Still, a fun way to pass the time if you have to sit down in one place for ten hours (as one does when one is flying from UK to US).
So, had a nice time and really recommend traveling to UK in the off season. (Admittedly, some of the sights do close in October, but there is so much other stuff to do, that it really doesn’t matter much…)
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