Morning
Today started with a morning bus site seeing tour. The students were happy to be on a bus and not walking for endless miles. There was a short stall in our bus tour when a crazed driver hit the read driver corner of the giant bus (for Americans it would be the rear passenger side). No one felt the bump; I only know because I was sitting a few seats behind the driver and could hear his terse words and see his angry face. The driver handled the accident quickly (as this is apparently rather common for cars to try to squeeze by large tour busses) and the London tour guide kept talking about the landmarks near us. She also imformed us that London is on the most filmed cities (meaning survellience cameras) and that the city limits driving in London with the idea of congestion zone where you are fined a certain amount every time you drive in it. Here is a view of the street from my seat on the bus - notice it is different than America!
The students' joy of being on the bus was short lived once we disembarked and began walking through St. James's Park. More walking!
However the park was beautiful and we followed it to Buckingham Palace. We paused to take pictures of the Royal Pelicans (which were a gift to her Majesty and therefore a crime to kill).
While in St. James's Park, we could see Buckingham Palace, but once we left the park we were on the Mall (the red street that leads to the Palace). The flag indicated that the Queen was home! We could also see guards at different entrances.
Once aboard the bus again, we drove pasted West Minster Abbey (disembarking briefly to take a few pictures), Houses of Parliament, and Trafalgar Square which we had seen up close the previous night.
Our final destination of the bus tour was Sir Christopher Wren's St. Paul's Cathedral which survived bombing raids in World War II. Both Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II attended Thanksgiving services in the Cathedral to celebrate their Royal Jubilees. Queen Victoria celebrated her Diamond Jubilee (60 years), and current Queen Elizabeth celebrated her Silver (25 years), Golden (50 years), and Diamond (60 years) at St. Paul's. Also, Prince Charles married his first wife Princess Diana in St. Paul's Cathedral in 1981.
The Cathedral is breath-taking. We were lucky enough to be in the Cathedral at the top of the hour and joined in a short prayer lead by one of the priests. The students also wanted to climb to the Whispering Gallery under the beautiful dome. Apparently if you can hear someone whispering on the exact other side of the dome. We could not tell because there were so many talking tourists!
There are two other places to climb, and we did both. We climbed to the Stone Gallery and then the tiny Golden Gallery. It was a little claustrophobic climbing up small, circular staircases at great heights, but the views were amazing!
Here is a picture (from the St. Paul's website) of what we climbed and where we were standing.
Our final destination of the bus tour was Sir Christopher Wren's St. Paul's Cathedral which survived bombing raids in World War II. Both Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II attended Thanksgiving services in the Cathedral to celebrate their Royal Jubilees. Queen Victoria celebrated her Diamond Jubilee (60 years), and current Queen Elizabeth celebrated her Silver (25 years), Golden (50 years), and Diamond (60 years) at St. Paul's. Also, Prince Charles married his first wife Princess Diana in St. Paul's Cathedral in 1981.
The Cathedral is breath-taking. We were lucky enough to be in the Cathedral at the top of the hour and joined in a short prayer lead by one of the priests. The students also wanted to climb to the Whispering Gallery under the beautiful dome. Apparently if you can hear someone whispering on the exact other side of the dome. We could not tell because there were so many talking tourists!
There are two other places to climb, and we did both. We climbed to the Stone Gallery and then the tiny Golden Gallery. It was a little claustrophobic climbing up small, circular staircases at great heights, but the views were amazing!
Here is a picture (from the St. Paul's website) of what we climbed and where we were standing.
Here I am at the Stone Gallery level. I may look calm, but I was a little freaked out because I try to avoid heights that I can fall from, but you can see there are bars preventing that. I was happy at this point, but the students wanted to go higher to the Golden Gallery (280 feet from the ground). Of course I said yes! When in Rome, right? I did it for my students...and I lived to tell the tale! |
Here is a view from the Golden Gallery of the Millennium Bridge (foot traffic only) which we used to cross the River Thames. We did think of the destruction scene in Harry Potter as we crossed. We went to the Tate Modern Art Museum on right for our fish and chips lunch. The Globe Theater is on left. After lunch, we spent some time perusing the modern art.
Afternoon
After taking in some modern art, we convinced Peter to take us to Platform 9 3/4 from the Harry Potter books. I knew it was in King's Cross Station, but I had no idea that it was such a busy place. The Tube stop is King's Cross and St. Pancras where several tube lines converge, and we had to leave the Tube area and go into the King's Cross train station to get to it. Peter explained that the 9 3/4 platform is now out in the "lobby" of the train station so that people do not have to buy train tickets to get to the fictitious platform. |
Aside from all the legitimate London travelers, there are many tourists and Harry Potter fans here. There is a Harry Potter store and a long line to get your picture taken pushing a cart into the wall. After testing the wands and tasting some Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans that Gunnar bought, we made our way to the British Museum.
Peter lead us from the Russell Square Tube stop, through a lovely small park, and down a charming residential street. When we arrived at the British Museum, we sadly had less than an hour to spend there. My personal mission was to see the Rosetta Stone and the Egyptian mummies (which we accomplished). Jacob saw the Lewis chessmen and even bought a replica set.
One thing I love about my students is that they are always on time! In fact, they are always at least 5 minutes early! I told them to meet by the marble lion in the huge lobby area, and when I left the gift shop - there they were ready to go.
On our way back to the hotel, we stopped to pick up some dinner at the Tesco Express (a 24 hour grocery/convenience store that only has one employee helping customers use the self-checkout stations). We did not have time for a sit down dinner since we needed to get ready for our theater performance this evening - plus we were still full from our fish and chips lunch (which came with dessert).
On our way back to the hotel, we stopped to pick up some dinner at the Tesco Express (a 24 hour grocery/convenience store that only has one employee helping customers use the self-checkout stations). We did not have time for a sit down dinner since we needed to get ready for our theater performance this evening - plus we were still full from our fish and chips lunch (which came with dessert).
Evening
Now dressed in more theater ready outfits, we head out to bus which will take us to the theater for Billy Elliot. I asked Peter about refreshments in the theater; yes, they have some, but just like the States, they will be expensive. Before going in, our entire group hits up a small convenience store for water and candy. The boys buy gigantic bottles which cannot be easily concealed, but somehow we all make it through the bag and purse check at the door with our edible contraband.
Billy Elliot was REMARKABLE! It was a little strange hearing seven year-old actors cursing like sailors, but that was fitting for the storyline. The singing was incredible and the dancing was superb! I absolutely loved the show. I purchased a souvenir playbook and found out the young boy who played Billy was actually an American! I never would have guessed because his accent was spot on. All in all, the performance was AWESOME! |