Statelady & Chezp's London Adventure: COMPLETED!!! About This Page:

[elbug10]

You ladies are doing such an awesome job on your TR that you are inspiring me to work on my Disney TR! I was in London and Windsor Castle in 1988 and this is bringing back some nice memories. My grandmother and I stayed very near where you did, near Harrod's, and we met up with friends who love in Holyport, near Windsor and stayed with them one night. They toured us all around; up the Thames to Eton and Henley. I'd love to go back, but your TR is the next best thing! Can't wait to read more!

[chezp]

Friday 14 November – part four: “who put that crane in the way?”

We were all starting to think about lunch by now and Maureen spotted a Marks & Spencer at almost the same time as I did. Marks & Spencer do the most wonderful sandwiches and I figured it would make a perfect quick and cheap lunch for us. It’s quite an exclusive department store, although in recent years they've had to make themselves more accessible to everyone to bring their profits back up. This was simply a food store, not a department store, but the selection of sandwiches in here was fantastic, better than any other Marks & Spencer store I’ve ever been to. As I said to Maureen, it's aimed at office workers, which is probably why they’ve got such a good selection. I had brie, grape and cranberry, while Mark had BLT, both with crisps (chips). I wanted some fruit to go with it, but not at the prices Marks & Spencer were selling it for!

After picking up our lunch, I suggested catching the bus over to Buckingham Palace, is that would give Maureen and Kevan the chance to see a bit more of London's landmarks. The Tube is by far the quickest and easiest way to travel in London, but of course with it being underground, you don't get to see anything of the city. We waited quite awhile for a bus, mainly because I didn't read the bus map properly and didn't realise we could catch a number 15 bus as well as a number 12. I realised my mistake just as the number 15 pulled away from the bus stop!

However I had an ulterior motive for waiting for a number 12 anyway, as I knew from my time studying in London but this was one of the few routes to still operate with the older style buses that you get on the back of. They’re gradually being phased out as they require two people to operate them, a conductor and a driver, whereas on the newer models only a driver was needed. I always thought that was a great shame, as the older buses had a lot more character and I wanted Maureen and Kevan to experience that.

We went straight upstairs and Maureen and I were lucky enough to get seats at the front, meaning I could grab some photos with the digital camera as we drove along. I was quite pleased with how they came out and it turned out to be quite a picturesque route, passing the Royal Courts of Justice (one of the highest level Courts in the country) and Trafalgar Square with Nelson's column. Trafalgar Square is probably London's most famous square and was laid out between 1829 and 1841 to commemorate Nelson's victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Dominating the square is Nelson's column, a column which is 185 feet high with a 17 feet high statue of Nelson himself on the top of it.

What I wasn't expecting to see was the Union Flag (it’s only the Union Jack on water – on land it’s the Union Flag) and the Stars and Stripes flying all along the Mall up to Buckingham Palace. Well, of course they were out for President Bush’s official visit to the UK, which was due to start on Tuesday. It was a nice touch and we joked that they'd put the flags out especially for Maureen and Kevan’s arrival!

We got off the bus near Piccadilly Circus and walked back towards the Mall. The first priority was to find somewhere to have our sandwiches and I figured St. James's Park would be as good a place as any and sure enough there were plenty of park benches for us to pick from, probably not surprising, as by now the wind was getting up and when the sun briefly went in, it did get quite cold. Mark had great fun feeding a lone pigeon. I told him that there was no way that it would eat a whole crisp (chip) and eventually the bird of course did prove me wrong, gradually pecking at it, until it broke up enough for him to get it in his beak!

After lunch, we continued to walk towards Buckingham Palace up the Mall, the flags flapping around us in the wind. As we got closer, we could see that there was a crane at work in front of the palace, very disappointing for photos. In fact, there was a lot of work going on. You also couldn't get right up to the gates of the palace, which was a shame, as you can usually poke your camera through the gates to get a decent shot of the palace. No chance of that today.

We wondered if all the work was to do with Bush’s visit next week and sure enough when we asked a policeman, that was indeed the case. We joked with Maureen and Kevan that they could probably sue for emotional distress caused by all the work when they got back to the States. Now that would be one interesting lawsuit!

The policeman also told us that the closest Tube station was Green Park, not Hyde Park Corner, as originally planned, which saved us some walking. As we cut through Green Park, we saw various machines, supposedly hoovering up leaves around the area, but they didn't seem to be doing much good, just blowing them around even more! We commented you'd never see that sort of thing in Disney, they’d have somebody individually picking up every leaf instead!

Next: “just give me the information I need!”

[statelady01]

The stomach is a growling and we began to scope out options for lunch- and what we did was one of the biggest and best surprises of our trip. We headed into Marks and Spencer’s Simply Food grocery store near St. Paul’s and decided on a takeaway (carry out) lunch. Almost a half a cooler aisle had sandwiches and salads in lunch sized portions- of all kinds. Kevan and I remarked that these weren’t looking like those “gas station” sandwiches we have in the States. Kevan got chicken and bacon and I got a chicken salad along with chips (crisps). I also got a custard dessert as well. Our total for our lunch was an amazing 6.71 GBP.

Next up was a ride on a double decker bus. There are two kinds in London- the newer sleeker looking ones and the older kind. The two are easily distinguishable and Cheryl really wanted to show us the older kind- I had to agree they had more charm. When we boarded, I was the last of the four of us to make it up the stairs and of course, the bus pulls out into traffic with a vengeance and there I am falling on some aspect of London transportation again! First the tube, now this- jeesh!


Double Decker bus and pedestrians about to be smooshed

Cheryl and I sat in the front on the top part- it was a great way to see the sights! We went by several theatres home to London’s famous shows- such as the Lion King.



We also went by Trafalgar Square and I got my first glimpse of the National Gallery, where Kevan and I would be seeing some famous art later in the week.

After disembarking near Pall Mall, we took up bench space in St. James’ Park for our lunch. Mark made buddies with a pigeon and we joined him in feeding the little guy crisps- actually we gave him pretty big pieces of crisps. It was a great relaxing lunch but towards the end got a little miserable as the wind blew and it got to be really cold.

As we exited St James’ Park area and made our way towards Buckingham Palace we saw many policemen, several of which were loaded up in a van from National Rent A Car- we thought that very funny- and even funnier when we noticed an Auto Club tow truck about to jump start it from what we could tell. Not one of their better days I guess!

We trekked up the Mall to Buckingham Palace, admiring the Union and US Flags waving in the wind along the way. It was a really nice sight I must say.


Stars and Stripes and Union Flags



Buckingham Palace. I had seen it so many times in movies, tv and photographs and again my thoughts reverted back to Princess Di as she and Charles stood together on the balcony in front in June 1981. It was hard to get a picture unobstructed-well, actually impossible, as we were pushed back beyond the gates. There were cranes doing work there for what we surmised to be President Bush’s stay later in the week. We did see one or two guards outside the building and then I began to regret not making time to see the Changing of the Guard the day before, as during winter months, it is not done every day. Oh well, maybe next time!


Kevan and I in front of Buckingham Palace gates

We crossed Green Park, across from Buckingham Palace to head towards the Tube Station to get to High Street Kensington. During this long walk in the park, Mark and Kevan noticed a tractor type machine which at first seemed to be doing productive work, but at closer glance was shifting leaves about in a wheel type motion. Mark and Kevan joked that everything had to be placed just so and that all green area MUST be covered!!

[loridalel]

This is such a great TR!
Can't wait until the next installment

[Colexis Mom]

Just catching up with you report again!! Great installments Cheryl and Maureen!! Keep it coming

[loobyoxlip]

Finally getting a chance to get caught up with your TR, and I must say - WOW! This is such a great tandem report, I love it!! You guys sound like you just had the best time together. Can't wait to read more.

[goofy4goofy]

Another couple of great installments! I love the pictures too!!! Going to London is a dream of mine..I'm so jealous!

More please!
Kelly

[Elliot'sDragon]

Another great duel installment!
Whenever NYC has a Presidential/State visit, all garbage cans are removed fromt he area and the manhole covers are sealed shut.

[wdwlovers]

Oh, I love St James Park! This was one of my fave parks in London (next to Kensington Gardens). Did you catch any shows while in London? We saw The Full Monty and My Fair Lady. We were actually at My Fair Lady when they announced the Queen Mum passed away. Thanks for the awesome report!

[chezp]

Friday 14 November: part five: “just give me the information I need!”

The Tube took us across to Kensington High Street station, the closest to Kensington Palace, but following a confusing change at Earls Court. It's not got the easiest system to tell where each train is going, so I nearly led everyone on to the wrong train. Luckily Mark averted disaster at the last minute.

When we got off the Tube, we made a quick stop off at the nearest pharmacy to get some eye drops for Maureen. Her eyes had been quite red since the flight, but it didn't turn out to be a quick stop. The women at the tills seem to all be on a go slow. We kept changing from one to another and then back again, getting there in the end.

It seemed to take ages to walk up to Kensington Palace and the wind really was biting by now. It was about 2:30 p.m. and the sky was starting to darken a little. I think had we got there any later, we would never have got any shots outside the palace, because it would have been too dark. To call it a palace seems wrong, it's not like one at all, it seems more like a stately home and when we got inside, we found that was indeed its first use. It only became a palace because some of the Kings and Queens preferred it to Buckingham Palace and moved there. At one point it was the main residence for the Royals, which I never knew. Even today the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke and Duchess of Kent and Prince Michael and Princess Michael of Kent still live there. It's got a total of 467 rooms, so as one of the attendants told us, they’re hardly crowded in there.

To be honest, I was disappointed by Kensington Palace. There was no information as we went round. We were all provided with audio tours instead – they’re like large phones that you hold up to your ear to hear and you can punch in the numbers shown in each room to get the relevant commentary. Now we’ve had these in quite a few stately homes and to be honest, I don't think they work at all. I wanted the basic information in each room, but quite often didn't get it until two or three minutes into the audio presentation. By then, I had been standing there wondering what it was I was looking out, which got very frustrating. I know they were setting the scene, but I really wanted a fast forward button!

The display of the Queen’s dresses and Princess Diana’s dresses were wonderful to see and I was fascinated by the fact that Diana's dresses look so different in real life from the photos on display next to them. There were at least two or three that I was convinced were in fact different ones from the ones shown in the photos. Interestingly, I thought that some of them looked better in the photos than in real life. There, the audio tour did come into its own, as you can get details of each individual dress and obviously everyone would want to hear about different ones. I wouldn't say that the dresses alone were worth the admission price (£10.50) but they were definitely the best part of the whole tour.

The palace itself was very impressive, but I can't show you any photos, as they didn't allow cameras and the guidebook really wasn't worth getting. I was disappointed not to see any guidebooks about Diana's dresses, that seemed to be a missed opportunity to me. It wasn't the best Royal palace this country has to offer and certainly wasn't worth the hefty admission price. Even the Tower of London was cheaper than Kensington Palace. In total we were in there for about 45 minutes.

When we came out, it was starting to get dark and very windy, it really cut through you. We walked back through Kensington Park and caught the bus from the main road, but we overshot a bit and ended up at the next Tube station down the line, so we simply caught the Tube back one stop. From there, it was back to the hotel for a well-deserved break. We were all exhausted, so we agreed to take some rest and relaxation time and decide what to do later. At around 5 p.m., I rang Maureen and asked what they wanted to do. The original plan was to go to a Japanese restaurant called Satsumas in the centre of town and we were all still happy to do that, despite our tiredness.

They came down to get us about half an hour later and were off to Piccadilly Circus. The best way I can describe this area is it's London's equivalent of Times Square, with bright neon advertising hoardings and shops and restaurants. It’s at the junction of five busy streets, so there's always traffic there whatever time of the day you visit it.

We set off on our search for Satsumas, which we knew was in Waldorf Street. Once we got to the junction, Waldorf Street went both up and down, so we headed down first, as that seemed to be where all the ethnic restaurants were. Sure enough, we soon hit Chinatown and then carried on to Leicester Square, which is home to the country’s largest Odeon cinema, where most of the country's film premieres take place. As we still had yet to find Satsumas, we backtracked up Waldorf Street and despite my fears that we might not find it and would have to just eat anywhere, we spotted it at last.

Next: “I want an ice cream!”

[statelady01]

After our tube ride- which was aaah, so nice on the feet- we walked towards Kensington Palace. As many of you might be aware this is the former home of Princess Diana and the site of the massive amounts of flowers laid in her memory after her death in August 1997. I must say that you can’t really appreciate the outpouring of grief those days in the photos- the Palace is set very far back from the front of the gardens and it was mind boggling what that must have looked like! Literally, those flowers had to be miles deep from back to front.

Our tickets to Kensington Palace were combined with our Tower of London tickets so we passed by the front guards and queues easily and first came to some garden areas. Mark and Kevan were laughing again so we told them to be goofy in the gardens and the pictures were a very funny result!


The Comedians at Kensington Palace

I was very much looking forward to this site. Along with some of the rooms open to the public, the Royal Dress Collection is displayed here. That is where our journey began as we saw some of the ceremonial court fashions dating back to the 1600’s. The next exhibit was of Queen Elizabeth’s dresses and they were simply stunning. I learned that dressmakers and the Queen herself took great care in designing fashions, especially when it came to her visits abroad. One of them was a dress she wore on a royal visit to India- it was beautiful and the fabric on the bodice had flowers native to India on it. Additionally, there was an extensive hat collection on display- so many styles and types- along with them were photographs so you could see what they looked like when Her Majesty was wearing them.

Soon after this, the signs directing us to Princess Diana’s Dress Collection were present and I must admit, I picked up my paces towards it as this was one of my top 5 things on the in London list. I wasn’t disappointed in this area. I recognized almost every one and I was thrilled to find one of my very favorites right before my eyes- there is a famous photo of the Princess dancing with John Travolta at the White House- in it she is wearing a black off the shoulder gown. What shocked me is that the dress is not in fact black but dark blue! Cheryl and I were both very surprised to see that many of the photographs distorted the actual colors of the gowns! In addition to the dresses, there were profiles of the designers who made them. It seems odd that something like a dress collection could make you emotional about anything but it did for me- I was almost brought to tears just knowing I was in the Princess’ former home and seeing some of her things up close.

After the dress collection, we began winding our way through the various rooms in the Palace. This was sort of a disappointment as all of the information had to be retrieved from these audio phones and the narration was long, drawn out and stalled out with music. It got to be such a drag- Cheryl and I both agreed it would have been so much better to have it in written form around the rooms.

We stopped in the gift shop- where I took much longer than everyone else- in fact- Cheryl, Mark and Kevan were waiting outside for me- I picked out several postcards of Princess Diana wearing some of the dresses housed in the collection for my scrapbook. They really did not have much to offer in this sense- a book certainly detailing the Princess’ time spent here with some photos would have been lovely- but the only thing they offered were post cards! Throughout the trip, I would get postcards of the things we weren’t allowed to photograph so that I could remember everything and have a picture of some sort.

By this time, it was getting dark and very cold (the teeth chattering kind of cold) and we all needed a break. We headed back towards the tube and to the Hotel Rembrandt. Cheryl and Mark returned to their quarters, Kevan and I to ours- where I promptly collapsed on the bed and took a short nap. Cheryl phoned at about 5 pm and we agreed to head out for dinner at 5:30. In our Frommer’s guide, Kevan and I read about a trendy Japanese place called Satsuma that sounded great.

Back on the tube and headed to SoHo- which is the more, um, naughty section of London. Some of the stores made me blush a little!

We also got a quick tour of Lecister Square- the Chinatown area. It was very busy and lively, just like SoHo.



Next The Great Search for an Ice Cream

[Colexis Mom]

Oh, I would love to see Princess Diana's gowns one day! Sounds like a fun day was had by all, can't wait to see if you make it to the Japanese restaurant

[Wendyismyname]

AWESOME job so far ladies!! I love the pictures of London Tower and Tower Bridge! I stood in the center(of the pedestrian sidewalk) of the Tower Bridge! Sure is impressive!! I think we should all take a holiday to London and visit Cheryl and Mark!!!

Wendy

[ProChristo]

This is such an entertaining read, ladies. Sounds like you had a wonderful time together. I'm with Wendy, sign me up for Cheryl and Mark's Passporter tours of London! I love all the details you've included, as well as the pictures. DH has been to London, I guess I need to convince him that he should show me around someday!

[Flower and Baloo]

<font color="green">Ladies,

This is a simply marvelous TR!
Did you know that Christopher Wren submitted a plan for the buildings surrounding St. Paul's also? My MIL was telling me about it just the other day due to her being a member of our St. Paul's here in San Diego.

Six degrees of separation has nothing on the four of you!
Keep it coming.</font>