Wimbledon

We visited Wimbledon Tennis Club where we saw all of the courts, the most prestigious being Court 1 and Centre Court. In the media room, we got to pretend we were being interviewed after our "Big Win"! It was neat to see the tournament board and Winner Board. Unfortunately Strawberries and cream were not being served that day! Our tour was an interesting woman...VERY PROPER & VERY ENGLISH! A few people on the tour were scolded for not following the rules!

Nathan being interviewed!

Ian being interviewed.

Centre Court

On  the infamous "hill"!

Some more photos of highlights

We went on a tour of the Chelsea Football Club.

We got to visit  the media room while we were there to get a feel for what it would be like to be interviewed after the game.

Nathan got a turn to sit where the VIP's sit!

Chelsea Football Club -
field level.

Some photos of our first few days

In the british museum.

London Eye

trying to look scared as we rotate on the London Eye.

Pretending to be mummies.

Found our first red phone booth...

...had to take the token photos

We got to see the tower Bridge in action as it allowed a  boat to travel down the river.

Our first 4 days in review

Day 1

The kids were really excited about going on the airplane. We travelled from Winnipeg to Toronto, then Toronto to London. It was a long journey, with little-to-no sleep had by all! Arriving in London made for a 30 minute-long wait at customs, but initial line-up looked much more daunting. We made our way to the train station where we all lugged our suitcases up and down many flights of stairs - among the fast-paced commuters. The kids were troopers and people were patient with us...not helpful, but patient! After 3 tube switches and a short jaunt, we finally arrived at our hotel...a wee bit tired we were! But since it was 11am London time, we battled on to do sightseeing, and try to get adjusted to the timezone. 

Our first stop was lunch.  We found a quaint little italian restaurant near our hotel. The boys shared a GIANT calzone, but too much cheese for Ian, so he shared some of dad’s pizza.  Cokes in glass bottles brought out big smiles. This gave us enough energy to embark on finding our first tourist attraction.  

We ventured to the British Museum, where Nathan was in his glory....Egyptian artifacts everywhere. We spent a few hours there.  We learned that the Elgin marbles, are not round jewels but carvings made from white marble.  Nathan could have been the curator, for all of the information he was able to share with us! There was an entire hall filled with stone structures that were once erected to honor of  pharos like Ramses II. There was also statutes of the scarab beetle. Highlights were the mummies, sarcophaguses, hieroglyphics, canopic jars, and the original Rosetta Stone.  The museum itself is quite a magnificent building housing artifacts from all over the world.  There was an Easter Island statue (the boys posed with matching expressions), and a picture of a pacific islander that looked just like Troy Polamolu (of Pittsburgh Steelers).  The inner courtyard was beautiful, marble staircase with glass dome.  In the gift shop, the boys bought some African “monkey drums”, which were played excessively, and subsequently banned for the duration of the trip!

Getting comfortable on the plane.

MISHAPS: - On the way back to the hotel, instead of following the traffic signals, which are clearly marked “look left - look right” (depending on what side of the street you are standing), Geoff thought it was “safe to go” so as he stepped off of the curb, he was nearly hit by a bicycle. Was it not for Colleen’s loud gasp- Geoff’s fate would have been entirely different for the remainder of the trip!

At customs

Enjoying cokes in the bottle!

Day 2

We navigated our way through the subway system and Trafalgar Square to reach the tour office. We took a “Original London” bus tour of the city to get a better idea of landmarks in the area for future adventures.  The tour offered a live on-board guide with interesting facts and fun tidbits.  The kids were delighted that they got to ride on a double decker bus with an open top. They took photos of absolutely everything that caught their eye. Some highlights included, the London Tower Bridge, famous hotels  - the Dorchester, the Ritz, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, House of Parliament, that is home to the Elizabeth Tower, which houses Big Ben, the monument, the London Eye, residences on Eberry St. of famous folks like - Baroness Thatcher & Ian Fleming, 10 Downing St., Tower of London, Trafalgar Square, Marble Arch, Piccadilly Circus,  Hyde Park, Green PArk, St. James’s Park. 

Two misconceptions that we had...we thought that Big Ben was the actual clock tower...NOPE... Big Ben is actually the bell at the top of the Tower. Second misconception...London Bridge. We thought that London Bridge was actually the iconic bridge that is referred to in songs and stories, this is also incorrect. That bridge is actually Tower Bridge. London bridge is actually down the river. 

Another little tidbit we learned as we passed the place where public hangings took place was that during hangings people would come to  drink and party while witnessing the hangings. The next day, when the hangings were complete, people would be feeling a bit under the weather from the festivities the prior day...hence the term “HANG-OVER”.

Now that we sort of had our bearings, we walked from Trafalgar Square along the royal mall, and stood at the gates of Buckingham Palace.  We booked tickets to take the palace tour for the Monday.  Ian was hoping that he would get to see the Queen on the tour.

We headed over to Westminster Catholic Cathedral  - where we witnessed a flashmob doing a medley of Queen songs ...the band Queen not the royal one, on the cathedral steps...PRETTY COOL!  The Church ran out of $$$ to finish the interior, so after about 30 feet, it’s just bare brick from the inside.

We were all pretty excited to hop aboard a pod on the London Eye. Before you board you enjoy a 4D video of the London Eye. Unlike most ferris wheels that rotate several times, the London Eye does one rotation. that takes approximately a half hour. Each pod provides a spectacular 360 degree view of the Thames and significant surrounding landmarks that we saw earlier that day. It provided many opportunities for great photos.  From high in the Eye, Ian spied a wooden playground that the boys played at for about 30 minutes once we got back on the ground, before heading home.  On the way back over Westminster bridge, we took turns taking photos of each of us holding up Big Ben (the boys got that idea from a Garfield movie: A Tale of Two Kitty’s).

It was already a late night, so dinner consisted of what we could cobble together from the “cost cutter” quicky-mart near the hotel.  Menu included crackers and cream cheese, baguette, salami, turkey, pepperoni sticks, cucumber, fruit and a collection of British treats - penguins, tea cakes, sno-balls, and some contraband cookies.  To drink, it was Schweppe’s Bitter Lemon, and water.

DAY 3

We got up bright and early to get the most of our day 1 of our 3 day London Pass.  The first stop was the best at the Tower of London on the bank of the Thames river.  This defended tower is 1,000 years old, and has of the Crown Jewels on display.  It also used to house exotic animals that were gifts from foreign royalty, like a polar bear from King of Norway.  The soldiers used to let the polar bear fish in the Thames, by tying it to a long, thick rope.  The White tower also had displays of royal armor and weapons.  Lastly, we walked the wall, and defended the King, like soldiers of the past.  When we were waiting in line to see the crown jewels, there was a guard standing in his full uniform and was armed. People were taking photos, so the boys asked if they could go over. When they were about to take the photos, the guard moved his gun and started marching. This scared Nathan...I think he thought the guards was coming after him! He boogied back to us pretty quickly! The crown jewels were spectacular. We could never have imagined how beautiful they were!

Onward to the Tower Bridge, it was a fascinating engineering marvel to build a moving drawbridge, while hiding the hydraulics.  An exhibit at the top of the bridge displayed “great bridges around the world”, for which Colleen and Geoff played “seen it” and “not seen it”. 

Next we saw the Monument to the Great Fire from 1600’s, where nearly 80% of London burned down, but only 6 people actually died.  The stone monument has 311 steps up this tiny spiral staircase, with a small viewing platform at the top.  Apparently 8 people died falling off the monument before a proper railing was secured at the top.  On the bright side, the Great Fire helped finally rid London of the Black Plague. When you leave, you get certificates that document your successful climb.   After descending all of those 311 steps we were awarded a certificate. The boys actually raced to the top and counted the steps as they descended (both had 325)! 

Our last planned adventure was a river boat cruise.  We decided to go to Greenwich to see a different part of the city.  It was our best decision.  One of the crew spent the 30 minute ride on the microphone talking about the city, and river history.  The ride ends in Greenwich, at the Cutty Sark tall ship.  We climbed the hill to the marker of the prime meridian and had dinner at this family-owned meat pie shop since 1890.  For dessert Geoff tried the apple crumble & custard.  Nathan & Ian elected for their dinner at McDonalds.  Unfortunately, the “sweet shop” had closed by the time we hit the bottom of the hill.

DAY 4

We got up bright and early again to get to the train for Windsor Castle, the key attraction of our day 2 itinerary on most of our London Pass.  The train station is at the bottom of the hill, and we made our way to the top for the castle tour - with audio guide. We watched the chaging of the guard here...quite a ceremony. 

Packing for the British Invasion

We will begin our British invasion tomorrow! We are excited to be embarking on this adventure as a family to explore England and Scotland. To visit new places and re-unite with family is what this trip is all about! Only thing tugging at our heartstrings right now is leaving our little buddy at home. Rider knows something is up and doesn't want to be left behind, so he climbed right in the suitcase! We know that he will be in good hands though!