3rd Day... la la la...

Here we are again! This is day 3 of our trip in London in February. We had a London pass we won on an auction online before we left. It was actually a miracle we got it since the delivery man kept taking it to the wrong address, and then finally Jay had to run and meet him in Times Square, literally as we were leaving to the airport. So we really wanted to get the most out of it, and used it for 9 places in one day.

The first place (and one of our fav's) was St Paul's Cathedral.

It is so big and beautiful! The inside domes were amazing, but we were unable to take photos. We climbed all the stairs to the top were there is an amazing view of the city (even on a cloudy day!). The pics that follow were taken from the very top area above the dome you see in this pic.

Next we ran over Millennium Bridge (see it?) to Shakespeare's Globe Theater. This is built is the same style and very close to Willie's original theater back in the day, and it took years to recreate.






We got some tokens to play at an arcade and ride bumper cars, which was actually quite fun.


Here's Jay on a 18-wheeler.









There were such long lines for the aquarium as it was a school holiday, but luckily our cards let us pass right in. We've been to better aquariums, but it did have a large tank of sharks and a petting area with Manta Rays...and lots of informational signs...
















We grabbed a little lunch...Jay wanted to try the giant hot dogs to compare them with NYC. His conclusion? Bigger isn't always better...






Next we hopped on a tour boat and learned more about the river front as we went to Tower of London. Our comical tour guide sounded like (and resembled) one of the chimney-sweeps from Mary Poppins.






So here we are at Tower of London, a very old castle full of history and excitement. There is even a moat! Above you can see the outer fortress walls with a tall building in the middle. As we approached, we expected some guards to look over and ask us questions about European or African swallows.













Here are some shots around the inside. We couldn't take pictures in the Jewel house which has millions of dollars of crowns, scepters, and robes of monarchs of the past.









Jay's fav spot when he came as a boyscout many moons ago...the torture chamber...

Nearby is Tower Bridge, built more recently (115 years ago), and it is commonly thought to be London Bridge. We walked up along the top walkway to take some rainy photos, the bottom roadway is a draw-bridge.

After a little Pub dinner, we went to a winery tour, which we thought might be interesting. Well, it turned out to be a wine-tasting tour with a few little displays. As we don't drink, they thought we were a little strange refusing politely free wine. But we did eat the little crackers. Kjerstina is holding a bottle with spices inside used to test your sense of smell.

Last, the only thing we could do after 9 pm on our pass was to go bowling. So we had our worst games ever, but had a lot of fun. It was more fun to finally sit down after a long day and watch the people next to us bowl, who appeared as if they had a little too much wine tasting, if you know what I mean!

Day 2!

Well! Here we are on our second day in London (Feb 11). First we went to church...incidentally, we sat on the same row as a guy we know from Manhattan....and incidentally, we sat right in front of Kjerstina's aunt Carolyn who just happened to be in town on business!



Next we walked through Hyde Park where a shrine to the late Prince Albert was made by his wife, Queen Victoria (click on it to get a better view). Quite humble, isn't it? Jay put in a request to have a similar relic made in his honor by his wife. We will have to see about that one...

Pictures from Hyde Park



In the park is Kensington Palace and Gardens, which were lovely even in February.

Now if you have ever been to London on a Sunday, hopefully you went to "Speaker's Corner". It is a designated spot in the park where anyone can say or preach anything. Kjerstina had the idea of saying a few words, until we got there and saw all the people! Everyone was there, Muslim, Christian, atheist, Jew ... and plenty of hecklers.

We never could figure out this guys agenda.....





And here we have Wellington's Arch

We walked through another park to reach the Buckingham Palace grounds, where just outside is this tribute to Canadians. Jay felt a little more at home in this spot.

Buckingham itself...the flag is up which is supposed to mean the Queen is home, although she never came out to say hello.

We walked along the rest of the grounds, which originally were the king's hunting park back in the day. All you would find to hunt now is ducks.








We didn't get a very good shot of Westminster Abbey, but we got to go inside for a free Organ concert...and a little peak at all the famous tombs (Charles Dickens, Geoffrey Chaucer, George Frideric Handel, and a bunch of monarchs).

Here is a bridge we ate a little picnic on (it was a little chilly).

We walked along the Parliament buildings....

And then took a double-decker bus home!

What is going on? Hopefully you all have magnifying glasses to read our blogs! Oh Well...I guess we have learned a hard lesson in blog-ing...it doesn't matter how much time you spend fixing a nice blog page, it can always become corrupted after you publish. So if you want to know what the words say, you can go into the comment section and click on "show original post". Maybe this blogspot place just edits out boring dialogue!

It's a great view from the Bandwagon!

We know what you are thinking....we don't have any cute kids or animals to show off, so why did we start a blog (although we do have a large houseplant that is our pride and joy). But, assuming you are reading this because you like us, we wanted an easier way to share our lives with those who live so far away. So here goes....we are new to blogger-dom, so pardon us if we make mistakes.

First we would like to share with you just a small sampling from our recent trip to London and Paris. We had such a good time and took so many pictures, so you can choose if you want to look or not (you can click on most of the pictures to enlarge). Since it has taken so long to publish this, and the anticipation is so high, we decided to give you a day at a time. So...here goes.

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LONDON

We Made it!! We left on Friday evening Feb 9th from JFK and arrived Sat morning in London. So here is what we saw...a typical street with double-decker bus, old fashioned taxis, and rain!

The First building that Jay found...

The Canadian Embassy.

The first thing Kjerstina found ...

English chocolate

A beautiful shot of Trafalgar Square, this is famous for millions of pigeons. Fountain and statue of someone...maybe that's Trafalgar himself. (Look, it's not raining!)

Santa vacations in London as well...

Three views from Picadilly Circus--no clowns or lions here, just a center like Times Square in NYC.

Chinatown was getting ready for the Chinese New Year celebration.

The first Museum we went to on our trip (out of millions!) was the British Museum...very old and free! (Actually, museums are free in London.)



Inside this amazing building.

Cleopatra lives here...

The Rosetta Stone...a very popular display--we had to fight to get this picture. If you didn't know, it helped solve some translation codes because it was written in 3 languages. You can almost see the three different kinds of writing (hieroglyphics, Egyptian, and Greek).

The first night we just walked along the River Thanes...here are some of the views...

St. Pauls Cathedral

Bridges, Bridges falling down....

Giant rocks, ferris wheels, and clocks...