Regent's Park

I spent Sunday at the London Zoo and walking around Regent's Park. It was a nice, relaxing day.

In Regent's Park, I took pictures of the many flower gardens and tress. This picture, of a pretty purple flower, is why I love my camera.

Oxford and Wicked

Oxford UK

This latte was one of the best I've had. Only in Italy, have I had a better latte. The little cafe, where I drank this yummy coffee, was very close to Christ Church. For all you Harry Potter fans, Ante Hall (at Christ Church) becomes Hogwarts Hall via movie magic.

Harry Potter isn't the only famous child connected to Oxford. Alice from "Alice in Wonderland" has real roots in Oxford. And there is a very cute little shop near Christ Church devoted to all things "Alice." A short walk from Alice's Shoppe is Carfax Tower.

Carfax tower is a remnant of a 14th century church. There are about 100 very narrow steps to the top of the tower. The view at the top, is incredible. Well worth the walk up the steps. Then comes the decent back down the same steps....I was very thankful when I was back on solid ground. Narrow, twisty steps don't really agree with me, especially when the steps were built for someone about 5 inches shorter then me.

After a day full of walking, shopping and seeing Oxford, I took the train back to London. And saw Wicked. Wicked is the best musical I've even seen! The US tour will be in The Cities later this year, and I will be buying a ticket to see it again. Wicked is awesome!!

I made it to Stonehenge!!!!

I took the train from Wimbledon to Salisbury. In Salisbury, I took the "Stonehenge Tour" which is really just a tour bus that takes you to different sites in the area. Once on the bus, an audio track tells about the history of the area.

For example, during WWII, the Germans used Salisbury Cathedral as a navigation "marker" for their planes. This is why no German bombs were dropped near the Cathedral.

Stonehenge was awesome! It's amazing to me that people have been coming to this area for over 5000 years. The ditch, which is hard to see, was started in the Neolithic period. The Blue Stones were brought 240 miles from the Preseli Mountains in Wales. And the Sarsen Stones are massive! It was just amazing to see this magical, prehistoric engineering feat.

After Stonehenge, I went to Old Sarum. Old Sarum is huge earthwork settlement. Occupied by iron age settlers, Romans, Saxons, and Normans. The site is in ruins now. But it was fun to explore! The views were incredible!! As I was walking around the main earthwork, I realized I was by myself. I was walking toward this tree and suddenly felt like I was in a Jane Austin novel. Totally cheesy, I know. But the thought made me stop walking and just enjoy the moment.

Salisbury Cathedral is impressive. And the town of Salisbury is just lovely. The streets are narrow, and the canals are beautiful. Walking toward the Cathedral, I was a found a "Poundland" the British version of the Dollar Store. There was also a bookstore with a large Twilight display in the window. And a Starbucks! Of course, I had to stop for a latte.

Saturday, May 1, 2010.

Today was a full day of sightseeing in London.

I started the day at Westminster Abbey. I decided to use an audio tour guide inside the Abbey. I am really glad that I used it. There is so much history in the Abbey and so much to see, I know I would have missed a lot with out the audio guide. I was sad that pictures are not allowed inside the Abbey; Only in the Cloisters. So I don't have my photos from the Abbey.

After the Abbey, I walked along Parliament Street to Trafalgar Square. There was a protest rally at Trafalgar today. It was an interesting place to people watch.

Next up was the National Gallery. I was able to see works by Monet, Manet, Seurat, Renoir, Degas, Cezanne, and Van Gogh. Sunflowers is one of the most beautiful paintings I've ever seen. I loved it! And there were several Monet's on display, so I was in art heaven. The National Gallery is a favorite!

After I left the Gallery, I wasn't for sure where I wanted to go. I decided to walk be down Parliament St again. I stopped at the Horse Guard and watched the changing of the Guard. Then I walked to St James' Park.

St James' Park was so beautiful. The flower gardens were alive with color. There were swans in the lake. It was so peaceful in the park. I explored the park for a long time, ending up at Buckingham Palace. As I was walking to the St James Park Tube station, the sky opened up and it started to rain.

All in all, a fun day.

The plan for today was Stonehenge.

The plan was to get up early, take the train to Salisbury, and spend day seeing Stonehenge, Old Sarum, and Salisbury Cathedral. That was the plan.

Then, on Friday, I was invited to a barbecue. I had such a good time. At one point, I was laughing so hard, I was in tears. All the people I met at this party were awesome. But by the time I got back to my flat it was very late.

Today, I went back to the British Museum and spent most of the day there. I was able to see a Clovis point, Mayan lintels, mummies, a statue from Easter Island, and a fragment of the beard of the Sphinx.

So, no Stonehenge today, but tomorrow it will happen!

Last weekend was a relaxing weekend for me. I spend last Saturday, April 17th, walking around London. Started the day at Leicester Square.

Walked to Seven Dials and did some window shopping. Seven Dials is a road circle with 7 roads coming from the circle. Each of the 7 roads is lined with small shops and boutiques. Lots of vintage shops, with really cool clothing.

Onward to Covent Garden. More shops, but also street performers, and a open air food market. The food was awesome!

That night, I saw Love Never Dies, at the Adelphi Theatre. Love Never Dies takes place 10 years after the events in Phantom of the Opera. I have not seen Phantom yet, but I loved Love Never Dies. And I now HAVE to see Phantom while I am here.

The Washer Dryer

Time to be an adult and do my laundry. Since I wasn't for sure how the washer dryer would work, I just washed a small load of socks. Washing the socks only took about 30 minutes. Then 30 minutes to dry. Problem being that when the machine was all done, everything was still wet.

10 minutes later, I finally figured out how to run just the dryer. That was a couple of hours ago. When the dryer stops, the socks still look damp. I say look, because the dryer door will not open. It's locked. And there is no unlock button.

After spending time on google, i discovered how to open the machine door....Solution: you have to wait. The machine will unlock on it's own. Wonderful.

So I waited... and waited some more. When the door finally opened and I could take my nice warm and dry socks out of the dryer, I had a "nice" surprise. All the socks STILL wet. 2.5 hours in the dryer and still wet.

boo

At this point, I think it would be much easier to just buy new socks. But no, I will not be defeated by the scary machine in the hall closet.

So the dryer is back on and I'm determined I will have dry socks before the night is over. Wish me luck, as I will need it :)

The Tower of London as seen from the side.

When I left my flat today, I had no clue where I would end up. By the time I got to Waterloo station, I had decided the tower would be a neat place to go.

You can still see sections of the original Roman walls. I do have to say that the Roman did know how to build things. 2000 years and still standing!

The Crown Jewels were pretty cool. But I do have to say that many of the crown's looked like. All except Queen Victoria's small diamond crown. It was beautiful. Dainty and sparkly.

The on tower green, there is a really cool memorial to all the people who died in the tower. Everyone was calling it the "Queen's Pillow." The memorial is a glass disc with a crystal "pillow" in the center. The pillow is dimpled, as if it was holding something. It seemed a fitting memorial for the spot where the scaffolds once stood and so many people died.

Lovely Saturday walking around London

I woke up with a headache today, which wasn't good. Thankfully, by noon it was gone. So, I was able to get out and see more of London.

I took the train to Waterloo station, then the tube to Embankment. I spent the afternoon walking alone the River Thames.

I'm still amazed by all I saw today. So much in such a small area along the Thames.

Jubilee Gardens was very cool! There were street performers all over. People in costume, people singing, dancing. Artist's drawing on the sidewalks in chalk. Lots of people out enjoying the sunny day. I stopped at a McD's near Jubilee Gardens, OMG it was crazy inside. It was two levels and packed wall to wall with people. I just turned and walked out. So many fun places to eat in this area and McD's is where everyone was at. Crazy! The London Eye was busy as well. I though about buying a ticket for the London Eye, but the line was so long. And I wanted to see Big Ben and Cleopatra's Needle.

Westminster Bridge is for both cars and walkers. Many street performers lined the walking path. One guy was playing bagpipes, which was fun to hear. Each step across the bridge takes you closer to Big Ben. I know Big Ben is just a big clock tower, but being near it makes you feel like you are where time starts for the world. It's funny, but I did check my watch to see if it matched Big Ben (yes I am a dork).

Walking along the north side of the Thames is the Battle of Britain Memorial, Cleopatra's Needle, Victoria Embankment Gardens, and Whitehall Gardens. I could have spent hours in Whitehall Gardens. It's a small park, but it was so beautiful! And peaceful. Just steps way from busy London, inside the iron gaits, it was quiet and serene. I would love to see it when the trees are green and all the flowers are in bloom.

London is a wonderful city.

I made it to the British Museum

I have to be honest, the trains and tube stations scared the heck out out me. I wasn't worried about getting places, it was more just not knowing what I was doing. And everyone else seemed to know how the system worked. It's unnerving standing in a crowded building when you have no idea what you need to do.

I decided today I would master the train station. All in all, not a bad way to travel. Once I figured out the whole ticket process, it was easy. Everything is marked really well and it's relaxing to just sit and people watch. I took the train to Waterloo, then the tube to Tottenham Court Road. Then a short walk to the British Museum.

Th British Museum is one of the coolest places I've been too. But it's kind of a sad place as well. Things like the Rosetta stone, the Assyrian art, and the Caryatid should be in their home countries. Today I think I saw more works of art from the Acropolis than I saw when I was at the Acropolis. That realization was sad for me.

That said, the selfish part of me is happy to have all of these treasures so close. I know I will be going back, as I did not see everything I wanted to see. There is just too much to see in one day.

London Day 3 - Easter Sunday

Today started with the grand attempt to see the British Museum. But as luck would have it, the Holborn station had a signal light go out and it caused some majors issues and backups on the tube lines. So, no Rosetta stone for me today. Hopefully tomorrow works better.

Then I decided to check out the Natural History Museum, but the web site said due to the Easter school holidays, the lines would be long, especially in the dinosaurs hall. Boo!

As the weather was cold and grey and looked like it could open up and pour anytime, I decided to stay in the Wimbledon area. Wimbledon is very pretty. The main street is super busy, but the side streets are peaceful. I took a nice long walk and just enjoyed the sights. All in all, a nice relaxing day.

Now to explain the photo of my stove. It's a De-Dietrich. The stove top works great! It did take some time to figure out how it works, but it works. The oven on the hand, not so much. It's more like a fancy microwave. When you start the oven, you enter the cooking time, and select the air flow. The inside of the oven is smaller than my microwave at home...pretty small. No cooking a turkey in this oven, even a small chicken would not fit! This over-rated little oven took a yummy looking small pizza and turned it into a charred black weapon. The cooking instructions on the pizza box stated to cook for 15 minutes. I decided to try 10 minutes and then check it. WOW is all I can say. Yummy pizza in, hockey puck out.

I don't think the oven will get much use. Instead, I'll try the actual microwave.

London Day 2

This is a street near my flat. I spent the day exploring the area near my new place. Some areas are quiet, others very busy.

I did buy a cell phone today and "topped it up". It took forever to get the SIM card into the phone. The instructions were horrible, but I finally got it.

I had to figure out how to use the stove as well today. Turning it on was difficult. As was turing it off. The on/off button was not marked as such.

The rest of the day was spent getting unpacked and organized. And getting my blog set up. I plan on relaxing tonight and doing some sight seeing tomorrow.

London Day 1

Arrived at Heathrow about noon. Took a Black London Cab. The Cab drive was awesome! He told me a lot about the areas we drove past. Some areas very rich, some very poor. We drove past some homes that sell for 10 million pounds! Crazy!!!

The apartment I'm staying in is very modern. Everything is black and white. Lots of glass and steal as well. The deck is very nice! And I have cable, which is something I don't have at home.

The washer dryer is scary. One machine that does both. I'm willing to try it, but I'm not expecting much. I think hand washing will be a better option.

I did venture out to buy food. Wow!! What an experience! The grocery store was crazy. Everyone was in a hurry. Most of the brands were new to me. So I stuck to the basics. Veggies, fruit, pasta, and bread. The meat was scary, so I don't think I'll be eating much meat.

The bakery section was to die for. Plus there are lots of little shops that sell pastries and treats. I did look, but did not buy any. Instead I bought a Cadbury candy bar.

Greetings

Greetings,

This is my first travel blog. I'm writing to keep family and friends updated on what I'm doing here in London. And to help me scrapbook when I'm back in the good old USA.