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London Day III

Tuesday September 27, 2011

Ty and I woke up to our last "Full English" breakfast and hopped the tube to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard to find out they are only doing it every other day.  Poop! So we grabbed a cab over to Camden Market which was one of our favourite stops yet, with hundreds of stalls full of unique gifts and souvenirs and we stocked up in good measure.  We would tell any future visitors to London not to miss this market! Imagine if you will, the inviting scent of Indian curry and chinese sweet and sour sauce wafting up the street as you wander through colourful booths full of clothing, jewellery, keepsakes and knick knacks.  Music from around the world entertains your ears while your eyes behold items you have never seen before. Very nice and it stretched for several blocks in every direction.

Well we were having such a good time, Tyler convinced me to try smoking a persian Hookah for the heck of it and we enjoyed it very much, though we won't be making a habit of it!

It reminded me of the old Crosby Stills and Nash song, the Marrekesh Express:

Looking at the world through the sunset in your eyes
Traveling the train through clear Moroccan skies
Ducks and pigs and chickens call
Animal carpet wall to wall
American ladies five-foot tall in blue
Sweeping cobwebs from the edges of my mind
Had to get away to see what we could find
Hope the days that lie ahead
Bring us back to where they've led
Listen not to what's been said to you
Wouldn't you know we're riding on the Marrakesh Express
Wouldn't you know we're riding on the Marrakesh Express
They're taking me to Marrakesh
All aboard the train, all aboard the train
I've been saving all my money just to take you there
I smell the garden in your hair
Take the train from Casablanca going south
Blowing smoke rings from the corners of my mouth
Colored cottons hang in the air
Charming cobras in the square
Striped djellebas we can wear at home Well, let me hear you now
Wouldn't you know we're riding on the Marrakesh Express
Wouldn't you know we're riding on the Marrakesh Express
They're taking me to Marrakesh
Wouldn't you know we're riding on the Marrakesh Express
Wouldn't you know we're riding on the Marrakesh Express
They're taking me to Marrakesh
All on board the train, all on board the train
All on board

Then we jumped the tube across the river to the Borough market, though most of it was closed (Its open Thurs - Sunday). None the less, we had a burger and watched the world go by for a while before jumping back on the tube.

We went over to London Bridge and after a break at a starbucks back at London Tower, we hopped on a river cruise, going down to Greenwhich on the Thames, which is where the 0 line of longitude is and what the world sets its clocks by.  We set our I Phone clocks and walked around the naval college and museum and also walked past the Cutty Sark which is being rebuilt after a fire a couple years ago.

 

And now we find ourselves on our last evening in Europe... grabbing a shower and heading out for a nice dinner.  We will take the tube to the airport at 5:30 am, get our other suitcase out of storage and head for Calgary. I have a hundred thoughts about this trip, the people, the experiences and the lessons learned which I will refine and add to the blog as I can.

1st Corinthians 13:13

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

London Day II

Smoking my pipe along the Thames, adjacent to "The London Eye".

Monday September 26, 2011
Ty and I returned to England and our favourite "Full English Breakfasts" today. We grew tired of the same sausages, egg, grilled tomato, toast and bacon on our first two weeks in the U.K. but say what you want, its not a bad way to start the day and surely the Brits have thought it out over the last few hundred years.
We started our day at Starbucks (Grandi "Filters" with "pouring cream"!) and a walk just up the block to the British Museum where we saw a lot of dead Egyptians, and artifacts including the Rosetta Stone and a few sculptures.

The Rosetta Stone

http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/gr/m/marble_statue_of_aphrodite.aspx

From there we jumped on a double decker and headed down to Victoria Station and toured Westminster Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and walked around the higly secured Big Ben as well as the Parliament Buildings.

Westminster Abbey

In Westminster Abbey

In Westminster Abbey

Parliament Buildings

We have made several observations which I am writing about slowly and will add as time permits. One is our experiences with the natives of London, as well as England's other cities, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Its just been very interesting to me to note the subtle ways that people from different cultures interact with eachother, and the non verbal communication.  London People seem actually quite friendly, though they just don't get our humour or sarcasm with the exception of the black people who give us high fives all the time.  Oh and I will say that the Brits have little or no tans when compared to their French or Italian neighbours... Surely it can't be the constant rain and lack of sun here...

Then we jumped in a London Taxi and did our shopping our Harrods, Harold Nichols and a hundred other fancy shops in the middle of London.

Then we walked down through the Wellington Arch to Buckingham Palace.

We jumped in a taxi and went to Pickadilly Circus for more shopping, having another Starbucks coffee with our beloved cream.  We bought enough souvenirs that we had to take our bags back to our room and after powdering our noses, we took a cab to "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" back down at Pickadilly Circus.

The original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!

Made out of gumballs

Made out of butterfly wings

These next three pics are all the same piece of wood (as it turns)... Believe it or not!

Made from pennies...

An insane experience... A maze of mirrors and I bumped my head many times, got lost and had to be rescued...

An incredible illusion which messed with my head and made we walk funny for several minutes...

By dark we had dinner at Garfunkels and walked back down to Westminster Bridge in full view of the "London Eye" where we sat along the Thames River listening to a violinist playing classical music and smoked our father and son pipes that we got in Dublin a few weeks back. Then we took the "underground" back to our room on Drury Lane.

Tomorrow we have arranged to watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham palace and then we have lined up several outdoor markets as well as more street shopping.  Perhaps, if we have any money left, we will also take a boat tour of the Thames which would be a perfect way for an old lake captain like me to end my vacation.  We fly out of Gatwick at 9 am, arriving in Calgary 12 1/2 hrs later, though it will be 1:30 pm there.

(PS sorry for all the blurry pics recently... We are missing my last camera, which broke, but had an anti-shake function. I will buy a new one when I get home...)