London is at, roughly, the same latitude as Seattle, so, by the middle of June, the days are really, really long, and the sun comes up really, really early. Well, maybe not the sun; at least it is light out.
Today was our major London sight-seeing day, so we started pretty early. Although we had two Rick Steves' guidebooks, Debbie had written out a suggested itinerary for us, so we decided to follow that. (And we were glad we did because the guidebooks had an overwhelming amount of detail.)
Using our Oyster cards, we got on the Tube a block from the Alnutt's house, and rode down to the Green Park stop in the center of town. Our first stop was Buckingham Palace, and, to get there, we walked through the park.
Green Park is one of the royal parks, and it is impeccably maintained and manicured.
When we got to Buckingham Palace, everyone was milling about, getting behind the barriers, waiting for the changing of the guard.
Across the way, at the Victoria Memorial there were also crowds lining up. Kathy convinced me that we should wait as well, and we got positions right on the barrier.
It was quite a wait, but after about a half hour, a group of guards came marching up the Mall (the British pronounce it "mal" as in mal-informed) and through the gates. We weren't very close to them.
About ten minutes later another band came marching by right in front of us.
Through the fence we could see the marching and the actual ceremony of the Changing of the Guard. I think if we did it again, I'd try to get a place at the actual Palace fence.
Then, about five minutes after that, a whole group of mounted guards rode by right in front of us.
By now, it was about 12:30 and we were both famished. Debbie had recommended eating lunch in the Crypt at St. Martins-In-Fields church on Trafalgar square. With a little difficulty, we extricated ourselves from the crowd at Buckingham Palace and walked up the park in the Mall.
This park (another Royal park) has a lily pond in the center, with terrific views back to Buckingham Palace. (I guess that the lily pond is what the Queen sees when she looks out her window in the morning.)
At the other end of the Mall is the Admiralty Arch, leading to Trafalgar square and the famous statue of Lord Nelson. Trafalgar (off the coast of Spain) was the location of the naval battle where Lord Nelson defeated Napoleon's French navy in 1805. Ten years later, in 1815, Wellington defeated Napoleon's armies at Waterloo in Belgium.
We didn't have any time to dwaddle, though, because lunch was calling. I fumbled through my maps and finally located St. Martins-In-Fields in the corner of the square. (The steeple-over-the-entry style of this church inspired the traditional churches of New England.)
Down in the crypt, paved with the gravestones of long-gone parishioners, we found the cafe, and had a delicious, filling and inexpensive lunch.
Back upstairs, we walked around the square. Even though there was free entry to the National Gallery, we really didn't have time to visit. We did find the statue of George Washington, though.
Behind Nelson's statue we went looking for the "zero" marker that marks the exact center of London; where all distances are measured from. Finally, we asked a Bobby, who pointed out that the marker was behind the statue of Charles the I, which stands in front of the Nelson monument.
Rather than retrace our steps, we decided to go on the next stop; Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abby, and, of course, the real attraction, the London Eye. Instead of using the maps, I decided just to follow my keen sense of direction. Accordingly, we didn't get to the river for another half hour.
Once on the river, we rendezvoused with the hordes of tourists we'd left behind at Buckingham Palace. We walked across the bridge in front of Parliament to take the standard postcard picture. Because of the light, though, we got a better picture from the other side, by Westminster Abby.
Right next to Parliament was a statue of Oliver Cromwell, but not much explanation.
Next door to Westminster Abby is St. Margaret's Church, where Winston Churchill was married. We stopped in and looked through there.
We took a picture in front of Westminster Cathedral. (When we got back to our room, we looked up Kate and William's wedding on YouTube, since the entrance way looked so much larger on TV.)
By now, it was late afternoon, and we still had one more stop: the Tower of London. That meant it was time to go underground again.
We took a picture in front of the Tower and got some souvenirs for the kids.
Then we walked over to Tower Bridge and looked at it. The day that had started out so stormy and cloudy was now sunny and warm. And, as usual, by 5:00 o'clock our 60-year-old bodies were pretty wiped out.
We got back to the Docklands by 6:00, where Debbie had made a wonderful chicken dinner. We had a sweet time of fellowship, and then off to bed.
Books, books, books! One of the things that Kathy most looked forward to on this trip was visiting the used bookstores here in Europe. When Tuesday dawned bright and sunny (and before 5:30 am!) and Kathy, Debbie and I caught the DLR and we were off to Book Aid.
Book Aid is a Christian ministry that collects old Christian books and distributes them where they are most needed (often to Africa). In addition, they have a huge warehouse where they collect and sort the books. They put a selection out in their shelves, and visitors can browse through them and purchase the ones they want.
Here's a picture of the warehouse. The plain boxes in the picture are donations that have yet to be sorted, while the pallets wrapped in black plastic are ready to be put into a container and shipped.
We spent some time picking out books for presents. I got myself a first-edition Dorothy Sayers book that I'd never seen in the states. We had too many to carry with us on the plane, so Malcolm helped Kathy weigh and ship a box back home.
Before we left, Ada Hiley sat down for a picture with Kathy and Debbie. Then, because we were late for our train, she put us in her car and ran us down to the station.
At the station, Debbie headed home, but Kathy and I decided to see a little more of London. But first, lunch! We really liked our lunch yesterday at the Cafe in the Crypt, but didn't want to head all the way back to St. Martin's. Instead, we decided to try the Crypt Cafe at St. Pauls. We both had some soup and split a sandwich and salad. It was pretty good.
St. Pauls is Christopher Wren's famous cathedral right in the heart of London. The facade is huge and absolutely awe-inspiring. This is where Charles and Diana got married.
Inside, you can take a tour. We saw several groups of grammar school children passing by on field trips, each in their different uniforms. Instead, we just poked our heads in, and took a few pictures. Kathy is telling me, "The guide just said you're not supposed to take pictures." Too late.
Outside on the steps and in the church yard it looked like much of London was having its lunch as well. We had one last sight we wanted to see, though. When we were at Book Aid, Kathy had picked up a "Methodist Sights in London" pamphlet, and so we wanted to head out to John Wesley's Chapel, house and grave, and also see the Bunhill Cemetery across the street where the non-conformist English Christians were buried.
Having learned our lessons from previous trips, I decided to rely on my sense of dead-reckoning to find the location. Instead, we found the remains of the earliest Roman wall from AD 200, that had been discovered as a result of the WWII bombing destroying the buildings in this area.
Eventually we found Wesley's chapel and house. A very nice docent took us around the chapel and explained all of the various features.
Next door to the main chapel was a smaller prayer room that housed one of Charles Wesley's original organs.
Back, behind the Chapel was the grave of John Wesley, surrounded by the glass office buildings of modern London. The Chapel had sold off this land and the proceeds help to support the church.
Because of the time, we weren't able to visit Wesley's house. At the Chapel, though, they gave us a map to the graves in Bunhill Cemetery across the street. This is where the non-Anglican Protestants were buried.
One of the most famous graves is John Bunyon's, the author of Pilgrim's Progress. On the side of the grave is a relief of Pilgrim laying down his burden at the Cross.
Before we left London, we wanted to go out to dinner with the Alnutt's. They suggested an Italian restaurant in Canary Wharf, where we saw a tall ship that the US Coast Guard Academy sophomores had sailed over to Germany for its 75th anniversary.
Tomorrow we're returning to California, so here's our last memory of London.
