On our way from Salt Lake to the Netherlands we decided to take a detour through London. Since we were already paying for the travel anyway, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to see some of the sights! We spent about 3 days in London, and had fun seeing all the sights.
There are so many great things to see there, but we didn't have any trouble deciding what was at the top of our list - Platform 9 3/4 of course! We both love Harry Potter, and Julia has most of the books memorized, so we couldn't miss this tourist spot. Our hotel was just a few minutes walk from King's Cross Station. We also found a telephone booth and tried to finagle our way into the Ministry of Magic, but no luck.
Our first big stop, and one of the best, was the Tower of London. The tickets were fairly expensive, but they offered discount tickets for "children, students, and the unemployed." David wasn't above confessing to the cashier that his wife was jobless in order to save $5! The Tower is most famous for being a prison and site of execution for England's notables, such as Anne Boleyn, Walter Raleigh, William Wallace, etc. But it also was used as a palace for the King and houses the Crown Jewels. We had an entertaining tour by one of the "beef-eaters" and saw the famous ravens. Legend says that the Tower and the Kingdom will fall if the ravens ever leave the tower, so they keep half a dozen there permanently. The Tower Bridge is right next door, and is also beautiful. That evening we attended Mass in St. Paul's Cathedral.
We saw most of the big sites while we where there. The British Museum is very impressive and had lots of great things. We really liked the Rosetta Stone and the marbles from the Greek Parthenon. Greece isn't particularly happy the Brits have their national treasures, but the fact that the museum has the marbles has probably saved them from destruction. We tried to see Buckingham Palace but it was partially gated off and could only get a side view. You'd think the Queen would be more hospitable.
Westminster Abbey was also a great place to visit. We took an audio tour around the Abbey and saw where all the Kings and Queens are crowned and buried. The Coronation Chair has been used for 700 years to crown the monarch. It's history is impressive, but it's not in great shape. Apparently some choir boys from the Abbey decided to carve their names and initials into the wood, so now it is pretty beat up and graffitied. The Abbey is next door to Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. This building is very Gothic and we really liked the architecture. We also saw the Tate Britain Museum to see the pre-Raphaelite art (some of Julia's favorite pictures, especially by Waterhouse).
To end our trip we took the train to Harwich and then the ferry over to the Netherlands (more on that next post).
Overall, we give our trip to London two thumbs up!
David and I are now living in Leiden in a cute old row house in the Netherlands. It is a beautiful city with many canals and old historic buildings. The pilgrims stopped here for a time, and there is a museum dedicated to them. David and I both have ancestors who crossed to America, so there is a good chance they were in Leiden for a while a long time ago. Leiden is a very old city with a lot of history. Rembrandt was born here, just around the corner from our house. Einstein taught at Leiden University, where David is attending school. Leiden University is the oldest in the country. The next picture shows one of the canals near our house.
