August 7, 2007

• The Last of London

  Now that it’s August, I can finally upload the last pictures from my trip. I think I took close to 2,000 pictures, so I’m certainly “restraining” myself to limit you to only having to look at 50 or so. (Ha ha)  I’ll comment on the pictures and then tell you all about my class reunion, eh?

  This picture is blurry, but you get to see what the whole Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens looks like. I didn’t realize I didn’t have a clear shot of one of my favorite places. Boo.  Anyhow, that’s Peter on top playing a flute thing with someone looking up adoringly at him. The base is all attractive fairies and woodland creatures.

  

  A better picture of the top
  

  Here’s TGD showing off our spacious hotel room at the Garden Court Hotel in London. It was a nice, clean, comfy place, but not so very generous in square footage.

  

  A tree in Kensington Gardens. Boy, I really loved Kensington Gardens.  Too much whimsy in the bloodstream, I guess.

  

  Me by Big Ben. Of course, this is the Big Ben bell tower, but does it really matter?

  

  For those of you who read Regency, this is Rotten Row in Hyde Park!   For those of you who don’t read Regency, it’s a famous horse/carriage trail.

  

  This is the home of the Horse Guards. We got to see the changing of the Horse Guards which involved a lot of guys on horses and a lot of people standing around with video cameras.

  

  Look! Horses!

  

  London–I think somewhere in the business district

   

  This is me standing by the Rosetta Stone–the really-o, truly-o Rosetta Stone! (Checks that item off list of things to do before she dies…)

  

  Inside the British Museum (where you will find the Rosetta Stone and many other spiffy things)

  

  Here I am with the friendliest of the Yeoman Warders (Beefeaters) at the Tower of London. This guy is also the one on postcards, and I bought a postcard with his smiling face as well.  (There are only about 30 Yeoman Warders, so the chances I’d have gotten a picture with the friendly one aren’t as high as one might imagine.)

  

  One of the towers in the Tower of London. This picture was taken about a half hour after we were hammered with rain. (I heard that it was close to five inches in about two hours!)

  

  TGD and Teacherperson head to the Globe to see a play. Yes, that is THE black dress! (We’re in the lobby of the hotel which had some nifty English-y things about.)

  

  And, a non-blurry head shot.  Like the necklace? It’s my mom’s.

  

  This is The Albert Memorial built by Queen Victoria to honor her dead husband. Can you see the people at the bottom? Their heads would barely come to the top of the white base. Can you imagine just how large this ornate statue is? Can you see the seated, giant gold Albert in the middle? Queen Victoria was one seriously besotted woman.

  

  These are the latest memorial to Princess Dianna. They are called Dandelion Clocks and are supposed to represent wishes and the passing of time. They are even uglier in person.

  

  A double-decker bus reminding everyone that all of England is smoke-free as of July 1st. (Actually, it says “smoke-smell free” as it’s advertising Oust, but, hey…)  You are no longer allowed to smoke inside any public building in England.  This was okay for smokers in summer, but I wonder what will happen in the winter to those nice outdoor tables?

  

  Here we are inside The Globe. You can see the stage to our left and some of the seats to our right. The theater is a circle with the seats and stage under roof and the middle open to the sky. Those who only pay £ 5 get the privilege of standing there. If it rains, watch out!

  

  This was cool. They had torn down all the inside of a building but left the front and back faces to retain the character of the street. Kudos to this builder!

  

  Tower Bridge from underneath (Yes, we were in the water!)

  

  Alexander the Great
  
  

  I know these were supposed to be fierce warriors guarding someone’s tomb, but don’t they look like funny folk with giant toothbrushes on their heads?
   
  

   
   There. That ends it. You’ve seen the best of the bunch. I have a whole herd of prints being made at Wal-Mart, and I plan to make a big, ol’ scrapbook of the trip. I’d like to have it done before school starts, but the reality is that it probably won’t be done until Rachel graduates from high school. We shall see.  Be sure to nag me about it.

  Now, for the class reunion…I gave my finger and toenails a French manicure, put my hair in a bun, slipped on THE black dress, and headed out.  When I pulled into the parking lot, I was not impressed.  When I saw a number of people going in in shorts and polo shirts, I was a bit panicked. “AAAAAH! Did I overdress? This is a 20th reunion. Won’t people dress up?  AHHHH! This is Curwensville! No, they won’t be dressed up!”  I screwed my courage to the sticking place and went inside.  Yes, 85% of the people were in shorts or more casual wear, but several ladies had worn dresses, and one fellow even sported a tie. Phew!

  It was fairly easy to recognize the ladies, but I must confess I had quite a bit of trouble knowing who the guys were. They all looked like 38 year old men. (Imagine that!) But, for the most part, it was a friendly evening, chatting, showing of pictures of children (and one with a grandchild!), and such.   The place where we had the meal was really a bar, which was open to the public. So, when our dinner finished, we went to the bar where the band was playing. I’ve never been to a bar before (except in tame hours when we went for dinner, and those places were really restaurants).  It was loud. 

  It was getting late, and I was thinking it was time to go home. I went back into the bar area (we could sit in the dinner area still to talk, which I had been doing) to see if I could find my cousin to say goodbye. He had already gone home, so I decided to leave as well. On my way across the bar, I was stopped by a man who said, “Hey, do you remember me?”  Of course, since he was a guy, I had no idea.  It turned out that he wasn’t from my class at all, just some drunken fellow there with his buddies. While we engaged in our three minutes of chatting (I quickly turned the conversation to my husband, five children, and homeschooling), one of his buddies passed him a dollar bill.  It didn’t strike me until later that I must have been the object of a bet. I wish I had realized it at time. I could have walked off in a huff for only being worth a $1 bet!

  Today’s goals include laundry, swimming, and reading Harry Potter. May your day be just a stress-free!

   

  • 11:59 am
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