London

Big Ben & the House of Parliament accross the River Thames

We finally made it to London on the weekend of August 10 - 14, 2000. We stayed with our friends Paul & Viv Barnes, who live in a village called Little Hadham. They have a wonderful place and a few acres of land out in the vicinity of Stansted Airport. We owe Paul & Viv a lot for putting us up as well as putting up with us for the weekend!

We arrived at Stansted on Thursday night at about 9:30 PM. Paul picked us up from the airport, and we then went back to his place to drop off our stuff. We then immediately departed for a pub which is about a half mile down the road from their house. The Nag's Head Pub, in addition to being very conveniently located, is a very nice place, even if they do serve their beer a little warmer than we like. We had three pints each (Abbots Ale is pretty darn good!) and called it a night.

Friday morning started with a traditional English breakfast. Paul got up and made us bacon, sausages, eggs, baked beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, and toast. Everything was excellent! After breakfast, we rode into town with Paul. Unfortunately, he had to go to work, and we were on our own: he put us on the train and we were on our way.

We found our way first to The Tower of London. One of London's most popular sights, the Tower has served as a Royal Palace, a fortress, a prison, a place of execution, an arsenal, as well as a royal mint and jewel house. Our first objective here was to see the crown jewels as our guide book says the line to see these gets quite long. We walked right through the very long queue and actually got to ride twice down the conveyor belt that takes you by the crowns, scepters, and such. The Crown Jewels were very impressive (no pictures allowed, though).

The White Tower was our next stop. Built by William the conqueror between 1066 and 1087, it is the oldest and most impressive building in the collection. It was also my favorite as it housed the Royal Armories, the national museum of arms and armor, and the museum of The Tower. The firepower in this place was awesome. Entire columns were mounted with pistol racks. Entire walls were lined with rifles. Swords and jousting lances were everywhere. There were lots of cannons and an actual chop block and axe used to behead someone famous (I forget who) on the Tower Green. There was also a Spanish Armory which showed some nasty weapons employed way back when. The White Tower was very cool.

We then wandered around and checked out the rest of the castle, but there's not too much other exciting stuff. There are some huge ravens that reside of the grounds and squawk at the tourists: they kind of freaked me out. Charles II was warned that if they ever left the Tower, the monarchy would fail, so they have ensured that they never leave. We also saw The Traitor's Gate (the boat entrance by which prisoners were brought into The Tower), The Bloody Tower (which isn't what it sounds like at all: it's just where Sir Walter Raleigh was imprisoned for 13 years), and several towers where prisoners carved stuff into the walls. While there wasn't as much of the bloody history as I would have liked, The Tower of London was definitely worth checking out.

Our next stop was Tower Bridge, which is touted as "The World's Most Famous Bridge for over 100 years." I admit that when I picture London, I picture this and Big Ben. However, I must be a big idiot, because I thought this was London Bridge. As it turns out, London Bridge is just an ordinary bridge (what a bummer) and Tower Bridge is the famous one. See, I learn something new every day! Anyway, the views from the upper walkways of this majestic bridge were spectacular. They also show you why it was built as a drawbridge (to let big ships through: duh!) and how it works, but the views were the great part of this tourist attraction.

Now it was about time for some grub. On the back of our Tower Bridge tickets was an advert for Cap'n Tony's Pizza & Pasta Emporium. Since we hadn't had good pizza since leaving the States over a month before, we decided to check it out when we saw a sign saying it was just around the corner. The pizza really hit the spot and we also discovered that the restaurant is actually a chain and there's supposedly one in Pittsburgh. We'll have to check it out!

After lunch we decided to head towards The London Dungeon. However, when we got there, we found a line over an hour & a half long, and I wasn't about waiting that long for it, so we decided to settle for the Winston Churchill's Britain At War Experience which was just a few blocks down Tooley St. I don't think Churchill or his family is in any way associated with it besides the name, but we figured we'd check it out.

This turned out to be very fortuitous as this was very interesting. This museum allows you to re-live the Blitz. There was so much stuff I'd never really thought about since I'd never lived in a city at war which could be struck at any moment by the enemy. Newspaper clippings and adverts from the time filled the walls, talking about the war happenings and what to do to survive an air raid, etc. It was so fascinating. Everyone had to actually carry a gas mask with them at all times. There were "Anderson shelters" built all over the city that the people had to flock to during a raid. They actually had a shelter and they pumped in the sounds of an actual raid (very cool). I was fascinated by posters instructing everyone to pitch in to the war effort, conserve everything (material, food, etc), and especially the "Keep Mum, She's not so dumb: careless talk costs lives" ones pointing out how anyone could be a spy. Fascinating!

We then caught the train back to Canary Wharf where we met Dave Jewess (another friend) for a few pints at The Cat & The Canary, which is one of many bustling bars on a Friday at Happy Hour in this part of town. We relaxed at an outside table (the weather was beautiful) enjoying the view and a few more pints once Paul showed up. Finally, we decided to head back to Little Hadham. We again visited the Nag's Head, but this time we had dinner: The food here was quite good: I had the hot butter-garlic shrimp & Lisa had the fried scampi. We followed the food up with another pint and then made our way back to the house after a very long day.

On Saturday we took the train from Bishops Stortford into town with Paul. Our first stop was Buckingham Palace. We were considering going in, however, there was a huge line here as well, and I've seen numerous royal palaces in Europe, so we decided the wait wasn't worth it. We walked around the grounds and checked things out, though. We then wandered by St. James Place (which if I remember correctly is where Prince Charles and his sons live) and happened to catch a changing of the guard there. Those guys are stiff, let me tell you: nothing distracts them. I mooned one of them and he still didn't blink. I even rubbed my butt on his leg and got nothing (except an itchy bum, that is). Of course I'm just kidding: my bum didn't get itchy.

We then walked over to see the other most famous thing in London: Big Ben. It was really big and majestic and neat to see in person after seeing it in pictures for so long, but it's still just a big clock. What else can I say about it? We also visited Westminster Abbey (the tallest Gothic building in the British Isles -- woohoo!). This is also where the British Monarch's are crowned. Winston Churchill is buried here along with numerous British monarchs from the 13th - 16th centuries. Britain's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (WWII) is here as well. I'm still a bit put out by the fact that a church charges admission, but it doesn't really surprise me. They also make you buy a permit to take pictures: ridiculous!

Our next stop was the Cabinet War Rooms, which were the nerve center of Britain's WWII war effort. Formerly a government storage basement, they inserted a 3 foot thick slab of concrete above these rooms to protect them from the German air attacks. In August 1939 (one week before the war began) the Cabinet War Rooms became operational. This was where Churchill, his ministers, and other top government officials planned the war. Many of these people (including Churchill) worked and also lived in these cramped quarters throughout the war. The rooms on display include the Cabinet Room (where Churchill and his ministers met), the communications rooms, Churchill's office/bedroom, and the Map Room. The maps are still on the walls here and the ocean actually appears gray from all of the pin pricks in the white map that marked the locations of ships throughout the war. Very cool.

We decided to grab a quick lunch at this point. We stopped by a little pub where Paul knew the beer was cheap and cold: The Lord Moon of the Mall. We had a pint and some baps, which is just a sandwich (those crazy English and their wacky language [a truck is a lorry, a sandwich is a bap, an elevator is a lift, etc]). The sandwiches were excellent and very inexpensive by London standards! The beer was also good: I had a Spitfire. It was also nice to sit down and relax for a few minutes.

After our lunch break, we walked around town checking out various sites. We walked through Trafalgar Square, where the fountains are chlorinated and the people (usually kids, but not always) can jump right in on nice days like the day we were there. Then we walked up to Piccadilly Circus where they say if you stand there long enough you'll run into someone you know: I didn't. We caught the tube over to the London Eye, but the tickets were sold out for the entire weekend, so we went over to St. Paul's Cathedral, which is another beautiful church in the heart of London. There was no admission charge here, however, there is a charge to go up into the dome, but alas, it was closed for the day by the time we got there.

We then caught the train back to Bishops Stortford (close to Little Hadham) and got some dinner there. Paul & Viv talked Lisa into trying an Indian restaurant (I was outvoted since I had no desire to go there). I will admit that it wasn't horrible (I had some spicy chicken dish), but it's not something I'd ever crave. Lisa enjoyed it, though. After dinner, we just went back to their house and retired for the evening.

On Sunday we were on our own again as Paul & Viv had things to do. We again took the train into town and went over to the London Dungeon. There was a short line (oops, the British word for line is 'queue') outside, but we decided to brave it considering the queue we had seen on Friday for this attraction. We still waited about a half hour, though, as there was a surprisingly long line inside the building. Anyway, the London Dungeon shows a lot of what I wished I had seen at the Tower of London: the devices and brutal methods of torture employed in London's history. They also had actor's and scenes depicting the great fire of London which destroyed a majority of the city in 1666. They also spent a lot of time describing London's most famous murderer Jack The Ripper. While it all was mildly interesting, it was mostly wax figures and cheesy actors. I would've been disappointed had we not done it (since I heard it was good), but after seeing it, it's not something I would recommend.

We then caught the tube over to the Imperial War Museum, which is Britain's musem dedicated to... you guessed it: war. On display they had tons (literally) of tanks, jeeps, artillery, planes, mini-subs, and other equipment used in war throughout the centuries: these were not replicas, but real stuff used in the war and then restored. They also had a Holocaust Exhibition on temporary display. Like most of the historical museums in Berlin, this was very interesting but so heavy. The conditions in the concentration / extermination camps were just appalling. I'm still awed at how an entire people were coerced into believing that a race was the cause of all of their problems and that they should be exterminated. It's just scary to contemplate.

We also walked through both of the World War exhibitions where you can see the chronology, uniforms, weapons, letters, etc from the wars. I found all of this fascinating, but by this time I think Lisa was a little world warred out. In the WWI exhibition, they had The Trench experience: a recreation of what it would look / sound like inside the trenches. The people were wax statues, but it was still really cool. The WWII exhibition contained the Blitz experience, where you could again sit in an emergency shelter and experience an air raid. They also had other exhibits for Korea and Vietnam as well as the Cold War, the Gulf War, and the many other conflicts that have occurred in the world. The last exhibition we checked out was dedicated to the history of the British intelligence agencies (MI5, MI6, etc) and their ever-changing tactics, which was interesting.

After spending almost the entire day there, we caught the train back to Bishop's Stortford where Paul picked us up. Pizza Hut was the dinner choice this evening, and I am very happy to say that the U.K. Pizza Huts are exactly the same as in the States: the Danish Pizza Huts are good, but the pizza isn't exactly the same. It was nice to have the good stuff again. We then went back and went to bed as we had to get up at 5:15 the next morning for the trip back to the airport.

All in all, it was a great trip. London is a very beautiful city, and we were very lucky in that the weather was excellent while we were there. We saw so much, yet there's still so much more to see. I'm certain we'll get back there again for this reason. Thanks to Paul & Viv again for their incredible hospitality. As always, I hope you enjoyed reading the story half as much as I enjoyed living it.

Here are the other pictures from our trip:

Lisa in front of the Tower Bridge

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