February 11, 12, & 13, 2016 –
We're back in London….
We've got time for one outing tonight. Up for a trip to Harrods?
That's some pretty fancy sand art (in the form of a sleeping dog):
That's one over-the-top fancy department store!
What to buy at an over-the-top department store??? Well, we bought a few interesting books – one on gin (oh, so appropriate for England!) – and we spent some time deciding on a nice and interesting bottle of scotch.
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Following morning…It's our last full day here in London. WAAHH!!! We'd better make the most of our time!
First on our to-do list:
Check out Buckingham Palace and surrounding area:
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Next up on our list: Westminster Abbey.
I'm sure most of you have heard of this cathedral as it is quite famous for many reasons. Most recently, it was the location of Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding.
Now, the last time I visited this place it was "entry by donation". Well, I can tell you that is no longer the case. It cost 45 pounds for us to get in! That's over 60USD!!!! WOW! We deliberated for a few minutes whether or not we should take the plunge and lay down that huge chunk of change to visit the abbey….in the end we decided it was worth the cost. After all, who knows when we'll get another chance to visit London. Photography was NOT allowed inside the abbey. They did have free audio guides which I enjoyed listening to. Did you realize that are lots of famous people buried here in the abbey? Or if they aren't buried here there are memorials for many other famous people. Ever heard of Isaac Newton? He's here! Here's a list to check out other famous people buried here in the church. Go! Check it out. Amazing, huh??? They even have a section called "Poet's Corner".
These windows were not located in the main part of the abbey:
Still on the church grounds but outside the main part of the church:
Can you read the sign? It says something like "Oldest door in Britain":
After our quick stroll through the abbey and the grounds we had tea and scones (with clotted cream, of course!) at the abbey's cafe. Yum!
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And now we're off to:
The London Eye!!!
Now, we pre-booked tickets for a particular time on the London Eye. We're heading to the London Eye early in hopes of getting on before our scheduled time.
Hooray for cloudy days! The line was nearly nonexistent and they allowed us to get on the Ferris wheel before our scheduled time slot.
Getting to ride on the London Eye was Ava's big London request (other than Harry Potter and Doctor Who). She's one happy camper!
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A brief stop at the National Gallery. I didn't take many photos as photos weren't allowed in some of the rooms …turns out that was the case for only a few of the rooms. We found van Gogh's sunflower painting. Perhaps you've figured out that we do love Vincent van Gogh. We could have spent HOURS here. So many gorgeous famous paintings! Not enough time.
Here's sidewalk chalk art just outside the National Gallery:
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We discovered this tiny little market on our way to Fortnum and Mason (we forgot to buy tea the last we were there! We're going to rectify that situation!). Mark and the girls got sucked into the hand-cast brass stamps:
While I got sucked into the pottery stall – the pottery is from Jerusalem! I wish I could have bought all the pieces of handmade, hand painted pottery but alas I had to stick to one piece – a medium-sized gorgeously painted bowl. Remind me to show it to you!
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Now we're finally visiting the British Museum. This place is extraordinary!!!! There aren't many museums that can rival this museum (well, maybe the Field Museum could!). Holy cow. The Egyptian exhibit is …well, it's beyond words. It's beautiful!
And the most amazing piece is right here….it's called the Rosetta Stone. Every heard of it? It's one of the puzzles that helped archaeologists crack the ancient Egyptian script (the stone is written in three languages. Which three? Well, you'll have to look it up. ….aka I forgot). It's not the only stone (there are others similar to it) but it was the first one that allowed scientists to make the translations.
I can clearly see that there are three distinct and different scripts on the stone.
So, the reason for us waiting until late afternoon to finally come to this magnificent museum? I read on the museum's website that the museum offers mini lecture on the Rosetta Stone at a particular time in the late afternoon. I was determined to listen to this lecture (given by the woman, wearing glasses, on the far right of the photo):
In the Harrods-purchased book, "The Scientific Secrets of Doctor Who", Annika read about an object that is HERE. So we went in search of it and found it!:
More artifacts. So many, many artifacts. So many that I think it would be easy to get lost inside this museum!
I wish weren't running out of steam. There IS SO MUCH TO SEE. So much! For one thing, I think I could learn everything I wanted to learn about Chinese art here. In all my travels in China I haven't seen such detailed explanations:
Lacquer:
We ended our visit with a mini-trip to Easter Island (which, by the way, is on my bucket list of places I want to visit in my life-time).
I have a feeling we could spend one week just going through this museum. I wish we had more time….but we've run out of time. We just got to spend a few minutes in the sections on Ancient Civilization and China. There is SO MUCH MORE to this place. It's so big! It's so beautiful! Ack!
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After our visit to the museum we were ready to find dinner (which was a little more challenging to find as the pub just around the corner from our hotel was wall-to-wall with people. We managed to find another pub-like place).
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13 February 2016 –
Bummer.
It means it's time to head back home ….to China.
One last ride on the Underground as we make our way to Heathrow Airport:
Amusing advertisement:
Ah, we highly recommend getting the Oyster Card for a multi-day stay in London. You put money on the Oyster card and it allows you to travel on the Underground without needing to buy individual tickets (it's like a day pass). At the airport we got the leftover, unused back money returned to us. Easy peasy!
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Now that we're safely back at home in China, I'm amazed at all the things we got to do and see in our short week trip to England. I'd sure go back to England in a heart-beat. I know Mark, Annika, and Ava would also love to go back!
Thank you London for a wonderful, fun, fast-paced visit.