I just stayed awake watching movies through our short overnight flight, (Downton Abbey, which mom and I synced on our seat consoles, and Yesterday, filled with nice Beatles music). Mom tried to sleep a bit after the first, but didn’t feel rested. We’re fine though. We had a cute little dinner tray, multiple drinks and a little pack of items for breakfast as well. We’re already hearing some good accents.
We arrived in Manchester first thing in the morning on 01/08. We split a vegan sausage roll and a vegetable pasty at the train station. The sign said something like ‘pasties from Cornwall’ and mom was convinced the man selling them had a cool Cornish accent, but I’m 90% sure it was just a speech impediment. =D Our hotel let us check in early, which was great because we were already tired of hauling around our backpacks. We took a free bus around downtown, and saw the Manchester Cathedral and some other neat stuff, and then hopped off at St Peter’s Square and wandered about. There are so many impressive buildings. Later we took afternoon tea at Richmond Tea Rooms and had vegetarian and vegan versions of all the traditional tea things. It was delightful.
We made a day trip to Liverpool today. Hearing people on the street speak in their accent just cracked me up inside. =D We just missed the bus for the Beatles specific portion of our bus tour which was disappointing. Its route was pretty spread out though, going to all the childhood homes of the band members and things and we would have missed most of what was downtown, so it ended up alright this way. We stopped at The Philharmonic Dining Rooms, largely because we could receive a complimentary glass of champagne with our tour tickets, (which was plenty enough reason for me, but for some reason I had to twist Mom’s arm. ?) It was a nice environment so I talked her into ordering some snacks as well. Our waitress chatted with us a bit and asked if we’d seen Paul McCartney’s Carpool Karaoke episode with James Cordon, (which I had just shown Mom the week before), and told us that the pub scene in it was filmed in that very same room, and that she was the bartender in it! It was such a fun surprise! So now we’re just two degrees separated from Paul McCartney and James Cordon. =D <3
Ah man, I had planned for us to take a day trip to Northern Wales today, but then our tour company fell through. =( We spent the day resting up though, and then went to Pie and Ale— for some pie and ale… =D
We took the train to York today. The city has quite an old feel to it. When we got to York Minster all the bells were ringing and I thought we had such great timing to arrive just when that was happening, but then it turned out that the minster had paid to bring in professional bell ringers that day and were getting their money’s worth! They clanged on nearly constantly for the first 2 or so hours we were there. Lol. We went on a free White Rose walking tour and saw the remains of Saint Mary’s abbey, and went to King’s Manor where Henry VIII stayed and where his 5th wife, Catherine Howard allegedly had the affair that led to her beheading. We walked along the city walls and our guide pointed out which parts were Roman, Medieval, and Victorian. We saw a statue of Constantine the Great who was proclaimed Roman Emperor while in York in 306 AD. And we went to the home where Guy Fawkes was born, and the square where criminals, like the notorious highwayman Dick Turpin, were hanged. =D
Day 6 we checked out of our Ibis hotel in Manchester and made our way to our Ibis hotel in London. =)
On our first day in London we went to the British Museum and saw SO MANY ancient things. The Rosetta Stone, the Elgin Marbles, a preserved bog man, the Sutton Hoo burial trove, Roman treasure, Egyptian mummies, (etc. etc.) were really cool to see in person.
Back to back museum days, we decided to see the Victoria and Albert museum today. They had an amazing jewelry collection arranged very nicely, with pieces from all time periods and styles. I loved it. They also had some very nice art and whole rooms they had relocated just how they were. We also walked through Hyde Park which was nice.
I had several locations I often read about in historical novels that I wanted to visit today. London is just chock full of them really. Plus more stunning buildings everywhere we turn. We also visited The National Portrait Gallery where we saw lots of great grandparents, aunts and uncles. =D
We went to the Museum of London today, they have items from before the Romans even came, but their nicest collection, in my opinion, was from just the last 200-400 years. There’s a portion of a Roman tower and wall just behind the museum though, which was neat, from back when London would have been called Londinium. =) We also got our first good look at St Paul’s cathedral.
We started our 10 day London Passes today. It’s one flat fee to enter as many of their 80+ attractions as you like for the duration of the pass. We plan to get our moneys worth! =D The tower that houses Big Ben (which is the largest bell inside the tower, not the tower itself) is nearly all covered over with scaffolding, as is the Palace of Westminster. Which is a little disappointing since they’re otherwise so iconic, but it’s good they’re keeping them in good repair for future generations. Westminster Abbey was very impressive from the outside, but has very particular hours in the winter months and was already closed to the public by the time we arrived. We were still able to see Old Palace Yard though, the notorious execution site of Sir Walter Raleigh’s beheading and where Guy Fawkes and the Gun Powder Plot conspirators were hanged drawn and quartered! We looked through Jewel Tower which used to house the Crown Jewels and precious documents but is now mostly empty. A neat building though. We also went though the Winston Churchill War Rooms, where he and his team ran the war effort. We toured through the huge underground bunker and learned more about him than I ever expected to know! =D And we went to the Banqueting Hall (designed by Inigo Jones), that has a beautiful painted ceiling and still hosts royal events to this day.
We explored some of the South side today. Took in some modern art at the Tate, toured the reconstructed Globe theatre, and where the previous one (during Shakespeare’s time) burnt down, the Clink prison museum, the Southwark cathedral, and finished the day with views from the Shard tower. We felt pretty successful.
Our first day exploring Greenwich. We took a ferry there and back, and spent most of our time at the Royal Observatory. My favorite highlights of the day were their extremely old meteorite and standing on the Meridian Line. And then we got to try vegan versions of traditional British foods which was fun.
We wanted another crack at Greenwich, so we headed back today. This time we took the tube to the near side of the Thames and walked across through an underground tunnel. =D We checked out the Cutty Sark, (a tea clipper that was the fastest one of its time), and we walked through Greenwich market which started out in the 1700s with a single baker, a grocer, a hatter and some butchers, and is still going(!). And we went to St Alfege Church, (St Alfege was the Archbishop of Canterbury and was killed by Danish raiders when he refused to be ransomed to his impoverished congregants). The church is also where Henry VIII was baptized. We went to The Queen’s House, given to Anne of Denmark by James I as an apology present, it had lovely architecture by Inigo Jones and beautiful original paintings. And we went to the Naval Hospital, which was used more as a pension house for sailors to live with dignity after they had served. It was designed by Christopher Wren and has an incredible painted ceiling, with multiple kings and mythological gods and all sorts of symbolism, that took a whole team of people 20 years to paint!
Today was chock full of towers, I didn’t choose the theme, it chose me. =) We went to a surgical operating theatre, to a monument to the Great Fire of London, to the oldest church in the City of London, and to the granddaddy tower- the Tower of London.
We made it to Buckingham to watch a bit of the pomp around the guard changing and they had cancelled for some reason. I didn’t have strong feelings about seeing it, but it was still a little disappointing to show up and then have it not happen. We went to the Queen’s Gallery though which was right around the corner and saw some good art. Then we walked through Hyde Park, and went to the Science Museum. And finished the day out going to Body World, an exhibit examining human bodies under the skin.
We went to the Twinings flagship store, which was lovely and had wonderful smells. And then by Temple Church, an old Templar church that had ancestral connections. And then spent most of the day at St Paul’s Cathedral. So much to see inside, and then we climbed all the way up to the highest viewing deck and got a good view of what was outside as well. =) And we finished out the day with a pub crawl/walking tour.
We went to the Natural History Museum, which was neat. I saw Cheddar Man’s skeleton (about 10,000 years old) and Lucy’s skeleton (about 3.2 million(!) years old), and so many rocks! They had a fantastic collection of gems and fossils. And a bunch of dinosaur skeletons too.
We road around town a bit on a hop-on-hop-off bus tour that was included in our pass, it was just okay. We had already gotten around to most of the places they pointed out. It was also rainy so no good photo opportunities. This is one I took earlier in the day though.
Third try was the charm and we finally got inside Westminster Abbey. Unfortunately, photography wasn’t allowed inside. Lots of famous burials though, royalty, politicians, writers, scientists, way more public figures than I expected. And we saw the coronation chair, built in 1300 and used for every English coronation (except one) ever since. Then we took a tour at Beefeater gin distillery which was fun.
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