3rd Day in London

Very civilised to day. We went on a tour of Twickenham - just for Dave.
Bit of a mission to get there - had to train, tube, train to a suburb called Hounslow (getting out towards Heathrow) and thought we would get a taxi from there. One Problem ... no cabs anywhere to be found! I kid you not. We didn't even think there wouldn't be any taxis, as that is one thing London has plenty of - except there. In the end, after walking aimlessly around and missing our tour time, we asked two lovely police officers who walked us up some alley to a dodgy looking mini-cab shed (looks like the cab place on coro street) and ended up with a very strange Indian type driver who drove like a manic! thanks god it was only 3 miles away to Twickenham. Hounslow seemed to be a poor, lower area - lots of Indians, Muslims etc while Twickenham was rather rich, exclusive, lovely old buildings and gardens etc. 3 Miles between them.
Twickenham was a neat thing to do for Dave. We had about 8 of us on the tour (Welsh, English and us) and we went up to the highest level (scary looking down - wouldn't buy seats there). Into the corporate boxes, the executive suites etc where they entertain the Queen etc.then down to where the Royals sit and watch the game, and on to the turf. Except there wasn't any turf because they have pulled it all up, replaced the drainage etc (this has not been done since 1900) and will grow the state of the art turf on there ready for the next games. This is mainly to get ready for the RWC in 2015, so they look good to the world.
We got showed the coaches boxes, actually side by side with a low wall between, and into the changing rooms (well England's one) and showed where they sit, medical rooms etc.
All in all, very interesting.
It is not an old stadium (well it is, but it has all been pulled down and rebuilt to these flash stands with a roof that is designed to cover all the spectators)

looking down at the truf being fixed up.

Us playing royality in the Royal Box

this is where the players go up to when collecting the trophy from the Royal box, half way up

can you see how the roof comes way over to cover the audience?

this is the weather vane way up on top of one of the stands to help the goal kickers???

It has a game of rugby being played on it.

these are all inside the changing rooms - english

baths for the cold ice bath after the games

can you pick out the
all blacks?

After the tour we went to the Rugby Museum attached to it. This was fantastic, not just about English rugby, but the history of it, famous players etc. Lots of NZ ones to keep Dave happy. The latest is , of course, we have to come back here to watch a game! Totally unexpected reaction ???? I don't think so!

2nd Day in London

A very, long, long day today!
Took off with a hiss and a roar - up to 29degrees C - so warm and sunny!
1) Tower of London - firstly - not a tower! more like a huge castle so not the quick looksee we thought it would be. Lots of people, started off as part of a Beefeater tour (he was hilarious) then had own audio guide (great contraptions)  so off we went.
Saw the Queenie's jewels, very tight security, and quite awesome jewels on the crowns etc.
Went into the main section, which was the Royal Amoury, so lots of guns, and killing things, and even Henry 8th's armour. (thought the tower was mainly used for killing and imprisonment, but was also the Armoury, Mint, archives etc as was so secure).

this is the Traitors Gate, actually used mainly to bring in supplies to the tower, not traitors!

Saw the ravens, keep them there in cages with only a few out and flying around. One was chasing the pigeons away being rather a bully.
Went to the Killing and Torture area, and was very disappointed! expected lots of gruesome torture instruments and beheadings etc. not much at all. Tho there was a chopping block and axe that had been used (suppossedly!) Learnt that if you were going to be be-headed (and this was mainly done by Henry 8th to his wives ) you got walked out of the gate, up to Tower Hill for the ceremony. You carried abag of money with you to give to the executioner to pay him so he would be kind and chop your head off in one stroke. (the Beefeater said it was the first 'severance pay'! and that the Americans would probably call it tipping! thought this was funny .....) Hardly any deaths and mayhem at the tower at all. Most done at Tower Hill nearby so thousands could see the blood and guts. Charming.

This was the chopping block and axe. No blood tho.

T

This is the torture rack made from a design they found! Imagine making it!

They had one poor guard guarding the Queen's jewels - he had to march up and down.

This is where the Queen's jewels are kept.

Strange, but they actually had houses within the tower to house the guards, and sometimes even the prisoners. This is where Anne Bolyn? was kept on her last night at the tower. App. these houses are the last real tudor houses from before the Great Tower of LOndon. They didnt get burnt.

The last person to die in the Tower was actually in 1941, and it was a German prisoner who parachuted into the Uk to kill the PM or the Queen (cant remember) so was a spy, and got shot by firing squad within the tower walls.
Did you know they also kept 'exotic' animals in the tower until the 1800's? like lions, tigers, snakes, monkeys and even a polar bear - to keep the monarchs amused. After that they decided the animals were unsafe to visitors ????? duh! and started up the London zoo with them.
They have kept the cages etc to show the conditions the animals were kept in - quite disgusting. this upset me more than the killing stuff!

2) Tower Bridge this was close by, so we went. It had just got the Olympic Circles put on it, which will be lit up every night. It's quite cool, cause you get to go up the the joining pathways across the top and look out over the city . They have a good informative guide that tells you all about how it got built, how it worked (Dave liked that one) and what it has been used for in the past. The bridgie parts go up and down about 3 times a day to let big boats through, mainly at night these days. We saw a video of how one goes through, and there is not a lot of room each side for the big boats to get through. They show you the origional steam engines that were used to lift the bridgie bits up and down, so Dave was telling everyone how they worked (including me! rather complicated) think they work differently now.

Along the pathway across the top.

The so very interesting steam enging - yeah right!

This was a street just off the tower on the other side. Notice the little bridges joining the houses overhead.

  What is this???

Then we went for a walk along the Thames a bit and saw .....

a building everyone is proud?? to call the Gherkin! not joking.

Police boats - for Ev

3) the London Dungeons It is now 4.30pm and suddenly down a side street we saw the London Dungeons sign. They have been around a while, but decided you have to be strange to go - and go we did! I thought it would be a up-market ghost train or tour of the crypts or sewers, but it isn't. It is set in the dungeons of the All Hallows church, and you go through this maze of dark, dingy corridors covered in all grisly, gruesome stuff (like a skeleton hanging with guts falling out of its innards etc. In each little area there are actors who pretend to be part of LOndon's dark side, and act the part of a scene from it. confused? me too! such as .... torture chamber of Newgate Prison, 1500's - lots of torture instruments not for the faint hearted! they get a person from the audience group - no asking just "you up here - sit down - don't move" and pretend to torture them with great detail to the audience of what they are doing and what would be happening to the prisoner etc. or they did Jack the Ripper, stalking behind women, or the Great Plague, or dissecting live bodies for medical research, (again used a person from audience) . It was really great! lots of blood and guts and mayhem and screaming and more blood ...! I guess you can say, we were disappointed in the torture and killing aspect of the Tower but it was all covered down here. There were rides on a river through sewers of 1700 London, or killing ghosts in a haunted house.
 The last one was hanging at Newgate, and you were tried and convicted (actor judge and court who pretended you were the criminal - tried for dancing naked on the table!) then you needed to be hanged. So you all got put in these row of chairs pulled up really high to the ceiling of a tall 2/3 story room (not kidding) where you face a priest, hangman who read out the last rites and all of us then heard a bang (dim room) and literally got dropped down fast to the floor as if we were hanged! You didnt know what was going to happen, just warned the ride had a fast drop element to it! I screamed and hung on to Daves shoulder and he was laughing his head off! Did not like it at all! Put me off hanging for life!
(sorry no photos of this, as no photography allowed! would spoil the scare factor I think)
Well, all of this took 2- half hours! so very late when we left inner London for home. got back about 8pm and stuffed.

First day in London!

First day - out the door by 9.30am (less expensive trains etc) and off we went. Dave knew exactly how to get to places so it was a breeze (again!).
1) the London Eye
yep - I did it. Only 15 min queue wait, and in I went . goes up slowly so not bad, also  doesn't swing!
Here are the views! Great to start the London experience  by finding places. Takes about  1/2 hour to go all the way round.

this is me with my eyes down, bit nervous at the start but realised it wasn't too bad.

this is what the crowd looked like down below. I wouldn't look!

Me at the end, feeling much better. Even stood up and looked out by the window!

Just by the by, this is Big Ben chiming at 12 noon!

2) London Aquarium. This was right beside the eye, so thought we should do it. go to see some Nemo's and jellyfish.

they had some poor penquins there, in a large pool area. It reminded me of Happy feet when he was put into an aquarium. One penguin hopped in the pool and played peep -po with me! He must've been so bored that he had to play games with tourists for amusement.

                                                                                                                                                                                    

3) Westminister Abbey - this is near the other two. Was pretty amazing inside - so, so old. Was started in the 600AD's I think. I kept trying to picture Wills wedding, and what was where but couldn't so now need to go back to my DVD and check. We had a audio guide which was brilliant. Kept you well informed of the diff. crypts at the sides and who was buried where etc. Amazing ceiling as well. Unfortunately no photos allowed, so can only show you the outside, but we spent at least 2 hours in there. At the end there was a special Jubilee exhibition of the times when the Queen has visited over the years. Quite interesting to see how she has grown up to the present day.

just had to throw in another picture of me and Big Ben.

4)  Buckingham Palace - what a performance to get here! supposedly you can go through St. James Park, or up the mall. Well, its now 4.30pm, my feet are killing me, but we were in the area, so it was a case of  ... we have to do it.

Firstly, ST. James Park and the Mall are now closed off to the public till the end of Sept.! for the Olympics  mainly (they are having beach volleyball and road cycling races around there). All fine for them, but it meant we had to walk this bloody great long detour to one side, down to Green Park (at the side of the Palace) through this greenery and low and behold  there it was! Cars have been detoured as well, so quite easy to take photos once we were there. There is a huge statue of Queen Victoria in the front, looking decidedly old and grumpy as she looks down the Mall.

this poor guy was marching up and down behind the gates, (not in front of them now). Dave took a close up, and thinks he can't see out from under his hat! It was quite a warm day (even tho cloudy) so he must've been boiling!

This was the balcony they all kiss on!

Me at the main gates, couldn't see Queenie tho she was home (flag was flying).

The very tight security protecting our sovereign! (this is for you Ev)

So that was it for the day. By the time we left, and spent an hour getting back to the place we were staying it was after 7pm. Very knackered!