When the Queen's away the mice will play

3/07/11

When the Queen’s away the mice will play.

London, by foot - here I come. 7 hours of walking, so much to see and still so much more! I started with the free walking tour – Wellington arch, this guy loves statues of himself and walking through gardens. So much so that his wife completely destroyed them and thus – Green Park – very colourful – not, very grassy. Down a stroll Constitution Hill and amidst the millions of minions at Buckhimham Palace and the changing of the guard –if you could get a seat and see through the back of peoples’ heads. Still quite exciting all the same, learning how a bunch of Germans jumped the fence into the Buckingham Palace gardens and camped a night and how the Irish guy, Fagan in ‘82 broke in and had a nice little chat with the Queen. Queenie  wasn’t home as union jack was up – a tradition started after the death of Princess Diana.

Next stop Prince Charle’s residence and the guard boxes – as Queenie wasn’t home the boxes were empty – yeh for us – we got a piccy in the box.

Past the Crimean War Memorial, statue of Florence Nightingale who rapidly improved one’s chance of survival with a little basic hygiene,  onto Trafalgar Square. I was holding my pockets tightly as all I could think of was Kevin getting bag snatch when he was there. Also found out why the pidgeons are few – the Mayor placed them on the pill.

After a few happy snaps of the dog bodied lion onto the big arch that I can’t remember the name of, but it does have a red road for the Queen and the Queen enters through the middle gate.

Into the gravel that ended up in my shoe annoyingly at Horse Guard, checking out the not so camouflaged MI 5 but discovering that 20 per cent of surveillancecameras are used in the UK – a paranoid bunch and we were getting snapped as much as I was snapping London. Maybe I’d get better pics of myself if I asked the camera guys.

I sneak peek at no. 10 Downing Street – well a shrub and some of the back bricks, past the Churchill Museum, Bali Memorial and to big Ben – well actually that is only the bell’s name and we couldn’t even see it – St Stephen’s Clock Tower and the house of Parliament. Where they tortured – nicely those that tried to over throw them, peel off finger nails to start with, crush fingers and toes, gut, rip out heart, cut off head and tear limbs off in 4 parts and send to the edges of the Empire as a warning.

For a change of pace the intricately beautiful St Margaret’s at Westminster Abbey – wow, pity it was closed for tourists though.

If 3 hours of walking wasn’t enough for me, after a cheapo lunch, onto the ‘Old City London Tour.’ Starting at Covent garden – used to be ‘convent’ Garden we did some whirlwind stops at The Royal Exchange, a little church with shrapnel hits from WW2 (the Blitz), the Bank of England, Mansion House, heard some great stories about the church of the Knights Templar – the Toowoomba boys can be my Knights Templars on my pilgrimage through the Holy Land, St Paul’s Cathedral, said by locals to be better than Westminster Abbey, the Thames and bridges – Millenium, London – often confused with the more iconic Tower Bridge and finishing off at the London Tower.

We also stopped at the monument – commemorating the great fire of London, started by a baker in 1666. We also snuck a peek at the new Globe Theatre and Tate Modern and the half-finished ‘Shard’ literally looking like a shard of glass.

At the end of the tour I thought I’d be adventurous and go to into the Tower of London or up the monument but everything closes so early in England – even though the sun is up till 830ish.

Instead of catching the train back to Kings Cross, my French walking tour buddy from Paris and I decided to walk all the way back – no wonder my feet are aching. But I highly recommend walking tours to really see the sites and get an idea of place.

4/07/11

1000 remains under a small chapel, the graves of some royals, a torture rack and the crown jewels – all at one place. Now I had  a taste of the London sites it was time to pick some places to really check out. I decided on the London Tower and The London Eye. 

I am just flabbergasted by the sheer size of London and the buildings. Also the history, founded in like 40AD by the Romans – ‘Londinium’ has quite a history and it makes me look forward to other places in Europe that date back even further and the Holy Land which has an even longer history. The royal history is amazing too, Buckhingham Palace, the ceremony, all the rituals, laws and uniforms, stories, like Wellington, Henry the VIII and Boelyn the London Tower. I had no idea it was originally the Royal Palace and dates back around 1000 years. I was humbled sitting in the church where Anne & Catherine Boelyn lie, St Thomas More’s remain as well as the other thousand or so that were found under the foundations and to see the crown jewels and hear the story of the crowns, the armour and torture racks.

The London Tower had me mesmerised for about 3 hours. Checking out the Tower of terror – Torture Tower and Bloody Tower and the Traitor Gate. Also the armour and weaponry of the Kings since William Tell, some ancient graffiti – although I must say there’s was very neat and artistic.

After a lesson in history and a look back in time it was onto finding my way around the ‘circle’ and northern line trains and underground and onto a view above the city on board the London Eye, the biggest Ferris Wheel in the World. The  4D experience was fun  and refreshing an then onto the eye itself. Some great views of Westminster, Buck. Palace and the whole city. Afterwards some hang time on the London ‘Southbank’ and then attempt to catch the tube and trains back to King’s Cross.

Another glorious day in God’s amazing world, not even a hint of rain and so much seen and learned in a small part of god’s creation. But for now ‘farewell to old England forever’… hopefully till next time anyway…