Cambridge, England - Our last full day, March 27, 2008

Thursday, 3-27-08 was really our last day of 'touring', and Darren and Pam had it planned perfectly. We met them at the National Train center around 10:30 AM, and Jesse and Lulu were sooooo excited to go on a train ride with us. We were looking forward to seeing the countryside, and together we had a wonderful day. Here are some pictures of the family on the train to Cambridge (about an hour 15 minutes ride).


















A couple of the countryside from inside the train moving fast:



















Cambridge is a wonderful, beautiful old city. It is mostly a college town, made up of some 40 colleges within Cambridge University. Here are some shots from the street of just beautiful buildings on the campuses.


















Pam had packed a delicious picnic lunch...pbjs, cheese, crackers, fruit, etc....and we stopped in this little park for a quick bite; well, Lucy decided it was nap time for her:



After a bit of an interruption of sleet and snow, the sun came out as we were traveling down the River Cam, famous for the various scences in the movie .....have to get the name later; anyway, 'punting' down the river with an oarsman is the way to go (usually college students trying to make a buck...make that a pound...for the day. Here are some shots taken from the river as we idled along; incredible scenery of the colleges and bridges that date back to the 10-11th centuries.






















Well, we had a wonderful day, and as you can imagine I took over 200 pictures. Here are some of my favorite family shots of the day:











Well, there are so many more, but can't post them all. We returned around 6PM, Judy and rested for a while, then decided we had to walk across the Tower Bridge and back at least once. So, at 8PM we did that, had a meal at the other side, and walked back. Unfortunately, it was then time to pack....oh no!!!

Making this short, we walked out of the room at 8AM the next morning and headed for the airport. Made everyting just fine, on our own, I might add! Got back to LAX on Friday, 3-28, and our loyal and faithful friends Vince and Sally were right there to pick us up.

It was a GRAND trip, ole chap!!

London --Wednesday 3-26 Recap

Sorry for the delay on these....just got into late nights and busy days! Actually, on Wednesday Judy and I really took our time in the morning, just walked around the area right at the hotel. I took some more artistic shots (I like to think) than touring shots. Here's one of my favorites, a gold topped fence around the power company office building on Tower Hill:



Another shot of the top of the building:




And finally, a shot of the building itself, which I found just majestic:




We went over to Darren and Pam's around 1:30 in the afternoon and just hung out with them. We enjoyed just playing with the kids, and the parents took off around 5:30 for a night with their church friends. We had so much pleasure just being with the kids one on one. Their creativity is amazing, and we enjoyed their make-believe stories (or were they??). Darren and Pam got home around 10:30 PM, and we left shortly thereafter and hopped on the tube and returned to the hotel, and it was after midnight before we ever got the lights out. It was a very leisurely, enjoyable day.

And so I will close this day with the contrast in the last two pictures I took on this day...the first is over the entrance to the tunnel for the major Tower Hill Bridge and Tower Hill Castle just outside our hotel:

















...and the next one is the little grocery market and bread shop (which has wonderful bread, by the way) near Darren/Pam's flat in the Bengali neighborhood:

















Interesting contrasts huh? Only 4 miles apart, at the most.

Museum, Musical, and More (Recap of Tues 3-25)

It is now Wednesday around noon; Judy and I have had a leisurely morning of breakfast in the room, emailing, blogging, etc.


Tuesday morning at the hotel started with me going down to the local Starbucks:















We later had breakfast in our room....really good!










More later....cannons are going off....literally....below the Tower bridge...I think the Germans are landing!

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>FINISHING OFF TUESDAY (I'm updating this Friday evening 3-28, just so we have a good travel-log of out 10 days in London)

Well, as it turns out, the President of France was arriving to visit the Queen of England...and the the cannons firing was a formal welcoming ceremony...21 gun solute.
Wish Judy and I had known in time to have gone down to the site just outside from our hotel. Oh well, next time.

We took Tuesday to allow Darren/family some time without us; Tuesday afternoon Judy and I went on our own back to central London; she visited Harrod's again, and I went to the Victoria & Albert museum. Here's a shot from the outside (I've taken a little creative license here with this shot).






Another shot inside the museum in an area where pictures were allowed:


After a couple of hours we met at a Starbucks, had a snack/cappuccino, and got up enough nerve to figure out the 'tube' to the Soho district which includes many many theatres; after a couple of hours of educating ourselves on the different shows, we finally decided to splurge and see JERSEY BOYS at the Prince Edward Theatre. We got tickets an hour and a half before the show started, and the seats were 10 rows back from the stage, front and center....fabulous seats; the show was just excellent; I think we enjoyed it close to as much as we have musicals like Evita, Les Miserables (sp), and Phanton. So we had a full day of just me and Judy, and we enjoyed our time together very much. We are now very comfortable getting around all over London on the tube.

Pigs, Pubs, Harrods, and Hotel (Monday 24th Recap)

It is now Wednesday morning, March 26. We've had a wonderful two days since I lasted posted.

Monday morning started with snow again...beautiful. Judy and I walked with Pam and the kids to the 'farm' she volunteers at, and I helped feed the sheep (30-40), donkeys (long-haired ones -weird-) and Sally, the monstrous pig; there were many more to feed, but by then Jesse and Lulu were very cold and ready to come home. On the way home I took a picture of this beautiful old church:
















Pam was kind enough later to keep the kids and Darren played tour guide to take us downtown (20 minutes max on the tube) to Harrods. What a historical site and what hysterical prices! We did manage to find a couple of things in the 3-5 BP range for souveniers, however. I think it was the shopping bags themselves!






















Somehow time flew by and we got back home at 6pm; a good friend of theirs had volunteered to child-sit for us, and we left to go check into a hotel Judy and I had booked just to get a few nights of the 'tourist' feel of London. We are staying at Guoman's The Tower hotel, over-looking the Tower Bridge; beautiful views; here is a picture taken from our room at night:













After checking in, we left immediately to catch a 7pm 'pub tour'....a 2 1/2 hours walking tour around the Thames. Yes, there are pubs going back to Shakespere days; no we did not have a pint at each one. But the history given on the tour was incredible. Here is one of the oldest:












Several times we had incredible views of the city skyline; this one is of St. Paul's Cathedral:



We returned to the hotel at 10:30 pm, exhausted, but thrilled with the day we had..a good 13 hours of seeing the sights!

"He is Risen" ---response: "Snow is Fallen"

NO NO....its suppose to be: HE IS RISEN and the response is: HE IS RISEN IN DEED!

And He is, but we also woke up to a beautiful snow storm; not cold enough to really accumulate, but at times it was blizzard like. The contrast to the season is shown in the small showing of snow in the daffodils just outside Darren and Pam's flat, and the next picture shows the view out their kitchen window.












Darren woke up with the stomach flu both Judy and Pam have had the last 2 days; but he pressed on, and here is a shot Judy took of us waiting at a bus stop, shielding ourselves from the wet snow, as we were on our way to church. (Pam went an hour earlier as she was helping 2 others lead in the music this morning at church...it was beautiful!)













This is Christ Church, Spitalfields, where I mentioned that Darren spoke on Thursday night, and we attended Easter service this morning. The church was built between 1714 and 1729! It was recently refurbished, and is absolutely beautiful. While it appears Gothic and possibly cold from the outside, the people are really warm, friendly, and evangelical...you know what I mean? It is a great, growing, church; we are glad Darren and Pam are already involved.

















Pam and friend singing during communion. (I sneaked this picture from my lap without using the flash....it didn't disturb anyone in their communion time)
















After the service we had hot tea and coffee; went straight home, had lunch, and proceeded to our reading posts, and eventually naps for most of us. It was a great wintery day in London; love it!

Wintery Day In London Saturday 3-22-08

We woke up to chocolate filled crepes and sausages prepared by Chef Darren! And, it only got better, as we were next treated to a ballet show by Jesse and Lucy (Lucy is taking ballet classes and is really into it!)

We were stumped for a while as the weather was really bad; should we just stay in and read by the fireplace (idyllic)!! It wasn't long before it was clear we needed to get out of the house, and what better place on such a day than a Museum...a place called The Childhood Museum, in Bethnal Green, London.

We walked to the bus station (5 minutes), and boarded a double-decker. On the way it was snowing, sleeting, raining, sunny, cloudy, and COLD! But, it was fun...we were all dressed for it and had a great time.















Can you see the snow against the dark windows?
















The kids had a great time on the horses!














The place was appropriately named the CHILDHOOD Museum, as it took the adults back to many memories such as funny mirrors at the county fairs.

We walked along the Regent's Canal in Hackney...a beautiful walk where Darren and Pam ride their bikes at times.

















I love this picture for its geometric features. I took it along the canal...it is a functional gas tank...fills from the bottom up,the top rises...unique, huh!















After a great outing Jesse, Lucy, and Pam (yes, Pamela is in there somewhere) couldn't wait for an exciting story from Papa Dan!