Did The Guards Change? and HUGE Waterlily Pads!

Today we did a few really cool things, we saw the Changing of the Guards (or at least I think we did) and we went to Kew Gardens, the Royal Botanical Gardens and saw these freaking huge plants, and huge-mung-o lily pads!


Since we are going to be visiting Westminster Parliament tomorrow (Saturday) we had to pick up tickets today. Handily the Parliament is ONLY having tours on Saturdays all summer and they limit the number of visitors to 8,000 per day. Have fun Olympic tourists! The majority of you will NOT be entering one of the most famous buildings in the world during your visit to London! Anyway, we have our tickets.

The Houses of Parliament with Big Ben. Can you see Big Ben? Nope, no one can! Big Ben is actually inside the tower, he is the Big Bell. This is a famous English tour guide joke! ha ha.

Since we had to get the tickets in person we were near Whitehall Street where the changing of the guards is going to take place until the Olympics is over. Right now Buckingham Palace's lawn is being covered in tons of sand for the Beach Volleyball Olympic Event. Am I kidding? Nope, and I wish I were because we saw a very, very, very small scale and motionless Changing of the Guard on Whitehall Street where there are two horses all day standing for one hour intervals. I can't imagine being a horse and standing still for an hour, much less with some dude on my back in full Royal Regalia. But at least it's only one hour and the black horse with white on his forehead gets replaced with another black horse with some white on his forehead. 


So the changing of the guard is pretty strange right now. Some of the guards are over at the Buckingham Palace grounds, and some are at Whitehall at the Horse Guards Palace. What is supposed to happen, or so I have read, is the guards all get together on the Buckingham Palace grounds and there is a brass band and the guards do some ritualistic stuff and then they lead their horses off for a break and they take one too, leaving the new guards to watch over the Queen. 


Instead all of the guards came to Horse Guards Palace, and it is very small there. One Swedish woman almost had a knock-down, drag-out with some French woman because the Swedish woman had been there for at least half an hour waiting with a good view. The French woman and her friend walked right in front of the Swedish woman (and everyone else) and grew roots there. I thought it was going to be crazy, especially if the Swedish woman got a hold of the guard's sword, but she didn't get the sword so it was just a situation where someone was rude. 


So, we waited, and waited. Elizabeth is short so I shoved her forward as taller people moved back. People were getting bored, the guards weren't moving yet.

Cuddle up close, the "Changing of the Guards" is in a space that doesn't allow for the traditional brass band, and it almost became a wrestling ring between the Swedish and the French!

Well, the guards had arrived and the big iron gate was closed to the courtyard. We had this huge cast iron gate in the way as well as a couple of police officers standing right in front of us. Don't forget the rude French woman, she wasn't scared of the Swedish woman, but I was! And I had done nothing wrong!


Now the guard with the blue coats were still on their horses standing across from the guard with the red coats. They were looking at each other. This went on for about 20 minutes. Some people were video recording it. I am not kidding, unfortunately. Wait until those videos hit the US, there are going to be a lot of bored people watching London videos in a couple of weeks. Even the huge group of Japanese tourists abandoned their photograph taking and wandered back to a cheesy souvenir kiosk they had just bought out of large stuffed joker hats with the Union Jack on them. The exchange must be really good for the Yen right now. I'm getting to the point where I won't have 50 pence for a public bathroom.  

So there was no brass band. There was not much yelling of commands. They are doing the best they can without any space or resources to do it in. I will never watch beach volleyball again without thinking about my bizarre Changing of the Guards experience during this London trip. How random is that connection? One of the most random. 


A tip - if you come to London you need to watch the "end of the day" 4:00 check at the Horse Guards Palace. We happened to come across that a day or so before and that was very cool. We got to stand right in the courtyard, no pushing or jockeying for spots. In this ceremony all of the guards there, with the red coats, get all checked out by a superior. One guard didn't have something fastened on his jacket and they took him off to the Tower of London to break the execution axe and block out of retirement! Really though, he probably had to clean something gross as punishment, he wasn't beheaded or hanged. That would be bad PR before the Olympics. At any rate, that was interesting and unexpected and that was when we were wandering around following a self-guided tour of Westminster Square (there is a statue of Abraham Lincoln there, and Nelson Mandela, pretty cool!). The fun of travelling is you can run into things like that, get lost and meet cool people or find cool places and unusual things to do!


So we went to Kew Gardens and they have A LOT of plants there! I won't go on and on because it's time for bed. I ran out of memory on my 4GB memory card for my camera if that tells you anything about the number of plants there! There is one house that took my breath away, and really did take Elizabeth's breath away, it was the Waterlily House. After Elizabeth was able to clear the fog off of her glasses and before she rushed out of the steamy, humid, hot building I got a couple of shots so you could see just how big these suckers were. 

Three kids and a mom came in just as we were about to leave and one of the little boys said "(insert very cute little boy British accent here) Mum, do you think we could sit on one?". I said, "Yeah, go for it!"


No, I didn't, but I wanted to. Or I would have said, "I'm not sure, why don't you try it and we'll see....". But Mum answered in the negative and we were all despondent. I'm going to organize the Picasa albums online in the next day or so then you can enjoy our pictures! 


We won't have photos of the Parliament, we aren't allowed to take pictures :( 
But I'm certain we will have a story or two...

Sightseeing Bus Tours... What are the sights again?

While we were on our Original Bus Tour of London, we saw many sights to behold. The tour, which took place on a double-decker bus, brought us around the city to the major attractions. By the time we were done, Crystal and I realized that we now had NO idea where anything was! Now we were even more confused than before we started the hop-on, hop-off tour.

Many people would get on or off at the major attractions, like the London Eye or Big Ben. (By the way, the weather was actually brilliant for a London day!) This one group of Asian people got on at the London Eye and sat in the 2 rows in front of us, carrying Mc Donalds bags. The oldest of them, who appeared to be the father, was taking photos with what looked like a spiffy camera that must have cost a lot of money. Then there were 2 teenage girls and a teenage guy. The guy and the girls decided that they would eat the food first, probably before it got cold. The guy and girl directly in front of us were eating 5 piece chicken selects (the chicken tenders). When the girl was done (she only ate 4 of hers), she held up the box it was in, and dropped the chicken into the guys box. She couldn't simply pick it up and place it in his box. Why? I don't know.

Then, she got out some sort of burger. It wasn't a BigMac, but something like that. Anyways, she held the burger, in the box because she didn't want to touch it, and was feeding everyone from her group! Seriously, she would hold the burger, and the dad would take a walloping bite of the thing. Then, she fed the guy next to her, the same way. Near the end, Crystal and I thought that the dad would bite her fingers off! Holy Moley!

And the people talking on their phones! Oh my goodness! You pay 26 pounds to go on this tour (which is a pretty penny in US Dollars) and then all you will do is talk?! You've got to be kidding me!!! One guy was speaking French, the whole time of the tour. Goodness gracious. Talk about annoying! I would rather listen to the tour guide than you, which is why I got on this bus in the first place.

London, England: Civilized Civilization?

More notes on culture from Crystal


My first exposure to the British culture was through New Hampshire Public Television. The television show that made the biggest impression and forever skewed my perception of the British people as a whole was the sit-com Fawlty Towers. 

Manuel, the frequently physically and emotionally abused Spanish man on the famous British sit-com 
Fawlty Towers

The sit-com only ran for 12 episodes in the late 1970's, and I can't understand why. It was incredibly popular and starred the mad man British comedian/actor John Cleese in his prime. I'm not sure which was funnier, the abuse he attempted to bestow upon his wife (but really she had him by the "short hairs" consistently) or the nastiness he dispensed to his Spanish porter Manuel. Fortunately you can stream the show from Netflix and then you can come up with your own assumptions about the social culture of that time. You might think, "It's totally whacked to create an opinion about all British people based on a sit-com about a lunatic hotel owner and his bad luck", and you may be right, but I have to say I wish I had kept those delusions instead of discovering the crule reality of British Civilization and manners. 

First let me say that Elizabeth and I have met many, many helpful and friendly people here. The ones I have found the most helpful have been at the bar, and no, I haven't been spending all of my time at the bars! I have a 16 year-old niece to entertain! We are walking our legs off!

Let me give you some examples of the strange and uncivilized individuals who spawned our little US of A:

The Tower of London - it was built on top of Roman ruins almost 2,000 years ago. That's pretty awesome! But some crazy stuff went on in there. They had a lot of prisoners and some of them they tortured and a few of them they killed. It wasn't a lot of people who were killed, but it was pretty nasty. And some of them were Henry VIII's wives. I admire Henry VII for his search of the perfect partner. He was an optimist, if the third or fourth one didn't work out, just try again! That's determination! 


In the Tower gift shop there are several souvenirs you can take home to remind you of Henry VIII epic search for his true queen - the one who would have his male child for the throne. 

Celebrate the Christmas season by trimming your holiday tree in good taste with
King Henry VIII and his six wives in the form of ornaments! How civilized! (Very classy souvenirs from the Tower of London gift shop)

Nesting dolls of King Henry VIII and his six wives. A true treat for your tot! Now, how do you explain what happened to the wives to an American child so they would ever want to visit England?
(more classy souvenirs from the Tower of London gift shop)

We went on a bus tour of the city today and about half of the tour was of war memorials. Memorials of memorials and then a memorial of the people who were at memorials. And wars I vaguely remember from world history class. I am hard pressed to think of any country that was not in a war with England when I reference all of these memorials. They had war memorials of the countries they dominated. Is that a slap in the face? For example there are war memorials for New Zealand and Australia - ok, take over, send your criminals there and then memorialize the fact that you took over and killed a lot of people. Some of the memorials were very creative - a memorial for the women who served and supported in WWII, and one for the animals who served in various wars - including horses, dogs and more exotic animals such as camels and lamas. The Brits have been everywhere, and I do remember that from world history. 


I started to become critical about all of this war talk and I realized the only reason the US hasn't been in as many wars is because we haven't been around as long. When you've been around since 100+ B.C. you get into a lot of trouble and fight with a lot of people. That's a lot of time for a lot of conquering. 

The Tube - fondly called the Underground or the Tube here it is the first underground transport in the world, the oldest, and I have to say parts of it are really showing its age! I think it's safe to say that not ALL of the upgrades will be done in the next 15 days before the Olympics begin. I feel like I am going through menopause when I walk around London and take the tube. Yesterday I was in shorts and a sleeveless shirt and I had to put on my fleece and raincoat about 8 times upon entering and exiting the Tube and when it rained and then shined, but I digress. I grew up thinking of the British as pretty stiff, unemotional people except when alcohol was added then you might get some singing and arms wrapped around friends. I have found that to NOT be true in the Tube. I have never seen more necking, tonsil hockey and open mouthed lust underground, or in public really. Yes, in college frat houses maybe there was more, but in the Tube? Really? I just have to sit there and pretend I understand how these two people could be so attracted to one another they have to display their affections in a train full of tired, worn out people who are just trying to get somewhere as easily as possible. We have ridden the tube countless times and we haven't even been here a week and during almost EVERY RIDE I have had to pretend I was not watching someone paw someone to near death. 
What an affectionate bunch the British are, all at my discomfort!


Then the myth that the British are quiet people. Subtle and modest. Nope, that is an urban legend. I have heard the loudest people of my life here, with strong British accents so I think it's safe to say they are British. Loud on their cell phones, loud in cafes, loud on the Tube, just loud. Tonight there was a girl who was so loud on the Tube I couldn't hear what Elizabeth was saying and she was sitting right next to me. The girl was intoxicated and was being loud at the severe embarrassment of her friends, although none of them told her to put a plug in it. Well at least I know what heritage I got my loud mouth from, British all the way!


And some of the clothing - NOT MODEST - a woman who had a long (but not long enough), clinging t-shirt type "dress", and you know it's too short when you have to hold it down with your fingertips while you walk so it won't ride up! One woman in a cocktail dress with a slit in the back that looked like an accidental torn slit in the dress because it was so high and almost revealing her backside. The man with her looked very smug and pleased, and again was very affectionate. I think they left at intermission! Tally ho!


And yes, in the US some people get a tattoo of "mom" on their arm, and here I have seen "mum" as a tattoo! 


Some of the Brits I have met require a little prompting, they seem a bit nonreactive. Maybe it is because they have important thoughts going on in their heads that are clever and unusual, but I really have learned that if I would like something I must be direct. For example one man was sitting at an information desk - he was chatting with a co-worker. They had stopped chatting, and foolish me, I expected one of them to look at me and say "Hello, what can I help you with today?" or something of that sort. Instead they both had blank stares and seemed to be looking right past me. It was odd. I felt my belly to make sure I was a solid entity, and the results came back affirmative, yes indeed, I was (and am) a creature of substance. So I have learned to say "Hello" whenever I need something because I never know if they will acknowledge me or not.  


English is a second, sometimes a third or fourth language in London. I have learned to interrupt people who are reading newspapers that are in English so I am pretty sure they will be able to respond to my question, or at least understand what I am asking. If I want a real answer I look for a local. I identify locals as usually older men, Caucasian, in a business suit, reading a newspaper written in the English Language, carrying a briefcase and an umbrella. They don't love being interrupted while they are reading their paper, but I can tell they feel very gratified when they have been able to provide me and my lovely niece with the information we need to continue our journey. It is also key to find someone who you think might enunciate their words clearly. I have heard the most mumbled comments in the past several days and I can't tell if it's the accent or my fatigue or just an entirely different language. I have turned into my dear old dad who would just nod and smile when he couldn't hear a damn thing people said to him. I just hope they aren't saying anything that requires a response from me or anything that has to do with what I am about to eat. 


The other helpful locals are the subway workers. I met one man who was so lovely, he was of African decent and had dark, dark skin. He had a fantastic British accent (he didn't mumble!), he had a massive smile and he was a tease! And I'll tell you, if you get on the good side of a bus driver, subway employee or a bartender you are on easy street in London!


The driving here completely explains the crazy driving along the entire East Coast of the US. No signals are given, pedestrians are ten pence a dozen so run 'em down, and I mean really. I saw two Japanese girls ignore an oncoming truck whose driver was not used to being ignored and they almost were squashed. It was like an involuntary game of chicken, but it was no game. The girls had no idea they were in mortal peril. I grew a strand gray hair for each one of them. 

And it is NOT true that the beer is warm here, it is served cold and it is served fast. Of course any cask conditioned beer is less cold, but that is the way it should be served. And although you don't have to tip the bartenders here (they make a much better wage here than they do in the US, more civilized that way for sure) I did tip the one who called me "Luv" because it was so cute. And no I would not make out with him on the Tube, no matter how many times he called me "Luv". Well, maybe I'd reconsider, it really is very cute...

Harry Potter Studio Tour Highlights

By Elizabeth

On Monday we ventured off to Watford Junction to board the bus that would take us to the WB Studios for the Harry Potter Studio Tour. Crystal got a coffee at Starbucks (read 2 posts down for how well that went down) and we looked around in the souvenir shop for a little bit. Then it was time to queue up for our 12:30 reservation. We watched a short 10 minute clip on the Harry Potter films throughout the years. Then the screen lighted into the ceiling, revealing the doors to the Great Hall. The doors seemed more massive in person than on screen!

So we walked through the Great Hall (they would not allow anyone to touch anything, I don't blame them) and we then entered the main area, where every other prop/set/piece of clothing was located. We then looked at the wigs that the characters wore, some clothing attire, (like Professor Lockhart's clothing and shoes). Then on that wall to our right were the signs that signified any changes to the school, like "No fireworks are to be set off in the building."

We then came across the boys dormitory and it appeared very tiny, like the beds had the same length as a twin bed, but the width was a bit shrunken. A little further along was the Gryffindor common room. There was much more detail in the room than I ever noticed before. (Pictures will be posted at the bottom of this post.)

Oh, Dumbledore's Office. All of the books on the shelves are actually old phone books, with Wizard-like books names on them. All of the posters of old head masters were interesting, because they were all sleeping! Very cool I must say.

The Castle! How could I forget about the castle! It is actually a model castle. (Sorry to all of you fans who thought that we would be actually walking on the castle grounds.) The castle is actually only 50 feet high. By now you are thinking (if you are not puzzled by this news), how on earth did they film it then? Well, they would film the person, or wizard, whoever it may be, doing the stunt on green screen. Then, they film that exact scene, without the actors, in the castle with miniature cameras. Then, when completed, it is what you see on screen. Very cool I must say.

I went a little ballistic in the gift shop, which I don't do often. Crystal and I spent about 84 POUNDS in there. That is a pretty penny in US dollars. ($130 to be exact.) Hehe, whoops. Oh well, it was worth it. You only go there once!

For tomorrow...the Tower Of London!

What?!!??! I thought the Tower of London was just a prison! - Crystal

Visiting the Tower of London

A bizarre "interactive" exhibition:

Copied from: http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerofLondon/Stories/Palacehighlights/RoyalBeasts

Introduction to Royal Beasts

Discover the hundreds of exotic creatures who found a home in this fortress at this interactive exhibition. 

Lions, tigers and bears (polar bears).... LITERALLY!

AND

Copied from: http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/stories/buildinghistory/the-royal-mint

Important personalities

William Foxley – Sleeper in the MintA curious incident is recounted in the records of the Royal Mint from 1546. 
William Foxley, a maker of melting pots, was discovered asleep at his post and remained asleep for fourteen days. All attempts to wake him failed. Even pricking him with needles and inflicting small burns did not cause him to stir.
Word of the spectacle became so widespread that even Henry VIII went to examine him personally, but he too could offer no explanation. When Foxley finally awoke, it seemed to him as if he had slept only one night. He appeared to have suffered no ill effects from the incident and is recorded in the Chapel Register as having died forty years later.

Note to self: Do not fall asleep in the Tower of London or "small burns" will be inflicted by Englishmen!

to be continued...

A matter of money = £, p, €, uh?

British Culture Notes - By Crystal


London is said to be one of the most expensive cities in the world. As Elizabeth and I travel I find myself (my mathematically challenged self) raising the rate of everything we buy by at least 50%.


For example, we just bought eggs (I forgot to warn Elizabeth they are sold warm on the grocery shelf), ham (happily refrigerated), cheese and milk so we can make omelets in the morning. The total was around £6.50 so I estimated it to be around $10.00. O.K. I managed that!


But earlier when we were at the Making of Harry Potter Warner Brothers Studio I couldn't figure out how to pay for a coffee. By the way they do offer American filter / brewed coffee - not to be confused with an Americano - there. It's Starbucks brand, so  it tasted fine with a good amount of caffeine.


At any rate, the English have coins for anything under, and including, £2.00. So to pay for my coffee I pulled out a handful of coins. My mind blew up into a million pieces. As I dug through the mound of coins in my hand I honestly felt like 15 minutes had passed, I could not figure it out!


As you can see by the sample of coins in the photo they have a 2p coin (translation, two pence = two American cents). There is also 1 cent (not pence, but an English cent, uh?). There are also 5p, 10p, and 20p coins, no 25 cents like we have here. But the copper colored 2p is, in my opinion, almost the same size as an American quarter.


The 50p is easy, it has several flat sides, 7, which makes it some kind of a "-gon". A "sept-a-gon"? Please comment on this blog if you know the name of the shape - without assistance from Google or another search engine.


At any rate, 25 minutes passed, then 30. The barista was polite and waited, and I produced the correct amount, £1.90! Success! I can do this! I am a financial genius! I hand over the coins and I smile triumphantly!


Very politely the barista informed me, "This is £1.40". I quickly apologized and dug in deep for a 50p. Crap, this is taking so long, I feel like an idiot! The rest of my brain dissolves as I act as if I have a vision deficit and turn the coins over one by one and examine them very close to my nose.


I'm looking for two 25p, just give me two 25p coins, damn it! Forget it! I find another £1.00 and hand it to the barista. I say, "Sorry, we just got here, I haven't had time to examine the money" (which is partially true, this was our third day here, I should have learned the money! Ugh!). As we walk away from the counter Elizabeth comments, "I don't think there is a 25p coin". Complete humiliation overwhelms me, I have to get this coffee into me, I.V. please!


If all of this wasn't enough...

To make me really frustrated, as I was taking the picture for this blog I realized the coin on the top right is a £1.00, but the coin on the top left is only €.20! Just .20 euros! Aggghhhh! They look the same, same size, same color, and with my new visual impairment I have no idea where the euro coin came from! I think now I was cheated out of a £1.00 and given a .20 euro coin for change instead. I'm not even going to try to figure out how much American money I lost with that transaction!


A note from Elizabeth, as I write this blog she interjects "Hey, how cool, if you arrange the British money it forms a shield", follow this link to take a look: BRITISH COINS 2008


Another problem for me...this means more designs to decipher on the coins! Not just the Queen's image or a London landmark, now a portion of a shield, like puzzle pieces. I guess that's payback for the American treasury using 51 different designs on quarters, one for each state.


Please just take my Visa, please!

top left: 20 euros, top right: 1.00 British Sterling Pound, bottom left: 50 pence, bottom right: one cent (not .01p!!!) And I think this picture posted upside down, so you try and make sense of it!

And why didn't England go with the euro instead of staying with the Sterling Pound? Simple, to gip me out of money!

London 7/7/2012 PHOTO ALBUM!

Click on photo above to see all pictures.

Rick Steves London 2012 Book Tour

Yesterday was quite productive, by the time we finally got out of bed and got our butts moving. Following along the Rick Steve's London book, we went on a walk called the Bankside Walk. First we started at the London Bridge and looked all around at the different sites along the Themes. The Tower Bridge was quite beautiful with the Olympic rings hanging off.

Then we went back to following the Rick Steve's book. It told us to find the Griffin Statues and walk down some stairs. It would have helped if A) we knew what the Griffin looked like and B) if we knew where the Griffin was. We wandered around and around, even asking some people. Finally, we got pointed in the correct direction and found the Griffin. 

Winchester Palace was not too impressive, but considering the fact that it is probably 1000 years old, it is magnificent. Although there is only part of 2 walls left, they have recreated it so that it is a replica of the building once was. It stood against 200 feet of waterfront, and the Great Hall was large! 134 feet by 29 feet! 

Then to the Clink Prison Museum we went. Or, erm, rather, we were going to. But Rick Steve's called this Museum "Now an overpriced and disappointing museum." And even though Rick Steve's was not the most reliable person who wrote a book to follow, we did not want to chance wasting our money on something like that.