Here we are on the train for Bournemouth, Dorset, England. It is located on the south coast. Pauline and Ron recommended it so we found a Marriott and went. There was no place to store anything but carry-ons. Ugh! We had packed lighter than ever, but still not light enough. Talk of ditching stuff reminded us of how the pioneers on the Oregon Trail must have felt. We are going to check into storing some things in London with the intent of retrieving them during our final week spent there.
After two hours of seeing some great scenery, we arrived. Ted speculated on crops we saw and enjoyed watching farmers at work in such small fields compared to ours.
The Bournemouth station is so England.
Our room at The Marriott Highcliff is on the floor just below the roof and to the left of the entrance. It is large, luxurious, and with a view of the sea to die for.
These aren't hanging as straight as they were when we arrived. I had to take one down and figure out how to replicate it. So clever.
This is the closest to a king bed as we have found here.
Each floor has one of these nooks in the stairwell. The hotel was built about 135 years ago.
Walk outside our hotel and turn left for this view of the promenade. It was much warmer than London.
This pier can be seen from our room. It has a large cinema, arcades, and family fun rides.
Just a couple of doors from our hotel is this retirement home for miners from South Wales. Get black lung and die with a beautiful view.
The seals are on all the grates in Bournemouth. Kinda cool.
We took a bus from Heathrow Airport to Windsor Castle. It was about an hour ride through small towns and countryside, although it is only 20 miles from London. We crossed The Thames here. Getting around on buses is easy and cheap.
This Class C sat in the very small yard of a house we passed on our way to Windsor. We have seen several travel trailers, too.
Here is the first open space we have seen since leaving the USA.
Modern apartments with small balconies on the edge of Windsor.
Windsor Castle is the favorite home of the present queen. It is a working castle, used for many national and diplomatic functions.
The town of Windsor grew up around the castle with the purpose of servicing it.
This is a view of Windsor from the castle.
The first stop on the guided portion of the tour of Windsor is the site of the Queen's stables on the left and the former home of one of King Charles III's mistresses.
William Conqueror built the first Windsor Castle out of wood atop this hill or motte about 1070 and then constructed the bailey or wall around it. Wrapping around the age of this castle was a bit too much for me. Note the slots halfway down the wall. Arrows were fired through these by bowmen defending the castle.
I just loved these crowns on top of all of the outside light fixtures. Who thinks this stuff up?
Our guide, Jeffrey is pointing out the cut-out in the bailey used by archers mentioned above. Note how much wider they are on the defenders' side if the wall. He told us that this is where the term "elbow room" came from; room for your elbow so you could pull your bow back. I didn't know that.
St. George's Chapel is an example of Perpendicular Architecture and the resting place of the present queen's parents and sister, Margaret.
The moat around the original Windsor Castle is now a beautiful garden. There was not one weed to be seen.
This is the entrance into the heart of the present-day castle. The vehicles demonstrate that this is indeed a working place. The three holes above the entrance are called "murder holes". In ancient times, defenders poured molten lead or other hot liquids down them onto the heads of invaders.
The private living quarters of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip are through these doors. I heard a worker tell two others in an excited voice that Prince Phillip was on his way, but we didn't see him.
This shot shows the round castle built on the site of the original one with St. George's on the left and housing for staff on the right.
Eton College can be seen from the north side of Windsor. It produced several Prime Ministers and was attended by Princes William and Harry.
Before returning to our hotel we ate dinner at this tiny pub across the street from the castle. Note the candles on the mantle. They and others on the window sills show lots of use. There was little else that could serve as a light source at night. Can you imagine such a thing in the USA?
Realtors have listings displayed in store windows like at home. Places like this seemed to be going for about $300,000 in Windsor. Everything is a bit more expensive here. Petrol is about $5.50 a gallon.
We stopped at Victoria Station for a bite to eat before going to The Tower of London. The station is being refurbished so it looks very rough at the moment. It will be glorious when finished. Can't you see Harry Potter hurrying to catch his train to Hogwart's?
This is the view of The Tower of London seen when you come out of The Underground.
This is the remains of a Roman wall that can't be missed as you exit the Tower Hill Underground.
The grassy area was the moat around The Tower of London. It is more impressive than I remember it 31 years ago, but then the restaurants and ticket booths beside it were not there then. Maybe I never saw the moat from this view.
Here is the entrance to The Tower.
The White Tower is used in advertising and housed a display of armament from the time of King Henry VIII in celebration of 500 years since he ascended to the thrown. Pictures were not allowed inside, but Henry's fascination with technology was amazing. There were breechloading rifles with preloaded cartridges. These were not commonly used by the military until midway through the American Civil War, three centuries later. I was dreading this tour because it seemed long and boring during my previous visit. Museum displays have come a LONG way so this tour was far more interesting.
The Waterloo Block houses the Crown Jewels. There are fewer of them on display today, but the presentation is done much better. We had met 7 elementary education majors from Texas A & M the day before on the Tube. They were arriving for a 3 week experience in Europe. We ran into two of them during the visit to the Crown Jewels. They had discovered that they had not brought warm enough clothes. We were able to tell them where to go to find some cheap wraps.
Traitors Gate was originally where Henry VIII docked his barge. His river transport couldn't have been very wide.It was so named because "traitors" entered through this gate to be beheaded. Anne Boleyn was one.
There were less than 20 people tortured in The Tower, but this room showed three methods very graphically.
The site of the scaffolds used to behead three of Henry VIII's wives is believed to have been located here. The tag on the flowers is addressed to Anne Boleyn. This wasn't here 31 years ago.
The Tower Bridge is another icon used in British advertisement and in the opening of at least one or two James Bond films. It is beside The Tower of London.
Curators have recreated the bedroom of the king as it probably looked when The Tower of London was in use as a royal residence.
The South Wall Walk gives you a good view of the castle interior and The Thames.
I took this photo to show the present day setting for the castle.
The City Hall of London is directly across The Thames from The Tower. Looks like an Egyptian pharaoh's crown to me.
Dyson, the vacuum cleaner people, have developed a new hand dryer that is very fast. Put hands pointing down inside and move them up and down until dry. Very efficient.
Londoners call that modern building the Gherkin, as in pickle. I think it looks like a rocket ship. It belongs to a large Swiss conglomerate. It definitely stands out against the ancient buildings of The Tower.
The Renaissance is a Marriott Hotel ten minutes from Heathrow Airport, the London Underground, and on the local bus line. It was built in the 1930s, which shows in the hallways of the floors with the rooms.
This is the view from across the street from the hotel. There is a residential neighborhood behind these businesses and a McDonald's in the next block.
The Underground is very deep at Picadilly Circus in London. Riders must take two escalators like this one to reach street level.
The Horse Guards are located between Trafalgar Square and Parliament.
We happened to get there as they were changing the guard. It is always fun when the unexpected occurs.
No. 10 Downing Street is out of sight. I have a photo of my dad standing just a few feet from the front door in the 1970s. Times have changed.
Churchill had secret war rooms under the Foreign and Commonwealth Office near Parliament and No. 10 Downing Street. They were to allow the government to conduct the war during the bombing of London. It is now open to the public and also houses a museum about Churchill. The war rooms are just as they were left when WWII ended.
This is the War Room. All figures are made of wax. Ted's camera has filters that made this photo good through glass and in a dimly lit space.
This was one of several bedrooms for officers. Note the chamber pot. There were no flush toilets in this safe space.
Mrs. Churchill had this room available to her.
This was the Churchills' Kitchen.
When the bunker was reopened, sugar cubes were found in a envelope with the name of the officer to whom they belonged, written on the outside. Sugar cubes were a precious commodity during the war. When the war ended, the officers working here left everything, including the cubes, where they lay and walked out.
We walked across Westminster Bridge to get to the famous ferris wheel, called The Eye. Can you picture King Henry VIII's barge pulled up to these steps?
The Eye sits on the south side of the Thames. That is the Aquarium to the right of it.
The pods are big enough for about 10 people to move around easily.
The "flight", as it is called, was so smooth. Close your eyes and there is no sensation of moving.
The mechanisms of this giant were amazing to watch, too. It is suspended from the hub by cables, not steel girders.
The views of London would have been impossible without going up in The Eye.
This is St. Paul's Cathedral from The Eye. It is where Prince Charles and Princess Diana were married.
This photo gives some sense of the view from The Eye, but there is no way to capture seeing the city from 360 degrees.
It was fun to see the line-up of double-decker buses from The Eye.
Big Ben and Parliament are very spectacular from the top of the wheel.
The zoom gave us this shot of Big Ben and Westminster Abbey as we descended in The Eye.
This is the Foreign and Commonwealth Office where Churchill's War Rooms/Museum are located underground in the top right corner. No. 10 Downing street is just out of the frame to the right and Westminster Abbey and Parliament are just to the left.
Brent asked for photos of us in front of somewhere famous so here they are. That is Parliament behind us.
A view of Buckingham Palace we couldn't have gotten from anywhere else.
Two views of the Thames and shore line as we descended. This ride was well worth the time and money.
Here we are on the train for Bournemouth, Dorset, England. It is located on the south coast. Pauline and Ron recommended it so we found a Marriott and went. There was no place to store anything but carry-ons. Ugh! We had packed lighter than ever, but still not light enough. Talk of ditching stuff reminded us of how the pioneers on the Oregon Trail must have felt. We are going to check into storing some things in London with the intent of retrieving them during our final week spent there.
After two hours of seeing some great scenery, we arrived. Ted speculated on crops we saw and enjoyed watching farmers at work in such small fields compared to ours.
The Bournemouth station is so England.
Our room at The Marriott Highcliff is on the floor just below the roof and to the left of the entrance. It is large, luxurious, and with a view of the sea to die for.
These aren't hanging as straight as they were when we arrived. I had to take one down and figure out how to replicate it. So clever.
This is the closest to a king bed as we have found here.
Each floor has one of these nooks in the stairwell. The hotel was built about 135 years ago.
Walk outside our hotel and turn left for this view of the promenade. It was much warmer than London.
This pier can be seen from our room. It has a large cinema, arcades, and family fun rides.
Just a couple of doors from our hotel is this retirement home for miners from South Wales. Get black lung and die with a beautiful view.
The seals are on all the grates in Bournemouth. Kinda cool.
