07.30.10 - London: Day 2

I got up around 7:15am this morning to shower and get ready for the day. It took a while to figure out the converter (even though I’ve used it before, it gets me every time..) before I tossed it aside in favor of the hotel provided one. I’m a bit of a hair product/appliance snob, so this was quite the feat. Nevertheless, we headed to breakfast an hour later. We ate in the hotel this morning – juice, pressed coffee, pastries, cereal, and cinnamon French toast. Yum! Tomorrow I think we will probably go to a café or bakery. We changed some money to pounds, then made our way to the tube station where we bought week passes.


Here’s a random fact you may or may know but probably know about me: I LOVE public transportation. Don’t get me started on how it saves money, cuts down on pollution, and is incredibly efficient – I love it mainly because I think it’s just plain cool. I think this obsession began in Chicago in 2004 when I first rode the El.. But I digress. We took the tube across town to the meeting point for our bike tour group. The central line (conveniently, the one that would have taken us straight to the rendezvous point) was closed, but I got us there with some quick tube map reading and only one mishap (taking the wrong line) that was my fault but was quickly corrected (and ended up not making a bit of difference anyways).

The bike tour was AWESOME! Anyone in London should definitely check it out. There are Fat Tire Bike Tours in Paris, Berlin, and somewhere else too. It started at 11:00am and lasted until about 3:00 or 3:30pm.

We left from the Queensway tube station and walked to the Fat Tire offices to get our bikes. Each bike had a squeaky toy attached to the handlebars, which turned out to be a horrific idea because the under-10 crowd wore it out.. Anyways, we walked our bikes down the road to Kensington Gardens where we first got on our bikes. We rode through Kensington Garden until we came to Kensington Palace. 

<< Kensington Palace, behind the wall (which is only there because of construction; it isn't a permanent wall)


Kensington Palace was originally built 4 miles outside of Royal London because one of the princes had asthma and the country better suited him. Now, of course, the city of London has grown around it, but the Palace is still occupied. Princess Diana lived there until her death, and Price Harry has a room there that he occupies when he can’t manage to stumble all the way home after partying in Notting Hill. There are also several Dukes, Duchesses, Princes, and Princesses who live there from other countries. They are all cousins of the Royal family here in London.

Next, we rode through Hyde Park until we came to Hyde Park Corner. There is a giant archway at Hyde Park Corner with a sculpture on top of an angel holding a crown of peace above the chariots of war. Directly across the street is the home of the Duke of Wellington. The address is Number One, London. You can literally send mail to “Number One, London” and that’s where it will end up. There’s a statue of the Duke of Wellington on his horse, Copenhagen, as well over by the house.


archway with Angel of Peace and Chariots of War statue >>


As we were standing just inside the park, there came from under the archway a procession of black horses. They were the Horses Guard and they guard the Horses Guard Parade, which is the original entrance into Royal London. I’ll talk more about that later. Anyways, the horses walked right by us! They stopped traffic to let them cross and everything. On every street corner, there are buttons to push to cross the street for pedestrians, bicycles, and equestrians! They have their own button to push to make the lights change!

<< Horses Guard passing through Hyde Park Corner







                      vv Buckingham Palace at Noon








Next, we rode towards Buckingham Palace. It was just about noon so they were doing the changing of the guards, but we were much to far away to see it. We will go back tomorrow to do everything at Buckingham Palace. We rode on through Royal London and came to stop at Clarence House, where Princess Anne lives. She is something like tenth in line for the throne and she is in her sixties, so there is no chance she will ever be Queen, but she gets all the perks of being royalty (aka having her own huge palace/house). The tour guide says she’s one of the most down-to-earth members of the Royal Family and everyone just loves her. I guess I’ll just have to take his word for it!


                                
The “parade” from the changing of the guards marched into the ground of the Clarence House (I believe) where they would change and later come out in civilian attire. We also passed Prince Charles house, which had two guards outside the gate.


<< Prince Charles' residence


We rode on and left Royal London. As you are leaving Royal London, you must pass under a large archway. On the wall of the archway is a brass nose that is a replica of the large nose of the Duke of Wellingon. Supposedly, having a large nose is a sign of good luck, so all the Royal men on horseback would touch the metal nose before they left Royal London. 
 

                          The Duke of Wellington's nose >>

Just outside the gates is Trafalgar Square, a place I was very hesitant to go near. I’m scared of/hate birds (especially pigeons) and didn’t want to be swarmed by them. However, new (2006) legislation placed a 500# fine on feeding the pigeons, so there weren’t nearly as many as there used to be. It was really no different from the other parts of the city. I wasn’t scared at all :) 

There is a huge statue in Trafalgar Square of Admiral Nelson, a man who led the British against the French in one of the Napoleon-era wars. He was the Admiral of a fleet of Navy ships which were at war with a fleet of French ships. Admiral Nelson was a very arrogant man. Navy Admirals are supposed to wear ordinary sailor clothing so as not to attract attention to themselves and consequently give away which ship is the lead. However, Nelson would have none of this and wore a very showy outfit, even more ostentation that the regular Admiral’s uniform. The French easily picked him out and attacked his ship. He was shot and injured enough to be taken downstairs to his quarters, but he was still able to give directions. The English won the Battle of Trafalgar, and once they had finished, Nelson died. The statue of him is the same height as the main mast on his ship, and the ship in the bottle is an exact replica of the actual ship.

We parked our bikes and had lunch at The Chandos Pub, where I got 3-cheese macaroni. We also got dessert – sticky toffee pudding and apple pie crumble. I only tasted the apple pie one, and it was really good! 

After lunch, we rode by the traditional entrance to Royal London. This is where the Horses Guard Parade grounds are. There is also an original Navy base and War Rooms under the sand/gravel from which Churchill directed the British WW2 efforts. You can tour the rooms, but since we were on bike, we did not do so. The wide open area of sand/gravel (you can see in the pictures) are going to host the sand volleyball games in the 2012 Olympics! The London Eye is just on the other side of the main buildings, as well as Prime Minister Cameron’s residence.

                          Horses Guard Parade grounds >>


Next, we saw Westminster Abbey. It is beautiful! I also hope to tour this building should we have the time. It took 15 years to complete construction in the year 1065. There are lots of famous people buried here, and many have had funeral services here as well (i.e. Princess Di). Back when it was built, Charles I was King. He was overthrown and replaced by Oliver Cromwell. He turned out to be even worse than Charles 1, and when he made sure he would be buried in Westminster Abbey when he died. He also appointed his son to be his successor. The English people were very unhappy about his appointment, and overthrew him. They asked Charles II to come back from exile to rule again, and he did. When he did, he had the body of Oliver Cromwell excavated from Westminster Abbey, beheaded, and placed his head on a spike to put on display (as they treated those convicted of treason). His head was supposedly washed away in a storm, but is now in a museum.


Next, we visited Parliament Square. This is where executions took place back in the day. For those convicted of high treason (the highest possible crime, as it is an attempt to kill the King/Queen), the execution process is very long and drawn out. The accused is first hung by his neck from a noose, but only from 10 feet high. This does not kill him, but crushes the vocal cords so he cannot cry out any insults against the King/Queen. Next, ropes are tied to each of his arms and legs. The other ends of the ropes are tied to a horse, which then walks away. Each of his arms and legs are pulled as far as possible before the bones break. I think they actually go until just AFTER the bones break, but I could be mistaken. Anyways, the person is stretched about 7” after this stage is done. Next, the executioner cuts a smilie face in your abdomen (I’m assuming the prisoner is tied up somehow) and pulls out all the intestines into a bowl, then lights them on fire. The prisoner is forced to watch the whole time and is woken up if he passes out. Then the executioner empties the rib cage area of all organs, leaving the heart for the very last, to ensure that the prisoner stays alive as long as possible. He then rips out the heart and shows it to the prisoner just before he dies. And the townspeople all cheer. The body is then cut into 4 pieces. The head is placed on a stake that is displayed at the entrance to the city, and the body (cut into four pieces) is taken to the four corners of the country to serve as a sign to all that you don’t mess with the King/Queen of England!


After that, we rode through St. James Park, which is very small, and crossed a bridge over the water aquifer. Off to one side was Buckingham Palace, and to the other was London Eye and the back of the Horses Guard Parade grounds. Then we rode to the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain where we dipped our toesies in the freezing water before riding back through Kensington Garden to our starting point. The last stop was Price Albert Hall, which is on the outskirts of Kensington Garden. (Prince Albert was married to Queen Victoria).

                                          Princess Di Memorial Fountain >> 


The tour ended around 3:00 or 3:30pm. We waled around Notting Hill for a bit and walked by a pub our trou guide told us about, The Churchill Arms. It is all draped in real flowers and is beautiful on the outside!

<< The Churchill Arms

We walked around a bit more before heading back to the hotel. On the way back, we stopped and went in Harrod’s. It was so cool! I could spend an entire day just in that one store. It was ginormous! I couldn’t even fit it in one picture because it was so large, so I took two. It’s an entire block long! It was very cool.








              Below: Harrod's Department Store (and I don't think I got the whole store in these shots!)

We came back to the hotel for about an hour and a half and just relaxed before going back out for dinner. We ate at a nice Italian restaurant called “il Vicolo” where I had meat tortellini with Bolognese sauce. The manager brought us complimentary lemon liqueur drinks that were delish. We went to a café called Caffe Concerto for dessert. I had coffee ice cream :)


We got back to the hotel room around 10:30pm and bed was soon after. Up next for tomorrow: Buckingham Palace and Oliver!