"Trip of a lifetime!" a London Travel Page by rexvaughan

To celebrate our 50th year of marriage, my wife and I had been planning for several years to take our daughter and son, their spouses and our 4 grandchildren on a trip to London and Paris. We had told them of our plan so the anticipation grew as the time approached. For several months before the trip I would e-mail all of them every 10 days or so with some interesting , entertaining or silly information about the two cities. For the Christmas preceding the trip we gave them all a few Euro and English coins and bills as well as maps and other material related to the trip. Fortunately the trip did turn out to be the trip of a lifetime for my wife and me and all the children (adults and kids alike) had a great time.

We hit the ground running upon arrival about 7:00 a.m. at Gatwick. The van I had booked picked us up and took us to our hotel where we were able to check in and freshen up a bit. Then we went to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. We were in luck as this day the changing was actually a dress rehearsal of the Trooping of the Colours (see my British spelling!) for the Queen’s birthday the following week.

We then stopped for a bite of lunch across from Westminster Abbey but this delay cost us as, unbeknownst to me, the Abbey closes at 1:30 on Saturday so we were not able to go inside. However, the exterior is magnificent. We then crossed Parliament Square and admired the wonderful statues of many distinguished English figures (most of whom I have little knowledge) along with Abraham Lincoln and Nelson Mandela. It is heartening to see that they include such non-English men whose contributions are so great. Of course the greatest statue is Chuchill, rightly so.

Next we were off to the Tower of London. We toured all through the Medieval Palace, the White Tower, the torture chambers and of course the Crown Jewels. All of the children seemed to really enjoy the tower even though we had a mixed age group: Samantha is almost 15 but wonderful at being a child when she feels it appropriate, Nicholas is 12 and had been suffering from an ailment which left him without much energy but he was game for everything, Sally is also 12 and a quiet but enthusiastic traveler who brought her stuffed elephant to have his picture made at various historic sites, Jake is 8 and we wondered if he might be a bit young but at that age he was most expressive, inquisitive and appreciative. As we exited the Tower, he remarked to me, “Grandad, thanks for bringing us to this place. It is really cool!” Do you think that made my trip? Yep.

The next day was one of the many highlights of the time in London: first a visit to the cabinet war rooms where Churchill and his staff virtually ran WWII during the bombing of London. Surprisingly everyone in our group seemed to enjoy seeing and learning about this trying time. Then a boat ride down the Thames to Greenwich from where the world measures time and space. We were fortunate enough to be there at a time when the Greenwich market had fresh food vendors so we scattered to search for a picnic. How it came together so well is beyond me as we had about 4 different groups shopping. When we thought we were ready I asked if anyone had bought drinks. No one had so I dispatched my son to take care of it. We spread ourselves on the lovely grassy fields that stretch in front of the Royal Observatory and had a veritable feast on breads, cheeses, meats, fruits and several extremely tasty pastries.

We then went up to the Observatory and of course everyone has a photo of them straddling the Prime Meridian. Next we went to the Thames Barrier which I think is one of the more amazing engineering projects around. Its simple (though expensive I am sure) design keeps the high tides from reaching London. Also there is a park there where the grandchildren could roll down the grassy hill and have a great time on the slide. Back in Greenwich, we walked under the Thames via the 1200+ foot long pedestrian tunnel built in about 1903 for workmen living on one side and working on the other. We caught the Docklands Light Rail back into central London.

We had arranged to meet several friends for dinner in London that night: friends of longstanding, Pam and her daughter Helen from Newcastle-upon-Tyne whom we had first met almost 30 years ago and have kept in close touch over the years, Jenniflower and Diosh from VT, and Miranda and Peter whom we had met at an English program in Spain. Delays along the tube route and having to change a couple of times made us about a half hour late, but our friends are very forgiving people. I had tried to call, but guess what - my cell phone would not work in the tube! Anyway, we had a great evening visiting and catching up or making acquaintances and some really good fish and chips.

Next day an early start to get to Windsor where we were awed by St. George’s Chapel with its colorful displays of knights paraphernalia and royal history. Everyone was awed with the detailed working order of Princess Anne’s dollhouse and were amazed to learn that the miniature gramaphone actually played little records and that the tiny books were printed with actual stories. Of course the beauty and opulence of the castle is breathtaking. I love the gardens as you can tell from my photo

Next we were off to Legoland. Our time was short and the first line the kids got in was 1 1/2 hours to ride the roller coaster but they got in a couple of other rides as well and we managed some mediocre US style hamburgers for lunch. We were so hungry they actually didn’t taste too bad. Then back to London for a ride on the London Eye. What a wonderful gizmo this is. Our views were somewhat hampered by cloudy and somewhat rainy weather but we had a great evening.

We decided to go back to the hotel neighborhood (Baker Street and Marlybone Road) and look for something to eat. Happily the kids spotted a Pizza Express. It was a very attractive place with good service and excellent food so we had a great meal. Next morning another early rise to catch the Eurostar for Paris. I had tried to explain magnetic levitation to Jake, the 8 year old, so when we saw a train on the tracks he went to investigate and see if it was sitting on, or suspended over, the tracks. I am not sure they are all maglev these days but it got us to Paris in good order.