Last day with family - July 2nd

Pam and Vicky came back to London and we met for an early lunch in Trafalgar Square. This was Jean, Wendy and Michael's last day so we decided to walk around a bit.

We headed towards Covent Garden, looked in at the market and the London Transport Museum, then walked over to Fairmont's Savoy Hotel. Sara, this picture's for you.

We walked around the theater district,

past a store that made miniature replicas of guitars famous Brits played,

and over to St. Paul's Cathedral, a baroque masterpiece that was bombed numerous times during WWII and never destroyed. The monument in front of St. Paul's dome is called the pineapple column, referring to the gilt pineapple at the top. This city is full of monuments, sculptures and statues. It is so much fun to walk around in!

Here's Laura on the steps of St. Paul's offering tuppence to feed the birds. :)

another sculpture

We crossed over the Millennium bridge, which is the bridge used in the beginning of the movie Harry Potter 6. Michael and Laura don't look too concerned about the death eaters!

 

the Thames clean up crew

A replica of Sir Francis Drake's ship, the Golden Hinde, is docked in Southwark.

 Laura is pictured inside the Roman goddess Minerva, whose Greek name is Athena. 

We all had a wonderful day exploring and we were sad to see our family leave, 

but glad they could visit us.

Tate & National Galleries

Laura and I went to the Tate Galleries where historic British art (a lot of Turner) is displayed. I thought this hall was pretty cool; neat way to show the pictures.

This piece is called Inverse, Reverse and Perverse. It was like looking into a giant spoon, and then when we moved, a funhouse mirror. It was quite entertaining!

And here is Laura as a North American Indian chief. The head-dress was made out of pieces from the car door, ironing board and washing machine, interweaving traditional and western cultures. I suppose Laura blends right in!

The National Gallery is a busy museum. It's full of great paintings by European artists from the13th through the 19th centuries. Laura and I used the audioguide tour (which was excellent) and hit the top 50 or so.

 

Lunch in Trafalgar Square. Behind Laura is Lord Nelson on top of a giant column.

Trafalgar square is London's main venue for rallies and marches. There were many street artists performing on the day we went. These characters were one of many human statues.

British Music Experience

Last Sunday we took the tube out to the O2 arena in North Greenwich to check out the British Music Experience. The O2 is not just a concert venue, but also includes a music club, movie theatres, exhibition space and lots of bars and restaurants. We went inside the O2 bubble.

 

Kevin and Laura strolling down the indoor street.

The British Music Experience is an interactive museum of popular music from the last 50 years. The rooms are organized by decades where you can learn about British music history, see artists' memorabilia, and watch, listen and interact with many different exhibits. Did you know that Queen's guitar player, Brian May, used a sixpence for his pick?

There were also individual stations where you could record yourself singing, playing guitar, drums etc. Unfortunately many of them weren't working properly. But fortunately the last one was: "Dance the Decades" let you videotape yourself following along to the dance moves of a virtual instructor. Here we are, stuck in the disco 70's. Help!

Happy 4th of July!

Kevin took off early from work and we celebrated with a bike ride through Battersea Park. There's a bike docking station half a block from our flat. We registered our credit card, paid a pound and off we went!

The park is quite extensive: fields, ponds and bike paths throughout.

We came home, ate dinner and had a festive dessert of scones, clotted cream and berries.

Happy 4th to all back home!

Tower of London

Hey, Laura here. A few days ago we went to the Tower of London with my aunts and cousin, who have now left. It was very interesting and gruesome.

I had hoped that they would still have the heads of people mounted on the spikes, but I guess the people thought that it wouldn't be very good decor.

The Tower is the most visited attraction in London. Apparently a lot of people like death as a host.

Traitor's gate is a gate (duh) that led into the River Thames. The soldiers would row the prisoners into the Tower of London via the gate.

Here I am, waiting for the executioner to come and...well, you know. As the red queen in Alice in Wonderland said, "Off with her head!"

This was a really cool model of the Tower of London that was in one of towers we got to tour.

This is the story of two princes who were brought to the tower and never came back. We actually got to go in the tower where their bodies were found. Ooo....creepy.

Later we went into the torture room in the White Tower, which is probably the most infamous tower of all. This particular kind of torture was called the Scavenger's Daughter. It squeezed your body together so tight that blood sometimes came out of your eyes and ears. Remember...obey the King!

Also in the White Tower was this dragon that was made out of all sorts of medieval objects like scrolls, guns, armor, and other cool things.

I look miserable in this helmet that weighed more than a helmet should. I can't believe people had to wear this stuff.

This is my cousin and I with a beefeater. They're like information guys and tower guards at the same time. Don't you just love the outfit?

We went to a room where wild animals were kept back when the tower was a fully functional execution place and a zoo. You could actually pet tigers and I bet you can figure out how that charming story went.

After we finished in the tower, my aunt and I wanted to see the execution area, but the rest of our party didn't. We agreed to meet back at a tea shop, and my aunt and I went off to see the execution place. It took us longer than we expected, and when we went back to the tea shop, my mom, cousin, and other aunt weren't there. We figured they were somewhere else inside the Tower of London, and so we waited by the exit gates  until closing time. When they didn't come out, we just went back to the flat, feeling abandoned. We found them there, waiting for us, and we had a lot of good stories to share. So don't ever split up in the Tower of London, because you may never come out!