Jeremiah Watt

Near to the last of our time to wander the streets of London, still several things to yet see and so little time. So let’s get going, we got the coffee hot2go at ………….yes Burger King. Not a lot of things open real early in England it seems, but these American franchises open early as they do back home.

We heade to the St James Palace, which is where the Palace Horse Guard are stationed. These guys are real sharp looking, and for me have the most charm or character, what, with all the long horse hair on the helmet and the drawn saber………it’s a given.

Being a history buff, the next stop was the Cabinet War Room, where Winston Churchill settled himself under the streets of London so he could more adeptly run the Great War. This is quite a statement of the cramped quarters and difficulties under which Churchill and his crew had to work. It was one of the better stops of the entire trip, but then I do love history and others do not.

West Minister Abbey, is a must stop for all who hit the streets of London, not as impressive as some of the other Abbeys we had seen in other cities of the UK. But still, given the importance of what has taken place at this Abbey over the years, it has a substantial place in English history.

Next stop on this rather whirl wind day tour was the House of Parliament, set on the river bank which I will assume is a real difficult place to protect during times such as we live in. None the less, they are huge and impressive. Nobody in that place rides horses, so need less to say we didn’t know anyone important sitting inside that may invite us in for a look around and visit.

On from there to the Imperial War Museum which was as stated a Museum dedicated to the art and events of War, all of them. It was a 3 or 4 floor Museum, and it has so many very interesting displays. Amongst them was a display on the Spy’s of the world, and that was very cool and had so many very cool items and talk-through audio tours. Then on up to the Holocaust portion of the Museum. We had already done the tours in Germany and Poland, which was and is a highly recommended tour, but this addition to the history of the Jewish Holocaust was incredible.

Now we had need to hit a few streets of Antique dealers, and on that route we once again headed past the St.James Palace………………oh my God, oh……….oh, my God I can’t believe it…………………it’s like so absolutely incredible…………..of my dear God…………I clamped a hand over Darren’s mouth to silence him. There’s no telling what folks walking past may have thought, he was carrying on like a cheerleader, thank goodness he didn’t have any Pom-Poms. So what you ask was the hulla-ballou…………well, the “stiffasapokerredhatfuzzyhattedguards” were on duty. Darren was just over the top aboput it all………..and we had no medication to give him.

We placed the folks beside the very willing Guard, not a motion was made by him……….till we stood Darren next to him. Then the Guard, after seeing Darren’s antics just yards away from him and just moments ago……………the Guard, got that Oh My God look in his face. He took it all in stride and was cool about it………..I did notice he had a pleasant smile on his face when Nevada moved in for her picture………oh, well there are years yet for me to worry about.

With the pictures taken, and still a few hours of light left. We headed for Grey Street and the Mews to take in a couple of Antique Shops and Numismatics Shops. Pine and Darren both collect coins, and have some pretty nice coins gathered already. Each place we go, each country we visit Pine buys some coins for both he and his friend Darren. Pine also still had hopes that he may find a Dirk or something antique and of the edged weapon type. In the end, we found several coins and a few doillies ( how the heck do you spell that), a couple items like Tea Cups etc………etc……….etc……..etc……….and we are done with buying. Its time to head for the Hostel and re-pack to we can fit it all into/onto the plane and get home. Two extra suitcases are needed and have to be bought before the store hours bring the chance for that to an end.

We packed and repacked, we had to get the kids to fold and refold their clothes so that all the items purchased in order to fit into the holds of the plane. Supper was very simple, and a few drinks passed around the room as we packed………..and Mom, she always seems to be able to come up with a few treats like a special Chocolate item, a new piece of sweet fruit etc.

Thanks goodness for a light switch, and the dark so we can go to bed……….
Good Night and God Bless

Posted by Jeremiah Watt at 10:17 PM | Permalink

Okay, so I stretched the truth a tad. But hey, its exactly what they used to do at the Tower and we seen not only the Axe but also the block that they used to do it all on.

We started the day early with a brisk walk and a cup of Coffee to help us on our way. By the time the Tower opened we were standing at the front gates waiting to get in at the front of a short line. Now the Tower is the home to the Beefeater Guard Regiment and it houses the Royal Arms Collection……………….er, used to. But more about that later.

My young charge Darren, was rather upset that the Black hat Guard crew were nowhere to be found, and we had talked him into getting his pic standing next to a Beefeater since they are “way cool” in teen talk. Finally it was decided and the Guards seemed amiable enough to allow us to sidle up and get a pic for the folks back home.

The bad news arrived while we are talking to the Guards and Mom is reading some info on the Tower history. It seems that the powers of London decided to move all or most of the Arms to Leeds and open a new Museum just for the UK Armoury…………..and we drove right thru Leeds and new nothing of it. Pray for me Pastor Mike as I said a few things I shouldn’t have…………no, God did no reprimand me but my wife sure did. We as it all turned out there was still a fair representation of Armour within the Tower Museum and it was an open Museum for picture taking which always makes it nice.

It was a beautiful day in London, with high puffy clouds and brilliant sunshine poking thru the holes. We had done the Tower tour and are off to one of the oldest Live Theatres in London the Globe Shakespeare. My darling bride when asked what was here main objective in traveling to London, had committed us to seeing a live performance of Shakespeare……………..absolutely anything by William would be fine. SO we had a fun time at this open roofed Theatre built in a circular fashion and having been in steady use since Shakespeare’s time……….so……….about 1975????

The play was Othello, and it was just great…………and I am not a live theatre sort’a guy. Gimme guns and action any day, unless its Hobbits slashing Orc’s, or Crowe in the Hippodrome……………but live theatre………..and all that “wither thou” and “hark” stuff!! Jeremiah had a fine plate of crow too eat and my friend Darren made sure I ate all of it……………..it reminded me of the Liver , which I also very much enjoyed.

The play, with an intermission took about 3 hours and a little walking was in order to round up the spots that had gone flat sitting on those hard wooden benches. So we took a stroll across the Thames River and up the far bank from the Theatre. We headed for the floating HMS BELFAST Museum, which is a decommissioned battle ship from the mighty English fleet. This was a little different version in that they had wax type characters set up in various places amid the ship. And the characters were set to look as if they were doing their normal daily duty, be it a Dentist or Diesel Mechanic, a Cook or his helpers. Plenty of big iron to look at, and a lot of little gun barrels poking out anyplace there wasn’t room for a big piece of pipe.

With that done, we continued along the river side and walked thru an Art Exhibit by some renowned artist in which he has set up 10 foot tall guitars each modeled after some famous band or maybe an individual artist. I noticed the greats like who else but the Beetles……….and a little ways on we seen the Monkee’s, we seen one for B B King and another for Dave Stamey…………then there was Les Paul and a tribute to Nashville. The long road ahead to the Hostel was now infront of us and back across the bridge and we would wind our way back to our headquarters in Picadilly Circus.

Since it was most likely our last night to eat out in London, we decided to eat some of what had become our favorite food stops………….and have some “Pub Grub”. Nevada and Darren had some braised Fish and veggies. Pine got brave and had the Crayfish along with a plate of fried potato slices and melted cheese poured over, mixed in with it was bits of Ham or Gammon as they like to call it. Mom had a Yorkshire which was ladled full of mashed Tatties and Onion gravy, topped with a local make of pork sausage and veggies. I had a Ham/Leek and Stilton cheese Pastie, along with a little mash and gravy tooped with a few veggies. It all went down real fine, sitting outside on such a wonderful night with such good kids. How could you not feel Blessed. We had a last shot of some great Ginger Ale, which they make very well in the UK, and it proves to be very hard to find here. Closest thing we find here is Vernor’s………….which is close but still not that same sharp Ginger Ale taste.

Its now time for a stiff black coffee, and some dessert. It as unanimous………it was to be our last chance to try sticky Pudding once again, so three of them had the proverbial English fave…………….and Mom and I split an Apple Crisp. What a great night as we walked slowly back through the city and compared notes and thoughts on what had made the trip good and bad. While walking, we passed the Church of the Knights Templar, as it turned out it was closed, but would have been very cool to walk through. We seen the original location or Twining’s Earl Grey Teas. The kids still had a few items to shop for, so a little street shopping was in order to finish out the day. The city grew dark, the night life seemed to rise with the setting of the sun, the streets came to life with a new crowd once again. We sat in front of a fountain in a Square, the light on the adjacent building was just beautiful, we could look down the street and see the Tower Big Ben. Youth on skateboards whizzed by, vendors barked out details of items for sale while Lamborghini’s roared and bellowed in the streets like cats out on the savannah. It was past eleven when we made that long walk back up those 8 flights of stairs to our bed and our Hostel.

Good Night and God Bless

Posted by Jeremiah Watt at 8:43 PM | Permalink

The long march to Buckingham, where talk runs wild and world polatics are solved

Our mission is in sight, now to find a place to stand and see it all

A trip to London would surely be a failure if you didn’t take time to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. So we started the day with a brisk walk from the hostel down to Buckingham. We stopped by a local market and bought a little food to pack in the backpack that I carried with us today. Nothing special really, just a few croissants, a little cheese and some fruit, some candy bars and cookies……………gott’a have those Hobo Creames by McVitties………………the kids loved them.

The Gaurds in Blue give way to the Royal Red Coats

Buckingham is quite the Palace, the grounds are immaculate and when we arrived the guards on duty wore the standard Blue Tunic version, not the bright Scarlet that I think we all have become accustomed to. One of Darren’s main goals for the trip was to have his pic taken next to one of those “BearfurHattedscarletcoatedstiffasapoker” guards that we see in the movies in front of that tiny guard shack thingy!!!!

Our first bad news for the day was that the Bear Skin hated guards follow the Queen up to Scotland when she goes north…………………so none here today…….SORRY!
We took in the changing and the small ceremony that is held in conjunction with it. Not trying to be a bit biased, but my kids have seen the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington DC and by comparison ours is much more precise and drill like. The English version on the other hand is more of a performance with some precision drill work and the band that accompanies the changing. We expected them to burst forth with some patriotic marching tunes like John Phillip Souza or something like it……………….but no, they burst forth with a medley of well known musical scores ie: James Bond, Pink Panther and Star Wars.

We arrived with a little time to spare before the changing was too take place and we were all glad that we did, or we would have had no room nor chance to see the actual changing take place. We as a result of having a spot next to the Buckingham fence did pay a price in the way of a very thoroughly tight squeezing for our being early as the undulating crowd pushed and swayed against us and the fence.

Next we took in the Royal Apartment Tour, which Mom wisely bought for us while we held our spot against the fence at Buckingham. The Apartment tour was quite fun and very informative, we took in all of the open to public sections of the Buckingham Palace rooms. Sorry no camera’s, and a pile of docents keeping an eye of the tourista’s……..so no seek peaks from JW and his concealed camera. We moved on and took in the Royal Mews and Stables. This was a better place for me, since it involved most things equestrian and had a ton of neat looking harness hardware and other such furniture. Cameras are allowed so I took a ton of carriage and what not pics. We also found the Royal Horse Guards and managed to find time to get a pic with them on the way thru.

From the Mews we headed for the Queens Royal Gallery, now here is a place I could spend some more time. It houses one of the largest collections of early drawings by the likes of DaVinci, Raphael etc. The sketches for the most part are of works that were being carried out in Italy during the very earliest years of these artists lives. And today you could go to the many Cathedrals etc that they worked on and see the finished piece, be it a Fresco on the roof or a pillar treatment in the Cathedral. For me it would be really cool to take the time to go and see the finished pieces. In all there are some 900 items of art within the Queens Gallery, and they were all magnificent. Not sure whose work I like better, DaVinci or Raphael but I think DaVinci……….he was so darned inventive, as can be seen in his many mechanical idea sketches housed here.

Next stop was JW’s main objective for my time in London……….The Victoria & Albert Museum. WOW, and Poochy Maggie what a place. If I could have been selfish about it all, I know for a fact I could have spent my whole 4 days time in London right here at this one Museum……………but then I had more than me to appeal too. As it was we only had about 2.5 hours to walk and take pics to my hearts content. It is unfortunate that you cant really walk and shooot pics at the same time so I covered 1 floor partially by my self, and I sent my crew scouting for other items they felt I should take a very quick peak at before we are kicked out.

We stayed till the last possible moment and took our leave. Decided to walk home to the Hostel, the night was a great one for walking………..and it wasn’t more than 200-300 blocks so no problem. Now may be the best time to tell you folks who like the fast style cars, that London is your kind’a twon. I am not kiddin, when I say that you can easily see a Lamborghini at every intersection. And if it isn’t a Lambo……..well it will be a Ferrari or Spyker, maybe a TGV. Did someone mention Porsche, well sorry the sixteen year olds get their learners in them and then maybe discard them for the big guns. It is amazing how many of these sort of cars you see prowling the streets once the sun goes down and the night cruisers come out. Every once in a while you will hear one of those street beasts getting turned full throttle and you should hear it bark and bellow between those closed in building walls………Poochy Maggie, that is a very cool sound.

Needless to say with the setting of the sun also comes the night creatures and that whole obscene scene. Through it all we seen too much at times, but nobody got hurt and the kids are all fairly mature so a little exposure was good in the end for maturity’s sake. We done the micro wave dinners and headed to the Hostel to eat and play cards………and yes type on the blog.

The gal who shared our room at the Hostel is from China, and she is in London for 3 months to take an intensive English Immersion class, upon completion she will return home and work in the political and business translation business. Very nice gal, quiet as a mouse,we hardly heard this gal at all while we were in the room. She was out by 6am or sooner and in bed by 9pm…………gott’a appreciate that sort of commitment for sure.

Poochy Maggie, I and the crew are plenty tired its about 12:05am

Good Night and God Bless

Posted by Jeremiah Watt at 7:52 PM | Permalink

Front Gates of Windsor

The slaying of the Dragon, a panel about 8 foot by 20 foot

This is a big day for us, as we are finally going to be heading into downtown London and turning in the rental car. Just the fact that we are not under the obligation of protecting the car means I can sleep with a little ease.

Long time since this moate seen any water or warfare, filled with lanscaping today. Windsor

Just a sample of items in Windsor, items made in Turkey

One of the Armour Halls at Windsor

Up a little earlier than usual and on the road by 8am, my conversation with the wacko from Santa Barbara the night before had left a nasty taste in my mouth which made eating a Blessing. Glad this chick wasn’t riding with me, I would have to drop her in the desert if she was. Hell bent on saving the world, eradicating livestock, hugging all trees and just generally telling everyone she could about how bad America is. That in itself is a surefire way to light my fuse, then to top it off she passed herself off as an artist, what a sham…………hey, lets change topics because I am getting mad all over again.

The gardens of Hampton Court

Windsor Castle

The roof of the Chapel in Windsor

We hit the Windsor Castle first thing as it opened, this was a real magnificent Castle, and also one of the castles that the Queen visits regularly. It was a no photo tour so what we have is what we have, my best 007 sneak shots possible. For myself, the most impressive rooms are the Chapel and the Tomb Room which houses the sarcophagus of King George. The Tomb room, is just beyond belief, a huge roof housing only the ornately decorated cover of King Georges Coffin, it must have a 30 foot ceiling and is all stone vaulting, lots of Gilding and art. Its really something to see.

Windsor Castle from the rear gate where we climbed over!

That will be the last time I tell him he's a handsome kid..........

HAmpton Court had the coolest patterns of brick work on the chimney's

The Windsor had a reasonable collection of Arms and armour, but it was a no camera tour, and very little of it is shown the booklet which they sold at the front counter. This is a fact that we have learned about these castle, and there curators. It would appear to me that the armour is a visual piece and an interest but not of the same value nor level of importance as the Tapestries and China, or maybe the Fresco’s and the Library etc. I like all these things, but the armour the most…………..darn, I just wish they would see it my way.

Griffons and Gargoyles abound at Hampton

MOre chimneys

Gardens at Windsor

Next stop is Hampton Court Palace, which is just great. Not real old, built around 1770. It is a Castle that still has a family living in it within one wing while the rest has been turned into a living history type exhibition. It has a fair example of a period Kitchen facility, as well as an great Ale & Wine house. The gardens out behind were the best we had seen for a time, and Hampton Court also houses the Guinness World Record for the largest single Grapevine with no grafting. The vine was planted 1781, it now reaches some 60 feet in length and a height of 30 feet. Today the vine is contained within a special glass house that is climatically controlled, but this only happened some 30 years ago. There is a patch of ground that is kept tended and tilled, the size of approx 1 acre, this is where the actual root draws its nourishment from.

I am not sure just how many chimneys there are on Hampton Court, but suffice it to say a bunch. Every chimney was done in a different pattern, and quite often the chimneys were arranged in groups of four, so it made for a striking effect to be sure.

The entire Chapel at Windsor was just spectacular.

It was time that we made our way to London’s Heathrow Airport and found the rental car return, which was really not very hard to do at all. I have read that this is either the largest or the busiest Airport in the world, but to be honest, I think LA and Atlanta are both and more than Heathrow. Anyways I got one “att’a boy” for my driving as a first time right-hand side driver in the entire UK. I did have to pay for a new left front wheel since I had a deep scuff from hitting a curb…………glad I bought that extra Insurance. We are done with the car…………… now, as we stand/kneel/sit/grunt/yes cuss/and pace, out in the rental car parking lot struggling with packing all of our purchases into the suitcases that we came with it looked like the Hill Billies moving to LA all over again.

We made it to the Rapid Train which will take us closer to London central. Once we get down a little closer, we will then get on a standard subway and go deeper into the city and with any luck we will come up from underground like a darned Gopher and peek out the subway hole and be looking at “Picadilly Circus” which is to be our home for the next 4 days as we explore London in each of her cardinal directions from that Hostel. I’ve been on quite a few subways, and still have no great love for them. I feel a quite a bit like a sardine and it’s always very hot on these rides. Breaking out on top was a good feeling with the cool night air wafting over us, the dank smells of the subway fade behind us as we step out into the busy life of the streets above.

Outside the front gates of Windsor, where the security guard finally let us go!!

The worlds largest single root system Grapevine, Poochy Maggie this was a beast

Its fairly late when we finally made to the Hostel, about 9:30 pm. We got into the room, all together with one other young lady from China who was in London to learn to speak English as return home to work as a translator. It’s a steep walk up to the 4th floor and our room. The elevator was tiny, and after that first night we always walked up rather than wait on that beast. So late, so tired, so hungry as well ! We hit the streets and took in the nightlife around Picadilly area, which is abundant and fast moving. This was sort of a thunderous affair, as there are so many Ferrari’s, Lamborghini’s, Astin Martins, Spykers and TGV’s and Porches which they learn to drive in. They would wind these thunderous beasts up and just rip pavement for a block or so and it would reverberate off the walls of the close by buildings. I am telling you the truth, at any of the numerous traffic circles we passed, you could easily spot up to a dozen of these sorts of cars.

Into the TUBE and hunting for a train to London

Somehow we take a left hand turn down a side street and run into China town. There are ducks and chickens hanging in the windows, and stooped little ladies working the kitchens etc, all of them are small, and all of them just look rather steamy inside…………so we just take a pick and make our way in. We spot one that is setup more like a DimSum Buffet…………….no not quite like a Kings Table Buffet over here with mountains of mashed tatters and roast beef swimming in gravy. It turned out to be very good, just the TIRED worked against us. By the time we ate and got back to the Hostel it was close to 12pm and the next day will be a long one so we best get some rest.

The night life of Picadilly welcomes us as we step out from the Underground

Good Night and God Bless

This is one of those "Thank God for feathers" moments, cause these gals didn't have much but feathers....................I know, I had to wait better than 40 minutes to get this shot just for you

Posted by Jeremiah Watt at 11:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)