Sights and Sounds of London (07-27-19)

After "winging" our first day in London, our second day seemed very structured by comparison.  We had bought advance tickets for two major attractions that were high on our "must see" list.

First up was Westminster Abbey.  The weather this day was even hotter than the day before, but it was hard to justify taking a cab for the one mile walk, so off we went.

I for one, was wide eyed, looking around and taking in everything around me.

In the touristy areas, we Americans are kindly reminded in which direction we should look before attempting to cross the street.

In addition to pedestrian "walk" lights, bikers have their own set of lights, and in some areas a mini road all to themselves, between the sidewalk and street.












One of the things that struck me is the age of so many of the buildings, and how rich the history is here.

We happened to walk past the home of William Bligh, captain of the Bounty.

Luckily Big Ben was not at the top of our must see list, since it was pretty much hidden behind scaffolding, undergoing renovation.

Soon we arrived , already almost overheated, at the Abbey. The Abbey isn't air conditioned, but it wasn't too brutal inside, which was a pleasant surprise.

  We each had an audio guide and took our time wandering wherever we wanted.  There is no photography allowed inside, so I took some interior pictures off the web.

There are over 3000 people buried inside the Abbey- many
 of them royalty, but also such notables as Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Stephen Hawking.












The abbey is still an active church, and is used for many ceremonies, including the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.










Within the Abbey complex is The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Gallery- a collection of artifacts collected over the history of the abbey. This includes one of the few surviving original Magna Carta documents.

Also on display were quite a few effigies of past kings and queens. Up until about 1700, Effigies were made to be used during funeral processions.  The coffin containing the actual body would be carried, and the effigy would sit on top of the coffin.

Our second event for the day was the Churchill War Rooms. There is a maze of underground rooms that were used by Churchill and his staff during World War II. This included a bedroom for everyone who worked down there, including Churchill.











The war cabinet room is where their meetings would take place. One of the most ruthless decisions may have been the order Churchill gave to destroy France's fleet of ships.  The order was given just after France's surrender to Germany and Churchill was trying to keep the fleet out of Hitler's hands.

This is the original door to 10 Downing Street.  It was replaced with a more bomb proof door in 1991. The Prime Minister does not have a key to the home-it always has to be opened from the inside.

Other sections of the museum detail the life of Winston Churchill, the man, and the leader.

With it so hot, there was no way we were cooking, so our dinners were at pubs. This night we landed at the Blackfriar, in a building that was built in 1875 as a Dominican friary.

London Plans (07-24-19)

Our  trip planning started back in March, while Mike and Julie were at our house. Armed with maps, calendars and guidebooks, we started by making a rough plan of where we wanted to travel and what we wanted to see. Before we knew it, we had a basic plan that spanned almost 7 weeks, and included England, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

In addition to deciding locations and itineraries, we also decided to fly first class.

Paul and I have flown first class before, but never for a long flight. After an easy security check, we headed to the lounge, where we were offered complimentary food and drink.  Great start to a vacation!

Each pod-like space had pillows, blankets, noise cancelling headphones, a drawer to hold miscellaneous belongings, a private television screen, and most importantly....














.....a seat that turned into a bed.
Since our flight left Boston at 9:40 pm on July 23rd, and arrived in London at 9 am in the next morning, we were really hoping to get some sleep- but as comfortable as the accommodations were, I think we both only slept for an hour or so.

 While Paul and I flew from Boston to London, Julie and Mike started their journey from Nebraska.  Our flights arrived within an hour of each other. We were so excited to see each other at the airport, that no one thought to take a picture!















Our choice of accommodation for London was a 2 bedroom, 2 bath flat, within walking distance of many of the sights we want to see. Unfortunately our short, 3 day visit coincided with a record breaking heat wave that had temperatures soaring near the 100 degree mark. 

After dropping our luggage at the apartment, we went in search of something to do. We knew that, as tired as we were, sleeping now would really mess with our body clocks.  We had made no plans to see anything specific on our first day, so it was quite funny to see us all "googling" to try and find out which museums are air conditioned. It's harder than you think in London, where air conditioning is rare, rather than the norm.

Having settled on the nearby Imperial War Museum, we set off on foot to find it. 

Although the exhibits in this museum include things from quite a few eras, such as this "Baghdad Car" - a car driven by a suicide bomber into a crowded book market in 2007-I focused most of my attention on World War I.

In 1914, Germany was busy trying to add to it's real estate holdings by invading other countries.  When they started invading France, by way of Belgium, Britain issued an ultimatum. Essentially, get out, or face the consequences.

The ultimatum was ignored and on August 14, Britain and Ireland declared war on Germany.

Each country thought that they would win the war quickly and relatively easily but modern weapons raised the casualty level to one never seen before, and the fighting was prolonged.  

On the plus side, seemingly simple changes, such as a new helmet design, started to make incredible improvements in the mortality rate. 

The new helmets were made from a single piece of steel, making them particularly strong. Unfortunately the first ones made were shiny, which gave away the wearer's location, but they quickly realized their mistake, and future helmets were given a matte finish.  This helmet design reduced head injuries by 75%!

This war was trench warfare....primitive by today's standards. A realistic trench with shadows of soldiers projected along the surface, gave a small sense of what it would have looked like.

Most Britons had "war fever", with children as young as 9 offering their services for the war effort. With the fighting dragging on and taking a huge toll, Britain was trying hard, unsuccessfully, to convince America to enter the war.  The U.S. refused, right up until Germany made a tactical error.

They decided to speed up the end of the war by starving Britain into submission.  Being an Island, Britain relied on imports for most of their food.  Germany began sinking any and all ships headed to and from Britain -including those from the United States.
On April 6, 1917, America declared war on Germany.

The balance of power had shifted, and on November 11, 1918, Germany surrendered.

Our brains having been crammed with as much new information as they could handle, we headed to a nearby pub for our first official meal in England.  I chose Fish and Chips, (with salad instead of chips) and ....mushy peas.  Mushy peas are apparently a common side dish for this meal. Hmmm. I'll try most things once, and now I can say I have tried mushy peas. 

Later in the day the temperature dropped to the mid 80s and we were able to relax in the gazebo outside the apartment. 

MI to MA (07-19-19)

Having secured reservations for the weekend of July 4, we could relax and enjoy the journey, so to speak.  We arrived at the Muskegon county park, in Michigan, right down the street from gorgeous Lake Michigan, and promptly walked to the beach.




I didn't get any pictures that do this lake justice, partially because I didn't bother, and partly because the lake water levels are at near record high, which means there is more debris and mud than usual. Still gorgeous, unsalted, and warm though!







Our July 4th was spent in the small town of Montague.  We know we are spoiled as far as fireworks go, and after this display we were thinking we could have skipped it.  Little did we know that two nights later, we could have been at the best fireworks display that Michigan has to offer- in Bay City MI. Unfortunately we found out about it when we saw it live on T.V.  Oh well.






This campground had no availability for the night of July 5, so we packed up and moved to a different, nearby county park.  With temperatures in the mid 90s, we were anxious to get there and get the AC working.   Well, best laid plans and all.....

 We plugged in at the post, and our power management system promptly shut our system down.  Tried it again- no joy.  Paul got out his meter and long story short, there was Too Much power coming from the post -132 volts. We reported to the office, and went looking for another open spot, to see if it was better.  Nope.




Along the way, we met a neighbor, who happened to be a lineman for the county.  He checked the power at HIS post and immediately unplugged his rig.  He called his buddies, and within an hour there were 4 bucket trucks in the park to figure out the problem. By then we had decided we couldn't wait it out, so we left.




"Luckily", our next destination had lots of room, so we just went there early. Its pretty much in the middle of nowhere, so there wasn't much to do while we waited for our tour of the Avalon and Tahoe Manufacturing facility.

We did make a day trip to the town of Bay City, walked along the riverfront and tried to get to a beach so we could get a glimpse of Lake Huron. Seems like most of the water frontage is privately owned, so we didn't get to see much of the lake.

Paul did get some ideas at the park where we walked...

Avalon is the brand of pontoon boat that we have.

















The facility in Michigan where it was built gives private tours, upon request.  We made an appointment and got a pretty interesting tour .

Paul had several questions, and of course, several suggestions for them.









While we had some free time, we made some plans for the rest of our route to Boston.
Our first major stop was Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio. With only one day to explore, we did some research and came up with two hikes that we could do in one day.

Our first hike was through and around the Ritchie Ledges.

Interesting rock formations made for an interesting hike.












The park, in part, showcases the history of the canal system- we checked out the visitor center in between hikes but were more focused on being outside

Our second hike was to Brandywine Falls. This is a popular, well used trail, so we were definitely not alone.

From Ohio to New York, we made our next destination Letchworth State Park, known as the Grand Canyon of the East.  We have hiked here before, and really didn't have much time this time around, but we did manage a two mile walk along the Genessee River.

Once we head through New York towards Massachusetts, campgrounds become pretty scarce. We had to drive pretty far one day to find somewhere to stay.


And then, one day later, we arrived in Massachusetts, just in time for the wedding of our friends Linda and Alan.













As Alexander McCall Smith said " You can go through life and make friends every year- every month practically- but there was never any substitute for  those friendships of childhood that survive into adult years."


 That felt so true as my friends and I posed for a group photo.  We have all know each other since the age of 5- more than 50 years!

The following week was spent visiting family and friends....lots of dinners-

And although we had plans to play miniature golf with my family, the high temperatures turned it into a bowling outing.  My hips wonder what the heck I was thinking!














On Saturday we moved from the campground to my brother's back yard, where our vehicles will be stored for the next 6 weeks.














Tally Ho- my next post will hopefully be made from London, England!