Londontown

We woke up this morning to the beautiful white cliffs of Dover. Unfortunately because of the sun’s position we really didn’t get the full effect of the white chalk cliffs. They were more gray than white. But you can get the idea of what they would look like white.

We took a two hour bus trip into London to spend most of the day. I had been there more than 20 years ago, but wanted to see it again to see if anything changed. Nope – not a lot. The one thing we did do that I didn’t back then was take a river cruise. It was a great way to see some of the sights that you really can’t see from the land. It took about 2 hours and was a great time. One of the newest things was the “London Eye” which is a HUGE ferris wheel type thing. It has pods that holds about 30 people and turns very slowly so that you can see London from above. It takes 30 minutes to do a full revolution. It was built for the English millennium by British Airways.

As we were waiting on the boat to start the cruise I was lucky enough to get a film clip of Big Ben ringing the noon hour right above us. For those that don’t know – Big Ben is the bell in the tower of the Parliament building. Many think that the whole tower is called Big Ben. Again, we were too late to witness the changing of the guards . Here are the things we were able to see on our cruise: 1. Tower of London, which was built in 1078 as a fortress, royal residence, arsenal and prison. On the river is a now blocked entry gate to the tower called the “traitor’s gate.” If you went in most of the time you didn’t come out. 2. Tower Bridge, opened in 1894 which many people mistake for London Bridge. 3. The Mayflower (replica). The real Mayflower moored outside the building still in existence prior to sailing to America with the pilgrims (one of which was my ancestor). 4. Prospect of Whitby. One of the oldest pubs in London. Karl and some friends drank there when they were on a cruise and he was excited to see that it was still there. It was built in 1520. Tomorrow we are off the ship in Amsterdam.