Our second full day in England was spent on a "Day Long Tour of London"….seeing the most famous sights of London in one day. Though the weather was cold and damp, we had a great day learning, seeing, walking the streets of London.
After waiting at the underground stop closest to our hotel, a tour bus picked us up and we spent the first part of the morning seeing historic buildings and monuments, and the upscale shopping in the area of Regents and Oxford streets.
Royal Albert Hall
One of my favorite stops was at Royal Albert Hall, where we took a few minutes to walk and photograph this complex of universities and music halls. This music and exhibition hall is named after Prince Albert, husband to Queen Victoria in the 19th century.
Prince Albert dreamed of building a central hall that would be used to promote an understanding and appreciation of the arts and sciences. Prince Albert died relatively young, but Queen Victoria saw that the hall was built and named in his memory.
On our next trip to London (I have a bucket list started already), we would love to attend a concert in this beautiful venue.
Across the street from the Royal Albert Hall is the University of Music. The architecture and colors of these buildings are beautiful.
Interesting fact #1: The reason so many of the older buildings in London are made from red brick is that it didn't collect or show as much of the dirt that was in the air as other 19th century buildings. Interesting fact #2: Much of the dirty air came from burning coal, which was also the cause of the famous fogs of London. Now that coal isn't used as a fuel there isn't as much fog in London as there was in the 19th century.
In this same area is the College of Organists….I never knew there was such an institution.
Scaffolding obscures the view of the monument below, built to honor Prince Albert. It stands across the street from the hall named for him.
Though he was not the reigning monarch (his wife Queen Victoria was), Prince Albert worked very hard for the betterment of the city of London and country of England. He did not want to have a memorial built in his honor, but Queen Victoria erected the monument after he died.
Below is just one of many stately homes and buildings we saw in the affluent areas of London. What is interesting about this building is the window on the corner of the house are blocked out….you can see them filled in, just above the traffic signal. The reason is that in the 19th century a tax on windows was enacted. So it was common for owners of these stately homes to brick-in the windows in order to minimize the tax on the home.
We passed Buckingham Palace and would later return to see the Changing of the Guards. When we passed by…I didn't even know this was Buckingham Palace!
Sometimes when one sees a picture of something and then in real life…the sight in real life doesn't always look the same as the picture in the mind. I pictured Buckingham Palace out in the countryside…not built right in the middle of the city.
Every British monarch since Queen Victoria has lived in Buckingham Palace. It first became a royal residence in 1761.
Along our walks we noticed these plaques…honoring the Queen's Jubilee year in 2012….her 60th year of being the reigning monarch in England.
Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament
The next stop on the tour included Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, on the bank of the River Thames.
Westminster Abbey has a history of over 1,000 years. Benedictine monks first began worshipping on this site around 950 AD. Whatever structures they worshipped in no longer exist, but the Westminster Abbey that now exists was begun by Henry III in 1245….almost 800 years ago.
Westminster Abbey has a history of over 1,000 years. Benedictine monks first began worshipping on this site around 950 AD. Whatever structures they worshipped in no longer exist, but the Westminster Abbey that now exists was begun by Henry III in 1245….almost 800 years ago.
I recently finished the book "Amazing Grace", the story of William Wilberforce who was the British politician and activist that led the fight to end the slave trade in the British Isles; he also is buried here.
I loved the beautiful architecture surrounding Westminster Abbey.
We did not tour the inside of the Abbey but on our last evening in London we did attend a free organ recital there.
Next to Westminster Abbey stands St. Margaret's Church….impressive in its right.
Looking past Westminster Abbey, one can see the Houses of Parliament….
Next to Westminster Abbey stands St. Margaret's Church….impressive in its right.
Looking past Westminster Abbey, one can see the Houses of Parliament….
…..and the Big Ben clock in the Elizabeth Tower.
In the picture of the Parliament building below it looks like the streets are empty….
….but in spite of the cold, the streets were bustling with people and cars. I'm just not sure where everyone was when we snapped these pictures!
I love these clock towers….Warsaw has the Cultural Palace in the center of the city…and London has Big Ben in the Elizabeth Tower.
The red telephone booths stand out on these city streets especially when the skies are cloudy and gray.
Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace
Our tour bus headed back over to Buckingham Palace in time for the Changing of the Guards ceremony. Changing of the Guard ceremony takes place at 11:30 am each day in May - July. For the rest of the year, it is only every other day. Just by chance, we had scheduled our tour on a day of the guard change.
It was a bit windy…as our guide (holding a small purple umbrella) went off the bus…we heard the bus driver say "Hold on to that brolly (umbrella)…or you might take off like Mary Poppins"!
One minute we were following our guide with a handful of people around us, and the next thing we knew….
....we were in the middle of throngs of tourists doing the very same thing we were….going to see the changing of the guards.
Below is a video of the guard company that is currently on duty marching to the palace to retrieve their fellow guards from the palace.
The new guard company marches in from the other side of the palace, with their own band, followed by the guards themselves.
The guards are wearing their winter gray coats over their typical red jackets and black trousers.
There are five different groups of guards…Irish, Scotish, Welsh, Grenadier and Coldstream.
You can tell the difference by the colored plumes on their caps (green, red, blue, white and no plume) and what side they are placed on. Also…their red jackets display a number of buttons and each group has a different number and pattern of buttons.
Since these guards don't have a plume on their hats, they must be the Scots guards.
The changing of the guards takes places inside the gated area….
….but we didn't stay for the ceremony inside the gate, as there were too many people lined up on the fenceline for us to see much.
Our guide said that Queen Elizabeth's preferred home, where she spends most of her time, is Windsor Palace, more on the outskirts of London. We visited Windsor Palace during a layover in London when I moved to Warsaw in June 2011. For some reason, the Queen didn't come out to greet us that day.
I enjoyed being among the throngs of people…wanting to have a look at the beautiful palace that we see on the tele (as they say in London). Though cold….I especially liked seeing all the green, green grass in front of the palace! It was refreshing, as we haven't seen that in Warsaw for several months.
On our way back to our bus…we saw the horse guards coming down the same path that the palace guards marched on.
I loved seeing the history and pageantry in these events.
Covent Garden Piazza
The Changing of the Guard was the end of the first half of the tour, and it was time to stop for lunch. Lunch was scheduled to be at Trafalgar Square, but our guide took us to Covent Gardens because she said it was a more enjoyable place to eat and spend time. We explored a little but spent most of the hour in a busy, and warm, cafe.
Much of this area was developed in the 18th century with elegant townhouses for the wealthy…but later was converted to a fruit, vegetable and flower market.
In the center of the mall was a small group playing classical music for tips, and selling their CDs. They were fun to hear as we walked and found a place to eat, and when we left, someone else had taken their place.
It was nice to have an hour to relax, and on our walk back to the tour bus we saw this tiniest of cars.
Still heading back to the bus, we passed the Royal Opera House…in the same area where the "My Fair Lady" characters were leaving the opera in the opening act of the movie.
Our attention was drawn to this large glass ball protruding from an outside wall of the opera theatre…a figure of a ballet dancer was spinning inside the ball. What was interesting was the size of the figure ... almost life like!
St. Paul's Cathedral
Next stop on the tour was St. Paul's Cathedral.
It was great learning a little bit of history in this beautiful cathedral. All I knew previous to our visit was that these steps were the setting for the "Feed the Birds" song in the movie "Mary Poppins".
The current cathedral is actually the fifth cathedral to have been built on this spot…the first one having been built in 604 AD! This building was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and replaced the ruins of the previous cathedral that was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666.
St. Paul's is an important landmark in London, and an important symbol of all of England. It is not the church of royalty as is Westminster Abbey but like the Abbey, many important figures in British history have been buried in the basement crypts. And over the centuries St. Paul's has been the site of many important events….ceremonies, funerals, celebrations, and the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.
During WWII, Winston Churchill called on the citizens of London to protect this national treasure from the incendiary bombs dropped by the Germans during the Blitz - a period of 57 consecutive days of bombing raids on London.
Responding to Churchill's call, citizens volunteered to be part of bucket brigades stationed on the wooden roof that could immediately respond to any fires started by the bombs. Many citizens lost their lives in this cause, but the efforts of all saved this building from ruin.
Responding to Churchill's call, citizens volunteered to be part of bucket brigades stationed on the wooden roof that could immediately respond to any fires started by the bombs. Many citizens lost their lives in this cause, but the efforts of all saved this building from ruin.
We didn't see any birds to feed....
….but it was truly a lovely visit to this important site in London.
Tower of London
The final stop of the tour, but not our day, was the Tower of London. What a great amount of history is behind these guarded walls.
The Tower of London is a historic castle not just a "tower"…founded over 900 years ago in 1066, it is a very popular attraction in London.
This area was once a residence, an armoury, a treasury, home to the royal mint, a prison and home to the crown jewels.
Today it is still home to the crown jewels, which are on display to the public….though well secured and guarded. In addition to the crown jewels, we saw the armoury museum display of weapons and armour used by royalty over the centuries.
The building below is known as "The White Tower" because King Henry III had it whitewashed inside and out in the 1200's. The White Tower was a military stronghold and also a royal residence.
Ravens are kept in the large cages shown on the right side of the picture below. The ravens are protected on these grounds because of a superstition that "if the Tower of London ravens are lost or fly away, the Crown will fall and Britain with it."
The building below holds the Crown Jewels….which consists of crowns, scepters, rings, swords, robes, and other ceremonial objects….most made from gold. This royal collection is displayed for the 2+ million people who visit the Tower each year.
The royal "regalia" is the collection of items used for coronation and other important ceremonies. It is owned by the British monarchy, which is the only monarchy in Europe that still uses its crown jewels for important ceremonies.
Unfortunately, no photography was allowed inside any of the Tower exhibitions.
The ceremonial guards of the Tower of London are the Yeomen Warders…retired military officers also known as "Beefeaters". Three of the Yeomen were nearby as we exited the crown jewels exhibition, and we asked if I could have my picture taken with them. The most striking aspect of the picture is the size of these men! Either I am a very small person….or these Beefeaters are very large men!
Their typical blue and red uniforms are not visible, as they are wearing their winter capes.
The crown jewels are guarded by active military personnel who stand guard and march back and forth in front of the castle.
The crown jewels are guarded by active military personnel who stand guard and march back and forth in front of the castle.
River Thames and London Eye
The tour included tickets for a boat ride on the River Thames, and we rode down the river to the London Eye….the giant ferris wheel with cabs that can hold up to 25 people each. Lucky for us, the line to ride the Eye was not too long....I have heard that people often wait 2-3 hours to ride.
The London Eye was not built when Mark was on his 2-day visit 20 years ago. We looked forward to riding inside and seeing the sites of London at night….
….and we were not disappointed.
It took 30 minutes for the London Eye to go around. We took many pictures but unfortunately, very few pictures turned out since it was dark.
It took 30 minutes for the London Eye to go around. We took many pictures but unfortunately, very few pictures turned out since it was dark.
London is a beautiful city at night…it was fun trying to identify the lighted landmarks across the city. We could see St. Paul's Cathedral, but none of the pictures we took of it turned out. but easily recognizable were Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament below.
We had a full day touring London….walking, learning, taking pictures…eating a little…and did I mention walking and walking?
We were both energized and exhausted by this day…learning from a local British guide and seeing so many great places. We had a great day!
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