25th March - 6th April 2019
We said goodbye to North America and were keen for some warmer weather. We flew overnight from Toronto to London in business class with British Airways and sadly it was not as enjoyable as we've known business class to be. The flight was uneventful, I was able to catch up on some new release movies but the seating is the worst which meant no sleep on the red eye flight we chose for that exact reason. Nonetheless we finally arrived, jumped on the tube and made our way to the iconic Paddington station. We were staying in the city for 6 days so after fighting off jetlag for the first 2 days we were finally starting to get on the local schedule.
We got ourselves Oyster cards for the underground rail and by our first day running all over town we had it down pat. Lucky for us we were staying close to Hyde Park so we made that our first stop as the weather was unusually glorious as we walked through among the trees looking for Princess Diana's memorial. It wasn't where google maps said it would be so after a good 40 min walk we ended up at the other end of the park at the lovely water memorial. We walked back past lakes with swans and the locals walking their dogs to get to Kensington Palace - the current home of William and Harry. We purchased a tour that gave us access to the 2 floors and a well set up gallery showcasing the lives of the royals who have lived in the Palace since the building was built. They had 3 tiaras on display in the jewel room and they are more spectacular than they appear on TV and I'm guessing these are the 'lower' ranked ones to not be used that often.
We made our way into central London to Buckingham Palace and it was just as awe inspiring as the last time I was there. With the sun shining & the crowds not too big we were able to walk around the grounds with some ease. The royal flag wasn't flying which meant the old girl wasn't on the premise but the changing of the guard went ahead anyway and we were keen to just see the palace and it did not disappoint.
Much to Caleb's dismay, I booked us onto a hop on hop off bus for the day to get around town. I love doing this as it's an easy way to get to the hot spots but also some more regional parts of the city you wouldn't normally venture to. We started off at Big Ben but unfortunately it's still under reconstruction so not worth a photo. We crossed the Thames and passed the London Eye to arrive at the famed Tower Bridge. We were pleased see a proper British landmark that wasn't under construction or hidden behind a 15 foot fence. With another clear blue sky day it was a sight to see. We even got a picture of an iconic red double decker bus passing over the bridge to top it off. We decided to walk past the Tower of London back towards Big Ben and stopped by Trafalgar Square for a photo. It felt like being in Monopoly!
The dreaded day had finally arrived - Brexit was here! Well by the time this blog is posted we all know the ridiculous way that turned out and continues to be a shambles. But on the day we made our way down to Westminster Abbey to see there was a pro-Brexit rally in full swing. Average age was 60+ easily and there were probably 4000 people. We walked up Parliament St to check out No 10 Downing Street. Security was heavy as expected but we think just a few more guns were on display due the importance of the day. As Parliament St was closed from Westminster Abbey to Trafalgar Square we came across a peaceful march again demanding to leave the EU. Once again no one was under the age of 45+ but this time there were about 80 people. We really feel for our friends in the country who honestly don't know what will happen next.
Our time in London came to a quick end so we picked up our hire car and headed south towards Bath where we planned a short stay before heading up towards Manchester. It was Mothers Day so the roads were busy and each stop packed with people. Our first to do item was seeing the famous Stonehenge. With the traffic almost at a standstill in the lead up to the henge, we decided to do our sightseeing from the main road to avoid the crowds. We got a great view and a few great photos before we got back on the road. The next day we drove through Bibury in the Cotswolds. They say that the Cotswolds have some of the most beautiful villages in all of Britain. Whoever 'they' are, they are not wrong. Simply stunning.
We headed north to a small village called Mold where our friends Dan & Emma, who we met on our Vietnam tour way back in August, had a spare room, a couch and a TV they didn't mind lending us for a couple of days. It didn't take long for us to catch up and get acquainted with their 2 cats and 2 dogs. One of their dogs was a 20 week old Newfoundland puppy named Victor and he was half the size of Caleb! After we arrived the boys took the dogs out for a walk around the village when it started snowing. We thought we'd seen the last of the snow but apparently not. The puppies loved it, especially Victor, and after returning home he passed out on the lounge room floor and snored louder than I've heard some humans.
While we were in Wales, we had organised to drive into Manchester for dinner with friends we'd also met on the same Vietnam tour last year. It is so great to have met so many wonderful people who just happen to live within 1 hour of each other. To pay homage to how we all met, we caught up for a lovely Vietnamese dinner in the city for lots of laughs and catch ups. To top it off, one of the families just happened to mention they were off to Athens in a couple of weeks. As luck would have it our dates overlap so we made plans to cross paths once more in sunny Greece.On our last day in the UK we drove north west to the worlds longest train station name. With the Welsh name Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch it's a bit of a mouth full. Hearing it pronounced by a local is amazing but the English translation is even funnier. Get ready for it - St Mary's Church in the Hollow of the White Hazel near a Rapid Whirlpool and the Church of St. Tysilio near athe Red Cave. Last but not least, we drove back to our friends place to say goodbye and for Caleb to give the not so little Victor one last cuddle. We headed to Manchester for a night at the airport to get ready for our 6am flight to Bulgaria the following day. Nothing like starting a bus tour with a 4am start!
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