In Which I am Reminded How Much I Hate Terrorists.
We left Sunday morning on our thirteen hour trip to England. To make getting around Europe easier on ourselves with all the subway rides to and from the airports we decided to only do carry on luggage. No checked bags. This meant that if I followed the rules instituted after 9/11 I could not take my favorite soap which is exactly 1.2 oz. over the approved limit for carry on luggage. Late Saturday night I squeezed some of my favorite soap into a baggy knowing what a mess it would be to handle in the shower but refusing to be totally thwarted by terrorists, However, ALL that plastic bag work and worry was pointless because Boise Airport Security, such as it is, hardly glanced at my perfectly packed quart size ziplocked bags of liquids and I probably could have taken my stupid bottle of soap anyway. No one would have arrested me for trying to blow up a plane. Such is life. The upside is that Boise Airport Security, such as it is, only takes about 10 minutes. So I will not complain too much about my soap when there are security lines like this in the world….
When we checked in online the day before our flight we found that we had a relatively empty plane and could change our seats to get an empty seat in between us. Unfortunately they don’t list where the bathrooms are on those nifty little maps at check in and changing our seats put us right next to the bathroom. 😦 There was a constant stream of people next to our seats the entire flight. People going in, door closing click, and out, loud flush, click, door opening-bright light in your face, click, flush, bright light, click, flush etc. We both tried to sleep, but it’s really hard when you have all the occupants of the plane as company. And some of those people went to the bathroom over and over and over!! I know it’s a long flight, Joe, (we knew some of them by name) but do you really have to pee every hour?
The other thing they do not show on their nifty online plane maps is where the babies on the plane will be. I think that should become a standard bit of information for all travelers. I think United Airlines should hire some super smart computer guys to make their maps do that. Maybe I could get Rock to do it in his spare time. Anyway, we also ended up sitting right next to an adorable little family with children. Well, their baby was adorable until she started to cry just as I finally fell asleep-twice. Needless to say, we hardly slept on the flight over, but the good news is we have made lots of new friends! Joe, you can use our bathroom any time you are in Boise!
Thirteen hours is a loooong time. My brain was more sore than my body by the time we were done. It is worth noting here that we actually flew over both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans in one flight! That’s what happens when you fly from San Francisco, an airport right next to the ocean, to London. But we arrived in London alive if not really awake. Here’s a picture of the massive plane we were on:
It had two stories!!
And here are a few pictures that told me I was not in Kansas anymore- all before leaving the airport!
First, pregnant lady bathrooms. Our first stop after that long of a trip was the bathroom. Watching every single person on the plane use the bathroom made me a little leary of using it much myself, so I’d been saving up and needed to go!
THIS is the sign in England for the women’s restroom. I almost didn’t go in because I’m not pregnant and since this is obviously a sign for a pregnant lady bathroom I didn’t think they would let me.
Next, we got to use the Queen of England’s very own personal terminal!!
I felt honored.
In England they have Negative floors! Who knew!!!
We rode the tube/subway to our hotel and took a quick nap to get us through till bedtime London time. We woke up and just like that it was Monday.
In Which We Are Reminded That Wellington Was a Stud
Our first day in London was Memorial Day. Appropriately enough, one of our first stops was this war monument honoring the pilots who died in WWII.
This wall explains the statue
Turns out we would see a LOT of monuments honoring dead war heroes. Wellington especially. He was everywhere! The English totally loved this guy. Here are just a few:
The Wellington Arch
This statue of the Greek stud, Achilles, in honor of Wellington
And, at his burial place at St. Paul’s Cathedral, there is a huge monument to Wellington. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t let us take pictures inside St. Paul’s.
Before we got to St. Paul’s we walked through beautiful Hyde Park
The Hyde Park Rose Garden
These roses were a totally different kind of fragrant than our roses in the States. Beautiful!
Found this unusual guy waddling around the park. He was only one of many very different kinds of birds in the UK.
We also saw these amazing trees!
Inside the above tree
Three Funerals and a Wedding; St. Paul’s Cathedral
St. Paul’s Cathedral is a beautiful Catholic Church in London where funerals were held for three important British leaders. Our good friend, the Duke of Wellington, Lord Nelson, also a famous leader from the Napoleonic wars, and Winston Churchill. It is also where Prince Charles and Princess Diana were married. And just because I was always fascinated by Princess Diana, let’s pause now to show a picture of their fairy tale wedding at St. Pauls.
And….one more from inside….
And now on to the pictures we actually took.
First glimpse of the cathedral
While inside the cathedral, we listened to a beautiful madrigal choir sing.
In Which a Shrew is Tamed and London Bridge Lets me Down
From St. Paul’s we walked over the very cool Millenium Bridge…
to the Globe Theater, where Shakespeare’s plays were once, and are now again performed.
We watched a fantastic and funny Taming of the Shrew. They made Kate and Petruchio about as awful as could be. Crude, crass and perfect for each other. I was so tired by then, having been awake for well over 24 hours that I am embarrassed to say I slept through a few scenes near the end. But Rock, the resident Shakespearean was able to stay awake and enjoy the whole thing. I felt much like I did the day we got into conference in the tabernacle after “sleeping” on the sidewalk all night in line. I was so tired I slept through half of conference!
The last thing we did that day was to walk out on London Bridge. Can I just say this was a let down of large proportions. This was the most exciting thing I could find to take a picture of because the modern day bridge itself is exceptionally boring as bridges go.
This is what the bridge USED to look like, back when it was an exciting bridge to look at. Well sort of exciting anyway.
Fortunately, the Tower Bridge did not let me down. My picture will not do it justice, so here is a better one:
After London Bridge let us down, we took our weary selves back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep. We had a fabulous day full of grand sights but it was wonderful to finally close our eyes.
Stay tuned for Day 2 of our trip…
Short n Sweet 