So what do you get your youngest child for his 11th Birthday, who is infatuated with British people, while you are stationed in Germany? You take him to England for 3 nights!! Travel here is EXTREMELY cheap, around $350 for the three of us to include a rental car for 4 days. We cant afford NOT to go!!
We surprised Jonah at school to give him his Birthday present.
On the plane, leaving for England. Ryan Air was pleasant to fly on even though its a budget airline.
We grabbed our rental car and headed to the 2br Flat that we booked off of www.airbnb.com. We where on the backside of this building.
The building was turn of the century so it was a little drafty, but plenty of room.
This is Barney the house cat.
Barney was suggesting websites.
After we got the car unloaded we went to go check out the London eye. Our first major site was the tower bridge.
It was built from 1886-1894, it is a draw bridge to allow ships to pass.
The upper level was built as a walk way so pedestrians could cross any time of the day, but was closed in 1910 because people didnt want to walk all the stairs. It was reopened in 1982 as part of the payed tour.
Next we went to the London eye to take a ride and see the sights from up high.
It is 443' tall and rotates 10" per second, it is a 30 minute ride to go completely around. It has some awesome views!
Big ben in the background.
We dont do pics together often.
The pods are huge
We couldnt help but take this pic, it looks cool with the trees lit up.
Cant come to England without Fish and Chips!
The palace of Westminster, which holds the two houses of Parliament for the UK, the clock tower (Big Ben) is to the left.
The Palace of Westminster, view from the bridge over the river Thames.
Big Ben is actually the name of the 16 ton bell in the clock tower. Its true name is Elizabeth Tower.
The clock is so accurate that there is a small stack of pennies on top of the 660lb pendulum, by adding or taking away 1 penny alters the clock by .4 seconds
At the base of each of the clock dials there is a Latin inscription which translates to," O Lord, keep safe our Queen Victoria the First"
Westminster Abbey, just across the street of the Palace of Westminster and Big Ben. This is the North entrance.
The construction of the church began in 1245!
The rear of the church, the church was where Queen Elizabeth married here in 1947, as well as Prince Andrews wedding, and recently Prince William and Catherine where married here.
After some other sightseeing we didn't get to down town till around noon so we didn't get to tour Westminster Abbey, the line was streached all the way around the block to get in.
The main entrance on the west side.
Office of the supreme court.
A trip wouldn't be complete without a pic in the red telephone booth.
It also smells as if the bums think they are urinals.
St Paul's Cathedral built in 1675, it was the tallest building in London until 1962.
The West front entrance.
The huge front door at the West entrance.
This church is where Princess Diana was married. We where able to pay and go inside of this church and it was beautiful, the ceilings are amazing. We where not able to take pics inside the church.
This pic i got from google shows how beautiful it is on the inside.
We made it to Buckingham Palace, Jonah got really excited.
The huge Victoria Memorial was created in 1911.
Jonah was kind of bummed out when we told him the Queen wasn't at the Palace. Just FYI the Union Jack is not flown if the Queen is in. They fly the "Royal Standard" and it looks like this. We told him we would have to check and see if she was at Windsor Castle.
We made the hour drive to Windsor Castle, you could see it from the Parking lot.
Built in 1066 the Castle walls are built upon 13 acres. Although it is officially only her weekend residence Windsor Castle is the largest inhabited castle in the world and the longest inhabited in all of Europe.
Again the Queen is not in. I think Jonah is going to wait by the gate until the Queen shows up.
There is a very nice shopping area at the outer West side of the Castle. We ended up eating dinner and was able to lookout and see Windsor Castle while we ate, what a view.
The next day we drive 1 1/2 hour from London to go see Stonehenge.
Cold, rainy and 39 mph crosswinds. It was still well worth it.
There is believed to have been activity here as far back as 3000bc.
The stones are believed to have been placed here between 2600-2400bc
Even though it is just a bunch of large stones setting in a field it is still awe inspiring.
To think they carved the rocks into long rectangular stones and made them with mortise and tendons to fit them together and at the time had no iron tools to do it with. That's dedication!
Before we headed back to the flat to pack we decided to go visit Southampton. Here at Westgate is where the passengers of the Mayflower walked to get to the ship to sail to America in 1620.
It has been a walled city to protect its port since 840AD, you can even see evidence of old cannon balls that where fired into the city.
The Mayflower in 1620 and the Titanic in 1912 set sail from here, Southampton is definitely an important port.
The monument at base of the city walls to commemorate the Pilgrim Fathers.
And I will close this blog with Jonah sitting at the port of Southampton, at sunset, pondering what was clearly, in his words, "The BEST Birthday weekend EVER!"
