Hampton Court

At 8 a.m., After meeting our tour guide and our driver (both of them named Peter), we climbed aboard our spacious tour bus and found a place among the comfortable high-backed seats. Then we were off , joining the light flow of traffic that was heading out of London.
As we drove along Peter the tour guide got us acquainted with one another and began to fill us in on the many points of interest we passed on the way to our first stop, Hampton Court.

Hampton Court once the royal residence of Henry VIII. It is a harmonious blend of Tudor and English Barogue architecture.

It was enlarged twice. First by Henry VIII who built the Great Hall and again in 1689 by Christopher Wren for William and Mary.

Here our tour group gathers to enter by the main entrance.

Here I am beside one the heraldic statues called 'The King's Beasts'.

Anne Boleyn's gateway leads to the clock court.

The astronomical clock installed in 1540 by Henry VIII, still keeps time. Note the intriguing zodiac symbols around the clock's face.

Inside the Queen's Apartments are many painting and tapestries from the Royal Collection.
The 1000 roomed palace is heavily panelled and has guilted ceilings.
It is surrounded by Barogue gardens filled with exotic plants and formal plant beds. The paths are lined with lime and yew trees, some planted in the time of William and Mary.

London Evening Cruise

As the cruise boat sailed down the Thames River, the sun slowly slide below the horizon. With the passing of the sun, the buildings that lined the banks of the river began to transform themselves into golden palaces as their lights flickered to life.

The clocks on Big Ben became illuminated, as flood lights lit up the House of Parliament.

Once the seat of London's government, the County Hall has now been transformed into a Marriott hotel. The floodlights highlight the curved, colonnaded central section of the building.

The dome of St Paul's Cathedral can be seen beyond the area known as the Inn of Courts.

St. Paul's lit up in white lights. The Courts bathed in gold.

St Paul's Dome peeks between the buildings along the waterfront.

At 360 ft high, the dome is the world's second largest after St. Peter's in Rome.

The Golden Hinde, Sir Francis Drake's ship, tucked between the building at Pickford's Wharf.

With the sunset now completely gone, the temperature drops as a chill wind blows up river. Coats are zipped up, as the boat begins to make a long turn towards the Tower Pier.

As the boat turns we are treated to a view of the tower bridge with its pinnacled towers and linking catwalk alight. The catwalk helps support the mechanism for raising the roadway when big ships wish to pass.

Completed in 1984, the Tower Bridge quickly a symbol of London. This masterpiece of Victorian engineering has a pair of drawbridges that are powered by steam driven winding machinery concealed within the base of the towers.
Having completed the Thames Cruise, our first day in London draws to an end. We board our tour bus and head back to our hotel exhausted yet at the same time excited. Tomorrow we will meet up with the rest of our tour group and begin our tour around great Britain.

Evening Cruise on Thames

After touring London all day we decided to take a relaxing cruise along the Thames.

The pick up spot for the River Cruise was at the pier at the base of the Tower of London. On the way to the Tower Pier we could see the magnificent Tower Bridge.

After boarding a covered cruise boat at the Tower Pier, we set off on 45 minute circular cruise of the Thames.

Passing the HMS Belfast, we headed up river.

Th e HMS Belfast has been used as a floating naval museum since 1971. Displays on board protray life on board a cruiser during WWII. There are also exhibits relating to the history of the Royal naval.

The white building is Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. It is a reconstruction of the original built on a site just east of its original site.

Picksford's Wharf is one of the many wharfs that line the river. Beside it a sailing ship is moored

London Tour Part 2

Since it was erected in 1892 as a memorial to the Earl of Shaftesbury, the fountain at the center of Piccadilly Circus, has become a meeting place for the people of London. It is here we gathered after a short break before continuing on our tour.

From Piccadilly Circus we made our way down to the Houses of Parliament. Originally the seats of parliament were in the Palace of Westminster established in 1512. Called the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Only Westminster Hall, the building with the sloped roof, remains of the palace.

At the north end of the Houses of Parliament stands Big Ben. Big Ben refers not to the 320-ft tower but to the vast bell at the towers summit. The four 24 ft in diameter dials on the sides of the tower make it the biggest clock in Britain. The great bell was hung in 1858 and chimes on the hour, while four smaller bells ring on the quarter hour.

Across from the Houses of Parliament we enter Westminster Abbey. The resting place of monarchs and the setting for coronations and pageants.The two towers of the West Front were designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor and built from 1734 to 1745.

Next to the abbey is the Sanctuary, a medieval safe place for those escaping the law.

Within Westminster Abbey is the Cloisters. They were built in the 13th and 14th centuriesand serve as a link between the Abbey church and the other buildings.

The Albert Memorial at the edge of Kensington Gardens. It was built by Queen Victoria in memory of her consort, Prince Albert, after he died in 1861 from typhoid. They had been happily married for 21 years and had nine children whem he died at age 41.

Kensington Palace is both a royal residence ( Princess Margaret has apartments here) and open to the public. It was bought by William III and his wife Mary and refurbished by Christopher Wren.

In the foreground is the finely crafted gate.

The statue of Queen Victoria stands out the palace in Kensington Gardeens. It was commisioned by Princess Louise, the queen's daughter.

Kensington Gardens became a public park in 1841 and now merged imperceptly into Hyde Park . Among the flower displays and ornamental fountains in the gardens, is the charming statue of Peter Pan. Playing his pipes, J.M.Barrie's boy who never grew up, plays to the bronze fairies and small animals that cling to the column below him.

London Tour

By mid- morning we arrived at St. Paul's Cathedral.
Queen Anne's statue stands in the forecourt infront of the cathedral.


The steps of St. Paul reminds one of the scene from Mary Poppins with the Bird Lady. I was expecting any moment for Julie Andrews to pop up to sing "Feed The Birds."

From St Paul's Cathedral, we moved on to Trafalgar Square and the home of the National Gallery. The square was built by John Nash during the 1830's.

Also in Trafalgar Square is Nelson's statueon top of a 165-ft column. Built in 1842, it commemorates Admiral Lord Nelson, Britain.s most famous naval hero. He died heroically during the Battle of Trafalgar against Napoleon in 1805.

Piccadilly Circus marks the entrance to the city's entertainment district. It has changed dramatically over the years and now many of the buildings are covered with gaudy neon advertisements.

Tower of London

Here we have our first glimpse of the Tower of London. Built by William I on a vantage point on the Thames River to defend the city from invaders. Though feared for much of its 900 year history as a prison, it is now the home of the Crown Jewels.

The Tower is surrounded by a series of massive defensive walls, strong enough to keep invaders out and prisoners in.

The prison was for those who had offended the monarch. Some lived in comparative comfort within its dank walls. Most however lived in appalling conditions, being tortured before meeting violent deaths on the nearby Tower Hill.

The more famous prisioners held here included Lady Jane Grey, Sir Walter Raleigh and Guy Fawkes. The two child princes heirs of Edward IV were reported jailed here by their uncle, Richard of Gloucester and never seen again. The last prisoner of any note to housed here was the Nazi Rudolph Hess in 1941.

We enter the Tower of London through the Byward Tower with its large large turres and massive walls. It is one of several ways of entering the castle. The most infamous being the Traitors' gate where the prisoners would enter by boat. Most on their way to die.

Teh Yeoman Warders known as the Beefeaters stand guard in Tower Green. The forty-two Yeeoman Warders have lived here since the 14th century. Today their duties now include that of guarding the Crown Jewels and acting as tour guides. The Tower Green was where the more important prisoners were put to death in private rather than die in public on Tower Hill. Most by beheading.

The Martin Tower is one of the many towers along the walls of the tower fortifications. It houses an exhibition of the making of the Crown Jewels as well as an exhibit of the instruments of torture used in the tower. The executioner's ax and block are displayed here.

The White Tower is the center piece of the Tower of London. Begun in the Reign of William the Conqueror, it was the tallest building in London when it was finished in 1097.

There are many more things to see at the Tower of London than I have listed it, but our tour was moving on to other sights to see in London.

The London Tour

After a five hour flight from my home in Canada, I arrivedin London whwere I was met by the tour representatives. They were easy to spot in their bright red uniforms waiting for us at the airport . From the airport we were wisked off to our hotel where we would meet the rest of our tour the next day.

Arriving a day early gave us the opportunity to either relax at the hotel or go on one of the many side tours that Globus offered. I chose to join morning walking tour of London. It was led by Mick, a typical Englishman complete with umbrella and bowler hat. He was a wonderful tour guide, very friendly with lots of interesting information to share. So with a group of about twenty, we started off on our tour into central London.

Along the way we passed by Hyde Park . Here a double decker bus passes on the wrong side of the road from what we're used to. If you're not careful you could be looking in the wrong direction for traffic and accidentally step in front of an oncoming car. Then you would end up on a different tour altogether.

This is a picture of the Charles Dickens Hotel across from the park.

Taking The Bus

The motto for tour companies should be:
"Take the bus, and leave the hassles to us."
I have been taking bus tours for over ten years now and have always found them a pleasant and restful way to travel. The tour guides have always been friendly, eager to help when needed and very informative of the area. The bus drivers are very highly skilled at manouvering around around traffic and finding the quickest ways to get to where we are going.
The seats on the bus are quite comfortable with plenty of leg room.
All the tourist has to do is sit back and enjoy the scenery.You can relax, take photos of the passing landscape, listen to the commentary of the tour guide as you travel from destination to destination or take a nap. Sometimes the bus has an on board video to watch as well as music for the sections of the trip that may take a little longer to get through.
I've travelled with Globus, Cosmos, Travalgar and several other tour companies over the years.
I've taken taken excursions that have lasted from a week to three weeks and have found them all to be a great fun and learning experience.
For a single person or even an older couple it is the best way to get around at a reasonable price.
I highly recommend it.

After the Fall of Rome

As the Roman Empire faltered and began to fade away, Rome began to withdraw it's troops from it's far flung territories. With Rome's influence gone the territories were left to fend for themselves. Some faltered. Some flourished. None remained the same. Only ruins remained to mark the Roman's passage.
In Britain, with the departure of the Romans, other invading armies rushed in to fill the void. These included the Jutes, the Nomans and the Saxons. Still the descendants of the Romans still clinging to their old roman ways, resisted the invasions for a time. They were led by a great chieftian who would be remembered in history as King Arthur.

Trevi Fountain

The Trevi fountain is most renowned of all fountains in Rome. It was built to commemorate the return of water to Rome.
After the fall of the Empire when Rome was sacked, most of the acqueducts that brought water to the city were destroyed or seriously damaged. During the Middle Ages the Romans suffered from a water shortage.

It wasn't until the Renaissance that the Popes restored some of the acqueducts. The fountain, designed by Nicola Salvi , was built to celebrate the return of the water.

Built in the Baroque style, it represents the triumph of Oceanus.

King Oceanus riding through a triumphal arch. He is seated on a seashell which is being pulled by Tritonsand seahorses.

Tradition says that before you leave Rome, you should cast a coin into this fountain to ensure you return.

So it is fitting that it is from here we will leave Rome and move on to new places to explore.