London Trip, Day 3


DAY 3, MAY 27th

Today, Saturday, we were off to meet with friends, John and Cheryl Lang who live near Gloucester. We had met them on our last trip to southern France, and I have kept in touch with John via e-mail. We had to take the tube to Paddington Rail Station where me boarded a train at 8:15 A.M. This was an adventure for me as I had not been on a train trip since I was a very small boy. Suz had traveled by train some when she was a teenager.

After a most delightful 2 hour trip though the English countryside we arrived at Gloucester where I spotted John and Cheryl waving to us. It was, indeed "A Rainy Day" just as in the nursery rhyme:

Dr Foster went to Gloucester
In a shower of rain,
He stepped in a puddle
Right up to his middle
And never went back again.


Following is the reported source of this rhyme:

King Edward I traveled to Gloucester in the middle of a rain storm. When he got there his horse fell; and the king and the horse wound up in s
(sic) puddle of mud. It was a pathetic and humiliating sight for (the) King to be in. The townsfolk had to use planks of wood to rescue the king and his horse from the utterly undignified situation he found himself in. It certainly was not a fate befitting a King. The King ranted and raved and swore he would never return to Gloucester again. The writer could not resist spreading the news of the Kings misfortune and awkward predicament all around. The King could do little to refute the truth, while the people celebrated his fall by singing this verse wherever and whenever they could.


Anyway, John and Cheryl took us off for a good warm cup of tea, then we set out to see "The Real England." This, being the area of the Cotswolds where Cheryl grew up, the small community of Whiteway. (Read an article about the origins of WHITEWAY). What an intriguing area, full of charm and beauty. There were hedgerows and dry stone walls everywhere.

(We were unable to take photos during our walk due to the rain, but the following are very similar to the walls and hedgerows typical in the area). John is quite an accomplished poet. I've created a web page dedicated to one of his poems,
DECLINE AND FALL, which describes the plight of the dry stone walls found through out the Cotswolds. Take a look at what this talented chap does with the English Language.





All the houses had names. Cheryl's former home was named "The White House." We stopped and visited awhile with Cheryl's brother, Barry. He was as interested in us, being "Yanks" as we were in the UK. Then we went on to a hardy lunch at a inn named 'The Fromebridge Mill' at Whitminster which had between an old mill, powered by water. Suz and I both had the Welsh Lamb, and I had a half pint of "Old Speckled Hen".

From there we went to the Gloucester Cathedral. Just as we entered, the choir started singing. It was magnificent.


The last picture on the right above has Suz and I (See! We really DID go on this trip together!) in the Cloisters, which was also in one of the Harry Potter movies. Following are some additional pictures from the official Gloucester website. I included them since photos were not permitted in the Cathedral.


From here we went to John and Cheryl's bungalow where we had tea, scones with jam and clotted cream, and cakes. We rested and chatted until it was time to head off to the train station. Below is a picture of our friends, John and Cheryl Lang. We hope to convince them to come over to Florida on holiday.



The train ride home was relaxing and we arrived at our local tube station at about 10:pm. Back to the hotel after another long, but very enjoyable day.


DAY 4, MAY 28th

I had envisioned today as a more relaxing day, riding around London on the open-topped-red-tourist-bus. Well, I was wrong. By about 10:00 we headed up to Buckingham Palace to get a good spot for viewing the CHANGING OF THE GUARDS since the Evan Evans Tour did not provide as promised. We got a spot just to the left of the main gate right against the fence. Following are the pictures I took:



Next we have the "Old" Palace guards preparing to be relieved at the end of their "shift."


Next came the Fife and Drum corps:



Next came the New Guard and the Band:


Then comes the New Guards:




And then there was lots and lots of marching and standing at attention, also the band played a few tunes for us


And after all the marching you have the New Guards left at their posts.


The day continued after the Changing of the Guard Ceremony as we proceeded to the Open-Topped-Tourist-Bus.


We rode over to Trafalgar Square where we ate lunch in The Crypt Cafe (in the crypt of St.Martin_in-The-Fields Church).


(Unfortunately, we could not see Lord Nelson's Column as it is covered by scaffolding while they clean it.)


After lunch, our next stop was at the LONDON EYE. When we alighted from the bus, we found there were no signs with directions. We finally got our tickets (it was 3:00 pm and our "flight" was to be at 5:00. We needed to return to the queue at 4:30, so we decided to got to St. Stephen's Tavern (Pub) over by Big Ben. So we walked across the bridge and entered one of the neatest pubs I've seen.

If you take your drink upstairs and sit in one of the "booths" or "pews", as John Lang calls them, you can imagine past members of Parliament sitting there plotting to overthrow whomever was currently in power. Sort of the ghosts of British politics.

At the appointed hour, we returned to take our place in the queue for the London Eye. Following are the pictures I took:


After this it was back on the bus until we took the tube back to St. James's Park Station, then back to the hotel to rest up for our longest day yet.


On to Day 5
Back to DAY 1 & 2