A Month in the UK - Week 3

Day 15 (continuation) Week 3
Hello again, I am now into my 3rd week here in the United Kingdom.  And I must say I'm feelin' a lil' home sick.  Being a foreigner in a foreign land is great for the experience of a different culture altogether but it also makes you appreciate the things you are accustomed to at home.  For the most part, everything is done on a small scale here, which is totally opposite of Dallas, where everything is done a large, I mean a very large scale.  Most of the roads we've driven on were built for horse and buggies, not your typical SUV.  Like I said before a Hummer, Yukon or Denali, can forget about it.

Buckingham Palace entrance gates

Well, I have recooperated somewhat but I can't do another walk about like that again until I get to Ireland, which we leave on Sunday, so be on the lookout for those pics to come also when I return not sure yet if I will have access to Wi-Fi.  We will be in a hotel for the duration of our stay there in Dublin.  Nonetheless, lets talk about the sights of London.  We took the train from Orpington to the London Bridge station which put us about a mile's walk from Buckingham Palace.

This is the entrance to the Palace, once pass the  entrance it's a good mile walk to get to the front of the Palace.

We forgot to check what day the changing of the guard would be which it used to be everyday but "economy" changed that, now it's every other day.  Here are the mounted guardsmen, they look rather dashing, would you agree.  You gotta click on pic to view in closer.

Buckingham Palace

I'm making my way over to the front of the Palace








Okay, made it here I am --->   







More of Buckingham Palace.  If you notice the large section in the middle is where the prince & princess stand after they are married, with the latest being Prince William & new Princess Kate.





Here's a better shot of it ---> Recognize it now from what is shown on the news.  The place is absolutely gargantuan in size.









Just me again.  The place was swamped with tourists such as myself :)






We were making our way into the Royal Courts which is open to the public, this guard was actually on duty so I didn't want to get to close.  Everytime someone came out of their chambers he would do his routine sort of like how you would greet a person of royalty.

Royal Guard

Mounted Royal Guard on duty at his post.

Mounted Royal Guard

The other mounted Royal Guard.  There was one posted at each gate entrance.  Again, didn't want to get to close because they were actually on duty.



Well, it's 3:15pm there in Dallas & 9:15pm here in London & I need to stop & grab some supper but I will be back there's more pics to come.  I hope you're enjoying London thru my eyes and that the info. I'm sharing in my blog has provided a greater understanding of the great UK & all it has to offer.

Please check back soon....

Believe it or not, it takes a lotta work into blogging but it's a whole lotta fun.  So, here's the rest of the pics. I hope I can remember the names of the places, so bare with me.  Okay, we've left Buckingham Palace, that's it in the background.  It is so beautiful & a Palace indeed.  Moving on to the other popular sites.

Westminster Abby

The famous Westminster Abbey where Prince William & Kate Middleton were married.

In front of Westminster Abbey.  No photos allowed inside.  They also charge a fee to go inside.








The main entrance.  Beautiful isn't it?

Still somewhere around the Westminister Abbey court area.  The architecture is simply superb.  It gets even better.

Here's Big Ben.  It's big alright! To stand in front

Big Ben

of this historical wonder is a sight to see.

 See what I mean!!!!

Wow what a job to stand in front of a monumental feature and get paid.  It's his job also to take pics w/the tourist.  How fun :)

Here's Big Ben in it's full scale, it's attached to the Parliament Building, the Palace of Westminster & Cathedral.

Heading to "Downing Street" where the Prime Minister resides then to Trafalgar Square.

The Prime Minister's quarters & royal cabinet located

on Downing Street.  His name is David Cameron, he is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland & Arms of Her Majesty's Government.  I did get a picture of him getting in his vehicle but it wasn't a good photo to share.

Moving on....

Trafalgar Square

Made it to "Trafalgar Square". The place you see on TV with the birds hangin around and they eat out of your hand well they don't supply the bird food to the people anymore because of the damage the birds were doing when they did their business...know what I mean? It was a lot of work to keep the sculptures clean and free of bird poop.

Wow! if nothing else they have huge sculptures.  I had to lean my body against this one to get close up for the pic. 

These lion statues were place around the square which I believe there were 4 of them.

They had several statue water spouts withing the fountain also, absolutely beautiful to see.

A street performer in the square.

 I know that's a bit much but he was rather entertaining.

This guy's act was to get out of a straight jacket.

We're in the Arts district now where most of the live shows are performed, such as the "Lion King", "Phantom of the Opera" .

Well, I leave you with a view of London in the background.  I must get myself packing to leave at 6am in the morning for Dublin.  Not sure if I will have time to blog.  I will be in a hotel & don't know if they have Wi-Fi, but they should have a business area with a computer.  So for now, please pray God's traveling grace while I cross the skies again.  And please check back for more updates from Traventure Woman travel blog.

Sunday Oct.2nd.  Just an update, I made it safely to Dublin, Ireland this afternoon...yeah!!! thank God.  Can't take anything for granted.  We've already been out to Central Dublin by way of the double decker bus.  Too fun.  It kinda reminds me of New York.  It's pretty upscale & a lot goin on.  I will see about posting some pics.  I'm in the hotel's Business Center using the computer.  Had to choose whether to carry my laptop or some other stuff.  The other stuff won.  I had to downsize a lot.  The airline RyanAir has a 30lb restriction for your checkin baggage & only limit to one bag.  I had my books & other things in my shoulder carry on.  Unlike in the U.S. it's 501b.   Anyway, check back & hopefully I will have some pics added.

Stay tuned....

Today is Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2011, I am still here in Ireland and am having a ball of a time & sorry I am unable to upload any pics at this time, but will be able to tomorrow (Thurs.) after I get back into London.  We have an early flight out so soon as I get back to the house I will be blogging away & will pick up where I left off.

Nonetheless, to give you an idea of what I've been seeing.  The St. Patrick's Cathedral, which history says he was the one who brought Christianity to Ireland, but there are conflicting stories.  These pics are from a website.  I can't wait to share mine.  It was free to enter & I was able to take pics. 

I toured the Dublin Castle which is located in the heart of the Dublin Center, can't wait to show my pics.  Pic below is from a the website.  The Dublin castle was originally built on the orders of King John of England in 1204 on a site previously settled by the Vikings.

I also toured the Ireland National Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of Archeology.  All Museums are free.  Will update pics from that also.  And so much more.


Let me say the Irish people are friendly, pleasant & helpful.  They really like Americans.  I found that out myself when I asked many for info and directions, even the police, who were eager to assist me with all smiles, as many others.  I even had an Irish chap, invite me to have a cup of cappuchino with him.  A handsome fellow I must say, medium build, with reddish brown hair & matching goat-tee (I had to explain what a goat-tee (beard shape )is in America. All around wherever you walked there are these cute little dainty coffee shops.  So I had a cup.  You can say I fraternized with the locals :).  What better way to learn the culture and it's people if you don't interact. Right?  Touing the city can only tell you so much as it relates to the history of the country.

It's 11:30am here & I'm off to see the coast of Dublin.  I bet that's going to be a sight.  It's quite windy out & a lil' nippy so gotta bundle up.  I can hear the wind howling.  Please check back tomorrow, I will have much to share.  This is Traventure Woman saying "Slán agat", "Good-bye" to ya.

A Month in the UK - Week 2

Day 8
Hello again, I've survived my first week here in London.  And I'm starting this week with on day 8, Wednesday, Sept. 21st w/pics from that day.  However, it's Friday, 12:30pm here & 6:30am in Dallas.  I've already had my breakfast, went to the gym, had my lunch and now I'm
blogging.  Last week was a blast, but it finally caught with me.  I didn't realize how much my body had to adjust as far as the time zone difference.  I didn't blog yesterday (Thursday) because I slept almost to 12 noon, I'm sure because the day before we went to the countryside and out to the coast to a town (city) called Brighton off the coast of the English Channel.  The beaches that run along it are breathtakingly beautiful & is located in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain.  We drove and walked, drove and walked, drove and walked to when we were finished 8 hours had passed before returning to Swanley (suburb) outside London (like Plano is suburb to Downtown Dallas).

Hope you enjoy the pics.

Coming into the city of Brighton

Just me being funny.... I must say it was just a tad bit nippy considering the 100 degree temperatures I was used to back there in Texas.

This is the Grand Hotel behind me facing the sea front.  It was opened in 1864.  In 1984 an assasination attempt was made on Magaret Thatcher's life, Prime Minister at that time, by bomb explosion which 5 people were killed.  It was renovated in & reopened in 1986.

We walked all along the promenade and observed the beautiful view.  Kinda reminded me of the Santa Monica Pier where I gew up (my childhood and most of my adult life in Los Angeles, California) and we spent most of our weekends at Santa Monica and Venice beaches roasting hot dogs & marshmellows.   

You should see Brighton Pier behind me.  I have better pics will upload lator.  Never would you see a homeless person asleep on the beach back then as you do now & even here in there's a homeless person asleep on the beach.  See pic below.

Homeless person asleep in sleeping bag on beach

                                                                            

Beautiful sight of God's painting of the sky as the sun was setting.

Heading away from the beach to drive along the

coastline.

I have more pics to share but need to stop for a bit and make a run out while the sun is shining.  And we're preparing dinner for guests tonight.  Hey, you know how we say the word "process" they pronounce it "prow-cess" and we say "vitamins" they pronounce it "vet-e-mins".  It shoud be quite interesting tonight.  Will blog again a li il la uh.  In case you're wondering why I wrote it like that, over here, they don't pronounce the "t" nor the "r".  Like the word "water" they say pronounce it wa-uh".  It's quite a blast to hear the English talk.  They probably say the same thing about Americans.

Stay tuned for more of Traventure Women's adventures over here in the UK......


It's now 5:30pm, and our guests should be here in a bit.  But check out this windmill.  We don't see these in the city or anyplace else for that matter, unless we're waaaaaaay out in the country.  Here, there quite a few as you drive along.




Here are the rest of the pics from that day.

More of the country side.

The air is so refreshing.  They don't cut down the trees as we do in America.  They have more than enough.  Driving thru the road the trees overlap one another which makes like an arch above the the roads.

A morning Britain midst in the mountains as we drove thru to the ocean side.

Now how's that for a street sign name.  Their street signs are not attached to the street or light pole up high like in the states but are large signs at the bottom.  I found myself always looking up for the names of the streets but realized they're located at the bottom of the corner.

Two pics below were taken on another foot path we stopped at before heading back in.

A couple of fellows canoeing thru the river there that ran between both of the hillsides.  To one side the sheep grazing and the other side the cattle.

And there's me on the footpath.  After being in that fresh air I was beat.  I mean, they walk all day everyday & everywhere.  And they rely on the train and bus system for transportation.

Day 9

Let's see yesterday was Friday, Sept. 23 and we went back to the foot path and raided some more of the wild blackberries.  This time I was prepared and brought me a lil zip lock bag. 

Lil Katrina and her mom, they like coming over to go on the foot paths with and to walk Tex, Mrs. A's dog, named Texas.  

Day 10

Today is Saturday, Sept. 24, I'm into my 10th day of being here in London, and I made my way down to Central London via the train, yep went all by myself.  Mrs. A and hubby had things on their agenda they needed to do so off I went.  If I can find my way around Okinawa, Japan, surely I can around Europe :)  I saw the sights and took plenty of pics.  So please return and will have more photos added.

Stay tuned for  ----> 

You know the song "London Bridges falling down, falling down, falling down..."

Judith in front of Tower Bridge of London

Just me.  And I did walk across the Tower Bridge behind me of course to get to the other side of the pier.  I'ts huge, up close & personal.  Yep, that's the bridge you see in the movies whenever they show London.  It's absolutely beautiful, will share more of it when I add the other pics.

So, these are just a few teasers.  I have even more but it is already after 12 a.m.  So gotta go.  Want to be rested for church on tomorrow.  Will add more pics afterwards.  Peace and blessings.  See ya.

Okay, here are more of the pics I took at the Thames River.  The Londoners say it is pronounced "Tims".  I really don't know how you get Tims from the way it is spelled T-h-a-m-e-s, interesting isn't it?

So I got off at the train station and it let me off  

in the center of London which I then walked across the London Bridge.

Which was perfect timing bcuz I was bcuz I walked into the Annual 7K Gorilla Run where people had to do the run in thru the city in a gorilla costume.  As you can see them coming up the stairs.  There were sooooo many & was fun to watch.

It was just too funny seeing these men and women running along & sweating profusely as they made their way across the London Bridge.

Look at this guy.  They really went way out.

This fellow is running representing.... Well that's enuff of the gorillas, moving on to more of the sights of Central London.

Here's a pic of the actual London Bridge ---->

Yep! I found my way up under the bridge to take this foto.  This isn't the one that lifts, it's the Tower Bridge in previous pic. 

Here it is full scale size of the London Bridge over the "T-I-M-S" Thames River. 

Tower Bridge

View of the Tower Bridge from the London Bridge and a military ship docked in front of it. 

I made it to the other side of the Bridge and into the business district invaded by tourist bcuz of both bridges and the Tower of London which I will post pics of in a few minutes.

The bldg just above my head is the London Bridge

Hospital, you can see it better if you zoom in on the pic. And I can't recall what that tall skyscaper is called which is being built or rebuilt, not sure.  But it sure is tall when standing next to it which I did.  You see it soon as you exit out of the train station, you can't miss it for it's size.

This young lady (they call a Marshall) I assume like a coordinator or something, I don't know but she was part of the gorilla run, directing the runners to the path they were to stay on which I was now on the other side of the London Bridge on my way to the Tower Bridge.

Okay, more gorillas :)

Well, what can I say about this gorilla....looks like he's sportin an afro :)

Taxi driver wiping down his cabby, you never know when a gorilla may need a lift.  It was a pretty long run. 

Tower of London

Finally, the Tower of London.  Isn't it absolutely smashing :)  Takes you back to medieval times.

The Traitor's Gate at the St. Thomas Tower of the Tower of London.  It's basically like a castle.

Traitor's Gate

Okay, so I'm making my way to walk across the Tower Bridge and met these young ladies (see pic below) along the river bank.

The two ladies on the left are Portugese and the lady on the left is a Londoner.  They were out doing church business.  I won't say what church but they said this is where they come when they want to witness to people.  I actually approached them and wanted to talk to them to find out how's life in England, which they said it is good but in other parts further out not so good.  Isn't that often the case, you'll find more opportunities within the major cities but with the economy the way it is there's more competition to face.  All the more reason why our faith and trust must be in God, our Heavenly Father thru Jesus Christ His Son.

Now moving right along.  I made it on the Bridge...Woohoo!  The view is absolutely
gorgeous from up here....waaaay up here :)

View from Tower Bridge

Standing on Tower Bridge of London

Tower of London located on the Thames River with business District behind.

Now I made it across the Tower Bridge.  Can you tell the view is different from this side.

People were bungie jumpin.  I spent some time on this side just observing the people and activities going on.  I know I mentioned last week about going zip-lining but I think I may have changed my mind.

Well, I leave you with the beautiful site of the Tower Bridge of London.

I will be back with more pics soon.  To see all of London you need a week or more visiting the city everyday to really see all the historical sites it has to offer any tourist...such as myself.  Cheerio for now :)  Good-day!

Day 11

Sunday, Sept.25, 2011, got up went & fellowshipped at the baptist church, not that I'm Baptist, but wanted to experience if they worship any differently than they do back in the states and the answer is "Not really".  However, the church was evenly diverse and on that day they were having their harvest celebration and the church was decorated with different flags from other countries.  There I am in front of the USA flag.  Each culture represented brought their ethnic dishes.

There's me and the church Pastor.  I was told he his church draws people from various places which has resulted in the different ethnic groups becoming members there.  

This lady was from Nigeria or Ghana.  Her outfit was absolutely beautiful & she has the prettiest smile.  The African culture was bringing the worship for the harvest celebration service today.

The lady on left of pic is from Cambodia and the lady behind the counter is the admin & is a Londoner.   Notice the world map behind us.

And that's Ian in the black leather jacket, can you believe he's 64yrs old?  He's been coming to that church for over 30yrs.  Wow!  He walks 1 mile to get to their from his home.  Practically, everyone walks.  Like I said before, that's what they do & they walk fast paced.  I was the one who had to adjust.  I was recvd. very warmly by the congregation with open arms. 

Orpington Baptist Church (London)

Well I leave you with a pic I took from the view of my
bedroom window upstairs of the evening sky of the sun going down.  Lovely isn't it? 

I will be back tomorrow with the days' event until then cheerio :)

Day 15
Hello mates, today is Thursday, September 29, it's been 15 days now here in the UK and I must admit I'm home sick, truly there's no place like home.  It's not like I don't travel, but I don't normally stay a whole month in a foreign country, 3 weeks tops.  Sorry for the delay in posting.  Yesterday, I spent the day in central London, oh my poor feet....ugggh!  I know we walked at least 10 miles from what I was told.  Cindy (in previous pics) & I took the train there & showed me almost everything under the sun, but we're not finished yet.  So, hence, why I haven't posted any photos.  I literally needed a days rest for my body & my feet to recooperate :0)  I took some fabulous pics of Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminister Abby & a lot more.  BTW, do you know there's a £15 congestion fee to drive in London! that's $23.37 bucks usd per day, then you have to pay for parking. Yes, I couldn't believe it.  Will talk about it later. 

Please stay tuned for more postings of Traventure Woman's week 3 photos of London shortly.