London Revisited

Scott had business that took him back to London so we decided to make a long weekend out of it. This time we had absolutely glorious weather, bright sunshine and warm temperatures. What a treat!
We were in London for the final weekend of the Para-Olympics so there were lots of visitors and venues scattered around. Whilst we didn't actually go to any of the events, the marathon passed within a block or so of our hotel. Scott was out on a picture taking walk and was able to capture some photos of the athletes as they raced by.

Parliament and Big Ben

We toured Parliament and also visited the Churchill War Rooms on this trip, as well as one of the museums: The Tate Britain. And then there was the dinner that we are still talking about 3 weeks later!

In the morning we set out for Parliament Scott asked the concierge to make a reservation for us at a good British restaurant. We didn't want anything that required formal attire, but we did want to sample good British food. As it turned out, our concierge made our reservation at The Goring Hotel Restaurant. Most Yanks won't recognize the name, but the Brits know the name quite well. This hotel is a block or two from Buckingham Palace and rooms start at about f500/night and go up from there. In US money that's about $800 and up. Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, stayed here the night before her wedding to Prince William. The restaurant was a favourite of the Queen mum (Queen Elizabeth's mother) and we were told she used to pop over for dinner regularly.

Needless to say, the food was fantastic! Scott enjoyed the Lemon Dover Sole while I sampled the Beef Wellington. Can't get much more British than that!
Scott did take pictures of the sights in London. Hope you enjoy the photos!

The Tate Britain Art Museum

Scott and "Stalin" at the Tate

Westminster Abbey

Para-Olympic Marathon

Regent Street close to the Oxford Circus (In Britain a "circus" is a traffic circle. No comment.) This is one of the prime retail shopping areas in London. Harrod's is not here, but nearly every designer shop you can think of is here, along with 3 very large department stores. 

Trafalgar Square

Entrance to the Tower of London

The Tower of London

The London Eye across the Themes

Well, after a fun long weekend in London we returned home. The weather here has taken a turn with high temperatures in the 50's, and rain at some point nearly every day. Our days are much shorter now as well with sunrise after 7 a.m. and sunset about 12 hours later. We are told that by mid-December we will have about 5 hours of daylight each day. Yes, we really are that far north! Despite the weather and the shorter days, we are definitely still enjoying our adventure. This weekend we are heading south, to Barcelona actually. There we are boarding a cruise ship bound for 2 stops in the French Riviera and 3 stops in Italy, including a stop for Rome, before we return to Barcelona. We are both excited to enjoy some warmth and sunshine while we explore new parts of the world.

Bath

On our recent visit to London Scott and I took a tour outside of the city to Stonehenge and Bath. Bath is a city that has grown up around hot springs. The Romans established Bath as a spa town in about 60 AD and constructed a temple and, over the next several hundred years, a bath complex. After the fall of the Romans early in the fifth century the baths fell into disrepair and the original buildings, except for the pillar foundations, have been lost. In the ensuing years the baths were rebuilt and enjoyed huge popularity at various times as people believed in their healing qualities. There is an abbey in Bath, built of Bath sandstone, which is quite beautiful. The city of Bath is also known for it's well preserved Georgian architecture. Scott and I enjoyed an afternoon visiting the Bath's and the Abbey. I will add that the streets near the Bath's and the Abbey are lined with cafe's and up-scale shops ;-)!

Scott took this photo inside the Roman Baths. When built originally, there was a roof over the baths. Notice the green water? Yuck! While these Baths are no longer in use for bathing, water continues to flow into them from the hot springs. We were told that it is full of minerals, which could be "healthy", but we were warned that it tastes absolutely disgusting. At the end of our tour we were able to take a taste of the water if we wanted to, but we both passed on that experience.   In the background you can see Bath Abbey, which is just a few steps away. 

Bath Abbey

This Abbey has some beautiful 
stained glass windows.

This is the ceiling inside the Abbey. 
That is carved Bath sandstone!

Tourism is big business in Bath and the streets are filled with shops and street vendors,
and entertainers like in the photo below. Not really sure what he was supposed to be doing though....

"The Crescent" was built between 1767 and 1774 and consists of 30 "terraced houses" (the British term for town houses). It is considered to be one of the best examples of Georgian architecture in the UK. It is still residences although there is also a museum and hotel within the building now. 

Stonehenge

Scott and I visited Stonehenge recently. This stone circle is believed to have been constructed between 3000 BC and 2000 BC. Explorations of the area indicate that this is not the first stone circle to stand here and have also revealed many burial mounds. Just the mechanics involved in moving these huge stones over some distance and erecting them so precisely is mind boggling. In fact, scientists have discovered that at least one of the rocks came from North Pembrokeshire, which is about 140 miles away! And, of course, the mystery of why they are here, and what purpose they served, continues!

Coniston Water

This past weekend Scott returned from the U.S. on Saturday morning. Tired from all of the travelling, and jet lagged, we spent a quiet Saturday at home, then joined some friends for dinner Saturday evening. Sunday was a beautiful sunny day so we decided to head to one of the lakes we had not yet visited: Coniston Water. Coniston is a bit of a drive from here, but it turned out to be a nice place to spend a Sunday afternoon. There is a small boat rental along the lake but we opted to take the steam yacht, Gondola. This lake is the 3rd largest lake in the Lake District, but it's real claim to fame is that it has been the scene of many attempts to break the world water speed record. On one of those attempts, in 1967, a speed of over 320 miles per hour was achieved, but the driver lost control of the boat, which somersaulted and sank. The driver did not survive and the attempt could not be counted because he did not actually finish the race. No speed demon drivers on the lake now, though. The speed limit is 10 mph unless someone is making a bona fide attempt to break the record. Thankfully, this past Sunday there were only locals and tourists out enjoying the warm September weather.

Our Boat