And, just like that, we are at the end of this amazing journey. Tomorrow we fly home. One last suitcase pack. One last flight. It's funny. We have commented a couple of times this week that it is a similar feeling to the week before we were getting ready to leave. We are excited to go home - just like we were excited to start the journey. Although we knew the day was coming it always felt like it was far away - until it was here - just like at the start. This time we know what to expect when we get home vs. most everything being an unknown at the start - but there still is this interesting anticipation of wondering how things will feel as we get back into a more regular routine. What we know is that we are coming home a bit wiser, definitely more appreciative of this amazing world we live in, and full of love and joy from all of the wonderful people we met along the way.
We spent the last few days in London. After almost 3 months of travel we decided to chill and decompress a bit - but we were still able to do a fair amount and see a lot of the sights. London is very walkable - although you are walking with a LOT of other people :). Last night on our way to dinner, we saw a mob (not an exaggeration) trying to get down the stairs to the subway after work. Of course once making it down the stairs they then had to get through the turnstiles, escalators and onto the trains in that type of crowd. You can see how someone might unintentionally be moved along to the wrong destination as they simply had to go where the crowd took them :). It was actually pretty incredible that everyone remained civil and somehow must do this every night.
Anyways, we took advantage of the walkability and did a ton of walking. We also used the subway but for us walking proved the better way to see everything and work off some of the vacation food and drink :). Here's some pictures from our walks.
An early stop was at Buckingham Palace. As some of you know, doing ancestry research early this year we traced some of Craig's family back to English Royalty - so he felt quite at home :). Unfortunately the Queen wasn't around to invite him in for tea - maybe next time.
We also saw the darker side of English Royalty with our visit to the Tower of London. What a fascinating place with a very interesting past. Through the years, it has been the location of the Royal Palace complete with their own zoo, a fortress serving as a protection during times of war, and a prison which both held, tortured and executed prisoners including several members of the royal family. Today it is open to the public with several museums, the ability to walk through a number of the towers and also the home of the Crown Jewels.
It is still home to the oldest remaining wood Tudor home in London - served as the Queen's residence many many years ago.
Some pictures from the "not nice" history. Here's 'Traitors Gate' - imagine you wouldn't want to enter through this one...
The spot where executions were done by beheading. Apparently it was reserved for "special" executions as most were done in the public square and this was more private. Three queens were beheaded at this site - including Queen Anne who was granted her wish for a sword to be used vs the standard ax which took much longer - ugh...
Linking Craig's past from both England and Denmark were the Ravens. If you read the earlier blog about our visit to Denmark, you may remember that we learned years ago Craig's family had the name Raven. There are a number of Ravens kept at the Tower - they are allowed to roam free within the grounds but also have cages where they are fed and protected. Legend has it that if the Ravens leave, the Tower and London will fall - so they are well protected. We also learned that Ravens are one of the smartest birds - and supposedly have intelligence close to chimps or dolphins. They can mimic different sounds including speech, other animals or even a flushing toilet. They also can play dead, steal fish by pulling up the line when ice fishing, and play games with each other - who knew.
Here's some pictures as we were walking across the London Bridge on our way to the Towers.
We also walked past Westminster Abbey. We opted not to take the tour - the line (or queue :)) was quite long and as someone earlier on our trip through Europe said - at this point we were a bit "churched out".
Unfortunately Big Ben is going through some extensive renovations - so not much to see.
We went to the National Gallery and strolled through for a while. So much art to see. We did laugh as we wondered if the artists, or the people they painted so many years ago, ever imagined that the paintings would be on display literally centuries later and viewed by millions of people. A couple of our favorites from what was on display. Van Gogh.
Renoir - we actually had a print of this one framed and hanging in our home in Chesterfield for years.
British Parliament and the London Eye.
We have had some different meals while in London. Of course we went to a Pub (well, maybe a few...) - but once for dinner. Had a yummy meat pie - forgot a picture of the food - but here's the place - the Red Lion.
And for any GoT fans out there - you know nothing....
(John Snow - a little hard to see with the light).
We also had the obligatory fish and chips.
We wanted to try Indian food and asked for a recommendation at our hotel - which was interesting - it was a Sri Lankan restaurant with food from South / Coastal India. Different than what we are accustomed to in the States - but Craig was thrilled because it was spicy - not just European spicy :). Because we had no idea what the food was we opted for their pre fixe menu - which was really quite good. We tried dosa, hopper, roti, goat, lamb, squid, marrow, curry and lots of different vegetables and sauces. A good recommendation as we would not have tried on our own. We really enjoyed it.
We also tried a restaurant recommended to us by Kelly - the pub owner from Venice FL we met on the cruise. It is called "Le Relais de Venise l'Entrecote". She and her mom Kathy first tried it in Paris. It is a French restaurant that has no menu - everyone gets a salad, bread, sliced steak with a special sauce, and frites (fries). You select the temperature of the steak - but that's it. And everyone receives two servings of the steak and frites. You can pick dessert - but we were stuffed. They only do one thing but they do it exceptionally well.
So, that's the end of our travels - other than the trip home. We will have one final wrap up post once home to capture some of the thoughts from our journey. For now though, I think home is calling :)
Enjoy the Ride!
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