Drove up Friday evening. Tomorrow: Buckingham Palace, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, London Bridge, London Eye, Shrek Adventure, Thames River Boat, China Town (Chinese food, slurp π) - a full day!
[EDIT] Day 2 - Natural History Museum & Harrods.
Most Americans, I think, confuse London Bridge with Tower Bridge.
shareI think I may be guilty of this...
I always think of that bridge they shot the opening scene of 28 Days Later at anytime anyone mentions a London Bridge
Just looking it up now and it seems to be called Westminster Bridge...I skipped school the day they taught us Yanks about Thames River Bridges π
So do most British people.
shareHave fun dude!
And good for you, we have a long standing (and true!) joke here that native New Yorkers never visit the Statue Of Liberty and Ellis Island lol
Weird but true
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/7d/f7/e5/7df7e57dec32b2490cc6ad7e0057f836.jpg
shareπStrange guy but he can be very funny
shareIβll keep you updated.
shareWeβre currently on The Tattershall Castle (the pub boat on the Thames) for lunch and a couple of scoops for me.
shareVery cool, I googled it
Swanky place and the castle is impressive too, like out of a kid's storybook
Happy trip to you and the family AndyπΊπΊ
Itβs this one: -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS_Tattershall_Castle
Weβre now in Greenwich on the Thames cruise.
Something to do in Greenwich
google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=prime+meridian+greenwich
We invented time!
shareBeen there - it's fun to stand on the line.
When we were there I tried to find more information on the old Tudor palace that no longer exists, but at that time there wasn't a whole lot available.
It's where Henry VIII and his daughters were born and where Anne Boleyn was arrested.
Yes, that's the one I found on line, they have a website too
Did you have the 'Tea Time' appointment?
As a Yank I love when our English buddies say 'Tea Time'
It sounds classy and foreignπ
Ermβ¦it was more a beer time appointment, but we can call it βtiffinβ if you like, lol.
share'Tiffin?'. Goshdarn it Andy, now I have to google another thing LOL!
Are we sure we speak the same languageπ?
Itβs a posh word for teatime - Iβm not making this up, lol.
shareI love it, The English confuse the hell out of us Americans with English π
shareSorry, that should have read - Iβm not making this up, lol.
Thatβs what happens when you type on a boat.
No worries Amigo, I got your message clear
'Don't Type And Boat' sounds like a slogan π
Back on dry land now. Normal service will resume π€ͺ
shareWalked up to Chinatown. Now in Gerrardβs Corner (Gerrard Street) with a cool Tsing Tao in front of me π»
shareLooking at it now on Google street view. Corner of Gerrard and Wardour.
In my head Wardour sounds like Mordor
There you go my precious: -
https://youtu.be/fZeK2gY9fP8
I looked it up, great architecture , very pretty
Get some eggrolls buddy and tell us how they areπ
Gerrardβs Corner is our favourite place in Chinatown - you can order anything, itβs all good.
Now back at the hotel, full of Chinese beer, Chinese food and ready for bed.
Natural History Museum and Harrods tomorrow.
I just learned that Thomas Jeffersonβs parents lived on the Thames.
shareThe Revolutionary era has always been a big interest for me, I figure the revolt and ensuing war broke up a lot of Colonial families owing to divided loyalties
Hard numbers are questionable but it is claimed that 20-30% of the Colonists were actually Loyalist if a bit pissed about taxation and so on...interesting stuff to read about
If I could go back in time I would have had a word in George IIIβs ear and said βjust bloody give them representationβ. Modern day history would be like Star Trek by now I reckon.
shareMaybe so
From what I've read about Georgie he wasn't such a bad sort
He bested the French in the 'French And Indian War' as we call that episode here and was supposedly a loyal husband and fine father to his family...in other words a 5%er with cred and the people loved him
He did eventually go insane (historians claim that medication and cosmetics contained toxic chemicals at the time)
Anyway, he doesn't come off as a bad guy, more a victim of happenstance and being a bit rigid with his colonies
> Hard numbers are questionable but it is claimed that 20-30% of the Colonists were actually Loyalist
I've heard similar things, that about 1/3 were sympathetic to revolution, 1/3 were loyal to the king, and 1/3 just didn't give a shit. Also, there were quite a few in Parliament who were sympathetic to the colonists' complaints. If historian Pauline Maier has it right, if it had been possible to put a trans-Atlantic phone cable in place and enable real-time communications between Britain and North America, the revolution could have been averted as late as April 1776.
This is a good book, by the way: https://www.amazon.com/American-Scripture-Making-Declaration-Independence/dp/0679779086
It's been a long time since I read it and I need to give it another look. One thing I specifically remember is something she wrote about the language style in the Declaration of Independence. The document lists reasons for the separation, stating that King George had done this bad thing, he had done this other bad thing, et cetera. Well, when a loyal Englishman petitioned the government for a redress of grievances, he did not complain against the monarch personally -- the complaint was that the King's ministers had done bad things. Stating that the King himself had wronged the colonists was a deliberate choice -- in Maier's words, it was "the language of treason."
> I just learned that Thomas Jeffersonβs parents lived on the Thames.
Sorry Andy, but whoever told you that was at least half-misinformed. I don't think being related to Jefferson makes me a better person, but it has made me curious enough to read quite a lot about him over the years. Thomas's mother, Jane Randolph, was indeed born in London, in "Shadwell parish, Tower Hamlets." [*] When she married Peter Jefferson they named their home Shadwell, after her birthplace. Whether that part of London is on the Thames or not, I couldn't say. But Thomas's father was born in Virginia. IIRC, his grandfather also was, and while his great-grandfather was from Great Britain he died in Virginia.
On a side note, I hope this trip means your COVID travel restrictions have been relaxed! I don't think I could have taken that sort of a lockdown.
[*] https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/jane-randolph-jefferson
> we have a long standing (and true!) joke here that native New Yorkers never visit the Statue Of Liberty and Ellis Island lol
That's not just in New York. I lived in the DC suburbs for about ten years, and the only times I went to see tourist stuff was when out-of-town friends visited.
It's funny yet true
No matter where you live it seems a normal habit to not do 'touristy' stuff
I bet most Parisians have never gone up the Eiffel Tower and the Chinese don't hang around The Great Wall...People are funny like that
My sister went to London when she was "doing Europe" and said it was a hole. I guess she didn't know where the good parts were. The place she liked the most was Yugoslavia. Go figure.
London is one of my favourite cities in the world. She must have taken a wrong turn, which is easily done.
shareYou are so fortunate to be able to easily visit London - it's my favorite city in the world. Back in the 90's we frequently visited England, but it's been a long time since we were there - the London Eye wasn't built yet.
I'm an English history buff, especially the Tudor dynasty, (has nothing to do with the silly, but somewhat entertaining Showtime show - The Tudors.). I'm a descendent of Thomas Wyatt and that's how I got interested in them.
Someday I'll go back and see some of the places I've missed - Brighton and the nearby areas along the coast, Hever Castle, Blenheim Palace, and Cornwall.
are going anywhere near Abbey Road?
https://www.earthcam.com/world/england/london/abbeyroad/?cam=abbeyroad_uk
Not on this visit.
shareIβll introduce the little one to The Beatles and then we can do the iconic photo and piss all the motorists off.
share