London - May

The Tower Bridge as seen from the Tower of London

May is the month of holidays for Holland.  We start the month with Queen's Day.  In the middle we celebrate Ascension Day.  And at the end we get two days off for Pentecost.  It's a great month.  Unfortunately, we don't have another holiday until Christmas.  None.  Now you know why the Dutch get 4 weeks vacation beginning their first day of work -- that's how they survive from June until December.

We took advantage of the long Pentecost weekend to fly to London.  There is commuter jet service from Amsterdam to London City Airport, which is located very close to downtown.  With the time change we left Amsterdam at 8:00 am and arrived at London City at 8:00 am.  We took a short train, then the tube and were at our hotel by 9:15, just in time for breakfast.

The primary objective of the trip was theater.  We saw three shows, with each of us picking one.  Grant chose Phantom of the Opera, I chose Billy Elliot and Lori's choice was Rock of Ages.  All three were great.

We also managed to fit in some culture.  Our hotel was next door to the British Museum, where you can (and we have) spend most of a day.  Since we'd been before, we took the one-hour highlights tour.  After doing that tour, I'd call it a best practice.  You see all the things you've heard about, Rosetta Stone, Egyptian mummies, etc. but the pace is not so grueling.

Chess pieces from the 1100's that were found in Scotland in the 1830's.  They are made of walrus ivory and whale tooth. 

The Royal Game of Ur.  Maybe not as popular as Monopoly, but still interesting.  It is from  what is now Iraq and was played in 2500 BC.  

We use this picture to threaten Goldie and Tai Tai

Kind of a scary looking cat

We also took a repeat visit to the Tower of London, where the crowds were too big to see the Crown Jewels.  But we did manage to find a fantastic hamburger place afterwards.  Our new stop for the visit was the Imperial War Museum, across the Thames.  It gave the WWII history from the British perspective which was interesting.  As point of interest, the museum is housed in a building that was formerly the Bethlehem Hospital for the Insane, better known as Bedlam.

Part of the Tower of London

A raven from the tower.

The Imperial War Museum

Formerly known as Bedlam

We had hoped to go to Windsor Castle, but that was the weekend the Queen hosted all the other monarchs of the world for tea.  This was in preparation for her upcoming Diamond Jubilee to celebrate her 60 years on the throne.

Buckingham Palace

Lori and Grant in front of Buckingham Palace.  They were building the stage for the Queen's Jubilee.  

In addition to all the world's royalty, London seemed to be popular place for commoners as well.  At Phantom, we saw a former Exxon colleague that now lives in France.  He and his family were also traveling on the long weekend. And at the Tower of London we saw one of Grant's classmates and his family.

For the true British experience we had tea at our hotel.  The timers monitor how long to steep your tea.  The different sands represent black tea, green tea and flavored tea.

Grant found a donut stand.

St. Pauls Cathedral sits at the highest point in London.  It normally cost around 15 pounds to visit, but we "accidentally" discovered that if you go during services it is free.  

Kate's boyfriend, Doug, had recommended a visit to Borough Market, an outdoor food market described by the guide book as a "foodie's paradise".  It was a great recommendation.