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| Inside Eagle and Child |
With Ireland behind us (again writing this July of 2014 from our vacation in October 2012) we now had five days to explore the U.K. When we arrived in London we took the underground to the heart of the city and then through on to Oxford. We had a particular reason for visiting this area as I was interested in going to a bar by the name of the Eagle and Child. The two very brilliant authors of the Chronicles of Narnia and the Lord of the Rings: J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis used to be part of a writers group called the inklings and their primary meeting place was the Eagle and Child Bar. To be there and sit in the same place as these literary geniuses where they likely discussed parts of their books (like Frodo and Gandalf) while in the making was an excellent experience. The bar itself with an obvious
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| Salisbury Cathedral |
collegiate like atmosphere had excellent food as well. I must say I was happy to cross that little visit to the birth place of the Shire and Narnia off my list (although the movie Shire is in New Zealand, stay tuned).
After a day in Oxford we made our way to the town of Salisbury which is the gateway town that offers tours of Stone Henge. Stone Henge was a great site of the world to check off the list, the landscape around it was very nice apart from the large road system around it. Sadly you cannot walk through the ruins due to foolish tourists wishing to chip pieces off for themselves, taking the magic away from everyone else. So from the ropes we took our photos and traveled back to Salisbury. We only dropped by this area to see the main attraction of course, but to our surprise the town itself was remarkably rich in history. It was a beautiful town and also had the fourth largest cathedral in Europe. After we toured the beautiful cathedral we walked around the town for a bite to eat. We found this great pub / restaurant called The Bishops Mill where you had to cross a turbulent river over a bridge to get to. We had great food and great service, I also enjoyed my favorite beer (Leffe) there in a proper glass as well.
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Front Lawn Bishops Mill
Salisbury |
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| Stone Henge |
We only spent the day in Salisbury so after lunch we caught a train back to London to spend the remainder of our days. The first day in London we covered some of the basics but no doubt left room for a return. We walked along many of the bridges over the river Thames. We went up on the London eye to get a better view of the city and caught a great picture in the glass bubble as it was descending down in front of the parliament building. We also went shopping for clothes and take away's for those awaiting our return. We used the Big Bus tour system to get to various sites in London which also included ferry tickets up and down the Thames. I also wanted to pay a visit to the British museum as it contained an artifact I have wanted to see for a long time: the Rosetta Stone. This stone with various languages (Greek being one of them) on it all with the same text, provided the key to the modern understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphs. An absolutely amazing and crucial piece of preserved history.
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| London Eye |
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| Parliament Building |
On our second day in the London we used our ferry tickets to travel up the Thames to Greenwich. We found a nice B&B called The Mitre where we put in for one night. One reason to visit Greenwich is the London observatory, the Prime Meridian runs right through it so you can do the classic two places at once picture on the Meridian itself. I really enjoyed Greenwich, it almost reminded me of a smaller version of Salisbury also containing some nice pubs and restaurants with a very classic sophisticated with age feeling. After our night in Greenwich we went back down the Thames to spend one more night in a place I booked in advance (another violation of our rule) in an area called Harrow on the Hill. I booked this area because it was closer to the airport which we had to get to in the morning. I knew
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British Museum
Rosetta Stone |
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| Tower of London |
I had made a mistake when we arrived when no one had a British accent. Our accommodations were not much better, we were led of the stairs of a B&B that had clearly been converted from a series of flats. As you walked down the hall way motion lights turned on. This proved to be our bane in the evening as they continues to turn on throughout the entire night. Which led us to believe that someone was walking up the stairway to our room or the light was broken. We chose to believe the first theory which resulted in maybe one hour of sleep and a speedy exit at dawn. We probably made it ninety percent worse than it was, but it was creepy none the less.
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| Prime Meridian |
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| Royal Observatory |
We get on our train to the the airport to find our line was under repairs. We ended up missing our flight and were forced to book a flight the next day. Luckily I had a diamond status with Hilton so we booked a room in the executive level while enjoying ourselves to free dinner and drinks in the executive lounge. I was actually happy to end our trip with this scenario versus the sleepless scary night we had before.
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| Tower Bridge |
The U.K. left me wanting more. This large country has much to be explored in many regions we simply did not have time to visit. I (Sarah not as much) really enjoyed London and would love to go back again. The weather, the scenery and pleasant manners of the local Brits is enough to make anyone feel at home.
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