We arrived in London to a delightful airbnb with tons of space. John promptly ran around with his little toy from a kinder egg while I ordered food via uber eats so we wouldn't have to trek to dinner somewhere. Having a kitchen also meant I could order groceries and Michael could have his oatmeal for breakfast :)
We took the tube to a short rail of just over an hour to reach Dover! Within minutes of leaving the station, we saw Dover Castle ahead!
There are lots of red phone booths still around England.
The white cliffs of Dover! The sheer white cliffs are beautiful, and a full harbor is in use right on them. I've never seen the harbor in pictures, and no wonder because it certainly detracts from the view! I would have loved to sail around the edge and see the cliffs up close!
Dover Castle is full of ancient history and surprises! Colton's Gate used to form an entrance to the castle's middle bailey. This impressive octagonal gate tower dates from the 13th century.
The oldest structure there is the church St Mary in Castro. This Saxon church was built on the Castle Hill around 1000AD and over hundreds of years it has been evolved with added bells and vestry, painted, used as coal store, deteriorated, and restored. It is surrounded by a large late Saxon cemetery which suggests that this church replaces an earlier building. It is still used as a place of worship, and they have marked clearly where an original Saxon doorway was, although it is now bricked in. Fascinating to see the many uses this spot has had for thousands of years.
Dover Castle has so many open areas- the church isn't right next to everything, so we ran around a bit exploring.
And found a Roman pharos (lighthouse)! Not only is the Dover pharos the most complete standing Roman building in England, it's also one of only three lighthouses to survive from the whole of the former Roman empire.
The inner bailey of the castle of the castle was built for King Henry II by his engineer in 1179. It contains the Great Tower, which formed the ceremonial, administrative and defensive core of the castle. He also had a much larger outer bailey built, defended by walls and towers, but that was not completed until the 13th century.
Between 1217-1244, King Henry III built more, and Arthur's Hall was one of those that still remains. They have fascinating exhibits about Henry II, his wife Eleanor and their sons Richard (the Lionheart) and John (Lackland).
There is also an interesting exhibit that winds through these ancient buildings showing all of the different wars England has been involved in, with uniforms and short histories. You could spend hours in this part alone!
It was one of the first Norman castles in England, established in 1066. Later, in 1216, it resisted French siege; and held strong against the Napoleonic wars of the 1800s. It was even used in World War II as a base for one of Britain's finest moments: the rescue of Dunkirk.
Just your average large English household, with weapons to the side as they clamor for mealtime!
Happy Birthday to Diana the queen! John, pictured lazing about on the chair to the side, is her court jester I assume.
The castle is laid out so you can explore what would have been the great hall for receiving people, the bedchambers and dressing room of the king, the dining hall, and all sorts of fascinating tidbits.
Can you just imagine the echoes of the footsteps that have trod here? Kings, servants, soldiers...thousands of years of lives and stories to be told.
We made our way to the top to see the marvelous view of the town below.
The cafe had plenty of tasty food for us to sample. Scones, pasties, soups...
John was definitely drawn to the soldier's gear at the gift shop! This was the best priced/selection of any place we saw our whole trip (which we didn't know at the time of course) but we got the boys some castle figures and a Christmas ornament to remember.
Trying chocolate covered honeycomb at the base of the castle.
On to the medieval tunnels! We actually went to the WWII tunnels first, but they don't allow any pictures. The main tour wasn't going for another hour, but there was no way we were going to wait for it, so we joined a shorter tour of a different part of the tunnels that focused on the hospital efforts there. It was incredible to see the winding tunnels and imagine the awful conditions of just wondering and waiting and working while not knowing what would happen with the war.
Trebuchet. It was awesome to see one up close!
The medieval tunnels at Dover Castle had only a few sections open for exploration. The dark maze of tunnels were built in the 1200’s to protect the castle during the French sieges of the middle ages. They were carefully designed to defend the castle from its most vulnerable side with canons lining both sides of the tunnels.
The gate can only be opened from a totally separate area- so nobody can "force" the gates open
We left Dover Castle with an impression of thousands of years of history flying by.
And the boys had their figurines!
Random Cupid
We made it to Hamleys! The world's oldest toy store, begun in 1760, wasn't far from our airbnb. We walked over a mile enjoying the toys. It's pricey and even the cheaply made stuff is expensive. She got a few stuffed animals, toys, a magic trick that didn't work haha and the boys got cheap glider planes that broke within minutes of getting home. However, we had so much fun and there were several toy areas with people that got the kids engaged and playing games.
They had a special exhibit with the Queen and her corgi. Overall, we explored the 7 floors of toys and had a blast!
As we walked towards home, we randomly heard someone call Jim's name. Of course, it was a friend from Apex there on business. In the middle of London. So fun!
Lebanese food for Diana's birthday was SO good! Unique flavors and the perfect ending to a wonderful day.
Diana is 10!
We took the tube to St. Paul's Cathedral the next morning.
I had the London Pass, which includes this, so we got free audio guides and you can choose what you want to listen to. It was interesting, and it was also nice to just walk wherever and then pick what to listen to while looking.
The Duke of Wellington is buried here and they have a massive monument to him with battle victories carved in to the base.
The ceiling has beautiful art!
The audio guide has kids sections too, so Diana took Katy and John and they had their own "tour." I was so caught up in reading and listening, I only lost them once :)
We took the tube to St. James' Park and got a beautiful view of Buckingham from a bridge.
We could also see the London Eye from here.
Before the parade, we got a picture in front of the palace- at least, as close as I cared to get so we weren't hemmed in by hordes of people.
Horses and a band came past with lots of fanfare for the changing of the guard. It was lovely and I was so glad we weren't in the crush of people by the palace.
We took the tube to the British Museum and got a tasty lunch at Pret (BEST on the go food in Europe).
I have looked forward to being here for so long!
Can you believe this is truly part of the beard of the Sphinx at Giza? I was in awe!
The Rosetta Stone!! Of course John had to pick at something on his knee lol.
There were endless ancient artifacts to stand in awe of. There was also no air conditioning and the kids started to drag after an hour or so.
But can you believe we saw the Parthenon Sculptures?! They have descriptions as well as hypothesis of what pieces are missing. Made between 447BC and 432BC they consist of: a frieze which shows the procession of the Panathenaic festival (the commemoration of the birthday of the goddess Athena); a series of metopes (sculpted relief panels) depicting the battle between Centaurs and Lapiths at the marriage-feast of Peirithoos; and figures of the gods and legendary heroes from the temple's pediments. The British Museum houses 15 metopes, 17 pedimental figures and 247ft (75m) of the original frieze.
Mummified cat
Ancient papyrus
Mummies
Ancient silver diadem (silver was more precious than gold then) from 1650 BC, from a Queen in Thebes. Can you picture her wearing it? There are cobras on the front! At about this point, the heat and steps of the day were getting to all of us, so we bade a reluctant farewell to the treasures of the world "collected" by the British and tried taking a hop on/hop off bus.
We made it one stop before we were sick of it- crowded, SO much traffic it was making us motion sick, and no air conditioning, with a lame static-filled commentary that was barely comprehensible.
So we got off, walked past the Shard, got on two tube rides and made it to our airbnb.
The kids watched Cars 2 and enjoyed how they recognized so many of the sites! It was a great way to unwind after all of that walking. Did I mention we had gelato almost every night? The food in London has such international variety (and it was the REAL thing), I had a hard time knowing what to order on UberEats each night. Always delicious, so unique, and we could order delivery. London was our favorite big city.
We were thrilled to have a washer and dryer. And not so thrilled to discover one load had some crayons in John's pocket! The kids thought it was hilarious.
Simple breakfasts each day were so nice instead of hunting it out and paying a fortune.
We took the tube and walked to the Tower of London!
Random Roman column. London just oozes history everywhere but isn't crumbling. It's crowded, and has it's places and people to avoid, but overall a nice big city.
They planted tons of flowers in the moat around the Tower. You can see the Tower Bridge in the background here.
Jim first thought the blue was giant waterslides. It was a little disappointing and anticlimactic for him when he saw it was just the bridge.
The Tower of London was also included in our London Pass, and we got audio guides. It wasn't the creepy awesome one I remembered from my teens (bummer) but gave a good history. We didn't have the energy to listen to all of it, but did the highlights. The tower had a lot of history they recognized- where Anne Boleyn was executed, where the two lost princes’ skeletons were found after their uncle killed them for the throne, the ravens that superstitiously protect the Crown and Tower
The gate where prisoners would come in! Interestingly, the rooms above used to be fancy apartments in 1270 by King Edward I and was his way to show off on the River Thames his rich place and arrive by barge. As more was built up, this changed to be the prisoners gate.
Can you imagine entering and not knowing if you'd ever leave?
Old wall in front of the main tower.
Can you see the crows on the old wall?
It was hard to imagine executions here (it was considered merciful to be executed here instead of out in massive public view).
Another pic of the crows.
Henry VIII armor
His armor had waves in it to look like folds of a cloak. And it had the initials of his first wife on it. That didn't last.
The Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula ("St Peter in chains") is situated within the Tower's Inner Ward, and the current building dates from 1520, although the church was established several centuries earlier.
Endless rows of weapons- I had a hard time dragging the boys and Jim away from this!
I loved this story of escape! There was a rope hidden in a flask of wine. He got the guards drunk and then used the rope to escape!
Tower Bridge.
Big Ben
Our last stop of the day was the Churchill War Rooms. They were built to withstand big bombs like this.
These were the secret underground headquarters where Prime Minister Winston Churchill lived and worked during WWII.
They had the history of Winston Churchill in exhibits as well.
And the propaganda Hitler used against him
The original ceiling
Most of the place is untouched since they closed
Detailed maps with troop and ship movements
Central command area with tons of phones, all for different uses
Churchill's bedroom/place where he gave updates on BBC. He was quite a man, and it was a privilege to see all of the different areas and learn more of those times. We loved our tour here.
Trafalgar Square
Shopping at Tkmaxx (their version of Tjmaxx) to get clothes to replace what John's crayons destroyed.
Diana started getting a little crazy while shopping, but we managed to find what we needed. Funny thing- their clothes were all about California, New York or different US colleges instead of cool London places/English sayings. Funny how we think stuff far away is cooler than right where we are.
We woke up at 5:45am, took several tubes to get to a tour pickup...and they never came! It was ridiculous. Never answered the phone. I eventually, days later, got a refund from Viator who booked it for us. But it was one of those stressful times where I had really counted on something that fell apart. Jim got the kids cookies (at 6 something in the morning) while I figured out what to do. We took the tube again to a rail and went to Bath to make it in time for my tix to the Roman Baths.
In the times of the Romans, there was a dome over it where I'm standing, so it wasn't green. I was surprised they didn't have anything about the Victorian or Regency era uses of Bath- they have Assembly Rooms and the housing, but I was surprised to not see any info here. They did have costumed Romans as live actors you could talk to. Also free audio guides that explained how the springs bubble up and all of the different rooms used for cooling, heating, massages, bathing, etc.
The earliest inscription from the baths dates to 76 AD!
They have found coins from all different ages and places. The earliest coins were made before the Romans even arrived in 43 AD, by two local tribes, and were thrown as offerings in the Sacred Spring. They have images of a ship, human heads, and triple tailed horses.
What the Roman Baths looked like
In Bath, the temple of Sulis Minerva remained a focal point for worship until late in the fourth century AD.
The water would flow under the tiles over these columns and heat the floor.
This was the pathway everyone took into the baths. Imagine the sandaled feet of the many Romans and slaves that passed here.
We had to taste the waters! (Only Jim refused)
It was warm, tasted like weird minerals, and I hope to live long and prosperous because I suffered to drink it!
We stopped by Sally Lunns. Bath's oldest house (c.1483), home of the famous Sally Lunn Bun (a semi-sweet bread) and tearoom. There was a very long line, and very limited seating, so we just went to the basement area where the buns are cooked and bought some along with jam and honey for the road.
Right as we left, it started to rain, but I'd spotted an Italian place earlier and ran for it. We ended up eating in this old place- you could tell it had formerly been a Bath residence for who knows what proper person. The fireplace had been filled in, but I could imagine receiving callers on a gray Bath afternoon over biscuits and discussing all of the latest news.
Until the pizza came, and then we ate and discussed our next plans. Bath was awesome. Not much more to do without a lot of walking and I had hopes of Stonehenge but there was only one train left...
We hurried and barely made it! The train window kept opening and making this loud sound, so Nicole used bandaids to keep it shut. This worked for a while but we thought we were so funny.
Rolling countryside, lots of sheep, quaint towns. Lovely train ride.
The train takes you to a town. Then you take a bus that takes you to a shuttle to Stonehenge (see why I wanted the simple tour? But we made it!) The bus had a great audio tour. It also barely fit in these old streets, often missing brushing against the bricks of the stores by a few feet!
Stonehenge is out in the middle of massive fields with sheep and waving grass. There are lots of hills and barrows- from Neolithic and Bronze Age! on all sides.
The amazing 38 stones! After heat in the 90s yesterday (and no a/c at night!) I totally ignored the weather and we were pretty chilly but it was worth it! Work started around 5000 years ago and took about 1000 years to complete! Nobody knows how they moved the stones, some of which come from over 200 miles away.
It was presumably a religious site and an expression of the power and wealth of the chieftains, aristocrats, and priests who had it built—many of whom were buried in the numerous barrows close by.
It was aligned on the Sun and possibly used for observing the Sun and Moon and working out the farming calendar. Or perhaps the site was dedicated to the world of the ancestors, separated from the world of the living, or was a healing center. Looking toward the sunrise, the entrance in the northeast points over a big pillar, now leaning at an angle, called the Heel Stone. Looking the other way, it points to the midwinter sunset. The summer solstice is also celebrated there by huge crowds of visitors.
The secluded nature of Stonehenge made the past seem so much closer.
We made the last train back towards London. Whew! And we were starving, so the Sally Lunn buns held us until we got home. Another day of unforgettable adventuring!
Mike and John were very hungry. And they were big rolls. The boxes they came in were so pretty!
Sunday morning we checked out and walked to the tube then rail to make our way to my parents in Preston!
After the many rail and tube and metro crazy that we'd had since Paris, of course there was also a rail strike! Fortunately, this was one of the lines still going and we made it out of London...and the kids played with their puppet king and soldiers and stuffed animals they'd acquired along the way. Next stop: the MTC and my parents!
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