Oct. 6, 2018

St. Paul’s Cathedral

If you have not heard of Sir Christopher Wren, by the time you finish touring St. Paul’s you will be well versed in his architecture accomplishments.  He not only worked on St. Paul’s he also used his creative abilities designing or redesigning Hampton Court Palace, the Royal Naval College and over 50  churches.  Wren was huge in rebuilding many of the churches including part of St. Paul’s after the “Great Fire of London” in 1666.

Lady Diana married Prince Charles here in 1981.  Queen Elizabeth celebrated her Jubilee and her 80th birthday in the beautiful Cathedral.  A huge crowd gathered here after 9/11 to express their grief and mourn for the lives lost.

Pictures were not allowed in the majority of the Cathedral so most of the pictures are of the outside.  I did sneak one of mom descending the upper steps of the Stone Gallery.  We climbed 257 steps to the Whispering Gallery and tried to whisper to each other, but there were way too many others doing the same.  Then we ventured up 119 more steps to the Stone Gallery.  This took us outside into the cold and rain.  We rushed around to the opposite side to get back indoors.  We didn’t see the other steps to make it to the Golden Gallery, but I think that may have been too much for mom.

 

Windsor Castle

This castle has always been my favorite since the first time I visited.  It is one of the official residences of the Queen.  Royal weddings such as the two recent ones:  Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in May.  Princess Eugenie married Jack Brooksbank.  Both were celebrated inside St. George’s Chapel.  Prince Charles and Camilla were also married at Windsor as well.

Mom and I spent so much time at St. Paul’s we only had time to see St. George’s Chapel, which again, no photos are allowed.

Oct. 4, 2018

Hampton Court is less than a mile from our flat and we enjoy riding our bicycles through the garden.  Such beautiful scenery and then either finish up by the Thames River or come back through Bushy Park, which is directly across from our flat.

The Palace was intended for Cardinal Wolsey whom King Henry VIII was very fond of during 1515 – 1529.  Wolsey fell from grace and he gave the palace to Henry VIII.  Henry’s VIII son, Edward the VI was born here and resided here as well.  King George II was the last to live here.

The palace is full of beautiful pictures of all six of Henry’s wives and a nice video explaining how they all became to be married to him and either divorced or murdered.

This being my third time here and one of my favorite castles, it is the first time I have seen the Chocolate Rooms.  I am sure it was because Mom spotted it and thought it was probably a cafe type room ready to sell us some sweets.  Wrong.

During this visit we saw some ladies restoring the mattresses from one of the State Bedrooms.  I apologize for the pictures as I didn’t realize there was such a glare that makes them hard to see and read.

One of my favorite things to do after touring the palace is the hedge maze.  Two times out of three I have made it to the middle.  Rick and I separated and raced to see who could get out first and he beat my by about 10 seconds.

Oct. 3, 2018

My third visit here and this time the weather was nice.  Mom and I decided to just stick to Stonehenge for the day and not cram another attraction into a full day.  Well played I do believe.  We had as much time as we wanted and not rushed off to another place.

I actually finally noticed and heard the details about how some of the stones have been somewhat restored.  The stones are approximately 13 ft tall and 7 ft wide.  It truly is mind boggling to think how these monstrous stones were moved to this location during 3000 BC to 2000 BC.

Oct. 2, 2018

Today’s trip began with the Tower of London.  I think we ventured into every room we were allowed.  We had awesome views of Tower Bridge.  We gazed at the Crown Jewels.  Not sure why, but one of my favorite rooms to see is the torture room, called the Bloody Tower and I go see it every time.

William the Conqueror built the White Tower.  It was a prison from 1100 -1952.  If I remember correctly they killed less than 10 prisoners in this tower.  The rest were relocated and executed at Tower Hill.  The Hill was close to Bloody Tower and just slightly over 100 people were executed at that location.

Anne Boleyn was a prisoner here and eventually beheaded in 1536.  She was the 2nd wife of Henry VIII and since she didn’t provide him with a male heir, she was found guilty of treason and adultery.  It is said that King Henry VIII was so angry at Boleyn that he had a sword used verses a sharp axe.

The torture devices include:  The manacles – where a prisoner was hung by their wrists with their arms above their head. The Rack – A prisoner’s wrist are attached to the top roller and their ankles to the lower rollers.  Then these were slowly pulled in opposite directions until the joints were dislocated.  The Scavengers’ daughter – This basically squishes the prison while in a kneeling position.

 

Westminster Abbey

Every coronation of the British have been here at the Abbey since 1066.  William the Conqueror was the first.  Many Royal weddings have taken place here such as Prince Andrew and Fergie and Prince William and Kate.

Inside are many people of royalty buried inside the Abbey itself.  Other prominent people were buried in the cloisters (hallways).  There is an area that has famous musicians, poets and authors, called the Poet’s corner.  Mom found William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and Sir Isaac Newton.  There is tomb of the Unknown Warrior.  I just learned that the royal brides have a tradition of having their wedding bouquet placed at this site.  I cannot find the picture of the Unknown Warrior.  I thought I took one, but then again maybe we weren’t allowed to and that is why I can’t find one.

Sept. 27, 2018

Piazzale Michelangelo

Thank goodness a friend, Amanda, recommended this as we would have missed out on sheer beauty.  We rushed to catch the bus and got there in plenty of time to enjoy the magical sunset view of Florence from this square.

 

Sept. 28, 2018

Cinque Terre

We registered for and almost missed one of our favorite tours.  The tour consisted of visiting 5 coastal villages:  Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterroso al Mare.  Our trip did not stop at Corniglia.  The colorful homes and buildings are eye catching and bring each village to life.  My favorite village was Vernazza and Rick’s was Monterroso.

 

Sept. 26, 2018

We spent the day walking around the area of Piazza di Spagna.  A beautiful square, if you will.  The Spanish Steps were built between 1723 and 1726.  At the top of the steps is Trinita dei Monti.  The Barcaccia is the boat-shaped fountain located at the bottom of the steps.  We enjoyed some delicious gelato and Rick just had to get some hot, roasted chestnuts.

 

Our final destination was Trevi Fountain.  It is difficult to capture and explain just how gorgeous this sight is.   There are tons of coins inside the fountain and tradition states that if you throw a coin in, you will return to the Eternal City.  Each year there is approximately 120,000 Euros collected, due to the magnitude of people tossing them into the fountain.

 

 

Sept. 25, 2018

Wow, just wow!  There is way too much to see in the city of Rome.  We had two days here and of course wished for more time.  I can not remember exactly which photos go with with museum.  I did my best to compare photos with a booklet I purchased.  Our first stop was The Vatican.  For some reason I had not remembered that it is a independent city-state, until the guide had mentioned that fact.  The Pope is head of the state.  The Vatican Museums are filled with unbelievable art and sculptures.

 

 

Raphael’s Room was once the private room of Pope Julius II.  The photos simply do not do any justice to the sheer beauty seen in person.  There is an entire room dedicated to Raphael.  He was working on a piece call the “Transfiguration” in 1520 when he died.  It remains unfinished.

 

 

The Map Gallery contains 40 maps painted for Pope Gregory XIII between 1580 – 1583.  These maps show the regions of Italy and the Church’s possessions.  Personally, I only enjoyed the ceiling.

 

 

Sistine Chapel

The Chapel was built by Giovannino de’ Dolci per the request of Pope Sixtus IV.  The Chapel is still where the cardinals elect the new Pope.

The above painting was completed by Michelangelo between 1536 – 1541 and many believe it to be his greatest masterpiece, the “Last Judgement”.

St. Peter’s Basilica

St. Peter’s was built in 324 by the Emperor Constantine, on the exact spot where the Holy Apostle was martyred and his remains are buried there.  It has 5 naves, 44 altars, 11 domes, 778 columns, 395 statues and 135 mosaics.  The steps that lead to St. Peter’s were built using the travertine marble from the Colosseum.

 

The Colosseum

The monumental amphitheatre was established in 80 bc.  It could hold 50,000 spectators.  The design itself has inspired practically all modern stadiums to date.  It had 80 entrances allowing for easy access.  Spectators were divided by class and gender and had reserved sections.  The lower class had, you guessed it, the nosebleed section, wealthy were in the middle and the knights were closer to the arena.  The wooden arena is gone and now you can see underground tunnels.

Sept. 21, 2018

We arrived by train to Munich.   A man named Dieter sat next to Rick on the train and he offered to help us get train tickets to our hotel so we didn’t have to pay for taxi.  Then a second man named France helped us with our train transfer.  Another gentleman helped direct us to the hotel from the last station.   I hope we are as helpful to strangers as these men were to us.

Sept. 22, 2018

We took a tour of the 1972 Summer Olympic Stadium.  The large green mounds surrounding the stadium were made from the bombing remains of WWII.  The rubble was all taken to this one large area.  So they began removing the remains and stacked them up to make these beautiful green hills.

The tent like roof of the stadium was the first of it’s kind for that time.  It was made of plexi -glass and was made to symbolize openness with it being transparent.  The roof covered the main grandstand of the stadium but also extended to the Olympic Hall, the Olympic Pool and the pathways connecting the buildings.

The Olympic Village for the athletes looked huge from our view.  Our guide pointed out the apartments in the village that was the site of the “Munich massacre”.  A Palestinian terrorist group took 11 Israeli team members hostage and killed them.

We came back later to the same stadium and we all put harnesses on and walked along the top of the roof and then rappelled down from the roof.  Then kicked a soccer ball around on the field.  It was more like slowing lowering ourselves without flipping over backwards than rappelling but that is what they advertised and it was different.

Sept. 23, 2018

Ahh, Oktoberfest.  The day Rick had been waiting for has finally arrived.  We are here on day 2 of festivities and began by watching a large parade.  We make our way to our beer tent, which was no tent at all.  All the beer tents were actually huge buildings that were unbelievably decorated on the outside and the inside.  We had no idea of what to expect and were just blown away by the sheer size of it all.  So we settled in and ordered our first beer and it was delivered in a gigantic mug.  The other occupants of the table, were all wearing their German Dirndl dresses and Lederhosen.  Needless to say we enjoyed the pretzels and the beer.  Cheers!

 

 

 

Sept. 24, 2018

We walked to a nearby square and admired the fabulous architecture and some souvenir shopping.  Unfortunately,  I didn’t catch the name of the square or the buildings.  However, the intricate artwork was stunning.

Sept. 20, 2018

Mom arrived on the 19th.  Then we whisked her away to Paris, France for a quick visit to see the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame Cathedral.   We showed Mom the Arc de Triomphe and strolled along the Champs-Elysees.  We enjoyed some dinner with wine and then Mom and I left Rick to do our tour of the Eiffel Tower.  Of course Mom loved the views.  It was pretty windy up at the top, but we didn’t care.  Rick stayed down by the Seine River and made friends with the vendors.  He finally caved and bought a bottle of wine one was peddling for 30 Euro and the vendor felt sorry for him sitting there so long, he sold it to him for 10.  It was horrible wine.  Which we all knew it would be since being sold out on the streets.

The next morning we all headed off for coffee and breakfast near Notre Dame.   Then we left Rick again, (party pooper) and went to catch our tour.  As our miserable luck would have it we did not find our tour after about 45 minutes of searching.  I thought I knew where the site was and we waited and waited.  Then about the time the tour was to meet I saw no others and new something was wrong.  We searched all over for our tour group.  We were soaking wet as it was raining.  We walked all over the outside of the Cathedral to no avail.  So at 30 minutes past our tour time, we did some shopping and went back for more coffee to warm up and then headed to train station to take us to Germany.

Sept. 18, 2018

Earlier this month we purchased two used, beat up bicycles.  We have used them to go to Kingston and ride around Bushy park and along the Thames.  We like to walk along the Thames as well and stop in Canbury Gardens and watch the rowers and sailboats along the river.  We have met several interesting people in the park.  One actor, Paul Hughes.  He was very interested in our politics and him and Rick happily reminisced over the way Bushy Park was in the late 1950 and early 1960’s.

Every morning I either jog or walk into Kingston and grab my Starbucks and greet my favorite barista, Sam.  She had known my drink since my second visit.  She is friendly and has a contagious smile.  I then sit outside and people watch.  I enjoy looking at all the different clothing styles and shoes.  But also just simply watch the diverse group of individuals carrying on about their day.

Today we walked into an “mom and pop” electronic store and the owner, Shiv was fantastic.  After Rick and he discussed whatever adapter Rick was looking for, he asked us where we were from and told us he had never been to Colorado and as a matter of fact never been out of Kingston.  We are not sure we believe that part as he ended up being quite a jokester.  He said he was sent over from India to go to University here.  He said he was the 4th person of minority,  in Kingston.  He talked about the racism and treatment back when he arrived, in 1962. Which made me sad to hear.  He laughed when he told us no one liked their spices when he moved here, but now everyone loves them.  Then his brother, Ram walked into the store and he introduced us.  Shiv asked about our careers and then he told us he was Aerospace engineer for BAE, here in Britain.  We all enjoyed several funny stories and then we thanked them and wished them a great day.  We both want to go back and just visit with him and his brother.

I believe the name of the store was MD Electronics.  Stop by and visit with him, buy something from him and tell him Rick and Linda sent you.  You won’t be sorry.