London and the Cotswolds

Well, I have to admit that we got a little wrapped up in London and I didn't stop to blog while we were there and I'm having to catch up after the fact. England has always captured me with the history and beauty and it seems to have done the same with Austin. We had four wonderful, fun-filled days there. We started with disembarking from our ship in Southampton and heading off on a day tour of the Cotswolds. We visited the towns of Bampton (where much of Downton Abbey is filmed), Burford, and Bibury. I'm always a sucker for an old little church or some cute little houses of Costwold stone.

That evening, we checked into our hotel in London, The Clermont Charring Cross. It was very conveniently located near two Tube stations and a very European Five Guys hamburgers. Austin and I hustled over to the British Library for its late night opening so he could check out some old books and documents before then heading to the Tower of London. We had obtained tickets for the Ceremony of the Keys. The tickets, while cheap, are difficult to get. They sell out very quickly because only a few people are admitted each evening. The ceremony occurs at 10pm and is the actual locking up of the castle. It was great to watch, but even more fun to see the castle at night with so few people. We had a chance to visit with our Yeoman Warder Dan for a long while after the ceremony. If you get the chance, you really must experience this.

Our second day in England, we started out early to fully visit the Tower of London. It is good to go on a week day and get there just as it opens so you can skip the big crowds for the crown jewels and the White Tower. We were very lucky with the Crown Jewels line and actually went through several times. Austin wanted to explore all parts of the tower and learn all of the history. I mostly wanted to play with the ravens. Austin declared it his favorite place and somewhere he would never get tired of visiting. After four hours, we decided it was probably time to move on.

We then took a little walk down to the Tower Bridge to walk across to the other side of the Thames. During our walk, they had to raise the bridge to let a tall boat pass, which was amazing to watch. We didn't do the tour of the mechanics of the bridge, but I have heard it is worthwhile -if you are into bridges.

We wandered around a bit and made our way to Southwark Cathedral. I wanted to see this for a few reasons. First, several important people over time contributed to the cathedral including Shakespear. Also, there is a piece of the old Roman road they have uncovered here that you can see. They have a beautiful garden you can sit in and enjoy. Our big surprise was getting to meet Hodge, the cathedral cat! It was a worthwhile visit.

By then, we were getting a bit hungry and fortunately the Borough Market was right next to the cathedral. It was crazy busy even midday on a Thursday. We loved roaming around the stalls and trying samples. They had a little bit of everything. I could spend hours there.

I need to mention that I am a big Ted Lasso fan. My one must do for London was to head out to Richmond to see where they film the show. Austin and I hopped on board the Tube an took it all the way out to Richmond at the end of the line. It was a very cute area and we enjoyed the short walk to the area where they film the show. We took photos of the pub, the street, the door of his flat, and the park where they walk each morning. We even grabbed a pint and sat on the Ted Lasso bench out front. It was all quite perfect.

Finally, we headed back into London to take a night walk around Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. It is always fun to see the big landmarks lit up at night. We were exhausted after such a big day.

Friday, we started at the British Museum. While I tired easily, Austin spent forever checking out the exhibits. The amount of treasures here is unimaginable. After 4 hours, it was time to move on.

In the afternoon, we hopped a ride on an UberBoat up the Thames to Greenwich. We had been before, but the ride is always a nice way to see the city. We had lunch in a pub in Greenwich and enjoyed the local cider. Then back to London for a ride on the London Eye ferris wheel. This is a total tourist trap, but still a fun 30 minute ride to see all of London. Once back on the ground, we called it a night.

Saturday morning, Austin and I started with a walk down Whitehall to look at the government buildings leading to Parliament. Not many people were out and we commented on how quiet things were. We didn't know how wrong we would be for later in the day. We had tickets for Westminster Abbey at 9am and the Hidden Treasures tour booked for 10am. We got inside and had time to look around the main portion of the cathedral before our tour started. It is always a must for us to visit the graves of Stephen Hawking and Isaac Newton. We then had to make our way back to the front for our Hidden Treasures tour. If you have seen the Abbey before or have lots of time to commit there, I highly recommend this tour. It involved seeing many areas that you normally cannot access. They took us to closed rooms and libraries, the excavation area of monks buried nearly 1000 years ago, and inside the room to see the coronation chair up close. Once our tour concluded (it was 2 hours long), we went back into the abbey to complete our sightseeing. In total, we spent nearly 5 house inside Westminster Abbey.

Saturday afternoon for us was a flexible time to visit whatever we wanted. This ended up being pretty lucky because London became a little crazy that afternoon. It was the day of the annual Pride parade and this was the 50th anniversary. There were 30,000 people in the parade and many, many more watching. Four stages were set up in various parts of town. It was a very happy and festive time, but super crowded and tough to really sightsee. Still, we tried. We headed over to St. Paul's Cathedral but we could not get in because they were ordaining 5 new deacons. It was cool to see all of the people dressed up for this and to listen to the bells sounding. Then we walked down Fleet Street through the old city to see beautiful architecture. Finally, we wandered around China Town and Soho to see the partiers winding down from all the fun of the day. I will never tire of London and I'm already ready to go back.