London ... March 6-9, 2009

We met my sister Julia and her husband, William, in London for the weekend. William had a conference all week, so we decided to make the easy trip over there to meet up with them for a couple of days. We left Katie and Ashley with Nikki (again, same as the last time we went to London for the weekend) but took Ryan. We were a little worried bringing Ryan (just a little), but it turned out he was basically perfect the entire time. And on the trains he was a little feisty, but mostly pretty relaxed. We flew in late Friday night and just stayed at a hotel at the airport (Gatwick). As is usual for London, it cost us more to get to the city from the airport (and back) then it did for our tickets from Budapest to London. But fortunately everything is 30% cheaper than the last time we visited, since the exchange rate is so much better.
We met up with Julia and William on Saturday morning and immediately set out to visit a few places that we had not been to before on any previous trip. First, we got on a train to some outskirt station where the Boden store is. Both Heather and Julia like the clothes, which is mostly an on-line store, but they do have a brick and mortar store outside of London. So we tagged along and Heather found a few things (including the raincoat you will see in subsequent pictures).
From there we made our way to another place outside the city (Windsor, coincidentally enough), Windsor Castle, the largest inhabitable castle in the world and the longest in continuous use (built around the 11th century). This large castle and complex is the "weekend" home of the Queen. It became our weekend home for about 2 hours.


We ate at a little french cafe in the "town" of Windsor before heading back on the train to London.
We went to Harrod's, which was crazy crowded, as if it was Christmas time or something (I can't imagine what it would have been like at Christmas). Here the main draw was the Krispy Kreme shop they have inside, where we bought a dozen Krispy Kreme's for future (meaning from time of purchase to about 8AM the next morning) consumption.
We went back to our hotel at Picadilly Circus to get ready to go see Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theater. We saw it in Toronto and it is second only to Les Mis as far as musicals go. We were glad William and Julia wanted to go as well (they had not seen it before), as they had already been to Lion King and Phantom earlier in the week. As we expected, the show was fantastic. By the time we left the theater it was too late to find something quick to eat, so I had to settle on a late dinner of Krispy Kreme's, which admittedly I didn't mind too much (I would like to use the excuse that it is the only chance we have to enjoy those donuts, but the truth is that I have a friend that comes to Budapest once or twice a month and brings me a box each time).
The next morning, after trying in vain to find the Hyde Park church building in time to attend sacrament meeting, we took a stroll to the river and boarded a boat to Greenwich. We went there mostly to visit the Royal Observatory, home of the prime meridien (~zero longtitude), separating the Eastern and Western hemispheres. We had a good explanation of the buildings and bridges along the Thames as we made our way up the river.
We walked through the main street of Greenwich up the hill to the observatory, where we stood on both sides of the world (I guess, since ultimately the Prime Meridian is arbitrary...there have actually been a number of different "prime" meridians throughout history...conversely, the 0 latitude, the equator, is not disputed).


For a day and a half the weather had been spectatulor (as is standard for us on our trips), but while we were up on the hill observing the astronomical clock, the weather turned dark and it looked ominous. We quickly made our way back down the hill to catch the next boat that would take us back. Just as we were getting back to the boat the rain started. But as is customary, by the time our boat docked back at the Tower Bridge, it had stopped (for the most part). Now it was just COLD. I had only my sweatshirt, Heather and Ryan and William and Julia were a little more prepared, but it was still very cold. We did a tour of the Tower Bridge, it's history and the inner contraptions that make it work (raise up and down). One interesting point I learned is that the bridge has only raised its bascules to a full 90 degrees a few times, for special occasions like for the boat carrying Winston Churchill's body to (or from?) his funeral.


The rain had stopped, but it was still cold. But it did allow us to take a walk from the bridge to the Globe Theater, a rebuilding of Shakespeare's original theater that was built in 1599, destroyed by fire in 1613 (during a performance of Henry VIII when a theater cannon went off and a spark ignited teh thatched roof), and then rebuilt in 1614 and closed and subsequently torn down by the "puritans" in 1642 . This version was built in 1997, with an attempt to accurately reconstruct the original theater, thatched roof and all (except adding a sprinkler system). Today it is in use, but since it is an outdoor theater, it is used less frequently in the winter months.


We ate dinner at the Anchor, an English pub just down the block from the theater. Supposedly Shakespeare frequented this place (or the original version, since the original was destroyed by fire in 1676). We had planned on doing a Jack The Ripper walking tour (I know touristy, but seeing that side of London sounded fascinating), but since it was so cold, we decided to skip it and call it a weekend. We were flying out of Luton at 6AM Monday morning and William and Julia were flying out of Heathrow at about the same time, so we went back to our hotel, gathered our things, and said our goodbyes as we departed for our respective airports. We stayed the night at a hotel off the Luton airport, so it was a pretty easy trip back to Budapest.
It was great to visit with Julia and William for a few days and to see some additional elements of London that we had not experienced before.