Europe - 2010 - Day 2

Day 2 –

The pictures are:
1. Our Hotel
2. The map room within Churchill’s War Room
3. Barb with her grilled cheese sandwich
4. Dinner

We were up and out into the city and into the first subway by 8:00 am and went to Camden Market, a huge area in the city that has just lots and lots of wild stores and stuff.

We were a little early but we had fun seeing everything being set up for the day – it reminded us of some of the festivals that we used to do like Covered Bridge.

Then it was back into the main part of the city to see Churchill’s War Room. This is the underground bunker where Churchill and his main war staff conducted the war effort. It was amazing how they crammed the people in this small space underground. They had a great audio tour that told you what each room was used for. We could not believe some of the charts that we saw on the wall that were actually used in these rooms, including the counts of the bombs and rockets that hit the city be each day.

Then for lunch we went to Borough’s Market, our most favorite food market in any city we have ever been to. There are literally dozens and dozens of booth with lots of samples and then lots and lots of stands serving lunch. Barb had an amazing grilled cheese sandwich and Ed had a sausage sandwich. Then we ate our way around the grounds with samples and bought 2 Borough’s bags to carry groceries in them at the supermarket. Barb had them a couple of years ago, but they were destroyed by mistake.

It was then time to go to the castle section of the city for a 2 hour tour of the city. The tour started in St. James Park, which is close by the Queen’s residence and proceeded to visit that section of the city with the old homes for the wealthy. We ended the tour at Piccadilly, a very wealthy section with men’s shoes being hand made, hand made to your order hats and everything that the “gentleman” would want to buy. What a place and the money in London is unbelievable. It is amazing to look into a store window and see ties for $100 and up. There were many shops that you could only get in by being buzzed in.

Then we continued walking through the city until it was time to go to the hotel and change clothes for the evening.

We went to a really neat English Pub called the Marlborough Head for dinner. Our dinner was called Ploughman’s Sharer which was sliced ham, mature cheddar cheese, pickled onions and pickled apple crusty with bread

Then it was back on the tube to go to the Tower of London for the 9:30 pm closing of the Tower.
This is a by ticket only event were the Beefeaters perform a ceremony to lock the Tower down for the night. It took about ½ hour and was lots of fun. There are no pictures because photos were not allowed.

We made it back via the tube to the room by 11:00pm to pack for the cruise and catch a few hours sleep.

Sent last night -
This is just a short note to tell everyone that we had a wonderful day. Up at 7:00 am and on a run all day. It is 11:33 am and we are getting up at 6:00 am to go to a great Saturday market for a few hours before meeting our car and driver back at the hotel at 10:00 am for the drive to Southhampton and the ship.

So, what that means is that I will write everything and show you all pictures, but I won't do todays until tomorrow when we have some extra time on the ship.

Night for now -

ps - Jeff and Kris - you are in our prayers - hope today went great - Love Mom and Ed

Europe – 2010 – Day 1

Europe – 2010 – Day 1

The pictures are:
1. Being picked up at the airport – and the luggage fit!
2. Our bedroom at the hotel.
3. From the dome of St. Paul'.s
4. Lunch at the pub
5. Barb asleep on the Tube

We had a fast trip to Chicago; the construction didn’t hurt us at all. American Airlines left Chicago right on time and 8 hours later, we landed in England at 6:30am.

The bags were waiting for us by the time we got to baggage claim so we picked them up and met our driver.

We used the same company that we had used before and both times they picked us up in the big “7” Series BMW – what a nice ride.

We were into and out of our hotel by 10:00 am and then took a taxi to make the 10:45 am walking tour we had of Historic Greenwich tour. The hotel is very classy and very modern in a very old building – really neat place.

We met out tour guide outside of the Tower of London and walked to the Thames River and got on a boat for a 20 minute trip up the river to Greenwich. Greenwich is going to be the host borough for the 2010 Olympics so it was an interesting area to visit.

After that tour, we took a train and then the Tube (subway) to St. Paul’s Cathedral. This Cathedral is the 2nd largest in the world and we had a 90 minute tour before walking up 230 steps to the first level above the dome where you could circle the inside of the dome and look down. Then Ed walked the next 129 steps higher in the dome to go outside on the roof. What an amazing view of the entire city.

We then took a cab to a little pub called the Wenlock Arms. We had heard about this pub from a show on the Discovery Channel. It was fine, but we wouldn’t go back. It was over-rated but the sandwich we had was good.

Then we met a guide for a 2 ½ hour walking tour called “The Ancient City at Night” and it lasted until 9:00 pm.

We are now ready to crash because in ½ hour it will have been 36 hours that we have been up with maybe 1 hour of sleep on the plane!!!

What a fun first day.

We depart Bloomington by driving to O’Hare and taking American Airlines Flight 86, leaving at 5:05 pm and arriving and London’s Heathrow Airport at 6:50 am Thursday morning.

We are staying at the London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square from Thursday, September 2 until Saturday, September 4.

Take a look at the hotel at: 

London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square

After a fun couple of days in London, we will travel to Southampton to board the new Celebrity Eclipse ship.

The schedule of the Eclipse is:

Sat, Sep 04 Southampton, England Depart 4:45 PM
Sun, Sep 05 At Sea
Mon, Sep 06 Vigo, Spain Arrive 8:00 AM - Depart 5:00 PM
Tue, Sep 07 Lisbon, Portugal Arrive 8:00 AM - Depart 5:00 PM
Wed, Sep 08 Gibraltar, United Kingdom Arrive 1:00 PM - Depart 6:00 PM
Thu, Sep 09 At Sea
Fri, Sep 10 Barcelona, Spain Arrive 7:00 AM - Depart 6:00 PM
Sat, Sep 11 Provence (Toulon), France Arrive 8:00 AM - Depart 5:00 PM
Sun, Sep 12 Palma De Mallorca, Spain Arrive 12:00 PM
Mon, Sep 13 Palma De Mallorca, Spain Depart 5:00 PM
Tue, Sep 14 At Sea
Wed, Sep 15 Seville (Cadiz), Spain Arrive 7:00 AM - Depart 5:00 PM
Thu, Sep 16 At Sea
Fri, Sep 17 At Sea
Sat, Sep 18 Southampton, England Arrive 5:30 AM

When we arrive at Southampton, we will travel back to London to board American Airlines flight 47 departing at 12:50 pm and arriving in Chicago at 3:25 pm on Saturday, September 18.

July 4, 2010 – Day 4

The pictures are:
1. Mt. Vernon from the front.
2. Mt. Vernon – the porch overlooks the Potomac
3. Part of the formal garden
4. On the way home.

We woke up early so that we could get the early subway and bus to Mt. Vernon, the home of George Washington.

Because it is a holiday, it took us 45 minutes to reach the bus stop in Virginia. The next bus was going to be 30 minutes so we convinced 3 other people who were waiting to share a cab and we asked the cab to come back at 11:30 to take us back to the hotel.

Mt. Vernon is truly amazing. We have been to a lot of older homes and estates, but this place was beautiful and maybe the most complete and restored property we have seen.

It overlooks that Potomac River on a high bluff and George Washington built a massive estate.

We spent the next couple of hours there and then met our cab driver who took us to our hotel and waited for us and then to the airport.

A great trip and we are tired, but it is a good tired and with a good nights sleep tonight, we are ready to get back to normality – whatever that is!!

Today is our anniversary and what a nice place to celebrate.

Thanks for reading our trip blog. See you in late August for our trip to Europe.

Love to you all - Barb and Ed

July 4, 2010 – Day 3

July 4, 2010 – Day 3

The pictures are:
1. At the Market
2. Waiting for the parade to start.
3. At the Mall waiting for the fireworks to begin

We took off early to go to the Eastern Market and do some shopping, as we got there too late yesterday. Barb bought a ring - maybe this is the year of the ring.

Then it was on too the center of the city to see the giant Fourth of July parade.

We got there just in time and found seats on the curb and in the shade. The tempeture hit 97 today and it was hot.

We left a few minutes from the end of the parade to go to the National Cathedral to see a wonderful concert, featuring their 10,000 pipe organ.

After that we had a great lunch/dinner at a local bar and then went downtown to the American Art and Portraiture Center. The highlight was a collection of Norman Rockwell pieces. We ran out of time and wish we would have had an additional 1/2 to see everything.

At 7 they closed the Art Center and we went to the mall and sat on top of the hill under the Washington Monument with over a million of our friends and if it wasn't a million, it was a lot of people

The fireworks were the best ever and the ending was spectacular.

All the roads were closed off so we had to walk the 10 blocks to the hotel.

All-in-all a wonderful day.

Tomorrow we are going to Mt. Vernon and we leave at 3pm for home, a wonderful 4th of July trip to our nation’s capital.

July 4, 2010 – Day 2

The pictures are:
1. Guards at the White House – 55lb of equipment, 500 rounds of ammunition each.
2. The Korean War Monument – very thought provoking.
3. Entry to the Presidential Box at the Kennedy Center
4. The Washington National Cathedral

We awoke to a beautiful clear day and walked the ¾ of a mile to the White House for our 9am tour. What fun. We had to go through a lot of security and checks and double-checks but it was worth it. We basically saw all of the White House except the second and third floors. You couldn’t bring a camera into the White House, so there are not pictures inside that we took.

Then it was back to the hotel to pick up our camera and we took the subway to the Lincoln Memorial and then walked to the Vietnam, Korean and WWII Memorials. We were having a great tour of the WWII Memorial when a young girl in the group fainted. So the tour guide had to help her.

We hoped a cab then and went to the Kennedy Center – what a place. There are six theaters in the Center from very large to very small. We had a very nice guide who showed us the entire place including the different Presidential boxes at the different performing halls.

We ate in the Kennedy Center and then took the subway and a cab to the Washington National Cathedral, the second largest Cathedral in the United States, behind St. John, which we saw last year in New York. We spent at least an hour there being a tour by a delightful guide. A massive choir and orchestra were practicing for a concert and the performance was wonderful

We then took the subway about ½ hour to the Easter Market which is the largest outdoor arts & craft market plus a really large food market. We got there just as they were closing so we will probably go back early tomorrow morning.

Then we went to Georgetown and to the Apple store to switch out Barb’s iPhone because hers broke. The store was wonderful and we got the new phone and with their recommendation, went up the street in a great Italian restaurant. Barb had a huge crab cake and Ed had a sirloin salad - a really wonderful meal.

We took a shuttle back to DuPont Circle, walked around and then walked the couple of blocks to the hotel.

Time for bed for tomorrow is the 4th.

Love to all -

July 4, 2010 – Day 1

Our first day in Washington

The pictures are:
1. Checking in a Rep. Tim Johnson’s office.
2. Our tour guide – Tyler
3. Changing of the Guard at Arlington National Cemetery
4. Our new friend from Paris

Well we woke up at 4:30am and it is not 10pm and we are gong to crash as soon as I finish this blog.

The AirTran flights were right on time and we arrived at Ronald Regan Airport at noon.

A quick cab ride and we were in the hotel. They upgraded us to an Executive Suite and it is just perfect. We are right on Embassy Row so it is really neat looking out the windows.

We walked a couple of blocks to the subway and rode it to the Capital and went to the office of Rep. Tim Johnson where we were met by and Intern, Tyler. Tyler then took us on a 3 hour tour of the Capital, including the House of Representatives. It was a lot of fun.

After the tour, we found a neat pub and a chicken wrap. Then it was back to the subway and out to Arlington Cemetery, where we took an open-air tour bus around the cemetery. We timed it just right as we saw the last changing of the guard at 7pm – very special.

Back to the subway, we rode it to DuPont Circle and then walked towards the hotel. On the way, we found a huge organic market where we went in and got some soup and a salad. While we were sitting outside in their seating area, we met a lady from Paris who was traveling in the US. She sat with us and we talked for some time about a lot of subjects.

Then back to the hotel and sleep will come soon.

Tomorrow at 9am - the White House tour, again arranged by Rep. Tim Johnson.