Last week the kids and I had a short work week and in turn a five-day weekend. We took the opportunity to hop on the train and spend some time in London. We had not been to London since October, and were excited about seeing some of the places we had missed. After some logistical problems (our train was delayed an hour and parking was an issue) we loaded up our backpacks with books and snacks for the five-hour journey down to Kings Cross station.
Entrance to Hampton Court
Our first big visit of the trip was Hampton Court. A favorite spot of Henry VIII (and a few of his wives), its one of only two remaining palaces that Henry used. Situated right on the Thames, the architecture and gardens are quite stunning, although we found the insides to be a bit sparse. Nonetheless we enjoyed strolling through the gardens, the Royal Kitchen, maze, and Royal Apartments. Note to self: After you charge the camera battery, put the battery back in the camera. That way your camera works when you need it. Ughhhhh. Disclaimer: All Hampton Court Pictures were stolen from the internet, but honest- we were there.
Christa and I loved the chimneys.
The Royal Gardens (I made sure to steal a season-appropriate photo)
The Anne Boleyn gate and astrological clock.
The Hampton Court Maze. Its one-third of an acre in size and it took us about a half-hour to find the center.
Being a history nerd, I have always been intrigued by visiting Greenwich. Located just outside of London, Greenwich is the home of the famous observatory and the world’s Prime Meridian. Located at 0 degrees longitude, Greenwich marks the division between the Western and Eastern hemispheres, as well as being the starting point for international time zones. The observatory of Royal Astronomer John Flamsteed was designed in 1675, and served as the focal point for navigational research in England.
Ainsley outside the National Maritime Museum
The Royal Observatory (view from Maritime Museum)
Entrance to the observatory. The clock is the 24-hour Shepherd Gate Clock. Installed in 1852, this clock was the first one to show Greenwich time to the public and still works fine.
John Flamsteed's house and the original observatory. The red ball is the Time Ball, which drops at 1 p.m. It was used by sailors in the Thames to set their chronometers (clocks used to determine longitude at sea)
The Peter Harison Planetarium.
Straddling the Prime Meridian with a foot in each hemisphere.
Always on the lookout for a food market, we found a fantastic little one in Greenwich. A very tasty lunch of spicy Thai beef, vegetable curry with rice, and the best Chinese food since San Francisco. We were all sad to leave.
Speaking of food markets, we made a stop by our old favorite. The kids were disappointed not to find the "Brownie Man" again, but we still had a great dinner.
Our friends the Smiths’ back home first mentioned Horrible Histories to us before we left. Horrible Histories was originally a series of books “with the nasty bits left in” about different historical periods. There are books such as Measly Middle Ages, Terrible Tudors, Vile Victorians, and Slimy Stewarts which cover all kinds of gross and bloody stories that kids love. Recently there has been an award-winning (the first children’s show to win a British comedy award) television program based on the same series of books. Horrible Histories is extremely popular with my students at St. Columba’s as well. As it turns out they have created a Horrible Histories musical- a one-hour program called Barmy Britain. Will and Ainsley (and me of course) were pretty excited about catching the show and now know how to to remember what happened to each of Henry VIII’s wives (“divorced, beheaded, died…..divorced, beheaded, survived!”)
To give you an idea of what Horrible Histories is all about, and to help you out with your British monarchs, here is a video of the Kings and Queens song from Horrible Histories:
Christa took some time to visit the National Gallery, so Ainsley and Will played on the giant lions at Trafalgar Square.
St. Paul's Cathedral
One of the iconic images of London is St. Paul's Cathedral. Pictures are not allowed inside, but needless to say its a breathtaking church to view. The crypt at St. Paul's is home to a number of notable Brits, including The Duke of Wellington, T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), Lord Nelson, Florence Nightengale, and Winston Churchill.
Looking towards the High Alter (internet image)
Will with his new Lego friend.
Our last evening we decided to swing by Harrods and let the kids do a bit of window shopping. Ainsley found a nice sweater for herself, but the $2,100 price tag was a bit much. As fun as it was to wander through countless rooms of toys, clothes, and gourmet food, we left empty-handed in the end. They had an awesome Lego section (of course) and Will was duly impressed with the Harrods doorman.
The hotel by Kings Cross station. Not our hotel unfortunately, but it sure is impressive huh?
Our very last stop was The British Library. Nothing quite gets the kids excited like 800-year old original copies of the Magna Carta huh?! We did sell them on the fact that they would be able to see the original manuscript for Alice in Wonderland and some cool original hand-written lyrics from The Beatles. Needless to say, 20 minutes was enough for the Will and Ainsley, especially since the Alice in Wonderland book was temporarily removed from the case. Sorry guys. They were also a bit bummed that there wasn't a kids section at the library so they could feed their Tintin obsession. Still, its the Magna Carta!
Back home we have grown up with our iconic landmark, the Golden Gate Bridge. A symbol of pride in the Bay Area, and I would say the state of California (it is at the opening of Disney's California Adventure after all), we still enjoy driving, or even walking, across the bridge on our way in or out of San Francisco. Coincidently, we have moved approximately 5,000 miles away and found ourselves living near another famous bridge- even painted a similar color.
The Forth Bridge was constructed in 1890, and connects Edinburgh to our very own Kingdom of Fife. Though I appreciate them immensely, I don't know a whole lot about different styles of bridges. It turns out the Forth Bridge is considered an "engineering marvel" and rightfully a source of local and national pride. There is even an image of the Forth Bridge on one-pound coins which were minted in 2004. All I know is that it looks pretty cool and we enjoy riding across it.
We can see the Forth Bridge from our house, and have crossed it a number of times by train, but had never really got up close until this weekend. We went for a drive across the road bridge (the Forth Bridge is only for trains), and took a closer look from the town of South Queensferry. Not surprisingly, the kids could only stare at the bridge for so long, so we also did some window shopping, shell-hunting and rock skipping by the water. I know it sounds strange, but we've grown quite fond of our local bridge and we were happy to get a closer peek.
hunting for shells after some rock-climbing (sound familiar?)
Saturday was the first day of Rugby's Six Nations Rugby Championship, atournament featuring Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland, France, and Italy. Scotland's opening match was in Edinburgh at Murrayfield Stadium (the national rugby stadium for Scotland) against arch-rival England. As good fortune would have it, a friend from work had an extra ticket and was kind enough to invite me along.
This annual match between Scotland and England is referred to as The Calcutta Cup, and goes back to 1873, when a match between Scottish and English players first took place in Calcutta, India. There were about 68,000 people at Saturday's match, which made for quite an electric atmosphere. After taking the train in to Edinburgh and watching a bit of France v. Italy at a local pub, we walked through town to the stadium. As we got closer you could hear the increasing sound of bagpipes, and I was surprised at the number of men who were wearing their kilts to the game. Temperatures were in the low 30's, and I was pretty bundled up, but that obviously didn't stop the locals from breaking out their national gear. Seeing as the supporters are referred to as "The Tartan Army", I guess it was only fitting.
Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
Our seats were in the upper level, which offered a great view of the game, plus excellent views of some snow-capped mountains in the distance and Edinburgh Castle. The stadium was a sea of chanting and singing before and during the game. I haven't seen anything like it since I saw a World Cup soccer game back in the 90's. One great thing about the game was the interactions between the English and Scottish fans. They were all mixed together, decked out in face paint and waving their national flags, without any of the police presence or tension that we've seen at football matches.
A little tailgating before the big match
Pipe band playing Flower of Scotland (national anthem at sporting events)
Scottish team ready to run onto the pitch
Action from the first half
My knowledge of rugby is limited to say the least, but it's an easy enough game to follow along with, and I was lucky to have people around me explaining the game as it went along. Scotland had the lead at the half, but a bad start to the second half seem to have done them in. In spite of the loss (England 13 Scotland 6) I had a fantastic time at the game. You could tell by the energy in the stadium that this was a special game, and it certainly was a terrific substitute for this year's Super Bowl.
