Back to USA!

As it happens, our last morning in London turned out to be bright & sunny as well! Ravi was so nice to come to the hostel at 7:30 am to help get us to Victoria Station. We got a cab to Victoria to catch the express train to Gatwick Airport which is a cheap and convenient way to get there. We said our goodbyes to Ravi at Victoria and we were on our way! Gatwick Airport was certainly easier to negotiate than Heathrow but still lines were long and the security was extremely high. Once we were at the gate, we could not leave to even go to the bathroom without leaving your passport with an official! The flight took 9 hours and was uneventful. We landed at the Atlanta airport about 3:00pm but didn't get out of there till about 4:30pm! They have so many steps to go through with border control/customs etc. The most ridiculous thing was that we had to go through security with all the passengers who were catching connecting flights even though we were leaving the airport. The system is bad!! Anyway we finally got out of the airport.

Tom and Drew were there to meet us and it was great to see them after it seemed like ages but not really I suppose! I think Drew has grown taller for sure. He said he had a wonderful time at camp and can't wait to go back next year. Tom said he was so bored without us. Anyway we will drive home tomorrow and then get back into the routine. The vacation (and camp for Drew) was wonderful and we are so glad we did it. It's still good to be home too!

We also want to say a big thank you to Mahen & Brigitte, and Vienna wouldn't be the same without you and of course Maya & Jeremy! We are also so glad Ravi is in London and was there to help and advice when needed! Now we hope to see you all here one day!

Last Day in London :(

Swami Narayan Temple in Neasden, London

Us in Ravi's Apt.

Our last day here turned out to be bright & sunny! We came over to Ravi's and I added a bunch of pictures - finally! We then went to a place called Bharathi Vidya Bhawan (A Indian cultural center) to eat as they have vegetarian food but unfortunately the cafe was closed. We saw a small art exhibition that was there and then took the underground to the other Indian Vegan restaurant we had eaten at twice before called Govindas. That food has been really good all the times we ate there.

Ravi wanted to show us a large Hindu Temple outside of London where the main building was carved entirely of white marble. They apparently got traditional Indian craftsmen from a particular village to come to London and carve the marble structure. The craftsmen from this village have been continuing on this tradition for 6000 years. We had to take the subway and a bus to get there. It was a very beautiful temple! We walked around a little and then came back to Ravi's.

Well this will be my last post from London! We have had a wonderful time here and I think I am fairly familiar with London with all the travel Erin & I did on our own on the underground. Ravi had to work but we did have fun on the weekends with him! He was a great help to us too. We hope to see him soon in the USA!

Kensington Palace

View of Gardens at Kensington Palace

The Sunken Gardens At Kensington Palace

Today is our second to last day and last day by ourselves as we are going to hang out with Ravi tommorrow. We decided to visit Kensington Palace as the forecast called for more drizzle today. Another grey day here! After getting off the underground, we walked to the Palace through some of Hyde Park and Kensington park. The Palace was apparently the birthplace of Queen Victoria and was the main palace before Buckingham Palace. Princess Diana lived here too after her divorce. It seems that about half the palace is open to the public. The staterooms as they are called are grand and beautiful. There also was an exhibition called the "Last Debutantes" which was a debutante ritual that ended in 1958 and a small exhibition of Princess Diana's dresses along with some historical dresses. We were able to walk outside as the rain had stopped and saw a beautiful garden called the "Sunken Gardens". The gardner who was there started chatting with us and we found out he had visited Sri Lanka and even climbed Adams Peak! What a small world. We walked around the Kensington High Street area and went back to the Indian restaurant that we liked for lunch. We were tired so we took the underground back home even though it was only one stop away.

I am planning to use Ravi's computer to add pics tommorrow so the prior post should have some good ones!

Covent Gardens & Rain Again !

Neat street around Covent Gardens

Today was another rainy gloomy day here! The weather forecasters predict no real sunshine till September!! Erin has a cold too. We decided to go back to Covent Gardens as there were covered areas there so we could take shelter even if did rain. We basically walked around some cool areas, saw some street performances, ate lunch and came back home. It did remain damp and drizzly the whole time. Erin also says that when we were walking by an old homeless man he gave her a kick on her ankle!! I did not see this but she insists he did. We had a good laugh over this. It's ironic as she always thinks that she loves the homeless people! Ravi dropped by again after his work for a chat and a cup of tea. Basically we did not do much today!

Tate Modern & Mohamed Al Fayed!

Tate Modern Museum of Modern Art

View of St. Paul's Cathedral From Tate

Harrods!

Erin really wanted to see The Tate Modern art museum so we set off in the am as usual. It was easy to get there although it's across the river. It was free as well like most museums here. It is full of very interesting art and was well worth the visit. We probably saw 80% of the works, then got tired. St. Pauls Cathedral is right opposite the museum back on the main side of the river and is connected with a neat bridge for pedestrians only. St. Pauls is magnificant to say the least. They were not letting in visitors till later due to a private function and the tickets were a bit expensive so we opted not to go. We got sandwiches, sat on the steps and ate lunch. (BTW there are no trash cans in some important areas of London due to the possibility that a bomb may be hidden in it.)

I wanted to show Erin Harrod's so we decided to go there next. That turned out to be a strange experience! Of course the store is so large so we got lost in the store right away. Then we ended up in a teen section by chance and Erin was looking at some stuff when Mohamed Al Fayed walks by with two bodyguards. I pointed him out to Erin and I had told her the whole story of Princess Diana and Dodi and their death etc. before, and that he was the owner of Harrods etc. so she knew who he was. Then he as he was walking back he actually smiled and said hello to us, which really surprised us! Anyway we walked around the store more but amazing as it is, it is overwhelming and very expensive. The other interesting thing though was the amazing display of wealth - a whole road outside as a parking lot for the most amazing cars and the chauffers in three piece suits, and the amount of women in Arabic dress - covered in black from head to toe - shopping like there's no tommorrow! Like I said no shortage of money here!

Then it was back home for a bit of dinner and bed!

Walked & Walked!

Covent Gardens Market

Flowers By Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace

We decided to head onto Covent Garden today. We got on the underground at about 9:30 am and all was fine until about three quarter way into the trip the train stopped. I'm still not sure what the exact reason was but we were stopped for about 40 minutes! There was nothing to do but wait! Also London subways have a problem with heat so people were sweating! We were glad to get moving again.

Covent Garden (not a garden at all) is a neat area with market stalls, cafe's, and street entertainers. This was the site of the first Punch and Judy show in the 1600's so it has a long tradition of street entertainment. We watched a guy juggling kives in a kilt, walked around and quickly got lost in the maze of small streets! After we ended back at Trafalgar Square we were hungry so we ended up going back to the Cafe In The Crypt for lunch which was good and very reasonable.

After lunch we decided to walk to Buckingham Palace along the Mall. There were lots of cars parked along the way and we ended up seeing alot of formally dressed people going into the Palace for a Garden Party! Very interesting. Did not see the changing of the guard though. The area around the Palace is beautiful and grand. We hung around, watched the people going into the Palace but did not know who anyone was of course. We then decided to walk to Marble Arch and Oxford Street to go to a particular shop we had heard alot about so we walked along Hyde Park and this walk was long! We wanted to go to Primark which is a very cheap store and has been the subject of controversy as they state they are against child labor etc. The store was packed with shoppers. I did buy a cheap umbrella as I'm sure the rain will be here again! Got the underground back to the Hostel - no problems this time!

Busy Day In A Busy City......

View of Big Ben from Westminster Abbey Area

Admiralty Arch

Trafalgar Square

National Gallery

We have fabulous weather today - high in the low 70's and sunny! The underground is back to normal too! We decided to go to Westminster Abbey first. Got there by 10:00 or so and took the self guided tour. The history of the place is amazing - founded in 1065 AD and functional up to now. We saw the most amazing tombs and we were especially interested in the Tudors and Queen Elizabeth I. Along with royalty the Abbey also contains the graves of poets/writes/scientists etc. The architechture was amazing as well.
After that we walked on over to Trafalgar Square, took some pictures with the Lions, and then went in to the National Gallery which has a superb collection of art. We saw the Impressionists first and then wandered through the museum looking at the other art. We spent a couple of hours there and then decided to get a bite to eat. I had remembered that about 15 years ago Tom & I had had the best bread pudding in a great little cafe and I was hoping to find it again! A few steps and there it was! It was the "Cafe in the Crypt" - actually in the crypt of the church St.Martins in the Fields, with graves and all, and the bread pudding was still a tradition. Erin loved the pudding served warm with custard!! We were rejuvenated after that so off we went to the National Portrait Gallery which was right opposite.
This museum is full of portraits from old to modern and again we loved the ones of the Tudors. Amazing art and just too much to even try to describe. The other nice thing is that both these museums are free! We were tired after that so we got back home, bought heat & eat meals from Marks & Spensers food store - nice selection of fresh made food - and ate back at the hostel. Tommorrow should be a warm day too!

I will have to post pics later - no pics allowed inside anything we saw today anyway