European Vacation

Our last breakfast at the Parkwood B & B in Marble Arch, London. Each morning we had a traditional English breakfast. They would take our order and cook it fresh for us. It was so good.

Traditional (Full) English Breakfast consisted of sausage, back bacon, eggs, beans, grilled tomatoes, toast and jams and marmalades, coffee or a pot of tea.

This is Marble Arch, a beautiful marble arch at the entrance of Hyde Park, right near our bed & breakfast.

Since this was our last day in London, we decided to do some souvenir shopping.

There was a stop at the Beatles Store. Everything imaginable "Beatles" stuff.

As we walked through Trafalgar Square, there were these 2 young girls playing violins with their case opened for tips. We saw people in the subways doing the same ...... playing musical instruments/singing for tips.

Sandy & I in front of Harrod's, a very exclusive, high end, 7 floor, department store.

Harrod's is so big, it takes up two blocks. When we walked into the store I was impressed by all the staff. They were all dressed in black ----- women in dresses/skirts and black high heels and men in black suits --- very classy. And they were about every 5 ft, ready to give individual service to customers. I looked at a small purse, which was in a glass unit, had a price of over 550 euros, about $1100.00. Like I said, very exclusive store. It was very interesting to see.

There was an area in Harrod's, with quite a large memorial to Princess Diana and Dodi al Fayed who died in car crash together in August 1997. Dodi was the son of Mohammed al Fayed, who owned Harrod's until 2010. The memorial was in place here in April 1998.

Time for a little lunch at this traditional pub -- The Garrick Arms. We ate outside.

We continued with our souvenir shopping. While in London, we were hoping to see someone from the Royal family. We thought we had a couple of "sightings". Is this Prince Harry? Not a 100% sure.

Maybe this is Prince Harry -- does have the red hair. I just couldn't catch up to him to be sure.

We were walking to see "The Mall" ( not a shopping center). The Mall is a road running from Buckingham Palace to Admiralty Arch and onto Trafalgar Square. This is the road where processions for Royal Weddings, funerals, and Coronations and other special events travel. The road is red to make it look like a red carpet leading up to Buckingham Palace, with the flag of England lining the road on both sides.

Admiralty Arch ---- processions pass under these arches on the way to Buckingham Palace.

This is a guard in front of "Clarence House" where Prince Charles and Camilla live, along the Mall.

We walked the length of the Mall, which brought us to Buckingham Palace. Here we are in front of another gate at Buckingham Palace.

A couple of "bobbies" near the Palace.

After our shopping, and getting caught in a rain shower, we headed back to the Parkwood to relax a bit. Later we went out for dinner at "The Three Tuns", a traditional British pub restaurant.

Here's my "steak & ale pie" dinner. Very good.

Our last night in London. We made a toast to a great vacation and a wonderful time.

This is my last blog. Tonight we'll be packing up to leave early in the morning, to take a couple of subways to take us to Heathrow Airport, where we will board a plane and head home.

It has been a trip of a lifetime. These last three weeks have been so amazing --- we've visited so many places and experienced so much. I think we used the word "awed" a lot, because so many times we were at a loss for words --- we just felt "awed". We will be forever grateful to Sandy & Michael for making this vacation happen. They were the best "travel planners" and "tour guides" we could ever have asked for. It was an exciting, fun and memorable vacation that we got to share with them and that we will never forget.

After breakfast we walked through Hyde Park, heading to Kensington Palace. Hyde Park is one of the Royal Parks which covers 350 acres. On our first day in London, Tom & I had sat on a bench here and saw some riders on horseback go by as well as people on bikes or just walking. That was neat.

Today we came up to a street sign "Notting Hill Gate" which made me think of the movie "Notting Hill" with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts. Apparently filming was done in this area.

We came across the "Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground", which opened in 2000 in memory of Diana. However, we were not allowed in, because you have to have a child with you.

Here is a carousel that was in Hyde Park, not too far from the Memorial Playground.

Tom & I sitting on a bench in Hyde Park, taking a break, before continuing on to Kensington Palace.

Kensington Palace flower gardens. So pretty with the fountains and many colourful flowers.

There was a new exhibition at Kensington Palace, which displayed dresses worn by Queen Elizabeth in the 50's, Princess Margaret 60 & 70's and Princess Diana 1980's.

The Queen wore dresses in cream or beige colour, so she would stand out in a crowd.

This dress was worn by Queen Elizabeth when she visited Nova Scotia in 1959. The gown in the background was worn in Pakistan and had the colours of that country's flag. Interesting how much thought is put into not only the style but meaning in colours also.

In the room where Princess Diana's gowns were displayed, there was also a video being played showing Diana wearing these gowns. She always looked so radiant in a shy way.

I read that Diana was 5'10" tall. No wonder she always looked so elegant. None of her dresses would do for me.

It was neat seeing all these elegant gowns up close.

Tom looking out one of the windows in Kensington. See how high the ceilings are? Below are some of the rooms we walked through.

As you walked through this room, Queen's Gallery, you could hear "whisperings" of court gossip.

This room was the ballroom. I could just picture people dancing so many years ago, women in their full skirts swishing around, while dancing with a prince in his elegant attire.

In the game room, a couple of costumed young ladies, were inviting people to play a game. So here I am. I had to wager something first, so I offered the services of our tour guide, Michael. They recorded the bet. I did lose, and they told Michael he would have to come back. It was all in fun.

This was a room depicting a child's birthday party but with a sad story behind it. Queen Anne, of the 1700's, had 18 children of whom only one survived beyond the age of 4. He died shortly after his 11th birthday. It is said he overheated after dancing too much at his own birthday party. These 18 empty chairs represent Queen Anne's children. So many stories at Kensington.

The ceiling artwork was amazing in this room, also with a beautiful fireplace and exquisite paintings on the walls. One of the guides in one of the rooms was talking about Prince Harry. He said he's "cheeky". He'll stick his tongue out when people take his picture. The guide said he saw him recently stick his head out of the vehicle and make faces at the crowd. He's fun. I could tell this guide liked Prince Harry.

I took this picture, with Tom standing by the door, to show how tall this door was and how high the ceilings were.

This is a statue of Queen Victoria with Kensington Palace in the background. Inside the palace there is a permanent display about the life of Victoria. It was quite interesting the way they used her own words in writings --- on the walls, mirrors, carpet ---- especially about her love for her husband Prince Albert. It was as if you could hear her speaking the words as we walked through the rooms.

Kensington Palace has been a residence for the British Royal Family since the 1700's. This is where Princes William and Harry were raised, and where Princes Diana lived until her death. Renovations are taking place now in preparation for Prince William and Kate, as this will be their official residence. I really enjoyed our visit here.

As we walked to our next destination, we did stop for ice cream refreshment.

The Royal Albert Hall is an amazing concert hall best known for the annual Proms concerts, which is orchestral classical music. But many other venues take place here also. We went for a tour but could take no pictures. Our tour guide was very bubbly and interesting to listen too. The James Bond movie "Skyfall" premiered at the Royal Albert Hall. After climbing many steps we got to go into this famous concert hall. So huge and so beautiful with all the red seats. We got to see the Royal box seats too. There was a harpist practicing her music, so we had to be very quiet and we got to sit and listen. The sound was so crystal clear. The acoustics were phenomenal. It can seat over 5,000 people. Very enjoyable and interesting tour.

Well it's been a pretty full day. We're hungry and it's time for dinner, so we took a subway to take part in "The Medieval Banquet", near the Tower of London.

Tom & I in front of the Medieval Banquet restaurant.

Michael & Sandy descending to the cellar where our dinner takes place.

Here we all are in our Hanover section. There were about 25 people in each section.

Sandy & Michael with King Henry VIII (I think)

Tom & I with some of the Medieval characters.

Sandy & I delve into the spirit of the evening with our Medieval attire.

The evening festivities are about to begin when one of the waitresses calls out "everyone out"! So outside we all go, thinking this is all part of the act, until we see fire trucks pull up and firemen go into the building. Apparently there was a fire in the kitchen.

                                           After the all clear is given, we head back in.

                                                          AND THE FUN BEGINS!

Sarah is our waitress. She directs us on procedure and has us practice. If we need more wine or drinks we have to holler "wench", to have it brought to us. If we like something, we bang our fists on the table, hard and fast. Noisy and fun.