Friday afternoon and evening

After our jolly spin around the London eye, we went back to our hotel in Westminster, checked out and took a cab to our new hotel in Victoria- The Luna Simone. It's really cute, and I'm exited for the breakfast tomorrow! The bacon here is to die for. The Luna Simone also has 3 beds, two twin and a double, so I get to sleep on a bed for the first time in three nights... Yay! That is if I get any sleep. As most of you know, Mum's a mighty good snorer. Dad is also quite talented, and Ryan's learning well from the masters. So I spent most of last night listening to a choir of snores, grunts and snorts. Dad's gonna kill me when he reads this }:->

After checking in, we went down to Harrods, which I really enjoyed. I even bought a shirt there. For those of you who aren't familliar with Harrod's... It's a multi-level, high end store that sells a bunch of different brands under one roof. Think luxury Sears. The food hall was really neat. I'm posting photos now... www.flickr.com/sarah1313

After Harrod's, we made our way to Fish Hill Street, where our walk called Haunted London started. We were the only ones who showed up, so our tour was personalized. Our guide, Corriana, was alot like Auntie Karen!  You guys are probably wondering how we convinced mum to go on this walk... I told her it was called ''Flowers & Towers". She actually wasn't too upset with me when she learned the truth. We saw where the fire of London started, learned of ghost stories while passing old churches, and Corianna even sang a neat little tune about body snatchers.

Our tour conveniently ended at Tower Hill, where we had tickets for the centuries old Ceremony of the Keys,  which consists of the Yeoman Warders locking up the tower for the night. They've been doing this for 700 years at precisely 10 pm, except for one day during WWII when a bomb fell on the tower, causing the ceremony to be 6 minutes late. The ceremony lasts about 15 minutes, and happens with perfect timing, as the bell tower tolls, the Chief warden shouts " God save Queen Elizabeth", and we all yell " Amen". It's really neat. The keys are called Queen Elizabeth's keys and when she moves on, they will be named after the next monarch, hopefully William. Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures of the ceremony. I'll have a few sketches done of it when I get back.

Tomorrow, We have our rescheduled photography tour, the Queen musical and another walk, this time Blood-Curdling London. Check out  flickr for the pictures. I've got to go to bed now, but the choir's singing at their best, so it might take a while !

Sarah

sarah's photos going on flickr...

The pictures i've taken so far are currently being uploaded to Flickr... www.flickr.com/sarah1313

today's visit to the London Eye features a three part video documentary, filmed by yours truly... enjoy

My trip so far... by the lovely, beautiful and talented Sarah Elise.

Hey Everyone... you guys are probably wondering about out ``quest for first class``... when ryan asked, there was only one left :( so I spent the night on a lovely economy seat...  the person in front of me reclinedd his chair and the person behind but her knees on mine... not a blast. The food was suprisinly good though and I got alot of homework done. When we landed in London, there was another plane in our gate, so we waited a while, then the gate arm wouldn`t start, so we waited a while, then the plane door wouldn`t open, so they tried the other door which only happens halfway. Well that was a good hour spent sitting on the plane. We spent almost 2 hours in customs line, just to be detained by the Brittish border patrol. Half hour later, we were released from ``custody``. I guess we were supposed to be `` unaccomponied minors`` so we should have gotten buisness class seats and had an escort to the front of the customs line... FML

The rest of the trip has been great. Yesterday we came back tot he hotel room and slept the afternoon away, then went on a plesantly informative Jack the Ripper walk. Today, mum and dad were on their tour, so Ryan and I explored the north end of the city, got propaganda posters and shirt ( Keep calm and carry on) at the War Cabinet then went to the Tate modern... which makes more sense than it did last time. With Mum and Dad we went to Westminster abbey, here`s my list of famous dead people who`s memorials and graves I saw...
-Richard III
-Edward III
-Mary Queen of Scots
- Elizabeth 1 (ironicaly right across the hall from mary)
-Henry VIII
- Oliver Cromwell
- Lewis Carroll
- Isaac Newton
- Charles Darwin
I also ( with my 1953 and 1937 coronation mags) stood in the exact spot where liz and george were coronated... cool eh?

Thursday Sept 23rd

Today we went to the Churchill Museum and Cabinet war rooms. The war rooms have been preserved as is since the end of the war and only opened in the 90`s. There is an audio guide which tells you all about how Churchill and his staff ran everything from here during WW2. This is underground with a cement roof and buildings over the top. The Museum was really interactive and hi tech and you could find out anything about WW2 and Churchill. The kids went to the stop where they were supposed to meet the photo guide but could not find him so came back early. I emailed the lady and she says the guide was there and was looking for them. She says they can go Friday or Saturday. This afternoon we toured Westminister Abbey with the kids. There is and Audio guide here also which explains everything. Lots of Monuments and Toombs and Susan was creeped out. It rained this morning for the first time on our trip but is not this afternoon. The kids are gone to the Tate Modern and Susan and I are off to our farewell Pub dinner and river cruise with our tour group. We hope to have Sarah play the pipes for everyone when we return this evening. Sorry no pictures but will post lots later.

Wednesday Sept 22

Hi There, I am still in charge whether Ryan knows it or not. Their airplane landed at 7.30 but they didn't appear til at least 9.30. Customs was really slow and they were detained because they are minors. They paged me on the loudspeaker to report to the info desk. I talked to the customs lady and they were released, I thought about not bailing them out but knew what a hassle Susan would give me if I came back without them. After going to a restaurant on the South Bank and feeding them Susan and I went with our group to the Imperial War Museum. Really a neat place with lots of real airplanes and tanks. Lots of exhibits about both wars and each front had their own sections. This evening Sarah, Ryan and I went on the Jack the Ripper walk with London Walks. It was very informative and through a really neat part of town with narrow streets lots of pubs and ethnic restaurants but was not scary at all. Susan stayed with the tour group this morning and toured the downtown area by bus. They saw the Changing of the Guard and were inside St. Pauls Cathedral. Susan and I also went to the Wed evening prayer service at Westminister Abbey at 5pm which lasted about an hour. Tomorrow is the last day of our tour. We do a bus tour to various sites and go inside the Winston Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms. We also have a dinner with a river cruise after dinner. Ryan and Sarah go on the Hairy Goat Photography Tour at 11 tomorrow which goes to various parts of downtown where they show people how to take unique pictures of the area. They plan to visit the Tate Modern art museum in the afternoon. I will post photos of London tomorrow I hope.

ALL YOUR POSTS BELONG TO US!

Hello, this is Ryan, and I am now controller of  this blog! We arrived in London at 730h local time, but left at 1000h after going through customs.
All for now, Ryan.

Tuesday

The kids have arrived.

More Sept 21 Pictures

Big Ben Tower at night

London Eye with Full Moon

The City of London

Mimes on Street

Tuesday Sept 21 Pictures

Lighthouse on Dover Cliffs

Dover Harbour

On Ferry in Dover harbour

Susan on Ferry

White Cliffs of Dover

V1 rocket in La Coupole

V2 Rocket in La Coupole

Tunnel leading into La Coupole

Monday Sept 21 Pictures

Cloth Hall and Cathedral in Ypres at Sunset

Last Post at Menin Gate they close the road each night at 8pm for this ceremony daily since WW1

Beds at Ardene Hotel in Ypres beautiful hotel

Our Belgian Guide at Ypres and Passchendale very knowledgeable

Tyne Cot Cemetery in Passchendale

Old Windmill near Ypres

St. Julian Memorial near Ypres

Grave of a 15 year old soldier in cemetery where John MacRae wrote In Flanders Fields

Bunker where John MacRae did field dressings

Street in Ypres

R. Simpson a unknown grave soldier one of 55,000 whose names are on the Menin Gate

The Menin Gate in Ypres

Cloth Hall in Ypres where In Flanders Field Museum is located

Our French tour guide Vic between our vets Frank and Al

Tyne Cot Cemetery the flowers were beautiful 

Tuesday Sept 21

Hi Guys, Not to busy a day today compared to most. We left our hotel about 8am after a nice breakfast. The only stop we made was at the Capole which is a cement bunker built into a rock quarry that the Nazis use to prepare and launch the V2 rockets to London and other cities. Fortunately the French Resistance found out about the bunker and the Allies bombed it continuously. They did not damage the dome itself due to the fact the concrete was so thick. They did manage to kill hundreds of slaves the Nazis had who were building and repairing the railway tracks leading into the bunkers. This place was amazing I could not take nearly enough of it in as we only had 1 and one half hours. I could have spent a day here. Lots of rockets and equipment inside with videos and lots of displays. Look it up on the inet if you get a chance. Next we went to the ferry at Calais and crossed to Dover. Beautiful day about 22 degrees so we had a great boat ride. Got to see the White Cliffs of Dover from  the ferry and got lots of pictures. I will post yesterday and todays pictures later today. Arrived at our hotel about 4pm. It is beautiful with a great location right at the end of Westminister bridge just across from the Big Ben on the South side of the Thames. We walked up the South Bank and had dinner at  a pizza restaurant which was very good. Walked down the side for about 1 mile then crossed Blackfriars bridge and walked up the North side to Westminister bridge. Tomorrow I am off to Heathrow to pick up the kids at 7.30am. I bought the Underground tickets tonight for a week as we are here for 6 days.

Monday Sept 20th

Hi everyone, We are in Ypres, Belgium tonight. It is an old city at least it looks old but it was actually almost completely destroyed and rebuilt after WW1. Churchill actually wanted it left destroyed as a reminder of what the war did to the city. However the locals where determined to rebuild and did the downtown buildings exactly as they were before the war. We went to the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate tonight at 8pm. It was very moving, there were veterans, a marching band and a group of school kids from South Africa who sang their anthem. There were also several people who laid wreaths to honor the 55,000 names of soldiers with unknown graves that are printed on the walls. This morning we went first to the Flanders Fields museum which is located it the Cloth Hall in downtown Ypres. This is one of the buildings which was completely rebuilt. It used to be a textile plant thus the name cloth hall. Next was Essex Farm cemetery where John MacRae was a doctor at a front line dressing center and from here he wrote In Flanders Fields after a good friend of his was blown up by a bomb, They helped the wounded from an earth covered bunker which protected them from incoming shells. They would dress the wounded as best they could then send them back further for more complete treatment. Next we went to Passchendale site of the tragic battle in 1917. I was expecting quite hilly land but the ridge is actually quite a gentle slope. Beautiful farms in the area with all kinds of crops, potatoes, brussel sprouts, cabbage, corn etc as well as dairy and beef farms. Next stop was Tyne Cot Cemetery, the largest Commonwealth Cemetery in th world with 12,000 graves and 35,000 missing, almost 1,000 are Canadian. This place is truly amazing, the flowers and the marble are very impressive. Each row of gravestones has a different colour of roses right down the line. I will add pictures of the cemetery tomorrow. We then stopped at Hill 62 where there is a Canadian Memorial for all the soldiers killed there. We had a great supper at our hotel the Ariane, Chicken Soup, Roast Beef with potato croquets, and a chocolate mousse desert with coffee. Best meal we've had yet on  the trip. Tomorrow we check out La Coupole which is a gigantic underground bunker the Nazi's V2 rockets were prepared and stored for a launch to destroy London. We then cross the Channel on a ferry and arrive in London late in the day. I only have one half hour of Inet tonight as I had to pay 3 euros for it. So no pictures until tomorrow.

Sunday Sept 19th Pictures

Newfoundland Memorial at Monchy

Jewish Gravestone between crosses (Hitler wouldn't approve)

German Cemetery 44,800 soldiers buried here

Cabaret Rouge Cemetery the largest Commonwealth cemetery

Vimy Memorial back side from Canadian Cemetary #2

Sheep grazing on shelled field where people are fenced out due to possible unexploded shells]

Vimy Memorial from the back side

Close up of Vimy Memorial

Vimy Ridge Memorial Ridge side

Our tour guide at Vimy and our vet Frank Boyd

Tunnel at Vimy Ridge

Trench at Vimy Ridge

Pedestrian Street in Arras where we stayed Sat and Sun night

Satuday Pictures

Monument to the Scottish Regiment who fought at Beaumont Hamel

Tree that marked No Man's Land at Beaumont Hamel

Shell marked battlefield at Beaumont Hamel

Caribou statue at Beaumont Hamel at Newfoundland Memorial Park

This is a crater where Canadian coal miners dug under the German ammunitions tunnels and detonated bombs making a crater over 100ft deep

Church at Albert where hanging spire of Mary and Jesus was during war

Pipe organ inside Amiens Cathedral

Some of the Stained glass windows at Amiens Cathedral

Inside Amiens Cathedral

Cathedral at Amiens