Where did the selfie sticks go?

The local papers reported that Brexit has increase the visitors to London by 40%. It hasn’t seem that way as the places we have visited were not that super busy or crowded. Unlike Paris where chances were high you would get pushed out of the way by a Chinese tour guide and have 30 of their group rush by you trying to keep up with the guide with selfies sticks, we had not visited sites that were popular with the private tour groups.

It changed today.  We went to the British museum.  There were no lines to get in this morning and it only slightly busy in the lobby. However upstairs in the Egyptian mummy rooms we hit the jackpot with the privately led tour groups.  The tour guides were just as pushy but there were no selfies sticks like last year in Paris.  These groups did speed through the rooms so I’m not sure what the participants really got to experience.  It took us a few hours just to go through the Egyptian rooms and in the Roman Empire rooms.  We also accidentally discovered a room that held the 1000+ year old Chinese Admonitions Scroll. Its only on display a few weeks each year so we were luckly to have seen it.   As we were about the leave Ian reminded us about the Rosetta Stone display.  It must be pretty famous if I’ve heard about it.  However I was dreading that this display would be like the Mona Lisa at the Louvre where it would be mobbed due to its importance in history. I guess it wasn’t that historical as there were people around the displace but we were eventually above to get to the front and see its inscriptions.

Afterwards we stopped by the Wellington Arch This is a monument to Lord Wellington who was in charge of the battle where his soldiers defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.  Inside the arch had an exhibit that details the Battle at Waterloo.  Everyone was so grateful in England that they erected a beautiful arching his honor and gave him lots of money. It’s not a major attraction but we needed to stop by as it was one of the few places in London were we could get our English Heritage Trust Pass.  This pass will allow us to get into various sites throughout England for free with parking including Stonehenge.

Since Buckingham Palace was  nearby we walked over to see it.  The changing of the guards already occurred earlier in the day so there wasn’t much except to stand at the fence and watch the guards stand and take a photo just to prove we were also there.

Went to the Towers

Today we stopped at the Tower of London, Tower Bridge and the HMS Belfast.  These three sites are all within a few blocks of each other.  We took the underground Circle line to Tower Hill and were only a few blocks from the entrance to the Tower of London.

I always thought the Tower of London was just a tower but it’s actually a 900+ year old castle that used to be the home of the royals.  There are a few significant buildings on site. The white tower is the main building that now houses exhibits about the kings and the weapons used over the centuries.  There was also a building that houses the crown jewels.  These are the crowns, jewels and other decorative items used by the royals during their coronation.  We also walked along the top of  the outer walls which gave use great views of the grounds and the Tower Bridge.

It’s was time for lunch and we were not near anything that was considered good and cheap.  As we have learned, eating out in London is not cheap.   We have been to most of the local grocery chains for dinner and breakfast food and they all have a grab and go area with pre made sandwiches which seems really popular. Tesco was the closest store so we stopped by for sandwiches.  They have a lunch bundle deal for £3 which included a sandwich,  chips/fruit, and a pop.  We took our food to the park next to the river Thames.  £12 for lunch for four was finally the cheap lunch we were looking for.

I also learned that the London Bridge from the childhood song isn’t the same classic designed bridge that you see in all the London photos.   That is called the Tower Bridge. The tour of the bridge include a walk or elevator ride up one of the towers and access to the two suspended walkways between the two Towers.  The walkways have a section with a glass floor so you can see below.  Lots of visitors were laying on this floor taking selfies.

Our last visit was the HMS Belfast.  It’s a decommissioned war ship from WW2.  Everyone enjoyed exploring the ship and leaning about its role during the war.

We finally headed home, ironically we crossed the actual London Bridge which is a nondescript modern concrete bridge.

Westminister Abby and Churchill today

I didn’t think we would be physically ready to go walking again today. However we got ourselves out the door and rode the underground to Westminister Abby.  We were not worried about the lines as we had the London Pass which also allowed priority entry at sites like the Abby.  My concern was getting on the list for a guided tour as there were only 20 spots available every half hour.

We arrived about 15 minutes after it opened,  skipped the huge line and was able to get the tour time starting in 45 minutes.  If you go to the Abby, the extra  £5 for the 90 minute tour is absolutely worth it.  We had access to places that were off limits to the general public and learned way more than with the self guided audio tour.

Lunch today was the traditional fish and chips.  Yelp said it was good and cheap.  It was good but $60 for fried food for four is not a cheap lunch.

Afterwards we went to the Churchill war room museum.  This is the location of the underground bunker where Churchill directed the WWE efforts .  The rooms were preserved or recreated as they were from the war time period.  There was also a museum section just on Churchill.  Very interesting museum.

Finally we had a quick stop at the Household Calvary Museum.  The horses used in the royal ceremonies are stabled there and the museum shows the history and traditions of the royal guards.

When we got out to head home the sky was looking stormy and the dark clouds contrasted menacingly over the household cavalry museum.  We had our umbrellas ready as we have learned that London weather changes quickly.

Day 1 and my feet already hurt!

We had a late start for our first day in London.  Sleep was a good thing after two red eye flights and we took our time with breakfast in our apartment.  Anyhow our first destination was not open till 10am. Since we will be here a week and plan to visit all of the major sites,  I pre purchased 6 day visitor tickets called the London Pass that provides access to most of the destinations for one discounted price.  We had to pick up the passes at their office which wasn’t open till 10 am.

The nearest site to the pickup point was the National Gallery. Definitely not on the level of the Louvre but had some interesting art pieces.  The boys were bored pretty quickly so we didn’t stay long.  On the way out we walked around Trafalgar Square which was in front of the museum.

We were hungry but not sure where to go.  Since the London Chinatown was a few blocks away we walked into the first place that served dim sum.  For a family who gets dim sum regularly we were not impressed with the quality and the high prices.  We decided that everything is relatively expensive in London.

After lunch was the London Transport museum. On the walk there we discovered Convent Garden which is an old market with shops, stalls for artists,  street performers and food trucks.  I loved the little French Citroën food trucks but the vendors were just mobile versions of existing restaurants including the US based Shake Shack.

The boys were almost embarrassed to be at the London transportation museum as when we walked in it was full of little kids like the Pacific science center.  Leaning about the history of the underground train was super interesting.  We spent more time here than the national museum.

Our feet were killing us but on the way to the underground station we stopped at  another art museum called the Courtauld then headed home.

My fitness band said we walked almost 9 miles today.  No wonder my feet hurt.

Home for the next week

We made it to London during the middle of the evening commute.  Transferring from the National rail station at Kings Cross to the London tube at St Pancras was easy except for the hoards of people commuting home for the evening. From Kings Cross/ St. Pancras station would could take either the Circle (gold) or the City(pink) Lines directly to Paddington station.   Travelling during commute times meant crush loads on the tube, we were definitely crammed in our subway car.

Our apartment is only two blocks from the Paddington station.  We are on the ground floor of a 4 story walk up that’s part of a block long 1800s building with classic lines, columns, high ceilings and lots of period detailing.  I picked it for its proximity to the tube station and for the inexpensive eateries around the station but our grocery option are limited as they closed the grocery store at the Paddington station for remodeling.

Planes, trains and....

We are on our way from Edinburgh to London using rail. We could have flown in one of the many budget UK airlines but we thought this would be a great way for the boys to experience train travel for the first time. The trip is 4.5 hours with 8 stops before we get to the Kings Cross station in London and the trains run every hour. I discovered that the ticket prices varies greatly depending on the day and time.  By being flexible on the time. I found first class tickets for only a little more than economy.  Only £120 for the 4 of us and that includes WiFi and they keep offering hot food and sandwiches, drinks and booze after each stop.  I like train travel and the boys agree (at least in first class).

Overseas wireless option

I learned about renting a portable WiFi on the Visit Britain site and from friends but I was looking for a cheaper option than the £10 per day.  The websites of the UK wireless companies had pay as you go plans but it wasn’t clear if they were available to non UK residents if if there were other fees involved.  So our first stop in downtown Edinburgh was the Vodafone store.  They are a large telecommunications company like AT&T.  They had two starter pay as you go WiFi hotspot options, 3G for £50 or 4G £60,  both with 6gb of data which includes the cost of the device.  Since they were out of stock of the 4G hotspot device the choice was made for us.  6gb should be enough as lots of places including our train to London includes WiFi.  And from the coverage maps it’s mostly 3G or slower outside the major cities.

First time in Scotland

We landed in Edinburgh and were met with cool and dry weather when the cabin doors were opened.  Much better than the hot and humid weather we just left in Chicago. The airport doesn’t use jetways so we descended down the stairs to shuttle buses that took us to passport control.  Being near the back of the plane meant that we were the last to deplane and also meant that we were standing room only by the doors in the last shuttle bus.  That ended up to our advantage as the last shuttle bus was the first to leave for passport control so we were the first in a very long line from our flight to get processed.

Once we left customs we found the group that is part of number one’s summer camp at St Andrews so we said goodbye, gave him an embarrassing hug in front of the other students who had traveled there on their own and headed to the Airlink 100 bus stop for downtown Edinburgh.

I was impressed with the skills of our double decker coach driver.  He was passing and threading that coach through some narrow spots.   We arrived on the Waverly bridge in the middle of the old part of Edinburgh which was next to the train station to London.  Since we had a few hours before the train departure we went to the local wireless store to buy a WiFi hotspot and had breakfast but skipped the haggis option.  The English breakfast sausage was also not a hit, a starchy texture and unusual spices.

Roomy flight

We finally had some room to spread out on our flight from Chicago to Edinburgh.  When making our seat selection I booked aisle and window seats for the 5 of us about 2/3 to the back on the plane. This is because gate agents and passengers usually select the middle seats from the front of the plane. Again the strategy worked as we each had the middle seat free. 

 

It’s also nice that they retrofitted the old 757 with a decent entertainment system.  Here is number two super engrossed in one of the 20 e-books he checked out from the Seattle Library instead of watching a movie. 

Sweet Home Chicago

One of the downsides of flying using airline specific miles is that your flight choices can be limited.  It's easy to get a seat from the US directly to the overseas destination but few seats for the domestic leg of the journey.  Fortunately (or unfortunately) my miles are with United and they offer lots of their overseas routes from Chicago.

When booking the tickets to the UK, the only connecting flights from Seattle were the redeye with a 11 hr layover or a flight with a super short connection.  Since we love visiting Chicago we took the redeye from Seattle, got a rental car and explored our favorite places and visited family in the area.   Breakfast at Walker brothers was always a treat when we were at school so we had to take the boys to experience it.  They were not impressed by the huge and fluffy Apple pancake but enjoyed their omelets and regular pancakes despite a 1 hour of sleep.

Afterwards we stopped by the Northwestern campus and walked around the backside between the buildinga and the lake.    Lots of new buildings I didn't recognize and the dorm I stayed at my freshman year was getting gutted/remodeled.  That dorm was one of the newest buildings when I stayed there.  I guess that was a long time ago.

Adventure starts at home

We are starting our summer trip with a little adventure at home; getting to the airport without using a car or shuttle.  Seattle has slowly been building a light rail system and the route finally extended to our neighborhood and University of Washington. We were already taking this train to the airport before our station opened but that always required the generosity of friends with large cars or a long bus ride to the station a few miles south.

Not including the time it took to walk to the station it was 40 minutes on the train to the airport.  (Yes, I can drive there in less than 25 minutes but would have to pay to park) Lines were unusually short at the TSA checkpoint and the folks working were strangely very friendly.

Now I know the name of my blog is No Electronics as I thought travelling with the family would reduce the time we were on our devices. However as I learned from our trip last summer, there is always some downtime on every trip.  Tonight we have a few hours before our flight boards so I'm on a smartphone writing this post, and everyone else in the family has their screens out as well.  Number 1 found a table and strategically spread out his gear.  I think he spent more time packing his electronics than this clothes,  we'll wait and see if he forgot anything.