British Isles Tour - Day Fifteen and Sixteen - Part II More Touring of London; Going Home

On our last day of touring in London, after we went to the British Museum and Churchill War Rooms which was recorded in Part I, we then started our walk to Trafalgar Square.  On the way there, we passed St. James Park.  

We stopped to enjoy the beautiful surroundings and animal-life at the park.


 Everywhere we went, George was always making friends with the animals.

This 90-acre park has a small lake, St. James's Park Lake, with two islands, West Island, and Duck Island, which is named for the lake's collection of ducks, geese, even pelicans, and other types of birds. 

The park gained its name from St. James's hospital which once stood on the northern edge of this property in 1267.  The hospital cared for female lepers who were given the task of raising hogs upon what was just a bleak marshy field far from the edge of town.  From then to now, this area has taken on quite a transformation!

Nestled among all of this beautiful scenery is a little "Swiss chalet for a British bird-keeper."  It truly was built for the keeper of the birds, but now acts as an office. 
 

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St. James's Park is actually surrounded by three palaces. The most ancient is Westminster, which has now become the Houses of Parliament, St James's Palace and of course, the best known, Buckingham Palace.

This park is such a beautiful treasure inside this city.

Across from the park is Horse Guards Parade which is a large parade ground.  It was formerly the site of the Palace of Whitehall's jousting yard, where tournaments were held in the time of Henry VIII, between knights in armor.  Today it is the scene of the annual celebrations of the Monarch's official birthday called Trooping of the Color.  This is, also, where beach volleyball was held during the Summer 2012 Olympics.  (I think I watched just about every single one of them!  I love beach volleyball!)

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We next passed the Guard's Memorial in honor of all those who have given their lives in service to their country since the Great War of 1914-1918.

 We next passed Admiralty Arch which takes its name from the Admiralty building to the south.  It is actually an office building with rooms inside commissioned by King Edward VII in memory of his mother, Queen Victoria.  The inscription along the top reads (in Latin), "In the tenth year of King Edward VII, to Queen Victoria, from most grateful citizens, 1910."

Notice how the middle arch is closed?  That is because the Queen is the only person who's allowed to go through it.  They open it up on State occasions so she can glide by in her golden coach.  At all other times the traffic has to make do with the arch on either side.

 We now reached Trafalgar Square--a place where there are always tons of people just congregating to enjoy the surroundings.  At one end is the National Gallery, which

houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900.  We didn't have time to visit, but we'll save that for next time!

At the other end is Nelson's Column, a monument built to commemorate Admiral Horatio Nelson, who died at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

 There are always lots of people sitting on the stairs leading up to it and posing on one of the four lions which surround it.

In the middle of the Square, is a beautiful fountain.

We then walked across the street from Trafalgar square and ate dinner at a great little Italian restaurant.  From there, we walked down the famous Whitehall Street where I had the experience of a lifetime!  One I shall never forget!

 This is the entrance of Horse Guards Arch.  Horse Guards Parade is the area behind this complex.

The Queen's Household Cavalry is the mounted guard at the entrance to Horse Guards Arch. The mounted sentries (who change every hour) are on duty each day from 10am until 4pm, at which time there is a dismounted parade of the Guard.

The Life Guards (in red) and the Blues and Royals (in blue) have been guarding the gateway since Tudor times.  Prior to 4 p.m., you would see a Horse Guard on his steed standing inside those two arches which are now closed.  We had missed them being there because it was after 4.

 After 4, there are two dismounted sentries on duty until the gates are shut at 8 pm, then only one sentry is left on guard until 7 a.m. when the second sentry returns on duty.  This actually predates 1660, and since the reign of King Charles II have been responsible for guarding the Sovereign's palaces.  

So, we were all enjoying taking our pictures with the guard.  They just stand there and say nothing, but are very polite to let you take all the pictures you want.

 

 Too bad I hadn't read this earlier from the internet:

"Contrary to popular belief, they are not purely ceremonial and are fully operational soldiers."

After taking pictures, we were all starting to leave, but then I noticed to the right, behind some iron gates were the caretakers of the horses, feeding them and preparing them for the night.  I was so disappointed that we hadn't been able to see the soldiers on the horses, so I thought, "Mmmm, just maybe I could get a picture of the horses themselves."  BAD IDEA!!!

 In my attempt to get close enough to the gate to capture the picture of the horses in the stalls, suddenly I heard, "Stop!  Please, move away from the gate!!!"  (At least he said, "Please.")  As I started moving, I quickly snapped the picture, and there coming towards me was that quiet young soldier with his bayonet pointed straight at me!  It scared me to death!  All my family who were walking ahead turned in amazement!  Luckily, I must have looked innocent enough or due to the fact that I was quickly joining my family, nothing became of it, but to this day, I still have dreams of me being shackled in the Tower of London!  Wow!

And all I got was this lousy picture!

Note to self:  Next time take the Household Cavalry tour!

It took awhile for my nerves to call down as we continued our walk along Whitehall Street where we saw one of the most famous addresses in the world--10 Downing Street or "Number Ten" as it is known in the United Kingdom.

 10 Downing Street is heavily guarded because yes, this is the headquarters of Her Majesty's Government and the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury, an office held by the Prime Minister, at this time David Cameron.

-->  Over three hundred years old, the building contains about one hundred rooms. There is a private residence on the third floor and a kitchen in the basement. The other floors contain offices and numerous conference, reception, sitting and dining rooms where the Prime Minister works, and where government ministers, national leaders and foreign dignitaries are met and entertained. There is an interior courtyard and, in the back, a terrace overlooking a garden of a half acre.

 

  

Our return walk to the hotel was filled with many wonderful thoughts as we knew we would be going home tomorrow.

 

We had learned to love this beautiful, clean city as well as all the other cities and countrysides in the British Isles--there aren't even garbage cans.  You carry your trash with you and yet, we never saw any debris anywhere!

Red buses will always remind me of London!

And I think we all recognized the pride of the people in their country--of their history and their desire to preserve it.  Everywhere you see that pride!

We had to walk inside the phone booths one last time!

I hope they never remove them--they are just icons of their country!

We returned to our hotel and went to bed early since we would be getting up at 4:30 for our shuttle back to the airport and then our return home.

This is certainly a tour that we will always remember with fondness.  We want to thank our wonderful husbands for being such good sports.  Not only were they great traveling companions, they put up with our constant requests for pictures!

Each of the three sisters took about 1,000 pictures apiece during the sixteen days, so you can imagine how many stops we made to take them.  But the guys were such good sports, and now we have all the memories recorded.  Seriously, if you put the 3,000 pictures together, we would probably have a moving picture of our entire trip!

And to my two wonderful sisters who have a love of learning, history, and traveling like I do, I thank you for making this time so special.  We have gained our love of learning and history from our dear father who always explained and still does explain, everything historically to us to gain better understanding.

After returning to the U.S., George and I said good-bye in Atlanta, Doug and Joyce went to Utah, and Larry and Beverly to Idaho.  We already have plans to where we are going next!  The Holy Land!  Can't wait!