I'll start with the bad stuff that happened first before I get on another tirade about how great it was. When I visited Jonathan last 4th of July I flew Ryan Air without much of an issue. It was more miscommunication that was solved in a few hours rather painlessly. I wish it were so this time. On the return back we all took the train to get to the airport. Well, as the powers beyond us would have it the train was delayed for 3 hours causing us to miss our flight. Once we got to the airport and reported the issue with the hundreds of other people in similar situation our solutions we less than appealing. In order to get on the waiting list for the next available flight back to Germany they had a 50 pound service charge (that is roughly 100 USD) per ticket. Out of options we had to do that, luckily we got on the flight and all was well. Adding 100USD to the tail end of a trip is not the best note to end an awesome vacation though. I will never fly Ryan Air again, by choice.
Rewind back to the beginning of the weekend now. Myles and Kelly picked me on the "sheim" (my affectionate nickname for my post). Fast forward from all the driving and details like that we got to England without incident. Once we got our lodgings settled we hit the city. Between the underground and walking we got around just fine. The adjustment to the pound was a difficult one. First being reminded how much our own currency sucks, and second the fact that everything costs at least 2x as much because of the difference. Everything seem to be appropriately priced if there were no currency difference it would all be the same cost as stateside, oh how that would've been a great IF... The only way I could justify the costs was a cross between convincing myself it was like a dollar to them and I am on vacation.
So getting on with the photoblog part.
Famous Big Ben, yea it's big.
This looked cool, it is the Admiralty Arch
Buckingham Palace, the home of the Queen, but she wasn't home when I visited. I didn't try to go check though...
Those famous palace guards, I wonder if they actually get loaded weapons, I am pretty sure that is an SA-80 they are packing.
Double decker bus, yea, no longer in official London service but there is tour buses EVERYWHERE.
Enough said, the ribs were yummy, it was cool to see all the memorabilia. I think it was mostly Pete Townshend and Eric Clapton.
It is a London Bobbie at the airport, I was really hoping to get a picture of her co-worker that is not pictured cause he had a nice looking rifle but he asked not to be pictured.
I would've taken a picture of the actual bridge but it is nothing special just a standard concrete bridge...
A piece of the real Roman Wall, it is a fascinating piece of history to trace back to the roots of the nation/culture.
St Paul's Cathedral ummm it is famous and cool looking.
Yea the Tower Bridge, I wish we went inside those.
Another one of London's main sites Trafalgar Square
Henry VIII armor, it was cool and shiny. Really hard to get a well lighted angle so the picture would come out. The groin protection thingy is rather interesting, I wonder what was the purpose of that...
This is huge, it is Wellington Arch it was one of those monuments that one takes a breath of awe for.
WWI Memorial, Honor the Fallen
I guess some really famous royals got married & coronated here.
This is known as the White Tower, the Yeoman Warder Dave was an awesome tour guide, the requirements to be one is scary, they need to be a Senior NCO with 22+ years of service and a medal only received after 18 years of no blemishes on their record.
Well that is all the pictures I wanted to post. The vast majority of the pictures are more the kind you can look up. The lasting impression of London is a certain kind of appreciation. I find it inspiring how there are so many monuments and memorials to their past. The first day I was snapping at everything in sight, as the weekend went on it was apparent my camera didn't have sufficient memory (512mb) to capture every monument to the heroes and honored of the past.
I see much that we can learn from such a city. I don't know if the culture truly believes or exhibits this but the structures throughout the city certainly do. Honor their past, I suppose it is easier for a country to do so with such a long and rich past, unlike ours. I haven't been touring on the East Coast to see our monuments and memorials to our past. I doubt it can or will be as inspiring as my travels from this weekend. I am stirred and left wondering what would it be like if I lived in such a place that I couldn't walk a mile and not pass 3 separate structures honoring the past?
How do we honor our fallen? I remember reading about the WWII memorial when it was commissioned to be built. In the article it said that the average age of the sponsors reflected that is was the WWII veterans funding their own memorial. Is it just me or is there something wrong with that? One of the statues in Trafalgar Square, it was of Sir Charles James Napier has inscribed on it "erected by public subscription the most numerous contributors being private soldiers". I think it is fair to process that those were soldiers that served under him. What kind of leader was he that his own soldiers paid to have a memorial for him? Something that rings home in my world. I have had commanders on different spectrums of leadership style and method. To have one that the soldiers would initiate a memorial for, that is something to aspire for any leader.
It was an great trip, despite the downfalls and costs. The experience gained is a small price to pay for something that reduces some electronic numbers in an account that represents cloth and digital signals we use to determine a person's wealth. Hardly what I would prescribe as being wealth.
