Sept 11 - Our 2nd Show: The Jersey Boys
While the rest of the world was remembering 9/11 and the horrific Twin Tower's bombings, we, here in London set out to have a fabulous 85th birthday for my cousin, Lloyd. He's had his own trials this year with the death of his beloved wife and a fire catastrophe to his 45 year old home. So we all determined that we would make this a day to remember!
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| We have hired a private tour guide in a limousine to take us all around London to see the main sights. |
Kensington Gardens
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| Exciting! I sang here with the American Youth Symphony & Chorus in 1969. |
Our 1st stop is the famous Royal Albert Concert Hall. It is located on the northern edge of South Kensington, best known for holding
the Proms concerts annually each summer since 1941. 5,272 seats is its capacity.
Its opening was in March of 1871 by Queen Victoria. A concert followed, when the Hall's acoustic problems became immediately apparent.
It used to be jokingly said that the Hall was "the only place where a British composer could be sure of hearing his work twice".
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| The Hall on opening day from Kensington Gardens. |
Queen Victoria was raised in Kensington Palace, so when Prince Albert died at the age of 42 in 1861, she placed a monument in the Park.
Queen Victoria was born and raised at Kensington Palace, so when Prince Albert died of typhoid in 1861 she placed a memorial in the park. - from http://www.londondrum.com
The Albert Memorial was designed by Sir Gilbert Scott in 1872 and
measures 180-feet from tip to toe. The whole thing is gilded-gold and
surrounded by 169 marble figures from history. - from http://www.londondrum.com
The Albert Memorial was designed by Sir Gilbert Scott in 1872 and
measures 180-feet from tip to toe. The whole thing is gilded-gold and
surrounded by 169 marble figures from history. - from http://www.londondrum.com
The Albert Memorial was designed by Sir Gilbert Scott in 1872 and
measures 180-feet from tip to toe. The whole thing is gilded-gold and
surrounded by 169 marble figures from history. - from http://www.londondrum.com
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| The whole thing is gilded gold. |
The Prince had told his wife that he didn't want a statue, but he didn't get his wish as it turned out to be the most exuberant statue in all of London.
Our guide took us through town pointing out so many amazing sites and gave us tons of information. I don't remember everything, of course, but following are some tid-bits of information.
Harrod's is an upmarket department store in the Royal Borough of Kensington Chelsea. The store occupies a 5-acre site and has over one million square feet
of selling space in over 330 departments making it the biggest department store in Europe.
It was started in 1849 as a small grocery store. Today its motto is: "Omnia, omnibus, ubique".... -"Everything for everyone, everywhere." The shop even once sold a baby elephant from its pet department. Our guide said the store recently was sold for 2 billion pounds. Whew! Guess what? The 2nd most widely spoken language in London is....Arabic, so I wonder who bought it.
The 'Green Men' will kick you out if dress code is not adhered to - even jeans or leggings.
Its motto is a simple Omnia, omnibus, ubique
– Everything for everyone, everywhere.
- from London Drum city guide
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| Harrod's - the BIGGEST department store in ALL of Europe....LET'S STOP NOW!! |
Buckingham Palace -
5 minute tour of the outside of the residence of her majesty, the Queen.
This was, after all, a tour around London for just a day, so we only had a taste of it. We'll come back here in a couple of days.
Buckingham
Palace was built by the 1st Duke of Buckingham in 1702. It was
originally planned to be a country mansion at the edge of St. James
Park.
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| No changing of the guards for a couple of days PLUS the Queen is not at home - the flag is flying. |
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| Queen Victoria Memorial -commemorates the longest-reigning monarch. It is carved from a 2,000 lb. block of solid marble. It was unveiled by George V in 1911. |
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| Florence Nightingale - founder of modern nursing |
This statue of Florence Nightingale, sculpted in 1867 by AG Walker, backs onto the Crimean War
Memorial. Oddly, she carries an oil lamp, instead of her actual candle
lantern. Nurses leave a wreath here every year on May 12 - the
anniversary of the death of ‘The Lady With The Lamp’ who transformed
military hospitals.
Trafalgar Square was laid out between 1829 and 1841 to commemorate Lord Nelson's victory at the Battle of Trafalgar. There are four plinths around the edge, with statues of important men on three. The fourth has been empty because of lack of funds until recently when a contest was held.
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| Katharina Fritsch’s “Hahn/Cock,” an ultramarine cockerel meant to symbolize male-dominated Britain |
John is all smiles when he sees the horses of the Queen. He's around them every day back home in Kansas, so he's really missed the 4-legged creatures.
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| These horses have to stand still still still for 3-4 hours at a time. Poor Black Beauties!! |
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| London police in their highly visible jackets. |
Palace of Westminster
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| A view of Westminster Abbey - we got to go inside for a tour! |
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| Victoria Tower in all her splendor. Completed in 1858, it was the tallest secular building in the world. |
The
Jewel Tower is a 14th-century surviving element of the royal Palace.
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| It was built between 1365 and 1366, to house the personal treasure of Edward III. |
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| There were a couple of different rallies/protests going on while we were there. |
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| Another view of Victoria Tower |
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| The famous Elizabeth Tower or "Big Ben" in the background. |
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| I really enjoyed going through Westminster Abbey - SO MUCH HISTORY! It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for British monarchs, |
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| St. Margaret's Church - next to Westminster Abbey |
John Wesley is credited with the foundation of the evangelical
movement known as Methodism. Throughout his life, Wesley remained within the established
Anglican church, insisting that "the Methodist movement lay well within its tradition."
He became widely respected and, by the end of his life, had been
described as "the best loved man in England".
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| John Wesley - Father of Methodism 1703-1791 |
Lloyd and John wanted to go to another English pub, so we tried the Old London Pub.
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| "Bring us in good ale - bring us in good ale." I remember this song from college. |
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| Having a "jolly good" time with our tour guide. |
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| The boys had a typical British meat pie dinner with peas - what else? |
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| I had salmon and it was VERY good. |
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| Not sure what this is, but it was interesting. |
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| "Now this is an interesting building"..... |
The Tower of London
The Tower of London was built by William the Conqueror after the Norman conquest. It survived the next 900 years as palace, prison, royal mint, and execution yard, before becoming London's top tourist attraction.
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| To commemorate the 100th year since WWI began, poppies are all around in the moat. BEAUTIFUL!! |
The red poppies to honor the dead are made of ceramic. It was quite a sight!
More photos of the Tower of London. We had to do the visit in an hour (most people have a whole day) because our driver had to get back to another job.
The oldest part of this historic site is the White Tower. I think this is photo of it, but I'm not sure.
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| Beautiful glass monument commemorating the executions here. |
Anne Boleyn was one of the unfortunate ones to lose her life here at the Tower of London. The year was 1536. Remember, she was Queen Elizabeth I mother.
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| Augghh...there goes my head in one clean swoop! |
“Gentle visitor pause a while,
Where you stand death cut away death cut away the light of many days.
Here, jeweled names were broken from the vivid thread of life.
May they rest in peace while we walk the generations around their strife and courage,
Under these restless skies.” (The wording on the Tower Green monument)
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| On to the Crown Jewels exhibit. |
Crown Jewels refer to all the things worn by the sovereign of the United Kingdom during the coronation ceremony
and at other state functions. The earliest dates from 200-150 B.C.
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| The Imperial Crown has over 3,000 precious gems and weighs over 2 pounds. That's it worth??!!! |
The presence of 7 ravens is traditionally believed to protect the Crown
and the Tower; a superstition
holds that "If the Tower of London ravens are lost or fly away, the Crown will fall and Britain with it."
Designed in 2000 by Renzo Piano,
The Shard is London's tallest skyscraper and the UK's 2nd tallest building. Its pyramidal shape and glass exterior quickly lent it the nickname, "The Shard of Glass."
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| Sculptured Animals overlook the old moat of the Tower of London. |
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| 5-Star Hotel - The Ritz - in Picadilly |
Now it's time to "Put on the Ritz" and dress up for another show. YEAH! After all, it is Lloyd's birthday, so we're going to see a show about the famous 4 Seasons Band that we all grew up with.
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| In the lobby of our hotel. |
There are 241 theatres in London - isn't that crazy! People really love culture and it's the thing to do!
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| The Jersey Boys show - and I'm with MY boys! |
....but first, let's EAT! Lloyd's request is to go to the BEST Pub in town and we have less than an hour to do it. After some inquiries, we find a 300 year old "best in London" pub and IT WAS GOOD!
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| Famous for their "Steak and Ale Pies" - made onsite....my boys are very intent on eating! |
I can't really remember who ordered what, but they ALL were great! I think I had the meat pie!
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| Fish 'n Chips & mushy peas |
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| We're looking pretty content! |
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| Our cute little English waitress...love the way they talk. |
Piccadilly Circus is a road junction and public space of London's West End in the City of Westminster, built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with Piccadilly. In this context, a circus, from the Latin word meaning "circle", is a round open space at a street junction. Our show was right here, so during intermission I went out and took a couple photos.
I loved the music of the Four Seasons. Guess which song REALLY made them famous? In 1962, the group released their first album, featuring the single "Sherry," which was not only their first charted hit but also their first number-one song. I ended up changing my name from Sharon to Sherry shortly afterwards to the chagrin of my family. ha!
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| Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons |
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| ENCORE! ENCORE! |
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| Everyone LOVED it! |
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| Our carriage tonight was all lit up and played music. Is that "Happy Birthday" I hear? |
Thank-you London for a wonderful city. Thank-you Tour Guide and Driver for a lovely tour. Thank-you Lloyd and John for your companionship and for asking me to accompany you to the UK! What a day!!
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