Tourists in our town

July 23 - August 3

With Joe's mom and brother in town, we've been hitting many of the major tourist sites about town the last week and half.

On Thursday we jaunted on down to the Tower of London to spend a few hours perusing...

Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London (and historically as The Tower), is the oldest building used by the British government.

The Tower of London is a complex of several buildings set within two concentric rings of defensive walls and a moat.

Its primary function was a fortress, a royal palace, and a prison (particularly for high status and royal prisoners, such as the Princes in the Tower and the future Queen Elizabeth I). This last use has led to the phrase "sent to the Tower" (meaning "imprisoned"). It has also served as a place of execution and torture, an armoury, a treasury, a zoo, the Royal Mint, a public records office, an observatory, and since 1303, the home of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom.

The Crown Jewels have been kept at the Tower of London since 1303, after they were stolen from Westminster Abbey. It is thought that most, if not all, were recovered shortly afterwards. After the coronation of Charles II, they were locked away and shown for a viewing fee paid to a custodian. However, this arrangement ended when Colonel Thomas Blood stole the Crown Jewels after having bound and gagged the custodian. Thereafter, the Crown Jewels were kept in a part of the Tower known as Jewel House, where armed guards defended them.

Upon entering the Tower, our first stop was the Medieval Palace, which contains "fabulous" interiors used by medieval kings and queens during their frequent but short visits to their most important fortress.

We then oohed and aahed over the Crowned Jewels, which were pre-empted by videos showing some of them in use in coronations and parades. From there, we headed to the White Tower, where a special exhibit -- Dressed to Kill (described below) -- celebrates the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII.

Some of the world's rarest arms and armour have been selected from the treasures of the Royal Armouries and international collections. These spectacular objects have not been seen together since the reign of his daughter Elizabeth I. Part propaganda, part fashion, the exhibition conveys the power, majesty, wealth and psychology of the man, the icon and the king - who always ensured he was "Dressed to Kill."

Towered out, we hustled back home so Jim and Joan could head to Rome w/ Claire and Joe. Ava and I elected to stay home and order pizza.

On Friday, as Joe and co. checked out the Vatican and surroundings, Ava and grabbed umbrellas and headed off to Winsdor for Ava's first ballet performance. She and I were captivated by the English National Ballet's performance of Angelina Ballerina's Big Audition.

It was performed in the Windsor Royal Theatre, which is a beautiful, historic, very intimate theatre in downtown Windsor, right across from the castle (seems like everything is right across from the castle, given its size).

Very well done, with wonderful costuming and staging. All told, it lasted an hour, perfect for all the lovely little girls in the audience (there were a few boys and men, not many). I might add that Ava wore her pink ballet costume for the event.

We traversed our way back via train and tube, then embarked once again in the rain to have pasta at Cafe Med, a nice local restaurant with fireplace up and running to counter the drizzle.

On Saturday, which dawned sunny and gorgeous, we bussed it down to Victoria Station, grabbed a ticket from the machine and hopped on a train to Brighton, a well known beach town and destination for London's upper crust in the 18th century.

It's an easy town to wander; we found our way down to the pebbly beach right away, where we grabbed lunch and played in the water. Then wandered through some beach area markets and into a huge playground, where Ava spent plenty of time. Her favorite seemed to be the wading pool.

From there we checked out the pier, penny arcade and merry go round (have hit more merry go rounds in the past year than I would ever have imagined), then into the windy streets of downtown. We were in search of a dry dress, given Ava's was soaked from the beach. Eventually, after perusing every area of town (or so it seemed -- the place is filled with with restaurants, by the way), we found a Gap, got a little purple number and stopped for a drink before heading back toward the train.

Lovely, easy out of town trip, and so nice to soak up the sun, along with hundreds of other visitors.

On Sunday we headed down to the Covent Garden area for a performance of "Going on a Bear Hunt," Ava's first play. Again, a small theatre and we had great seats, not too close to the stage yet close enough (mid way through the audience, particularly those in front, got doused w/ squirt guns). So we were in drier territory.

The play was fun, with great music to set the tone, lots of audience interaction/participation and just the right length for the young crowd. Ava seemed to enjoy it very much. She and I then headed down to the Sunday market for some meat, veggies and bread, stopping at a sidewalk cafe for lunch on the way home.

Very nice weekend.

Our travelers returned Monday morning, with Joan electing to relax a bit, given a very early flight and lots of walking around hot Rome.

Jim headed down to the British Museum and around town to explore on his own.

Tuesday we tripped off to Windsor Castle and spent several hours wandering through. It's absolutely lovely, with much history and gorgeous, detailed decor, and it's also fun to see one of the properties that is actually lived in and used for various royal functions throughout the year.

Windsor is the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world and the Official Residence of Her Majesty The Queen. Its rich history spans almost 1000 years. The Castle covers an area of about 5 hectares (13 acres) and contains magnificent State Apartments furnished with treasures from the Royal Collection, St George's Chapel (one of the most beautiful ecclesiastical buildings in England and the burial place of 10 monarchs), and Queen Mary's Dolls House, a masterpiece in miniature.

We checked all of the above out, with audio guides to give us some detail on what we were seeing.

Starving, we wolfed down some ice cream before leaving the place (the only food served in the place -- plan accordingly when you go!) and headed back to London via trains/tube. Great day out!

Wednesday found us at Buckingham Palace for a special tour of the State Rooms, which are only open to the public for a couple months of the year. That, too, was a great experience:

Buckingham Palace serves as both the office and London residence of Her Majesty The Queen, as well as the administrative headquarters of the Royal Household. It is one of the few working royal palaces remaining in the world today.

Today the State Rooms are used extensively by The Queen and Members of the Royal Family to receive and entertain their guests on State, ceremonial and official occasions. During August and September when The Queen makes her annual visit to Scotland, the Palace's nineteen state rooms are open to visitors.

The State Rooms form the heart of the working palace and are lavishly furnished with some of the greatest treasures from the Royal Collection - paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Poussin and Canaletto; sculpture by Canova; exquisite examples of Sèvres porcelain; and some of the finest English and French furniture.

As part of the Summer Opening of the State Rooms, an exhibition of dresses, jewels, photographs, and gifts presented to Her Majesty by the people of the Commonwealth is on display.

The Queen has travelled further than any other monarch in history and has made over 170 official visits to Commonwealth countries during her reign. The exhibition represents six regions of the Commonwealth: Africa, Australia and New Zealand, Canada, The Caribbean and Central America, Asia (including India), Island Peoples and Pacific Realms. It highlights The Queen’s role at the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings, of which she has attended 32, and some particularly important inward State Visits from Commonwealth countries.

On the way out we got to tour the gardens, which are gorgeous.

Back at home, the kids and I headed off to a birthday party while Jim and Joan relaxed a bit and got ready for the theatre -- they were off to see Jersey Boys at one of the historic theatres in Leicester Square.

Jim left Thursday; Joan, the kids and I spent a couple hours at the Princess Diana Memorial Playground, which they love. After ice cream we wandered over to Kensington Palace to check out Lady Di's dresses and ended up wandering through the Palace rooms, which are lovely and very different from the other palace rooms we saw earlier in the week.

On Friday we took the tube down to Covent Garden and sat outside watching street entertainers and the big crowd gathering around them. It was a gorgeous day just to relax and wander -- we had cookies at Ben's, checked out the market, then made our way back to St. John's Wood to relax on the patio.

Joe, Joan and I had dinner at the Warrington, a gastropub in a lovely, very British building, formerly a hotel. The interior is warm, with much wood, lovely mirrors and decor. The restaurant upstairs serves very good English food, so we had beers in the bar, then moved up for our meal.

Saturday found us at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, a wooden round theatre with thatched roof, a replica of the original Shakespearean venue that was built in the 1500's. (It had burned down -- in the 1900's an American actor spearheaded re-creation of today's Globe, which hosts performances through part of the year -- April to October, I think. It's open air, with some wooden benches protected from the weather. As was done during Shakespeare's time, the "cheap" seats are for those willing to stand for 2 hours, rain or no rain, without umbrellas.)

We took a tour of the facility, wherein a guide showed us the theatre and gave us a bit of background, then shepherded us in to a couple of different vantage points so we could watch as a group rehearsed for Helen of Troy, opening the following evening.

No speakers are used, so the wood makeup of the theatre is essential for acoustics, as is the round shape of the building. Costuming is done similarly to how it would have been during Shakespeare's time. In short, the Globe works extensively to re-create the experience of old.

After the tour we wandered through the museum, which provides a great deal of history regarding London during Shakespeare's time, his plays, language, costumes, makeup, etc. Lots of interactive displays, which made it interesting for the kids (you could see how various stage effects were achieved, for example, or record yourself saying lines, then listen as they were incorporated with other actors' delivery).

One part of the facility has a stage and practice area, so small groups were fencing and practicing various other performance skills while we wandered through.

After a sandwich at the Globe cafe we headed home to relax a bit.

For Sunday Mass we made our way down to Westminster Cathedral. Joe and Ava escorted Joan up to the bell tower to look out over London, while Claire and I shopped for a cross for our house.

We then attended Mass, perused the church and came away with our lovely wooden cross.

After a quick bite at Pret (these places are all over London and are my favorite fast food venue -- grab and go sandwiches), we headed home and I hit the theatre for the 2nd movie I've seen since leaving the U.S.: Coco before Chanel.

I enjoyed it very much; it's a French film, subtitled, beautiful acting.

Upon my return we had a pizza making party!