June 22, 2010 - River Thames Cruise to Hampton Court Palace

It's July 2nd and I'm still adding updates (and re-formating pages so the paragraphs are differentiated).

Do check the index in the lower right column of this blog to visit individual posts, many of which have recently been edited with new pictures and videos!

You'll see a bird species list update when the blog has been completely updated.

In the meantime, enjoy a compilation of video clips taken on our cruise from London's Millennium Pier to Hampton Court Palace.

Prince Albert Memorial

On our last evening in London we did some birding in Kensington Gardens, across the street from our hotel.

At the opposite end of the park we came upon the Prince Albert Memorial. Quite an elaborate and imposing structure!

Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial

We did some evening birding in Hyde Park, a short walk from our hotel, and we encountered the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial by the Hyde Park Lido.

It is an unusual memorial in that it isn't an imposing structure or statue. Nonetheless is was full of people enjoying putting their feet in the water, or picnicing in the middle of the fountain. Here we are at one of the sections of the circular memorial.

At first impression it didn't seem to be much of a memorial. But you quickly find yourself being engaged by it's many dimensions.

June 23, 2010 - The British Library and Harrod's

We decided that we should pick a sunny day to travel by boat to Hampton Court Palace. So we altered our itinerary to travel there earlier in the week as the forecast called for a brilliantly sunny day on June 22nd. We then had to alter our itinerary for June 23rd because I was incredibly sunburned.

So, what's a good place to visit in London where it's cool and dark? The British Library! A London double-decker bus went direct from in front of our hotel to the British Library entrance.

Photos are below.

Only at the British Library can one see such an extensive collection of ancient (2000+ years old) and medieval manuscripts, as well as significant historical documents.

We viewed the Magna Carta, Lindisfarne Gospel, Gospel fragments from around 150AD, and so much more. Plus, there was a special exhibition on maps from throughout history and another special exhibit on the South American Independence Movement.

Photography inside the British Library isn't permitted, but you can get a look at their extraordinary collection by clicking here. This will take you to the British Library's website page showing all of their collections that one can view.

After spending several hours at the British Library we took a double-decker bus direct to Harrod's where we did some shopping. Then we hopped on another bus which took us back to our hotel via Marble Arch (and the northeastern corner of Hyde Park). You'll see photos of us outside Harrod's, and at Marble  Arch, below.

June 25, 2010 - Changing of the Guard

We had superb views of the Changing of the Guard from the Victoria Memorial. Afterwards we went to the Queen's Gallery to view the special exhibition of "Victoria & Albert - Art and Love". An absolutely amazing exhibit!









Here are some photos of the guards inside the grounds of Buckingham Palace.

After these photos you'll see a link to the Victoria & Albert: Art & Love exhibit at The Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace.

As we walked over to The Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace (on the spot where the private chapel was located until it was destroyed by a German bomb in World War II). This exhibit rivaled the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London!

Click on the link below to see and listen to details about this phenomenal exhibit.

Victoria & Albert: Art & Love

And the restrooms at Buckingham Palace are unequaled in opulence anywhere in the world!

Afterwards we did some birding in Hyde Park (one of London's Royal Parks) which is a short walk from our hotel. We saw Great-necked Grebes, Great Tits, Stock Doves, Red-crested Pochards and, of course, Her Majesty's Swans.

And there's also one video of us riding atop the Open Air Sightseeing Bus (we rode today all over London atop the bus in the very front).

June 21, 2010 - The River Thames & Millennium Bridge

Here are two videos taken from the Millennium Bridge, which connects St. Paul's Cathedral on the north side of the river with the Tate Modern museum on the south side of the river. These were taken as we walked to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on June 21, 2010.

Today's update - our trip to the British Library and Harrod's - will come later.

Oh... USA 1, Belgium 0.

Enjoy!

June 22, 2010 - Hampton Court Palace, Wimbledon and World Cup

Did a boat cruise to Hampton Court Palace in brilliant sunshine. I'm quite sunburned. Mom wisely took to the shade on the lower deck periodically and did not turn red as I did.

The 25 video clips I took during the 3 1/2 hour cruise to Hampton Court Palace have been compiled into one video of just under 3 minutes. This video, below, will let you see how the trip along The Thames progresses from the center of London to the open spaces of Hampton Court Palace. It was quite a spectacular trip, and we highly recommend it if you're visiting London, but you'll probably want to do a one-way journey (with a quick return by train as we did) so as to maximize your time at Hampton Court.



Birds we saw along the route included Grey Herons, Swifts, Swallows, Sand Martins, House Martins, Cormorants, Shags, Pied Wagtails and a very rare Montagu's Harrier.

Mom met a dog on the boat ride to Hampton Court. This is at Teddington Locks as we were getting close to Hampton Court Palace.

Here's an inner courtyard at Hampton Court Palace. We saw a Pied Wagtail in the grass here!

Our return journey to Waterloo Station in London stopped at Wimbledon where we took on passengers at the tennis tournament (the station is right there at the stadium).

After arriving at our hotel we went out to a local pub where we ate Fish & Chips, drank pints of beer, and joined the crowds in the pub cheering the World Cup game playing on the TVs.

A very exciting day!

June 21, 2010 - Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

We were able to get tickets to "Henry VIII" at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. Took The Tube to St. Paul's Station and then walked to the Millennium Bridge, a new pedestrian footbridge that crosses the Thames to the Tate Modern, which is next to the Globe Theatre.

It's quite a spectacular walk from St. Paul's to the Thames, and it's only been since the opening of the bridge that there has been an unobstructed view of St. Paul's from across the river to the cathedral.

And it's a busy bridge, too! Foot traffic between the Tate Modern, Globe Theatre and St Paul's, combined with locals going from one side to the other, makes it a bustling place.

Upon reaching the Globe Theatre we picked up our tickets and then headed to "The Yard". That's where the Groundlings (those who watch from the standing room on the ground level in front of the stage) watch the play.


Although one has to stand the entire time, one is literally just feet away from the actors. And the actors are frequently coming down into the crowd in The Yard during the performance... at times we had the actors performing right next to us!

This is a view inside the open air theatre (fortunately it was perfect weather).

At the bottom of the picture you can see some people standing in the yard. I'll have a video of the yard when it was filling up with everyone a bit later when I have time for extensive uploading of videos.

And here we are waiting to enter The Yard.

Notice I have my backpack. When I realized mom was going to places such as Westminster Abbey, Churchill Cabinet and War Rooms, etc., with her binoculars in her purse ("I don't know why my purse is so heavy?") I started taking my backpack with me so that I could fit her purse in the backpack and lighten her load.

Makes quite a difference!

After the outstanding performance we walked back across the Millennium Bridge.

Evening comes late in London, and we had a wonderful view as we approached St. Paul's Cathedral.

The picture simply doesn't do justice to the Robin egg blue sky and the pale pink clouds above the cathedral.

And one walks around the cathedral to get to the Tube stop. From there it's about a 15 minute ride to our hotel.

June 21, 2010 - Birds of Kensington Palace

For starters, we've seen some very interesting life birds. Birds such as.... the Coot. Yes, the British Coot, though identical (to us) in appearance to the North American Coot, is a different species.

We've also seen these life birds:

White-headed duck
Kingfisher
Blackbird (looks like a grackle, acts like a thrush)
Wood Pidgeon
Magpie
Grey Heron
Robin (looks like a warbler, acts like a junco)
Carrion Crow
Ringed-neck parakeet
White Pelican (really, they were white. This isn't a BP joke)


And here are some videos of some "royal" birds we saw at Kensington Palace.



And we also saw "Britain's Favourite Bird" the Robin. This special Robin lives at Kensington Palace.



And though the Mute Swan may seem ordinary, this one is owned by The Queen.

June 21, 2010 - Kensington Palace and Gardens / Globe Theatre

As we're across the street from Kensington Gardens and Kensington Palace, and we'll have a late night at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre seeing a production of Henry VIII, we decided to make it an easy day by doing some birding in Kensington Gardens. After which we took in the new exhibition at Kensington Palace (current home of TRH The Duke & Duchess of Kent and TRH Prince & Princess Michael of Kent).

This is the view we have from our rooms at the hotel. The gate into Kensington Gardens is in the center of the picture, and it's a short walk through the extensive park to Kensington Palace.

Here's a view of our walk as we approached Kensington Gardens' Round Pond.


Enroute to Kensington Palace we walked past the Round Pond where we encountered a large flock of mute swans. Like all swans in England, they are owned by The Queen.

To the left is mom outside the front gate of Kensington Palace. What a beautifully sunny and warm day!

And of course, Mom on her throne in the Throne Room.

  

Then we went to Kensington Palace's Orangery, which was built in the early 1700's. Today The Orangery is used as a setting for Afternoon Tea. Of course, we had a Champagne Afternoon Tea. The perfect meal after an extensive tour of the palace.

While leaving the palace grounds we made a quick walk around the formal garden and discovered "Britain's favourite bird", the Robin! Quite a small, yet perky bird.


Then we had a nice walk back to our hotel so we could have a rest before our very busy 2nd half of the day. Somehow mom caught me in a non-smile in the photo below!



And we just returned from Henry VIII at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on the River Thames opposite St. Paul's Cathedral. Wow! What an incredible performance!

Here's a view below at sunset outside The Globe Theatre looking across the Thames to the City of London.


And inside the theatre we had front row... well, we didn't have seats. We were "Groundlings" who stood for the performance. But we had the best viewing in the theatre as the actors were either on stage just feet away from us or they were amongst the Groundlings in the "Yard". We highly recommend The Globe's "Henry VIII".

June 20, 2010 - London!

The day started off with a ride on a double-decker bus (yes, we sat on the top level in the front row) to Piccadilly area where we picked up our London Pass at the London / Britain Visitor Centre. Then we hopped on another bus for a quick trip to Parliament Square so we could attend the 11:15am service at Westminster Abbey.

The service was a sung Eucharist and we were fortunate enough to sit with the Choir in the choir stalls by the high altar. That's right behind where the Royal Family sit.

Words can't describe how large and magnificent it is, and we were enthralled with all the memorials we passed as we made our way to the front of the church. As it was a Sunday there were no tours. But what an experience to be there for a service!

Then we visited Methodist Central Hall (below) across the street and had lunch in the café beneath the church.

Here's a video of the view we had walking from Westminster Abbey to the Jewel Tower next door. Look closely and you'll get a glimpse of London's famous Roadmaster double-decker bus. Their withdrawal from service in 2005 was so sorely missed by Londoners that the Mayor of London was forced to bring them back on "Heritage Routes".

Then it was back across the street, past Westminster Abbey, to the Jewel Tower. Built in the 1300's the Jewel Tower is the oldest remaining part of the original Palace of Westminster.

Of course, there's the obligatory stop at the quintessential British telephone booth!

The phone booths are everywhere, just like the double-decker buses.

We visited the Churchill Cabinet & War Rooms which are underground (one could spend an entire day there it seemed).

We walked across Westminster Bridge and paid our respects to Queen Boudica (the statue) on the way back.

And did some birding in St. James Park (amazingly we saw lots of life birds while sitting on a park bench!).

We ended our first day on Westminster Bridge, by the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, and were reminded of Wordsworth's poem "Ode Composed Upon Westminster Bridge"

Earth has not any thing to show more fair:

Dull would be he of soul who could pass by

A sight so touching in its majesty:

This City now doth like a garment wear

The Beauty of the morning; silent, bare,

Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie

Open unto the fields, and to the sky;

All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.

And at that point Big Ben signaled the time for us to return to our hotel by chiming 5pm.



And here's a quick video of us riding the Tube back to our hotel.

Boston to London - June 19, 2010

We had a lovely flight on British Airways from Boston to London Heathrow. Brunch was served shortly after our morning takeoff, and then we had Afternoon Tea about an hour prior to landing.

We kind of landed twice. A plane was on our runway just seconds before we touched down, so we experienced the Boeing 777's two powerful engines on maximum thrust as we aborted our landing and did a loop around London for a second (and fortunately, successful) landing attempt.

Then we took the high speed Heathrow Express train to Paddington Station (only 15 minutes!) where we had a very short taxi ride to our hotel at Kensington Gardens.

We have lovely views from our hotel of Kensington Gardens and are seeing lots of life birds simply by looking out the windows. We'll provide more bird updates soon, as well as try to get up-to-speed on posting our day's events.

But we have lots of sights to see, and incredible birding right outside our hotel!

Our London Birding Itinerary

Some of the items on our itinerary are:

June 18, 2010 - Mom flies from Orlando to Boston

June 19, 2010 - Morning flight from Boston to London Heathrow
                         Heathrow Express Rail Link to Paddington
                         Taxi to Hotel at Kensington Gardens / Hyde Park

June 20, 2010 - Morning birding in Kensington Gardens & Hyde Park
                         Westminster Abbey
                         Churchill War & Cabinet Rooms
                         Jewel Tower
                         Thames River Cruise to Greenwich
                         DLR and London Tube back to hotel

June 21, 2010 - Morning birding in Kensington Gardens & Hyde Park
                         Tower of London
                         Tower Bridge Exhibition
                         HMS Belfast

June 22, 2010 - Morning birding in Kensington Gardens & Hyde Park
                         Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace
                         The Queen's Gallery
                         The Royal Mews
                         Buckingham Palace Garden Party with Queen
                         Elizabeth II

June 23, 2010 - Morning birding in Kensington Gardens & Hyde Park
                         Thames River Cruise to Hampton Court Palace
                         Hampton Court Palace
                        
June 24, 2010 - Morning birding in Kensington Gardens & Hyde Park
                         St. Paul's Cathedral
                         The Museum of London
                         Tea at The Orangery at Kensington Palace

June 26, 2010 - Morning birding in Kensington Gardens & Hyde Park
                         London Wetland Centre (for birding)
                         The British Library
                         The British Museum

June 27, 2010 - Morning birding in Kensington Gardens & Hyde Park
                         Afternoon Flight from London Heathrow to Boston

June 28, 2010 - Mom flies from Boston to Orlando