To London for 2 West End shows and

I've been to London twice. The first time was to do a general exploration while catching 2 musicals; The Jersey Boys (fri night) and Wicked (Sat night). The second time was to see my first live NFL football game.

About the shows, it seems it's easy to get a good seat on short notice if one is looking only for one seat.

On Friday nights, the British Museum is open late, so on my way to the Prince Edward Theatre to see the Jersey Boys, I dropped in only for a monent to check out the opening times for the next few days. Then off to the theatre.

Here's the street scene after the show. This is just outside the Prince Edward Theatre. Multiply this scene many times and you'll get an image of what the entire west end zone looks like as midnight approaches.

Both of the shows I saw were absolutely wonderful; the acting, the sets, the singing & music, the theatres themselves; all brillant.

Trafalgar Square, Nelson's Tower with a statue of King Charles I in the foreground. See if you can pick out the large lion in the edge of the picture. On this weekend, there was a music festival going on so I wasn't able to walk through the square. I'll have to go back in the winter. That's the National Gallery in the background which has a statue of George Washington in from if it.

This is looking at the Parliment Building from Parliment Square. The detail of this place is amazing.

Westminster Abbey, looking east. It was closed for viewing by the time I got there in the early afternoon. Another reason to go back.

When travelling to London, pick out the sights you want to see and check their opening times. They don't always conform to what you might think is appropriate.

I finished up my walk this day at Buckingham Palace. That day, the guard had changed at about 11am. I got there at 4pm, but the views were fantastic none the less.

Walking through London

Located on Victoria Street, the Albert is a pub / restaurant where Winston Churchill would stop for drinks during the war (WWII; it is still THE WAR). There is a lot of Churchill memorabilia here and The Albert is about a 10 minute walk from #10 Downing Street.

#10 Downing Street, and the entire street in particular, is closed off from Parliment Street with 10-12 foot high ironwork, guarded by heavily armed military personnel.

This is a Chelsea Pensioner, the first I've meet. He was in The Albert and let me know about some of the history of the place. Dressed as he is, it indicates he lives in The Royal Hospital, set up by King Charles II in 1689. Generally, a Chelsea Pensioner is a retired Career non-commisioned member of the Army, at least 65, and in-pensioners surrender their army pension, in return receiving board, lodging, clothing and full medical care.

This is an interior view of Westminster Catherdal, which for many, many reasons is very unique. Note the columns with 90 deg corners (not square columns, but rectangular). It is one of the most important catherdals of Roman Catholicism in England and if interested, I suggest you visit www.westminstercatherdal.co.uk for more info and pictures. Also, do a google search & check out the images. This is definately NOT a Gothic or Norman styled structure. It's a Byzantine Styled building with a moorish look to it.

From inside the British Museum; this is a photo of one piece of the Parthenon Friezes. The British Museum built a special room to house them, displaying them in the same manner in which they were originally mounted on the Parthenon. Blow this picture up and check out the detail of this carving. Can you count the 5 horses (hint, one only shows part of its head)?

The British Museum has a special list of 30 attractions, The Top 30, for those who only have 3-4 hours to spend. In 4 hours, I got to the fifth item on the list. There is just so much to see. I suspect one could return to the museum daily for a month, not see the same thing twice and still not see all that's there.

Long since aware of its existence and its importance, I was thrilled to see the ROSETTA STONE. It is housed in a glass case and looks rather small, dwarfed by its historical significance. Displayed as it is, it is difficult to get a good picture of it without reflecting the crowd that continuously stands around it.

This is one of the Assyrian Friezes, about 640BC, from the palace at Nineveh, the North Palace. It depicts the Royal lion hunt, the King riding in the chariot.

No, this wasn't a jungle hunt. It was conducted in an arena and in a further effort to ensure the King's safety, the lions were de-fanged and de-clawed. The curator told me that last bit of info., info that surely wasn't passed on to the King's adoring spectators.

A London Visit

Here we are on, of course, Baker Street. Sherlock kept his flat here and his consulting business from 1881 to 1904.

Covent Garden is one of the very interesting market areas in London. There are many different types of vendors and shops, some inside under glass (as in an old fashioned greenhouse held up by intricate iron work) and some opening to the street.

Here's a view of the Westiminster Abbey, located near the south side of Parliment Square. London at night is spectacular.

Both the London Eye and the building to the right change colors rather rapidly. Just as you turn back to it after directing your attention elsewhere, the palette of color has changed offering a new perspective to the view.

From the otherside of the Thames, the Parliment Building looks massive and powerful. It's color remains constant in the soft yellow, creating an impression of the strength of the government.

The New Wembey Stadium; American Football

This is a brand new stadium at Wembley and we're here today to watch the New England Patriots play the Tampa Bay Buchaneers. Tampa has the home team advantage (they'll need it) and the stadium has sold out its 80 plus thousand seats for this once a year NFL event. This is my first attendance at a pro football game, and to think I had to go to England to watch it. Seats are offered via a lottery and the 'leader' of our group of 6 signed up for the lottery over a year ago.

You're looking at the queue for the pre-game tailgame show. It zig-zagged down & up 3 times, then headed for the entrance. Crowds were patient & well behaved & didn't cut. I'm glad I went but would skip the tailgate party in the future. In my opinion, the NFL organized tailgate party is nothing more than an excuse to sell lousy food and NFL football accessories; hats, clothing, jewelry, etc.

Entrance to the stadiun was opened up at 3pm. Up 5 or 6 flights of long stairs to gain entrance to the interior circular walkways that ring the stadium at different levels. This is were more stuff is sold. What stuff you ask? NFL clothing, NFL etc., etc., food & Beer. Once you circle around to the right zone, you walk up the ramp and see this, the impressive sight of a new stadium. The seat are red, which is an easy way to visually measure the number of empties.

It's just about game time, notice the red is all gone, all the seats are filled.

Look close, yep, that's #12. Needless to say(??) the Pats won by a wide margin.

Watching the game live was a big big difference; no replays, no close-ups, no adds (liked that part) and it was a great experience. After the game, the crowds thinned out quickly and the 'authorities' did a great job directing us to the train stations we needed to get to for uor rides back to town; Watford in this case, up north.

SCENES FROM 2 FELL WALKS

With the advise and coaching of one of my Bardsea pub mates, John, I've taken up fell walking. The pack is 20-25 lbs, heavy boots and clothing to match, along with the safety gear that is always carried but I hope isn't required. 20-25 pounds isn't much, especially when one considers what our service personnel wear, but I passed 16 too many decades ago and respect what's left of my knees to be abusive to them, so I pursue my limitations hoping I don't actually reach them; failure being the result.

This is a view from the top of Scafell, the 2nd highest mountain in England. My 2 favorite walking companions & I reached the peak about 1:30 in the afternoon after starting about 10:30. We ate lunch here, then went down a little more than half our ascent, and started up the other side to reach the top of Scafell Pike about 3pm. Scafell Pike is the tallest mountain in England. I enjoyed Scafell better than Scafell Pike. Scafell Pike is a rock pile, and because it's the tallest, it attracts the crowds. Note the sweat soaked hat.

This is Lord's Rake, a gash in the side of Scafell that provides a scramble of a route up the major portion of Scafell. It seemed like a 45 deg pitch and several times we had to move aside as loose rocks would tumble as we sought our footing. There were just the 3 of us on Lord's Rack this morning.

Using the self timer, I took this shot from the top of Harter Fell. Although considered a mid range climb, this was and still is my most memorable walk. I had the top to myself for the hour I was there. There was virtually no wind that day, and the visibility was unlimited. Truely a spectacular day.

This view looks North from the top of Harter Fell. The two tallest peaks in England are in the distance and if you double click on the picture to blow it up, look carefully in the center of the bottom border and you'll see the remains of the Roman Fort; HardKnot Fort, so named for the pass it guards.

This is a typical view of the fells here in the lakes district. Is it any wonder people come from all over the world to visit the the Lakes District National Park? Fortunately for me, they concentrate in the eastern ends, leaving some of the western areas largely undiscovered. This view is in the western portion, west of Coniston.

This is a view of Portnahaven. It is a beautiful little town on the end of a long peninsula known as The Rinns of Islay. We found a great little pub here that served a cracking good seafood salad and fine beer.

Here's another view of Portnahaven. This is looking from NE to SW, across the harbour.

There are some beautiful beaches on Islay. This on is called The Strand and it goes on for miles. It is on Laggan Bay.

In WWI there were 2 transport ships sunk off of Islay (see older post for the American Monument). This cemetery contains the British seamen who perished. Of the 70+ graves, more than half are marked "Known only unto God".

This great private farm is open to the public to walk on their lands. Ardnave Farm is on the north end of yet another peninsula bounded by the Atlantic Ocean and Loch Gruinart.

On the Atlantic coast is Machir Bay, with yet another great beach. Nope, didn't even put my toe in to check the temp. Islay's coast line is a coast of starkly different contrasts. Rocky cliffs that dive into the sea, beautiful beaches such as this, and everything b'twn.

This is another beautiful beach on the west (Atlantic) coast. This is at Saligo Bay.

This is known as Till Naoimh (Kilnave); the remains of an old church that served the once thriving population.

At the same church, another centuries old carved cross known as the Kilnave Cross. Although damaged, this is still impressive.

A view from Kilnave Church looking out over Loch Gruinart.

Finlaggan; once the seat of the Lords of the Isles. Built on a pair of Islands in Loch Finlaggan, it is where the seat of government was for all the western isles and a good portion of the Scottish coast.

A view of Finlaggan and the Loch that protected it.

A visit to Islay isn't complete until you've gone to a Whiskey distiller.

This 'safe' is where the distilled product is fed. The head distiller analyses when to capture for bottling, the right maturity of spirit.

These stills are gigantic. A lot of product can be done at once but it is the careful control of quality that brings out the best in the product.

Here's a view of the rugged south coast of The Oa of Islay. The Oa is a large land mass that is a peninsula off the SW corner of Islay.

This is the landward side of the American Monument. You can double click on the picture, then zoom in and read the plaque.

This is the seaward side of the American Monument on the point of The Oa of Islay.

Main Street in Bowmore looking out to Laggan Bay.

This is a view of the remain of Dunyvaig Castle. We were lucky to have such brilliant weather.

Kildalton Church has an 8th century cross in its cemetery. There are newer graves here too. Family history comes back to this place.

This is the Kildalton Cross, probably carved in the 2nd half of the 8th century. It is in remarkable condition and is said to be one of the best examples in Britain.