London, England Christmas/New Year's 1999 Road Trip December 16-17 Arrive in London, Spend the night and then fly to Dublin We stayed in a Holiday Inn hotel by Heathrow Airport in London. Tired and trying to get our bodies used to the new time difference, some of us slept while some stayed up and watched television.   We had dinner at the hotel, where we learned why the English aren't renown for their culinary arts. The food was o.k., but certainly not the best. The accommodations, however, were very nice and very comfortable. The desk staff seemed to be somewhat friendly, but I noticed at this point in the trip that the people here didn't really like to smile. It was a bit odd.   The next day we took off to the airport, headed for Dublin. I was very excited to the Ireland. I've always been interested in Irish culture, music, food, etc. so I was looking forward to my tour of this country. Road Trip December 24-29 Flat Acquisition and events So when we arrived in London, we went straight to a flat that we had rented for two weeks at the Kensington Park Apartments. The location was superb, as you can see from the map. Close by were museums, Harrod's, Buckingham Palace, and many tube stops for getting to other parts of London. There were several restaurants and small stores in the area for picking up small items of groceries. As for the flat, I would suggest staying somewhere else. You see, we traveled during the holiday period when most people in England do not work as it is a bank holiday. Well, the brochure said that we would have daily maid service included with our rent. Because of the holiday, we only ended up getting ONE day's worth of maid service and that was the day before we left to go back home! When we brought this to the attention of the landlord, he seem to be disinterested. In the end he gave us two free nights off our next visit. Hopefully, he'll follow through with that, but I suggest skipping this establishment unless you can't find some other place. It would seem that the English have a different definition of luxury. The flat we got was similar to a standard two bedroom apartment that you would get on a college campus. The two bathrooms were amazingly small (I could wash my hands if I sat on the toilet) and the kitchen could only fit one person comfortably. The advertised laundry facilities ended up being an "all-in-one" machine which washed and then dried your clothes. One load of laundry took about two or three hours to complete and the machine's capacity was very small. Here are some pictures of our flat:   This is Kensington Park, located right next to our flat's building. As you can see, it's a fairly nice looking park, but you really can't do much in it other than walk through it. According to the posted rules, you can't have a picnic, play sports, or wander around on the grass with your dog. Very restrictive!  My mom, sister and I went wandering around London together. We started out at Piccadilly circus and stumbled upon Trafalgar Square. This square was populated by a bunch of people...all looking to take pictures and climb up on the monument you see here. My sister (who gave me permission to post this picture as is) and I got caught up in the excitement and decided to climb up onto the monument ourselves. This is us on the paws of the biggest pussy I've ever seen! It was cool. Thanks for taking the picture, Mom! Road Trip December 27th - Visit to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre Our ticket stub. We finally found the theatre after a bit of walking and I was glad to be served hot mulled wine at the beginning of the tour. That was really refreshing and warmed me right up! This is a picture of the inside of the Globe Theatre. It was reconstructed as closely as possible to what scholars know about the original theatre. The acoustics here were perfect and it had an open roof for light. The floor in front of the stage was dirt and the benches were all made out of oak that was constructed with pegs and handmade nails. Very cool! Some concessions had to be made in the construction of this theatre in order to make it viable as a real venue for performances. For example, the thatch roof has been treated to be fire-resistant and there are lights and electrical outlets to provide lighting in the evening's darkness. Otherwise, most of the other features are purely authentic. Beams are cut by hand using hand tools, bricks are handmade, the walls are insulated with hair, and handmade nails and oak pegs are used to joint things together. Truly remarkable. This is the stage as seen from the seats directly in front of it. The man in the lower left is the tour guide who explain things like how the clothes that the actors wore restricted their movements. Some of the gestures they used, how the walked, etc. was controlled by the clothes they wore. Apparently, some of the plays performed here are done just as they were in Shakespeare's time-- men playing women's roles and all. Unfortunately, the theatre is closed during the winter. This is the balcony from which Juiliet gives her performance. When the theatre was first built, this was flush with the rest of the stage. They had to rebuild it when they realized that the people seated in the "Gentlemen's seats" would be unable to see the actor from their seats. This stage remained pretty much the same for every performance. It was up to the audience to imagine what things were like. The people of Shakespeare's day relied more on what they heard than what they saw. Musical Performance - "A Saint She Ain't!" That's right! We actually got the whole family to go see a musical together. This was a vaudeville-type musical Where each of the actors represented a celebrity from the 50's and 60's. It took a little while to get into the rhythm of things, but it was well done and we had a pretty good time. Certainly much better than sitting in front of the TV back at the flat and watching German TV! Road Trip December 29th - Shopping at Harrod's We decided that our UK experience wouldn't be complete without a trip to Harrod's department store. Look at this store guide! This is the first store I've ever been in that required a guide to keep from getting lost. I decided to try to navigate the store without this guide and I found that getting lost in the HUGE selection of goods was a lot more fun. If you ever go to London, be sure to stop by this store. I should warn you: everything here is EXPENSIVE! Be careful about having credit cards with you when you go into the food shops! This is Harrod's at night. Isn't this cool?!? It's even better to see it in person since you get impressed with the enormity of the building itself! Road Trip Dec. 31 - Jan. 5 : London and Reading January 2nd - "The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged)" by the RSC This was one of the funniest performances I've seen in a while! It's all of Shakespeare's plays condensed down into about 90 minutes of performance by three people. Absolutely hilarious! If you see this performance by the Reduced Shakespeare Company, get tickets and get them fast! January 3rd - Play - "An Inspector Calls" My Mom and I went to go see this play at London's Garrick Theatre. It was well done, but it was a bit weird. The basic message was that we (individuals) are all connected to each other and that we are all responsible for each other. That rubbed me the wrong way January 4th - Comedy - "The Complete History of America (Abridged)" by the RSC This performance was a bit less funny than the previous one we saw. I think the main difference was that there wasn't too much genuinely funny here. Perhaps this is because I was an American in London and I just didn't think making fun of my country was appropriate. When they cracked jokes about the English...THOSE were funny, but otherwise, I think the Company's talents are misapplied. A Visit to the Tower of London We took a family trip to the Tower of London to see the sights and check out the English Crown Jewels. It was a huge place, and I was a bit creeped out by ravens that inhabit the place. Talk about BIG birds! By the entrance to the Tower, there is Bobby the antelope. Apparently, he is one of the queen's pets. Yes...the crown jewels were beautiful. However, what really struck me about my visit to this place was the sheer brutality that you could almost feel there. People were killed just for holding different opinions from people in power. Children were killed there. It completely shatters the image of the English being prim and proper in a hurry! A Visit to Baker Street and the New Scotland Yard I found these people again and decided to sneak up on them and get a picture! Don't we look like a good group? The statue was HUGE and was really cool for all of us who enjoy Doyle's writings. It's interesting how much stuff is around London based on a fictional character. Further down on Baker Street, there is a Sherlock Holmes museum where they have set up displays of the characters from the stories. Very interesting. These are just the placards from outside the building. There was a really great store across the street from the museum where we got a few great souvenirs. Later in the evening, we made it a point to go find the New Scotland Yard. It took us a while since it was tucked behind some buildings, but here I am!