Hello,
Sorry for the delay in the second update – we have been on the go constantly for the past two days!
The three of us spent day 2 exploring London, starting with the Sherlock Holmes Museum, located at the fictitious address of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson – 221b Baker Street. The ground floor is a souvenir shop full of memorabilia from Victorian London. The first floor is set up just like Sherlock Holmes’ study from the infamous stories – including authentic newspapers, reference books and scientific instruments from the period. The upper floors have wax figures of victims and villains from the Sherlock Holmes stories. We took turns posing as Holmes and Watson with the deerstalker hat, pipe and magnifying glass.
We rode on the London Eye after lunch – the “flight” on this giant Ferris Wheel takes about 30 minutes. Each of the glass pods on the outside of the wheel can hold about 25 people – and the wheel actually keeps turning while one group boards and the other disembarks! You can almost see the entire city from the top – we got some great pictures of Parliament and Big Ben.
We walked across the bridge and around the grounds of Westminster Abbey afterward (or, as Max dubbed it, “West Spencer-Abby” after his Dalhart cousins). The adjoining church, St. Margaret’s, was open to visitors and we read about the religious patrons that were buried under the floor of the chapel. Although the epitaphs were originally carved into the stone floor, they have since worn away and have been replaced by marble plaques on the walls.
We wore our Dallas Cowboys jerseys for today’s adventures in order to get our picture taken with the royal guards (with the furry black hats) at Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the palace yesterday afternoon, we discovered that these costumed soldiers no longer stand outside the palace gates; they only march out of the building at 11:30 a.m. each day for the changing of the guards ceremony during the summer. We decided to spend the rest of our afternoon at the Tower of London.
The current exhibit at the Tower features the armor and weaponry of King Henry VIII – there was even a suit of armor that belonged to Henry when he was Max’s size! Max was fascinated by the transformation in soldier’s clothing and weapons from the 11th century to the present. There were interactive displays that allowed him to test his skills for shooting a crossbow or accuracy in firing a cannon. After hearing about the castle’s bloody past, Max was on the lookout for ghosts around every corner. J
All three of us were exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel last night and decided to order room service for dinner. After looking over the menu (which included dishes like “pickled quail eggs dipped in sweet curry sauce“ and “baked salt marsh loin of lamb wrapped in puff pastry with mushrooms and terragon“…so what the hell is terragon?) – and remembering the last few flavorless meals we have eaten – we decided to hit the McDonalds on the street corner near our hotel. We laughed and laughed about the fact that we are in London, England, and McDonalds actually sounds better than anything else!
Day 3 started pretty early
We took a train to Warwick Castle, about 1 ½ hours northwest of London. The major walls were first constructed in the late 11th century; improvements and additions have been made since to maintain structural stability. Almost the entire castle was open for us to explore – we were able to climb the spiral staircases into each of the towers and walk along the ramparts! Similar to renaissance festivals in the United States, there were sword fights between costumed knights, a jester show and a “birds of prey” show featuring eagles. We even got to watch the world’s largest trebuchet (catapult) fired in the grounds below the castle. Max went to “knight school” this morning and learned how to fight using a blunted long sword; he was knighted by the teacher after passing a quick test on all the moves that he had learned. Sir Max-a-lot was recruited by the King’s Army to fight in the next battle. J
Check out the fun pictures – we are headed to bed to rest up for tomorrow – cheers! (as everyone says here)
The Mosi (Brandi, Jeff& Max)
