England - Jolly and Old!

After doing beer, fish and chips, castles and rain in Ireland, it would seem that we had already covered England.  Fortunately, there was plenty to do after our arrival in Southampton. Like all good travelers, once we landed in England, we headed straight for London. 

Christy found a great hotel near Hyde Park that was within walking distance of Buckingham Palace and other sites.  At least they were walking distance on the first day, when we put about ten miles on our tired feet.  Not so much the next day, when we spent a little more time on the Underground!

While we had no royal sightings, we did manage to visit many royal and government sites.  Among the favorites were learning the gory history of the Tower of London and our walk down the Thames to the London Eye (giant Ferris wheel).   We also got to attend a session of the House of Commons.

The highlight of our time in London was catching the theatrical production of "War Horse".  Our anticipation about seeing how they would utilize actual horses on a stage was tempered right away when we realized that the horses were portrayed by puppets.  However, we were immediately amazed by how realistic the "puppets" were.  They were each handled by three people and were remarkably realistic, complete with the sounds, heaving ribcages and little movements you would expect from a real horse.  The production was truly a highlight and the boys were at the edge of their seats, despite the play ending at 11 pm.

After two days of covering London by foot and Underground, we divided and conquered the last day, with Luke and Milton traveling to the Naval museum in Portsmouth and Jay, Christy and Ryan venturing to Stonehenge and Old Sarum.  Stonehenge is an interesting place, more as a result of the questions about its origins and uses than due to its current appearance of a circle of beautiful large rocks.  From Stonehenge we visited Old Sarum and explored the ruins of its medieval fort/castle.

Next stop Belgium, and our first stop on this voyage to a country that speaks a language other than English!