Back home again, and now you can know that my blogging break was spent in London, England! We’ve had this trip planned for months. I didn’t take my laptop, because I decided just to take some time off from the computer altogether. We had a marvelous, exhausting trip, seeing more of London in the time we had than we thought possible. No, before you ask, we didn’t go to the Royal Wedding, LOL!! It was in Windsor and we were in London that day. We must have walked 100 miles, at least my legs think so!! We saw a lot of historic places, learned some fun things, and just enjoyed being in a different place. As you can guess, I took a lot of pictures, but more on that later, with a chance for you to win a prize, so read to the end.
Westminster Abbey wasn’t open for visits the day we were in that part of town, so I only got outside pictures. But, oh my, what gorgeous architecture! I remember studying this building in Art History in college! To see this gorgeous building, consecrated as a church in 1269 was amazing.
This kind of workmanship and expense isn’t done today. Statues line the upper level between the stained glass windows. Taking a closer look, there is an extraordinary level of detail.
We were at Windsor Castle early in the week, before the grounds were closed to prepare for the Royal Wedding. The fun part of that day was seeing the changing of the guard, and then having them march right by me. Although as Americans we find this charming and fun, for them it is deadly serious. One look at the very real firearms and the military precision of the movements gives pause as to the real purpose of these soldiers, to defend the Queen against any threat.
Getting there was not bad as flying goes, with the long flights made more comfortable both ways in individual cubbies with reclining chairs, individual entertainment screens, and pretty good food. One got comfortable, then the video screen swung out on hinges for viewing, a drink was served, and a snack if wanted. I slept most of the way over, as we flew all night. (Update -Business class on frequent flyer miles.)
We did a lot of sightseeing, walking miles every day, taking in all the historic buildings as we went. Just seeing the preservation of these structures was amazing. This is the London Hippodrome, built in 1900. It is an old English term for entertainment, and originally held a theater, then a nightclub. It houses a casino now.
Most of the iconic phone booths were either gone or being used as trash cans, sad to see. We did find one or two that still had actual telephones.
This lion sculpture was one of a pair in front of a museum.
We used the London Underground to get everywhere, and learned the system pretty well by the end of the trip. I began hearing the breathy female voice saying “This is the Picadilly line to Cockfosters”, or “This is the District Line to Ealing Broadway”, or a male voice saying “Mind the Gap” in my head when we were walking around. Just for fun, DH bought a sticker for his Mini that says “Mind the Gap” in the logo of the underground. The next time we do a car event I’ll get a picture of it on the car. He’s hoping other drivers will mind the gap and not tailgate. One of our Underground stops was King’s Cross station.
I had to get a quick photo of the Harry Potter platform 9-3/4. Unfortunately, it is now a tourist thing, with a long line and a high ticket price just to stand in front of the cart with your hands on it for a picture.
I suppose this address doesn’t need an explanation for most of you. But for anyone in the dark, this is 221B Baker Street the home of Sherlock Holmes in the fiction series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Once again, it is a tourist attraction now, with really too high a price for us to want to go inside to see a few rooms no matter how well decorated.
But, we did see quite a lot. We purchased a London Pass that gave us entrance to dozens of places, and we took full advantage of it. We saw churches and palaces, castles and historic homes, event displays and historic museums. We took a Thames river cruise, and visited Greenwich, Windsor and Warrick. This is Queen Victoria’s statue outside Kensington Palace, just a short walk away from the stunning gardens.
Buckingham Palace only does tours in late July now. So, we only got to see the outside. The Queen wasn’t in residence as she was in Windsor for the wedding.
This is a Marble Arch (one of several in the city) and it was beautiful, but there are guards on it and signs that there is no pedestrian access through the arch. Historically, only the Royal family, the King’s Troupe Royal Horse Artillery are allowed to pass through it.
St George’s Chapel on the grounds of Windsor Castle was stunning. It was amazing to see, then to see the televised wedding, and recognize the setting. I was so impressed with the wood carvings in the Quire. No pictures were allowed, and the souvenir book that was offered didn’t have any either. I cannot tell you how gorgeous these were. But I found a 360-virtual tour online HERE. Move the view to one side then up a bit and zoom in to see what I mean. The open woodwork is carved from oak between 1477 and 1484. It is amazing. This is the home of the Order of the Garter, founded in 1348 by Edward III. It is limited to 24 members at a time, in addition to the Sovereign and the Prince of Wales, and is a lifetime appointment.
On the way home, we were flying during daytime hours, so I watched three movies. One was Darkest Hour. Since we had just been to see Churchill’s War Rooms the day before, it was doubly interesting. I had a wonderful sea bass meal on the plane.
Of course, I have more things to blog about than we have time for. So, I’ll ask you for your preferences, just click off the things you’d like me to share over the next couple of months. You can pick as many as you like, and I’ll do posts on the top few. If the poll doesn’t show for you in email, just click on the post title to come to the blog itself. After you vote, there is a chance to win a prize, so keep reading.
Just a bit of housekeeping, to comply with the new laws in the EU, I now have a privacy policy on my legal stuff page. I also want to let you know about a Facebook Container add on extension or plug in to your browser to compartmentalize what Facebook has access to, that I would highly recommend using. When you install this extension it will delete your Facebook cookies and log you out of Facebook. The next time you visit Facebook it will open in a new blue-colored browser tab (aka “container tab”). See the link for a full explanation of how it works. The container add on for Firefox can be found here to stop Facebook from tracking your use of websites via cookies.
And, now, a contest you can win!! I’ll give away a fun prize of items I collected on my trip shown above. To enter, just leave a comment about the trip, with a guess as to the number of pictures I took over the 11 days we were actually sightseeing. Bear in mind that some of the attractions didn’t allow pictures inside. The guess closest to the actual number will win a travel set of Crabtree and Evelyn soap, shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion, with an authentic Selfridges small paper bag, and a London newspaper the day after the Royal Wedding with photos of the event! I’ll determine the winner on Tuesday evening and let you know on Wednesday’s post. In the unlikely event two people guess the exact same number, the first one will win. Email subscribers may wish to come to the blog to see what the previous guesses are, just click on the comment button in the post. So, knowing what a photo-bug I can be, how many pictures did I take?
Sharing
From My Carolina Home 
I love architecture! As old as some of this buildings are, they are beyond magnificent! One day I too will get to see the old world. For now I will see younger things in the new world. 🙂
I would like to know what air line you were on. It looks great to me
Welcome home! Gorgeous pictures! 546.
-Jean💟
WOW, I am envious of the trip! England has been on my list for years! And FIRST CLASS to make the flights tolerable. Good planning! That is the ONLY way I would get the hubby to fly any long distance! (Spoiled him once…..)
My guess on the photo count is 1462. Good luck paring them down ! I’m still labeling and “filing” my photo’s from a 10 day cruise!
Thanks for the info on the GDPR & also on the “container” for Facebook. My hubby will love that. He gets a little testy about how FB is tracking his every move! I went ahead and enabled the privacy statement on my settings for WP, but think I need to follow your example and go make a “legal stuff tab” too…..
I’m glad you enjoyed your London visit. Did you get to the Liberty shop? I was there 2 years ago and so much to see, especially with the wooden panelling. I’ve been to London a few times in the past 4 years (only on day trips) so it doesn’t give much time for hanging about, but one of my favourite visits was to the V&A Museum. I didn’t get to see everything but hope to travel to London again maybe in August. I’m looking forward to seeing photo’s of your adventures as you have a great eye for photography – I bet you took about 1,223? haha – keep on snapping 🙂
Welcome Home — Great pictures! I’m jealous we’ve traveled to England several times for work — never first class! Way to go 🙂
Loved the pictures. I was wondering if you would have one of 221B Baker Street!
I am going to take a wild guess and say you took 2,376! Just thought I would pick a random number.
Welcome back. Glad you had a lovely vacation while you took 223 photos
What a fabulous trip, and thanks for all the photos, which are really breathtaking. Since we will never have the opportunity to travel there, your pictures will serve as the next best thing, so I’m thinking that you could have taken about 1635, and possibly more!
What a memorable trip! I’m looking forward to your future posts.
My guess is 3579 photos taken.
easily 4000+ pictures, I just know it. Now how many you save… We are so fortunate to have the luxury to click away at everything.
I am glad you made this trip. Thank you so much for sharing your adventure. I am happy you went first class.
When I was a kid I traveled all over Europe first class, even back and forth from US the UK via British Airways, KLM or Lufthansa. My wonderful adorable daddy worked for the US State Department and NATO as an auditor. We have relates all over Europe bc my parents were both from Holland
Anyway, it is such a nice trip, I know it was expensive. I am so happy you two plunged in.
I never travel over seas anymore. I just hate the cost of everything and the food.
Again, thank you Carole for sneaking away and sharing your adventure on your return.❤️
Fabulous. Welcome home.
MJ
My guess is 586 pictures!
Looks like a wonderful trip!
Oh wow! I can’t wait to see any/everything you post! I’m sure you took tons of pictures….3276 is my guess! Welcome home, Carole!!
Since you walked miles & miles, my guess is 5280 pictures! Thanks for the pictures you’ve shared so far. Am looking forward to seeing more!
What a fun trip at such a notable time! I love your pictures and comments so far. Can’t wait for more. I’m guessing 1148 photos. Just a guess but I know how easy it is to snap the camera 🙂
I’ve been thinking of you the past few days and we finally tried that crab and Sriracha dressing salad. Yummm! My DH even liked it…and wants more 🙂 Thanks for sharing it!
What a wonderful vacation – 950!
I can’t even begin to imagine how many photos that you took. 777?
Your trip sounds incredible. I hope the British weather treated you nicely too. We lived there for awhile so all of the places looked very familiar. Next trip you will need to also do the Cotswolds.
2634. It looks like a great trip. 3 friends and I went for 5 days years ago. It was so much fun and we packed so much into a short time.
How fun! My guess is 2,200 which would be 200 photos each day. I could easily take that photos on vacation.
Carole,
Loved the post — what a glorious trip! I’m going to say you took 6015 photos — thinking you probably took 50-75 per hour during your sightseeing days. You are a wonderful photographer. Thanks so much for sharing and welcome back.
Loved you England blog! Hmmm…can you walk and take pictures? From my experiences with a camera while sight seeing (missing out on the seeing part because I was focused on the camera); I’ll pick a low number. 173 is my guess.
Fondly,
Carolyn K.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful adventure, I look forward to seeing future posts. 1126 ?
Such an exciting trip! I am guessing 1700 pictures.
What a wonderful adventure and your business class upgrade using miles was well worth those miles. Perfect trip for it too! My guess – 1,236 pictures.
It looks like you had a wonderful trip and excellent weather too! I’m going to guess 4,721. It a very photogenic city!
I will never get to go so I will live vicariously through your photos and narratives. Thank you for doing this for us. I think I will guess1,341 photos.
What a wonderful trip! I was up early to watch the Royal Wedding! I’m a Royal watcher and would just love the newspaper! My guess is 3,333! Can you tell that 3 is my favorite number! You didn’t happen to see Sir Paul when you were there? Love the Beatles too!! Thank you for the opportunity to win! Looking forward to more photos!
What a memorable trip!!!!! My guess on pictures would be 1100.
Welcome home. Thanks for sharing your photos. Guessing you took around 1000 pictures. Hope you kept a journal of your trip.
My guess is 130 pictures.:)
Hello Carole; It is so great to have you back! Yet, what a magnificent reason for taking a break a break from blogging. I am thrilled for the two of you to have had this special trip together. As far as I am concerned, you can share pictures and posts any time that you wish. After spending a couple of years with my step daughter, who dreams of England, I became very interested in so much of the history of it. Plus, well so much more, it is just fascinating. I am going to share your post with her. She will be so jealous, but love all of the up close and personal photos. I really had to laugh at the Harry Potter photo and information. I love Harry Potter movies, but would never have even imagined there was a place set up to go and have your picture taken. LOL. Thank you for sharing your marvelous vacation with us. I would guess that you took 1365 pictures and I am looking forward to seeing as many as you share! Have a great day!
Visiting London and experiencing the Changing of the Guard is in my Bucket List So Happy you got to see it. After fog how many pictures you took, I’ve found “never enough” is the right answer. But I’ll just guess 311, my daughters favorite band. Lol
Hi Carole,
What a wonderful trip! I have visited several times and still enjoy seeing and hearing about everything, so whatever you share in the future I will read! My guess for photos is 678. That flight in Business Class looks beyond fabulous and the way to go for sure!!
Happy Sunday! ~smile~ Roseanne
What airline did you fly? Your accommodations look terrific! Carol in Texas
British Airways to London, and American Airlines back home.
Welcome home. Depending on photo card size you probable filled it .A 64 gigabit card should hold about 9000 photos. My guess is you did not take that many maybe 3500. Wonderful trip. Thank you for sharing photos. Would love to revisit London…so much we did not get to see on last stay ( 2001).
So pleased you enjoyed our wonderful capitol city. Next time watch the changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. You sure picked the right time weatherwise! We have had a lot of rain this last week. The gardens needed it!!
Great photos of our capital city. You timed your visit well, all the excitement of the lead up to the Royal Wedding, and a particularly sunny and pretty blossom-filled May. Did you know that the word Hippodrome came originally from the Greek, then Latin, then French languages?
What a wonderful time, the architecture is amazing.And to see so much, no wonder your feet were tired. My guess, about 2,656.As I am an international reader, I might not be able to enter, but have given a guess. It would have needed a good sized card in your camera.
Love your blog and pictures of your trip. I am guessing you took 1,685 pictures in 11 days.
England has always been on my list of places to visit, but after taking a plane trip to Spain, I’m afraid another trip across the pond would be too much for me. My feet were so swollen and we were packed in like sardines. I so much enjoyed seeing your photos and look forward to seeing more and reading the details! My guess is 756 photos.
What a fantastic trip! My, the guesses on photos taken are all over the map. I’ll say 1895, but I won’t be surprised if it was more.
I am looking forward to visiting England one day. I probably will NOT take as many photos as you have!
I guess you took at least 1,551 photos!
I love London! I’ve been thinking about planning a trip there. Love to (re)visit some sites.
My photo guess is 817.
Based on the fact that there are 18 photos in this post and I can easily take 54 in an hour of Show and Tell at my local Quilt Bee,(plus there was so much to see and you were there for 11 days!) I’m guessing that you took… 5400 photos, because we’re always searching for the PERFECT shot!!
I would love a trip to England to see another beautiful part of our world. There are so many wondrous parts in our world.
I would guess 1270 pictures…..m
Lovely trip! I’m guessing 1783 photos!
I love London, I spent a whole year there when I was 18 and before emigrating from Austria to Australia. There are at least a couple of overseas trips well overdue, one of them to the US and Canada (I was there in 1996) and another to Europe – my last trip there was in 2013. Unfortunately, I will be experiencing all the discomforts of cattle class….
Looks like a lovely time. Guessing you took more pictures than any of us can even begin to imagine. Let’s say 2463.
Not knowing what you were taking pictures with, I am going to hazard a guess of 2036.
I’m happy to look at anything you care to share so did not vote n the person lol. My guess is 460 pics
What wonderful plan accommodation and even more what a wonderful adventure. Thanks for sharing it with us. I’ll any and all future posts:) .
We visited England/Scotland for our honeymoon in 1995. One week in each country…just 2days in London. It was our first stop and we were absolutely exhausted. Went to Victoria and Albert museum that first day. I was so excited to be there but so tired, I almost fell asleep walking in the museum! I finally got to fulfill lifetime dream of visiting Liberty store but just had 15 minutes before they closed. I headed straight for the fabric department and bought two of the lawn fabrics. I am guessing you took 598 photos.
What a fantastic trip you had! You were there at the same time as my hair stylist 😁. She made the same comment about 221B Baker St. I’d spend a day in there! So nice that your flight didn’t disappoint, too. There are so many horror stories about flying these days. Welcome back. Looking forward to more posts!
Great pics. Your plane ride must have been awesome! 2,600 awesome pics!
I visited England for the summer of 1969. I was 13 and stayed with my Grandfather. The biggest event was the Apollo Mission landing on the moon. It was a big deal for Americans and really not interesting for the Birits. Your post reminded me of the great places I visited. Looking forward to reading more. My dream is to go back and spend a long-g-g-g time there touring. Till then, I will enjoy it vicariously through your trip.
Thanks D. Weeks (aka Momma Llama)
I’m so glad you had a great time! I was lucky to be able to travel there a lot over a 2 year period. My favorite placd, hands dlwn, is the V&A with St Paul’s a close second. One summer I got to do the Palace tour and it was awesome!
The pictures are wonderful. I enjoyed seeing them and your commentary. I will never be able to go there so it was very nice to see them. My guess is 857 pictures, but you probably took more because there was so much to see.
Sounds like you had an amazing time, Carole. I’m guessing you took a lot of photos – 2100
Thanks so much for sharing your beautiful pictures. I had heard that England was very expensive. My brother in law said they spent $750.00 on taxis alone. I didn’t see exactly how long you were in England, but my guess for the number of pictures taken is 1111. Thanks for the chance to win 😀
Oh, Carole! What a delightful “tour” you took us on!! It brought back some really fun memories for me and made me realize that maybe I CAN do it again. I never knew about the “cubby” set up and I think I could truly manage that….not having to deal w/ someone’s elbow in my way! I’m going to guess that you had some bodacious SD cards and stored about 2100 photos on them!!
Thanks for sharing your marvelous trip, I can’t wait to see more. It was too bad you didn’t get to go inside Westminster Abbey! I spent three hours inside and it wasn’t enough!
Wonderful photos, Carole. It is too bad you didn’t visit inside Westminster Abbey. I spent three hours and it wasn’t enough. Looking forward to more travel posts!
Thanks for sharing your wonderful trip. I will guess you took 1185 pictures.
3501 photos. Looking forward to seeing them on your blog.
Wow, it looks like you had an amazing time. So pleased you enjoy all your time there. Looks like the weather treated you very kindly as well..
If you are anything like me there will be a lot of photos so I will go for 2,108. Have a great time with your competition.
What a wonderful vacation! Glad you had a great time. I think you took 675 pictures.
What a lovely post! Welcome home! I enjoyed a London very much when we were there. I sure wish they would clean up the telephones though!
So glad you enjoyed your trip to our lovely country, I think the Queen may have been in residence when you visited Buckingham Palace as your photo seems to show the Royal Standard being flown! I look forward to more tales from Blighty x
So glad you had a marvelous time in London. Welcome back! I guess 1020 photos.
Oh how fabulous Carole!!
Hi Carole,
Oh, I really loved reading about your trip to London!! We were in England and Ireland back in 1999, and I would so love to go back! A British blog friend who saw my posts on London remarked that they have cleaned up the buildings since I was there and everything looks so much nicer. I can tell that when looking at your pictures. 🙂 Westminster Cathedral is amazing, isn’t it? They weren’t open for tours when we were there, either; I was quite disappointed.
When, and if, we return, I really want to visit Windsor Castle and then I want to visit James Herriot country in Yorkshire and Beatrix Potter’s farm in the Lake District. Maybe someday. It sounds like you had a great time — thanks so much for sharing with us!
I’m going to guess that you took 2,200 pictures, because we were there for about five days and I took over 900 pictures. That was with a film camera, too — hard to believe. 😉 Have a great weekend, Carole!
Hugs,
Denise
What a wonderful trip. I loved seeing all the London and Windsor sights…more please. That is so disapointing to hear that they are charging for the Harry Potter pictures. A few years ago, it was free although there was a small line. I’m stopping by from the Take Me Away linkup.
Such beautiful architecture! It looks like you had an amazing trip.
I have been to Europe twice but never to England. Wow – I am loving all the beautiful architecture you shared. Looks like you had an amazing time…I am guessing you took 1000 pictures. Thanks for linking up to Take Me Away for June! Enjoy your week!
Shelley
I seem to have missed your earlier posts about your England trip…so what a grand surprise to read about it now! In just 2 weeks, I will be joining a small group of 5 others to join even more
Americans in a tour of England. Many of the sites on your list are also on our itinerary. We are including a visit to Liverpool and the Lake District which will take a few days. The Beatles are still dear to my heart…thus, the reason I jumped to take this tour. Now I will try to read as much about yours and enjoy the photos even more. Thanks so much for sharing!
Oh, London is my favorite place to be! How I long to go visit again. I guess 3000 pictures.
Coming over from Calypso in the Country. I enjoyed your post, Carole. I’ve done the things you discussed here but enjoyed your take on them. We have only flown business class once.! Lucky you! I understand trying to cram as much as possible in. We have done the same.
I’ve been to London three times but haven’t seen Victoria and Albert Museum. After watching Victoria I really want to see the museum.