England Scotland Travelogue - Day Two

Monday, May 22, 2000 London

Another full day today. We got up just in time for our breakfast today and got out on the town. We tubed to St. James Park and walked to Buckingham Palace, which was neat and all, but not too wonderful. We then walked down toward Westminster. On our way, Sheryl had to use a phone and as we looked up, we caught our first glimpse of Big Ben. It was very cool. We then walked to Westminster Abbey, which was amazing.

Westminster has this overwhelming sense of history that covers you. You see the graves of kings and queens and poets and politicians. It is a nearly thousand year old church built be Edward the Confessor. Even words don’t really contain it. Again for history buffs like me and Sheryl, every corner held another amazement.

Once we left, we crossed the Thames and walked down toward Big Ben and Parliament. We got some good video and hopefully some good pics as well. Those places are so big that pictures don’t really give a good sense of their size and stature.

We headed to Trafalgar Square and got some nice shots, then ate at a great restaurant called the Texas Embassy, which sells Tex Mex and was a nice taste of home.

We hit the National Gallery of Art and saw some wonderful paintings: DaVinci, Michaelangelo, Gainesborough, Turner, Van Gogh, Degas, Sweurat, and Manet. However, our favorite was a picture of Westminster Bridge, Big Ben, and Parliament, by Monet, a favorite painter of Sheryl. Neither of us had known he’d painted London so it really pleasantly surprised us. We ended up buying a print for home to go above our bed.

We headed back to Barry and Sheryl slept, while I read the Evening Standard. We then went to Piccadilly Circus to see American Beauty. I really enjoyed it, although Sheryl didn’t seem to like it as much. We hung around Piccadilly for another little bit before heading back.

Tomorrow we have Hyde’s Park, Harrod’s, and the Brit Museum again. We’ll see what we get to.


2005 Thoughts
Post Trip Thoughts
Day Thirteen
Day Twelve
Day Eleven
Day Ten
Day Nine
Day Eight
Day Seven
Day Five
Day Four
Day Three
Day Two
Day One of the trip
Intro