Travel With Tamra

June 17th, 1998
Day 4

Aerial view of the Tower of London.

Today we left at 8:00 and went to the Tower of London. We spent all day there. It was really neat. There are a total of 20 towers. There are 13 on the outer wall, 6 on the inner wall, and the main one in the very middle is called the White Tower. All of the royalty lived int he White Tower for a long time. The two walls and the 19 outer towers were all built to protect the White Tower.

We took a guided tour with a Yeoman Warden	.

We saw St. Thomas Moore's room where he was held, and the chapel that they allowed him to pray in.

The most impressive part of the Tower was the Jewel House. All of the crowns, rings and maces (staffs). All of them had hundreds of jewels in them. Even the swords had lots of jewels in them.

The site of the scaffolding where Anne Boleyn was beheaded.

Before we went on our own on the tour, we had a Yeoman Warden take us on a guided tour. He was really good. He really knew his facts. He was talking about how people who were about be executed (by being beheaded) would talk to the crowd before he was beheaded. He said that the longest recorded was 9 1/2 hours. He said, "He really talked his head off."  The Yeoman made lots of funny jokes like that.

The Chapel Royal of St. Peter was very pretty. The organ was huge. The pipes were about 2 feet in diameter.

The solid gold punch bowl in the Jewel House.

Another thing that I really liked in the Jewel House was this gigantic punch bowl. It was pure gold, and it was about 3 feet tall, 5 feet in diameter.  It was really pretty. Mom would have liked it. The ladle was about 6 feet long, pure gold, and the scoop itself was the shape of a seashell nearly a foot in diameter. I was amazed.

On the bus on the way to the tower, we saw thousands of people all dressed alike, all wearing the same clothes, all carrying briefcases, walking exactly the same in the same direction. They looked like they were all programmed, or being drawn by a supernatural force. It looked like something from the twilight zone.

The worst part of the day was that I left my bag with postcards and souvenir books at the cafe we went to for lunch. I felt real bad because Jenelle and Aunt Molly had things in the bag also. I offered to replace them, but they wouldn't let me.

Grandma McGee in the artillery room.

In the Tower, there was the artillery tower, there were hundreds of different types of guns and cannons. I think that the hardest part of shooting the cannons would be putting hte ball in the cannon. Some of the balls were almost 1 1/2 feet in diameter. They are lead, so they would seem like the would be too heavy to lift into the cannons.

The guards outside of the Jewel House.

Today would definitely be the best day so far, except for the pouring rain that we walked through after the Tower. At least it didn't rain while we were touring. It waited until we were done.

The Thames River from the Tower Bridge.

 June 16th, 1998
Day 3

I felt much better today after having some sleep. We woke up about 7:00 and got on a double deck bus to see London Bridge and the Tower Bridge. The bus was really neat, but he drove bad, just like the cab driver. We got to the Tower of London and the line was really long, so we are going to do that another day.

Her Majesty's Ship, The Belfast

We saw London Bridge, which was nothing spectacular. I saw something Dad would like a lot. It was a huge ship. Uncle David corrected me when I called it a boat. He said it's not a boat, it's a ship. I found out that it is the Belfast, the last warship from WWII.

The Tower Bridge across the Thames River

After London Bridge, we went to the Tower Bridge which was very impressive! It was built because there was too much traffic, and they needed a way to cross on the east part of the Thames River. It had to be a drawbridge because the ships had to get through to the port. The tour was really neat.

We also went to Charles Dicken's house, but it was closed. We are going to go back. I can't believe the nice cars here. They are all BMW, Mercedes, VW or Ford. They are all very clean and new.

The tube is still on strike, so we didn't get around very much. Hopefully we will do more tomorrow.

We took a direct flight from Seattle to London.

June 14th, 15th, 1998
Day 1 and 2

We are eager to board our plane and begin our adventure!

WOW! What a long day! It was really only one day of sleeping and waking up, but it was a two day period because of the time zone change.  Our flights were okay. The second one took  8 hours and 40 minutes.  It was way too long to be on a plane! The neatest part of the flight was going over the Arctic Circle. It was all snow and ice. We got to London's Heathrow Airport at 11:45 a.m., which was really 3:45 a.m. All of our luggage arrived at the same time that we did.  I was very relieved.

My train ticket from Heathrow Airport to Paddington Station.

We took a train from the airport to Paddington Station, where we ahd to catch a cab to pick up the key to our flat. (We had to take a cab because the Tube (Underground RR) was on strike.)  We picked up the keys to the flat, and went to what we thought was our flat. We had been upgraded to a larger flat, which was about five blocks down the road. Our cab had left, so we had to walk in the rain carrying all of our luggage. That wasn't the worst part. Our flat was #4, so it was up four flights of stairs. To make matters even worse, we had been given keys to the wrong flat, so we waited for the chap to bring us the correct keys.

All of the people talk funny. Even though they speak English, it's still hard to understand them.

Our cab ride gave a whole new meaning to "Crazy Taxi".

I will never complain about the drivers in Spokane again! The people here drive like they are all intoxicated. They of course, drive on the left side of the road, and the steering wheel is on the right, but they also drive real fast! Our cab ride was almost terrifying. He drove right down the middle of the road, over the center line, and he barely missed about four cars and pedestrians! I think he thought he was invincible. It wasn't just him though, they all drive that way.  Pedestrians are almost looking for their death wish. Jenelle and I walked down the block to McD's, and almost got hit crossing the street. There are no walk signs, so you have to wait for the cars to stop. Cars just come out of nowhere.

There were a lot of double deck buses!

There are a lot of double deck buses, and a lot of taxis.

At McD's, it was funny because the guy that waited on us asked if it was "for eat" or "take away".

People here talk really weird. I am very overtired from jet lag, had a very long day.

In June of 1998, my Aunt Molly, Uncle David and their two youngest kids were about to move home from Pakistan.  They wanted to take a trip through Europe before they returned, and wanted Grandma to join them.  Grandma didn't want to travel alone, and invited me and my cousin Jenelle to travel with her! This is my account of that trip.

As you read about this trip, keep in mind that you are following along through the eyes of an almost 16 year old girl, traveling out of the country for the first time, and traveling without her parents for the first time!


Enjoy!