Elaine and Jim's Travels: May 31- Central London

Today we had a marvelous visit in Central London with Ian Grover. He was right in front at exactly 10:00 and Michael, Jim and I were off to see the sights. Bill was at the Chinese Embassy getting a visa for a July program that Jack is doing in Beijing and planned to meet us as soon as he could.

We first drove through Regents Park ordered built by King George IV whose father was King George III who was the ruler at the time of the American Revolution. The buildings and the parks were so lovely. All through the day we kept commenting on the lovely buildings and the large amount of green space in the city.

We drove by the Horse Guard Barracks. We drove around Buckingham Palace as the crowds were gathering for the Changing of the Guards. Immediately Ian knew that Elizabeth was not in the Palace because her standard was not flying and there were only two guards in the guard houses.

Traffic was wild but the roadway in and the arches around were beautiful. We did learn part of the reason for the traffic is the new Mayor decreed that bike lanes be created. The lanes were big, wide, newly paved AND empty. Even road signs pointed the way to destinations.

We kept texting Bill and finally connected outside Selfridges Department Store. Was fun to see that enormous store after having watched the series “Mr. Selfridge. Michael went into the back seat of the Land Rover we were using and we were off again.

Shops, big office buildings and lots of happy shoppers and workers filled the sidewalks and vehicles of all sizes filled the streets.

Around the area of Parliament we saw the clock tower lovingly called “Big Ben” when in fact the tower is named the Elizabeth Tower recently named that to celebrate the 60^th anniversary of her reign. Big Ben is actually the bell inside the Elizabeth Tower and is named for a BIG boxer. The bell is so big that at the time of its arrival there was a very large boxer named Ben something and “Big Ben” was the sort of common expression for anything that was really big. Thus the world see “Big Ben” but most have no idea why the name.

We passed by a large field being set-up with bleachers as they prepared for the Queen’s Birthday. This field has served as a jousting field in the time of Henry VIII, Beach Volleyball during the 2012 Olympics and many other events..

In the medical art of town we stopped at the former home and office of the doctor who works with King Edward VI, Elizabeth’s father, who stuttered when he spoke. Overcoming that was the subject of the movie “The King’s Speech.”

We headed to lunch at The Grenadier Pub, built in 1720 as the Officer’s Mess for The First Royal Foot Guards. It became a licensed premise in 1818 to serve as The Guardsman Public House. Food was yummy and service was slow. The place is suppose to be haunted by the ghost of a guardsman Cedric who cheated at cards and was “savagely beaten to death.” We wondered how else you would beat someone to death…gently, kindly, or what???? The ceiling was covered in money- mostly $1.00 bills left by customers to go toward Cedirc’s debt.

We drove through Covent Gardens, around Piccadilly and into Trafalgar Square. Then we headed back over the river Thames to pass by St. Paul’s Cathedral. Learned that the church neat Westminster is St. Peter’s Collegiate Church. When St. Paul’s was being built the were short of money but St. Peter’s had a great deal of funds so they “robbed Peter to pay for Paul” a phrase we had heard our whole lives but had no idea where it