London….Camping behind a "leisure Complex"

We have had to redefine our concept of camping on this trip.  When we lived in Alaska camping meant driving off the road and setting up a tent.  When we traveled cross country camping meant setting up our tent-on-top-of-the-car at state and national campgrounds with many other people, but, in a sense, still living outdoors.  Now that we have a caravan things are very, very different.  Camping is setting up in what amounts to a parking lot, side by side with other caravans and disappearing inside our little house.  The criteria now are that the campground should have wi-fi (although many charge for the service), hot showers that are not creepy and dirty, toilets with toilet seats (although several campgrounds missed that essential) and toilet paper, a nicety but not a must.

The campground we stayed in outside of London had all of the above…however, it was part of an entertainment complex that had a giant movie theater, golf course, swimming pool and god knows what else.  Camping has become very, very strange.  But that did not keep us from going to the movies…twice!

London absolutely rivals N.Y….except that the food is terrible.  After my experience with inedible pub food, for our first outing in London I picked a German restaurant because I figured it wasn't pub food.  However, the potato sale was made with RECONSTITUTED DRIED POTATOES!!!! Give me a break!  So, no eating in London, but lots of great walking and sightseeing.  It rained, was sunny, hailed, was a little sunny but mostly cloudy and rainy the whole time we were there.

The funniest thing happened while we were watching the Changing of the Guard…in itself as exciting as watching paint dry, especially as it was raining and then started to hail.  But at one point a car with a man in a large feathered hat and black cape pulled up to the gate where we were standing and the guards (with machine guns) inspected his I.D. and then lowered the metal grates in the road to let him pass.  As soon as he passed the grates started to go up.  However, the big, black mercedes that was following the first car decided not to stop and the grates ripped the bottom right off his big, expensive car!  What a hoot, especially since there was a whole contingent of horse guards that had to get through the gate!

Westminster Abbey, where no photos are allowed, was as exciting as it is cracked up to be if, like us, you love to inspect tombs of the rich, famous and dead.  Kings, poets, scientists, etc.

And, of course, Big Ben

and Churchill

and Parlament

and the ferris wheel

The Rosetta Stone

We could have stayed in the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert for days.  We have never seen such a collection of Egyptology including the Rosetta Stone, the Cyrus Scroll, mummies and sarcophagi.  I am not a great believer in taking photos in a museum, but in this case, the collections were so stupendous that here are a few:

Cyrus Scroll

The Stone Chess pieces (a whole set) found on Lewis

Our favorite

 

Harrods was a bit of a disappointment…lots of display and nothing I wanted to buy!  But the decorations were lovely and the outside display certainly added