It was a fantastic trip, really great. The scenery in Ireland is spectacular and if you have never been north - go! We drove as far as Dundalk, hung a right and took the coast road to Carlingford into Newry and down the other side of Carlingford Lough. Magic.
First though, we went to London spending a few days in Kensington. Accommodation wasn't great but we didn't spend much time indoors. On the first day, we got the underground to Buckingham Palace then walked to the Thames via Westminster Cathedral, then Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament.
The Cathedral is a spectacular building, all full of nooks and crannies. There are loads of little praying areas, all for different priests and most used by the looks of it. Some hold maybe 10 people, others are bigger. I didn't get any pictures inside as they prefer you not to.After this, and Starbucks, we went to the Abbey and again a magnificent building. All around this building there is great architecture on view. The Abbey itself had restricted access on the day but still to walk around outside is cool. It reminded me very much of Notre Dame but with a more regal feeling about it. It's just like you would imagine when Kings and Queens were having mass years ago whereas Notre Dame has a more imposing feeling - to me anyway.
That day there were memorial services for Poppy Day and so there was something on at the side of the Abbey. As you can see in the picture, there were thousands of little crosses, with lots of them having peoples names on it. I watched for a while as men from all regiments looked around for their friends names. Many took pictures of them and many wife's took pictures of their husbands at the crosses. It was a very sombre moment to be honest. The picture I took represented only maybe a tenth of all the flags.From there, it was onto the Houses Of Parliament, a building I really like. Maybe its because every time I see it all I can think of is Guy Fawkes and what the place, and indeed the world, would look like if he succeeded!
Along the back of the building, there is a really imposing statue of Richard I of England. It's just there, on its own with no other statue around. How cool would it be to be immortalised in a statue. Cool.There is also a status of Oliver Cromwell but for fairly obvious reasons I didn't take a picture of it - me dad would kill me.
There is a lovely walk through a park, along the Thames. In this park is a tribute to Emmeline Pankhurst. On a fresh Winters day this wee park is lovely, bringing you up to Lambeth Bridge a a view back to the Houses Of Parliament
Tomorrow, we'll walk up the Thames from Lambeth Bridge to Tower Bridge, drink London Pride beer, eat a Sunday roast in a good London pub, watch the last 10 minutes of Chelsea v ManU on mobile text alerts and then have a kebab.
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