Adventures by Disney London & Paris

Disney
is now offering a variety of unique vacation experiences with a little
sprinkle of pixie dust, Adventures by Disney. Chris and Beci Mahnken,
owners of MouseFanTravel.com are currently experiencing the Adventure
of a lifetime… An Adventure By Disney to London & Paris!
For more information about upcoming Adventure By Disney itineraries, visit:
MouseFanTravel.com.

Day
1, October 6, London
Day 2, October 7, London
Day 3, October 8, London
Day 4, October 9, London to Paris
Day 5, October 10, Paris
Day 6, October 11, Paris
Day 7, October 12, Paris

**********

Day
3 – Royal Treatment

Day
three (is it already day 3??) Before we jump in, a few observations. First,
I have to point out that London is not an inexpensive city. As a matter
of fact, London and Paris are frequently rated as the most expensive cities
on the planet for travel so it really helps you appreciate the value of
what you get for the money you spend on the Adventures By Disney package.
Most of the meals are covered as are the ground transportation and admission
to the scheduled activities. However you still have to wrestle with some
of the extras like….. internet access. I know it's not easy, but
if you can manage to leave the laptop at home and truly enjoy your vacation
you can save the $30 per 24 hour charge at many hotels. OUCH! If you want
to keep in touch for emergencies, check with your cell phone company and
ask if you are or can be enabled for European travel. They discourage
use of cell phones while touring but you can check messages and even text
without any difficulties on some of the major carriers.

Our
day started with a quick drive over to "the city". Turns out
that most of what we think of as London is actually the city of West Minster.
London proper is quite small and is mostly just the financial district,
running from St. Paul's Cathedral in the west to the tower of London in
the East.

Today
the coach dropped us off right at the border between Westminster and London,
and we walked up the gentile hill to St. Paul's Cathedral. They were doing
a bit of cleaning on it round the side, but the front had already been
polished up, and it hasn't looked this good since Christopher Wren finished
it back in 1708. We didn't have an opportunity to enter St. Paul's as
it was Sunday and services were being held, but it's certainly a must
do if you have the opportunity. As a bit of an aside, the steps on the
left side of the cathedral picture above are famous to Mouse Fans as the
location of the "Feed the Birds" number in Mary Poppins. Its
also the location of the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana in 1981.

From
the cathedral it is a short walk down the hill to the Millennium Bridge
– The newest bridge across the river Thames. (pronounced: temz) It's a
pedestrian only bridge and has some wonderful views up and down the river,
as well as back toward the city and St. Paul's. When it was first finished
and opened, the foot traffic caused it to wobble back and forth so violently
that with more than just a few people on it the shaking was so bad people
could barely stand up. The designer pointed out that there was no problem
with his bridge, people just didn't walk right. The bridge was closed
after three days and two years later re-opened, sans-wobble.

Once
across the bridge we walked east along what is known as Bankside, past
the Globe Theatre. Back in 1599 thru 1644 the Globe was the site of Shakespeare's
first run plays. It was destroyed in a fire once during that time, and
rebuilt on the same spot. Eventually it was torn down by Puritans. The
current theatre sits about 200 meters up river from the location of the
original. The design follows as closely as possible that of the original.

Just
south of the Globe our coach was waiting and we climbed back on and drove
west to the London Eye. A very impressive Ferris wheel no doubt. During
the summer months, the line just to get on can be as long as 3 hours or
more, stretching back to where this picture was taken. The line was less
oppressive today, but still, we got to skip it. Disney works its magic
once again we were able to use a sort of "FastPass" line. Each
capsule on the wheel can hold up to 25 people. We had a private capsule
with just 16 in ours and it was quite easy to move around. The views are
outstanding in all directions, and in particular there are great views
of the halls of Parliament and the north bank of the Thames.

After
the wheel made its way around 360 vertical degrees we walked around to
the back of its complex and boarded a Thames river cruise. The cruise
headed down river from Parliament to the Tower of London. The river was
quite low, the tide being out, but the river still being fresh water.
When the tide comes in the fresh water down river is pushed back up the
river to London, so London never sees salt water, though it is built only
feet above the high tide line of the North Sea.

Once
we got off the tour boat we walked up a short promenade and entered just
above the now bricked up Traitor's Gate. The White Tower was built in
1078 but the complex now consists of several buildings, centered around
the White Tower. Just north of the White tower is the building holding
the crown jewels. The prize of the jewels is the Great Star of Africa
diamond at the top of the royal scepter. Weighing in at about a billion
carats (actually just 530 or so), it's perfectly clear and about the size
of a kiwi fruit, or a very large plum. Truly this is a massive and massively
impressive diamond. You can also view various crowns including the small
crown worn by Queen Victoria, the crown worn by the Queen Mother and St
Edwards crown made in 1661 and used mainly for coronations.

There are
also dedications to the seven people executed inside the tower grounds
and several museums. You can tour the Bloody Tower where Sir Walter Raleigh
was held captive, and where the two prince nephews of Richard III were
murdered around 1483, handing the throne to Richard. Their bodies were
found under a staircase in the white tower in 1674 and re-buried in Westminster
Abbey. People sometimes report hearing children playing late at night
in the white tower. Its October… had to toss in a ghost story…
Or hey two!! Of the 7 people who were executed there 5 were women and
most on the orders of Good old King Henry VIII. What a guy… anyway
– Most notably, he basically grew tired of his queen and ordered Anne
Boleyn executed in 1536. Folks have reported seeing her walk the halls
holding her head.

Notably absent
from the official list of tower executions are anybody who was not royalty.
Traditionally non-royals were taken up to tower hill to be executed, as
was the case with Thomas More, and Guy Fawkes. However, during the world
wars, at least 12 German spies were executed within the tower grounds.
The final execution, on August 15, 1941 was that of the German spy Josef
Jakobs.

We
were particularly blessed while touring the grounds to be with Steve,
our local guide, as we had just our group of 16, and as a prestigious
Blue-Badge Guide of London, he knows everything, or can find it out with
a quick phone call to the appropriate friend. Only the Blue-Badge guides
are allowed to guide in the tower grounds, everybody else must take the
official tours which are lead by the very capable Beefeater guards. Unfortunately,
they lead tours of large groups of people, so Steve was a particular blessing.
The people facing the camera in this shot were part of our exclusive group,
and in the background you will see the massive group of folks on the general
tour. We still got to see the beefeaters and hear their tales, but we
were privately escorted about and it was a real treat! Again, the a true
testament to the Disney difference!

When we finished
at the Tower grounds, our guides provided a voucher for lunch and we had
a quick bite at the New Armory building on the grounds. After lunch we
were give an afternoon out on our own to explore as we wanted so we went
up to the Tower Hill tube stop to start our free afternoon in London.
We took the underground west to the South Kensington stop on our way to
the Victory and Albert Museum. There are two exits to every station, and
we invariably pick the wrong one. The difference is usually a few blocks
in the right or wrong direction. As always, we chose wrong this time and
we ended up in a confusing warren of streets whose names didn't show up
on our tourist grade map. A quick check of the location of the sun led
us to the north to the museum. Chris never get lost, and when he does
(which I've already pointed out never happens lol…) He easily gets
unlost.

The V&A
is known by some as Great Britain's Attic, because it's got a bit of everything,
and the collections sometimes feel a bit like they came out of an attic
someplace. We spent some considerable time in a display of popular clothing
ranging from 1500 to 2004. The '70s by the way, still look ridiculous.

Our final
stop for the day was Harrods. Really, I can't convey the size of this
place. In Seattle we have what we consider to be a fairly gigantic mall
called Bellevue Square. Harrods has much more in what seems to be a much
larger space. Room after room of everything you can think of, ranging
from furniture to electronics, to games, to clothing and accessories and
food. It's an astounding display of shopping, and I get tired just thinking
about walking thru it.

We did find
the spot Beci was looking for. The memorial to Diana and the owner of
Harrod's son Doti who died together in Paris that August night in 1997.
It's a quiet spot tucked away with flowers, pictures of the two, a wine
glass from their final evening and a beautiful diamond ring said to have
been intended as an offering of marriage, purchased the day before their
tragic end.
After that full day Beci went back to the hotel to try and catch up on
the time change, and Chris went with several others from our group to
The Prince of Wales pub for a pint of biter and a pie. Chris is a big
fan of English pub food, and this was a nice casual dinner.

And oh ya…
we got another exclusive Adventures by Disney PIN!!

Tomorrow,
Camden and our Transfer to Paris.