Anita Rundell

THURSDAY:

The flights were wonderful. Flying into London was smooth. We probably only slept about 3 hours on the flight and once we got in we had to take a train into the city, which was about 1-1/2 hours long. Yikes. They have an express train which would have taken 30 minutes. But it had been "out of service" for a week. Then we had to get a 20 minute taxi ride through the beautiful historic city to get to our hotel (the Waldorf Hilton). So we were pretty tired byt the time we got there. We got right into our room, and it's lovely. We put on our robes and crawled into bed right away. We slept for about 2 hours and then got up so we could take advantage of the executive lounge upstairs, which had some veggies, fruit, cheese, crackers, pop and other drinks along with some really scarey looking raw horsedouvers. (But I was brave and tried every one of them as Tammy laughed out loud at me.) She grabbed a couple of BIG waters before we were done and headed out with them under her shirt. She's soo naughty. (laughing) I took off running so I wouldn't be associated with her should she get caught. LOL!! I don't want to end up in a foreign prison. I've seen how they run in Ecuador and I don't want to have to end up paying for my own toilet paper!

We decided to head back to the room and relax for a bit, until we decided to give into room service charges. We ordered and split a hamburger and fries. It was the only thing on the menu that sounded American to Tammy...she didn't feel like being completely adventurous the first night. (smile)

Tomorrow we'll get up and go to the Executive Lounge for a continental breakfast (there's actually lite foods provided throughout the day and night - cool) And then we're gonna buy a two day riding pass on the Double Decker Bus so we can tour the city and get on and off the bus as much as we want over the next couple days.

FRIDAY:

We slept well....not enough it feels like though...(smile). We turned off the lights at about 1:15am and set the alarm for 7:30am. Of course we didn't get up until about 8:45am. We started out the day on the double decker bus...mainly just to get a feel for the city and figure out what all we want to do for the remainder of our stay. It was a bit rainy and gloomy....so it was nice to just sit on the bus and ride around for a couple of hours and listen to the tour guide explain about all of the sites. A few interesting things that we learned. (1) Charles Darwin is buried at the Westminster Abbey Church. Now, please someone, explain THAT one to me!! (2) There are two parts of what we know of as "London". One is that actual city of London...and the other is the city of Westminster. There are only about 2,000-3,000 people that live in the actual city of London. Everyone else lives in Westminster. The Queen has NO rule in the city of London. 800 years ago, the royal family borrowed lots of money from the city folk and were never able to pay back their debt. So, the royal family offered "freedom to the people" in exhange for releasing the royal family from thier debt. So, the Queen is not even allowed in the city of the London, without the permission from the Mayor of London. London actually has it's own city government. Of course, the Mayor as never refused entrance into London to the Queen! But it's so interesting that she has to actually wait at the bridge that leads into the city until the Mayor gets there and allows her in!

After our little city tour, we came back to the hotel and got ready to go to the Theatre for the musical, "Producers"...you know, the one that won all of the Tony Awards back in 2001. And wow, I can see why. It was fantastic! The cool thing about our hotel is that it's located in the midst of where all of the theaters are...so we just walked less than 5 minutes to this one!

SATURDAY:

We saw ANOTHER Musical today...DIRTY DANCING. This one was just a few doors down from our hotel. It's actually sold out for 3 months...but we just walked up to the box office yesterday just to see if by chance there were any tickets...and there were two "producer seat" tickets that they weren't going to use. So we got them! They were awesome seats. I just love the theater in London. It's sooo cool and top quality of course. They always have a live orchestra that is amazing, too. It was a beautiful sunny day here this morning and then the rain set in just as we were heading into the theater. What timing. After the play, we headed out to look for dinner. We found a nice little Italian restaurant just up the street so we ate there. During dinner it started raining like cats and dogs and got really windy. It was hilarious watching people out the window in the wind and rain. We were thankful to be inside. After that we decided to just come back to the room and send some emails, watch some TV and get a good night sleep so we can play again tomorrow. We're praying it will be a nice rainfree day. I think it's rained off and on since we've gotten here each day. But it hasn't stopped our fun. Tomorrow is New Years Eve and they have a grand fireworks show at night. We'll walk down to Trafalger Square which is just up the street, and watch the show.

We went to HUGE Harrods department store today, too...this morning. That place is soooo expensive, even with all the Sales that are going on. They only have ONE sale a year and it's right after Christmas. But it sure is fun to see that place. Totally amazing with an opera singer singing from a terrace as you're going up and down the escalators. Only one Harrods in the world...so you can't miss it if you're ever in London!

SUNDAY:

We went out today and took a taxi to Kensington Palace....that place is sooo big. We paid to go inside and walk through a small part of it while listening to the history of it and what it was like back in 1680. Amazing times. Princess Diana lived there for awhile too. Infact she was there with her two sons up until she was killed in that car accident in Paris in 1997. Soooo very sad. What a beautiful lady she was. This seemed to be a very Catholic Country. Lots of churches...beautiful churches.

We're gonna go on the London Eye tomorrow morning. We went there today but it was sold out for today. So we bought tickets for tomorrow morning at 10am. It's that huge ferriswheel on the Thames River and takes about 28 minutes to go around once. I think about 15-20 people can fit into one enclosed capsule. It will give us amazing views of the city from high high up.

It was nice this afternoon and started to rain again about 4:00pm. After Kensington Palace, we walked for awhile and then stopped to eat at Hard Rock Cafe.  It's the very first original Hard Rock cafe...so that was cool. We took a taxi back to our room after that so Tammy could rest. She's getting a bad sore throat.  It's currently raining a bit, but we're still gonna go out at midnight to watch the fireworks on the river, which is just about 5 minutes from here. We'll bundle up and take it all in with our umbrellas. (smile)

Just got back from the fireworks...wow...how beautiful!!  They only lasted about 15 minutes but it was really fun. Tammy and I said a prayer and gave this New Year to Jesus. There were sooo many people out, and tons of police officers to manage the crowds. We still felt a little uneasy with shoulder to shoulder people trying to get back to our hotel. Lots of pushing and shoving.  But it was a great time.  We went down to the river which was just a 5 minute walk from our hotel.  Perfect location.

MONDAY:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!  We got up at 8:00am and headed to the London Eye Ferriswheel.  We had tickets for 10am. It was soo cool and what a view from high in the sky. Then we walked all day long and it felt great. The sun was shining and the sky was blue. What a nice day. We first stopped at Westminster Abbey Church where many many Kings and Queens and other important people throughout the years are burried in tombs. That's also were they do all the corrinations....when someone new is crowned. Princess Diana's funeral service was held here too...as well as the previous Queen. It is so old...and so so beautiful!! Then we walked to Piccadilly Square and shopped for a moment before getting a hot dog at a street stand. Yummy. The streets were lined with thousands of people watching the 21st New Years Day parade...a tradition in London.  People come from all over the world to be in the parade...including high school bands from the US. We watched for awhile and then continued our walk.  Before we left the parade someone came up to us and said, "Are you Tammy Trent?"  What are the odds of that...in the streets of London.  He ended up being a radio DJ from Wisconsin...over here for vacation with his family!

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped for Fish and Chips :-)  Can I say "yummy" again?

We are tired little girls.  We've been resting in the hotel since about 2:30 pm. I think we're in for the rest of the day.  There's something so nice about just resting...we don't get to do it enough!!

Tomorrow is our last day here...and lots planned, including a stop at Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards!

TUESDAY:

We got up this morning and went over to watch the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. It was a unique experience, although we couldn't see too much from where we were standing....we moved a few times to get a better look, but it didn't really help, so after about an hour of being there with hundreds more people and cold windy weather, we decided to start walking a little towards Trafalgar Square, where we found a cute little pizza place. Yummy. European Pizza is my favorite and it didn't disappoint.  It's got a real thin crust and each person gets their own pizza that is the size of a large plate.  Because it's a thin crust, it takes eating the whole thing before your tummy is full :-) Then we continued on our walk towards the hotel, but made a little stop into the theatre where STOMP was playing at 3pm. We bought great seats and came back an hour later for an excited performance where 8 individuals/percussionists stomp around the stage while playing and making amazing music with just about anything they can find...matchboxes, bottles, cans, kitchen sinks, brooms, chairs, their hands and feet, newspapers, bags...I think you get the point. It was cool to watch and hear.
Now we're back in the room. All packed and ready to leave in the morning. We'll get up at 8am and head out of the room by 9am. Take a taxi to the Victoria Train Station and then the Gatwick Express train to Gatwick Airport to fly home. We have a 10.5 hour flight to Houston. Horrible connection but it saved us lots of money on our flights.

We've had a wonderful time here...it's so neat to be in a place with so much incredible history.

We started off Monday with the Dynamic Tokyo Tour – an all day (9am-5pm) tour that took us around the city.  We started the tour with a visit of the Tokyo Tour.  We were able to go up to the observation deck which is about half-way up.  This is similar to the Eiffel Tower in Paris…but the Tokyo Tower is actually a few meters higher…(333km high).  In about 8 years, there will be a tower TWICE as high as the Tokyo Tower…that will also be built in Tokyo…which will be used to allow people to watch TV on their cell phones!  We enjoyed a traditional tea ceremony where green tea was served.  The green tea wasn’t very good (at least to our taste).  It was thick and tasted a bit like grass!!  But, it was an amazing time watching the “Tea Master” prepare the green tea and serve it to us.  She actually went to school to become a “Tea Master”.  The tea ceremony took place in a building in the midst of a beautiful garden in the midst of the city.  Tokyo has several garden areas in the city…reminds me of Central Park in NYC.  In this smaller garden was a row of bonsai trees.  During this tour we also enjoyed a Japanese Barbeque.  It was cooked on the grill in the middle of our table.  We had pork, chicken, steak, beef, potatoes, onions, red peppers, asparagus, rice, tea, and sherbet for desert.  During this tour we also visited the Imperial Palace grounds…which is in another large garden/park area that marks the central part of Tokyo.  That Prime Minister is the head of the political government in Japan…but the Empire is the head of the Prime Minister and other “ministries” (departments) of the country.  The Empire is chosen in the blood line.  There has only been one blood line in the history of the Empire.  It usually goes to the oldest son.  We ended the tour with a Sumida River Cruise…which was a 30 minute ride from Hinode pier of Tokyo Bay to Asakusa.  The river was the most important waterway for the development of Tokyo.  Once in Asakusa, we visited the oldest Buddhist Temple in Tokyo, called Asakusa Kannon Temple.  It dates back to over 400 years ago.  Most of it is rebuilt after being destroyed several times from earthquakes and from WW II.  However, there is one gate and one building that withstood it all…and are the originals.  Asakusa is considered the “Old Town” part of Tokyo.  Japan…in it’s most traditional sense.  At the end of the tour, the bus dropped us off at the Ginza Shopping District which is the most celebrated shopping and amusement area.  Many of the big name stores are on this strip.  We ate dinner at an Italian restaurant here…and then decided to stay in the area and watch a movie at the cinema.  Many of their movies are in English…but have the Japanese writing at the bottom.  We watched Zoro II…and to our surprise…it cost about $18 US per person to get into the movie!!!  No more of that while we are here!!  To get  back to the hotel at the end of the night…we decided to brave the subway instead of paying for another expensive Taxi.  To my surprise, we made it home alive! HA!    Actually, if you can stay away from the subways during rush hour times…it’s not bad at all.  During rush hour, there’s so many people that the subways have hired “people pushers” to help push as many people onto the subway train as possible so that people don’t have to wait too long to get on.

Today was a wonderful…and once again, beautiful day.  The temperature got up into the mid-60’s…and mostly blue skies.  We decided to head back to Asakusa, the old town.  When we were there yesterday, we noticed the “rides” where you sit in a “carriage” and a man pulls you around town.  Instead of “horse and buggy”…it’s “man and buggy” J  Tammy and I, of course, had to take part J  So, we headed there to seek out our guide.  We found a wonderful guy that spoke great English…and took us around the old town for about 35 minutes.  We found out that the carriages that they use cost about $18,000 US when they are bought new.  He bought a used one. We then sought out a Starbucks…where I had a Cappuccino and Tammy had a Steamed Milk.  To end a great day, we found a little Asian Restaurant tucked away…where we experienced traditional Asian food at it’s finest.  We had Steamed Dumplings that had some sort of pork in the middle, egg & vegetable soup, and fried rice!  We once again braved the subway heading “home” and now feel like we are experts (smile).

We have noticed some very interesting parts of Japan culture that are different from ours.

(1)   at the beginning of every meal…no matter what restaurant we are in…we are given a warm towel to wipe our hands.

(2)   When people have a cold or are sick…they wear a little white mask that covers their mouth and nose…to keep from spreading their germs.  When we asked about this…the response was, “isn’t that what you do?”   We said, “no…but we definitely should.”

(3)   Asia is not a good place for Americans to go shopping for clothes.  The clothes are made for skinny & short people, with no hips J  Even Tammy is bigger than most of the Japanese women here!!  Now, think about how I feel! HA!!!!  In fact, Tammy and I have a count going.  In the 7 days that we have been here so far, we have only seen 19 “big” (overweight or with bigger belly’s) Asian people.  America has some things to learn!!  :-)

(4)   The crime rate in Tokyo is very low…in fact, I believe that it’s one of the lowest in the world which is amazing to think about when it’s one of the largest cities.

(5)   We have seen very few homeless people.  The ones that we have seen…all have tents along the river or in parks.  They have actual tents that they have gotten…or have made tents out of huge boxes that they’ve covered with blue tarp that they’ve found.  This must be allowable by the government…because they line the river and look as if they’ve been there for quite a while.