Day 3 - Green Park-Starting to Remember aka The Marathon of Remembrance aka x2 Just another Day at the Beach...3 titles for Day 3!!!
Good evening to everyone who has taken the time to read this little bit of information at the end of each of our days for whatever your reason is...thanks! It is always encouraging to hear from people at home who are reading so feel free to comment if you like. Maybe I am bit like a circus animal and will perform better with enticement from the crowd. I felt like yesterday was a little bit lame, but hey we hadn't slept very much in 24-30 hours so cut us some slack people!!!
Well today is a new day and they actually look and feel more like real human beings. The 5 hours sleep that I got was a gift from the gods and I assume that they all appreciated it just as much.
A reasonable start time this morning with a wake up call for 6:30...yes that is quite reasonable while on tour....early bird gets the worm or the best pickins at breakfast!!! If you read tomorrow's blog you'll see that 6:30 was very very reasonable.
Today was also the day that the kiddies would experience the tube for the very first time....it was pretty interesting to say the least. I will update you on that a little bit later.
Now on with the show as they say......
We don't have an official capacity until early this afternoon so we are heading into London for some touristy items to move cross off our checklist. Although remembrance in nature we never ignore the cultures and the sites when time allows. So our trip to the London Eye will give us a great opportunity to see all of London in one fell swoop. The view from the "Eye" is very similar to the Eiffel Tower. I'm extra excited, I even smiled and had fun(tell the wildcats that!!....and they think I never do either one of those things) because this is my first time on the "Eye."
In the end everyone decided to come on and because David Harrod pre-booked we did not have to wait in any of the large lines. The "Eye" was a lot fun as you will see with the multitude of pics the kids have air dropped me....this is the newest tour fad so that I can have access to all their pics....my oh my how times have changed in 10 years of countless cords and downloads from cameras(I don't even really need to talk to them...I just open the App and voila...pics of London everywhere!!!)
As I said everyone went on the "Eye", even those people, who will remain nameless to protect their identity as people who have been diagnosed with Acrophobia. That being said those people in my pod(Hastings and Smallwood) were less than overjoyed when the pod titled or moved or I jumped up and down!!! Haha
Here are some pics from the "Eye"....
One of titles I called today's post was "Starting to Remember" and that had nothing to with me forgetting where we were going or anything like that....it has to do with the fact that we were attending our first official ceremony at Green Park which is adjacent to Buckingham Palace. On a bit of a side note, Lizzy wasn't in again today, that's it for her and I. The last two times I've been here she has been elsewhere and I'm not happy. The kids have done some studying because a few of them know the ins and outs of some trivial facts about London and the flag that flies to signal when she's at the palace or not. Good pre-tour work guys and girls!!!
Prior to the ceremony we break for lunch and we are able to bring it back to this beautiful park and sit in the sunshine and the 15 degree temps.
The ceremony at Green Park is our first official endeavour of the trip and there are about 3000 or so people attending this along with dignitaries from the English, French and Canadian militaries as well as the Canadian High Commissioner to the U.K. The ceremony is conducted by the government and is specific to the efforts of Canadian soldiers at Vimy Ridge. We have also been asked to directly participate today along with 4 other schools as Mya is reading the youth act of remembrance in front of the memorial. The students began their dedication to our veterans with great respect as they were among the first to remove their hats which in turn started many other students to follow suit. These are the key pieces to our trip that I want the kids to remember and I believe they will. These feelings will only be further solidified tomorrow as we make our way to France via coach and ferry.
Following the ceremony were gathered around the memorial to get a good look and some pics of course and then onto the beautiful Canada Gates which are adjacent to the palace. With no changing of the guard today we didn't hang around the palace very long and are off to Bond street, the longest shopping street in all of Europe. Sorry folks if they called and asked for more money, but we did give them some shopping time in exchange for their good behaviour so far. Following the shopping we are off to dinner at Wagamamma's(an EF standard that I love and most of the kids do as well) and then on to another neat part of our cultural journey, a Jack the Ripper tour.
The tour is conducted by an actor and he gets the kids involved in the story as move along through the areas of the city that were home to the still unsolved murders.
Here are a few others from yesterday as well....
Super pictures! Looks like a great time so far!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the time to give us such a detailed blog when I'm sure you would rather be sleeping!
ReplyDeleteIt looks so much like summer. Clay sent me a picture and I thought he got it off a website. Love reading your blog....
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