Parliament, British Museum, Covent Gardens, Free Day, Theatre

Parliament

A visit to Parliament was one of the highlights of the trip. An MP from Godalming arranged for a tour of Parliament. We were met by a guide who was excellent. She knew how to keep the attention of Middle Schoolers and she was full of information. She was impressed by the amount of knowledge our students had and their behaviour. Richard Woods had given a presentation Wednesday evening on Parliament and explained the role of the Queen, the House of Commons, and the House of Lords. His presentation included some role playing. He divided the group into the different parties. Jack Dudley was the elected MP from Godalming and Matthew Philips was the Leader of the labor party

British Museum

Our next stop on Thursday was the British Musem. There was so much to see. The favorite exhibits were the Egyptian Mummies, the Elgin Marbles, and the Rosetta Stone. One student said he always thought the Rosetta Stone was just a computer program.

Covent Gardens

We departed the Museum and walked to Covent Garden. The crowds were terrific, and the students enjoyed all the street entertainers. Jack Henslee challenged one of the street entertainers to a game of Ping Pong (right in the middle of Covent Gardens!) As you can see, Jack Dudley, again decided to try out the ice cream.

Free Day

We spent our free day with the Westfield and Charlotte Latin groups. The day in London started off at the Hard Rock Cafe store. We crossed the street and walked through Green Park to Buckingham Palace and caught the Changing of the Guards. Afterwards, we had our

picnic lunch in the Park. The boys quickly discovered in Fortnum and Mason that none of us could afford any of the merchandise. On our way to Piccadilly Circus, we took a detour down St. James Street to see where Prince Charles, Prince Harry, and Prince William live when they are in the city. Once we reached Piccadilly, we

split into three groups-the girls went to the Burberry Store, some of us went again to the big toy store, Hamley's, and Mr. Dixon took some of the boys to Lily Whites to check out their big sports sale. Some deflated soccers balls will be coming home. Upon leaving Piccadilly, we continued on through Leicester Sqaure to Covent Gardens where we had a wonderful dinner at the Essex Serpent Pub. Some of the boys ate their first fish and chips. The coaches picked us up in Covent Garden and took us to the Victoria Palace Theatre for "Billy Elliot." We were completely astounded at the dancing and music. As we left the theatre, we were surprised by Parker's mom, dad, brother, and sister. Parker had a brief visit with them before we loaded our bus. Before the show, we were also surprised to run into another of our Brookstone familes attending the same show. Small World!!

We returned to Charterhouse at midnight, very, very, very weary.

On Campus Day

Thank goodness today is an on campus day, although the students are participating in Olympics this morning on the track and sports activities this afternoon.

We will spend our last day at Winsor Castle in the morning and then take a Thames River Cruise on a wooden steam powered boat. We will go through the locks and end up at Runnymeade at the site of the signing of Magna Carta and the Kennedy Memorial. Saturday evening will be our last barbeque with lots of goodbye s. 4:00 a.m on Sunday morning is rise and shine for our departure from the airport at 9 am.

Stratford-on-Avon, Warwick Castle, Blenheim Palace, Oxford

Stratford-on-Avon

Stratford was crowded on Sunday morning, but we managed to have a good tour of Shakespeare's birthplace. Matthew had given a wonderful lecture and slideshow on Shakespeare on Saturday evening. We also knew alot about Shakespeare from our trip to the Globe Theatre in London.

Upon leaving Stratford, we went to Warwick Castle. The boys enjoyed the josting and touring some of the Towers. Warwick Castle is becoming more and more an amusement park and has lost its charm as a historical castle although it is a wonderful example of a medieval castle.

On Monday morning, we visited Blenheim Palace and were met by a guide who took us through the Palace. Afterwards we spent some time in the gardens.

After a picnic lunch at Blenheim, we traveled a short distance to Oxford. A city guide met us and took us for a walking tour of the city and the colleges. Frank shared with me that he his goal is to attend Oxford University, and we were lucky that the gentleman that was our guide talked a good deal about what it was like to be a student at Oxford. He also took us by Christ Church and talked to us about Lewis Carroll and the "Alice in Wonderland" stories. We then had time to explore explore the market and the stores in Oxford.

London Museum, St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower of London

London Museum

We had an hour to spend in the London Museum. The museum has been redone since last year. We had to have a quick look at all the exhibits to deal only with the history of London. I did get a picture of the Lord Mayor's Coach which is rolled out and used each time a new mayor is put in office.

St. Paul's Cathedral

The boys, along with the younger British faculty, climbed the steps to the Whispering Chapel and the St. Paul's Cathedral Dome (600+ step.)

We had our picnic in the garden beside St. Paul's before we boarded the coaches for the Tower of London.

Tower Bridge

We were lucky to get to the Tower Bridge just as it was opening. This happens only about twice a week.

Tower of London

The boys thought the Crown Jewels were "awesome." They also discovered an exhibit of jewelled guns that fascinated them. The ice cream made with clotted cream was a big hit. Jack and Jack made a new friend at the Tower of London.b Notice "Dandy" Jack H in a new hat.

Dance, Barbeque, Leeds Castle, Canterbury Cathedral

On Campus Day

Wednesday was an on campus sports day. In the afternoon, Matthew gave us a lecture and PowerPoint presentation on Leeds Castle, Canterbury Cathedral, and the Canterbury Tales. the highlight of the evening was a Barbeque and Dance at the Crown. A DJ provided music and there was no doubt that all had a good time. Benton was the "dancing machine!"

Leeds and Canterbury

We spent the morning at the beautiful Leeds Castle. We enjoyed walking through the huge gardens filled with peacocks, ducks and geese, black and white swans, and birds of all kinds. The most fun was the maze which everyone agreed was much more difficult than the maze at Hampton Court. We had a picnic lunch on the grounds before boarding the coach for Canterbury. Believe it or not, I was able to get a photo of the entire group together at Leeds Castle.

In Canterbury Cathedral, we saw where St. Thomas Becket was murdered by Henry's II's knights.

Bath and Stonehenge

Monday, we took a long coach ride through the English countryside. The landscape was breathtaking and just as you think the English countryside should look. Our first stop was the Roman Baths and students were given audio sets to help them go through the Baths. After the tour of the Roman Baths, the students had several hours to shop. Bath is a good place to shop since all is pretty well contained around the Romans Baths with a safe walking street. Many of them headed to Pizza Hut.

As a fund raising project in bath, pigs were made and sold. Now that the pigs have all been sold, they have made lions. Matthew said there were only a few pigs left and told us to be on the lookout for one. I found one by the Abbey.

Stonehenge is always a huge favorite. The weather was perfect for walking around and taking pictures and listening to the audio sets.

Tuesday, July 20 was probably our most tiring day. We walked about 7 miles all over London. We met a tour guide at the London Eye and saw Lambeth Palace, walked across the Westminster Bridge to the House of Parliament. We heard Big Ben strike 11:00 AM, took a guided tour of Westminster Abbey, walked to St. James Park with a small view of Buckingham Palace, picniced in St. James Park, visited the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum. After that we took a very fast walk to Trafalgar Square and actually survived crossing the streets to Trafalgar Square with about 100 students and faculty. We continued on to Piccadilly Circus. Some of our group shopped at the sale at the big sports shop, Lilly Whites. Parker bought a jacket. Jack and Jack and two boys from another group went with me down Regents Street to Hanleys toy store. What a tremendous store with floors of unique toys. The boys said their could spend a whole day there. We had only 20 minutes and were so astonished that we didn't know what to look at first.