Breakfast
was at 7 am again and consisted of the same offerings as the day
before. I really enjoyed the ham (not too salty) as well as the
cheese. The croissants were ok but we hoped for better in Paris. We
boarded our respective buses and picked up our very own tour guide
just for our bus. We drove around for a while as the city tour
guide explained some history and the various landmarks we passed. We
got off the bus and walked for a bit getting to see Parliament and
Westminster Abbey. Each bus had taken its own tour route. Our tour
guide then herded us over towards the street leading to Buckingham
Palace that was blocked off so that we would have prime viewing of
the parade that led up to the changing of the guard.
The
band started up and came down the street, turned right, and passed
right in front of us. Just as the band and outgoing guards passed
us, our tour guide led us down the street to Buckingham Palace where
we saw the another band and set of incoming guards arrive. We didn't
stay for the entire ceremony and made our way back up the street,
stopped to read about the different types of guards, and then made
our way through the park back to the buses.
We
headed to the Tower of London over the London Bridge and as we got to
the parking structure (no small feat for each of the buses to park in
it), they handed out another sack lunch similar to the one the day
before but this time with turkey and Emmantel cheese. We sat in the
Tower courtyard and ate lunch then met back with our tour guide and
were given group tickets to enter the Tower.
Our tour guide gave us
a briefing inside the Tower pointing out the sights and explaining
how to see the Crown Jewels. She also took us up the steps to see
where the Tower Guards lived and where the women were beheaded by
Henry VIII. We got in the queue for the Crown Jewels which actually
moved along pretty well. The jewels were very interesting to see.
We then headed over to the white tower to see the armory. Our time
was pretty limited and in the end, we had to walk quickly out of the
many floors of the white tower to meet up with our group. We stopped
to take pictures with some of the guards in their big black bear skin
hats and even saw a couple of guards marching somewhere in unison. A
raven was strutting around the courtyard and hopped onto a trash bin.
We had been told that the royalty believed that as long as there
were ravens in the tower, the royal family would always be around to
watch over the country.
We
stopped in the gift shop and picked up some magnets. The buses
returned us to Victoria Embankment Gardens so that we could break up
into our various groups again – one for each theater show (Phantom,
Mama Mia, Wicked, Les Miserables, etc) and one for those that didn't
want to go to a show. We would be responsible for finding our own
transportation back the hotel after the show, Les Miserables.
We
went as a group to the Queens theater and, after a few wrong turns,
arrived at the theater. We had already made a reservation for dinner
at a nearby Cantonese restaurant since the theater was so close to
London's Chinatown. We enjoyed some cocktails, foie gras dumplings
(even Seth liked them), the thinnest vermicelli noodles I've ever
had, szechuan vegatables with tofu, peking duck, and lobster. The
meal was all very good except for the Peking duck which was way
overcooked and dry.
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| foie gras dumplings |
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| szechuan vegetables with tofu |
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| peking duck |
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| lobster |
After
doing a little shopping in Chinatown (I was excited to have some
Chinese pastries for the ferry ride tomorrow), we met back up with
the group at the appointed time and walked over to the Queens theater
where tickets were handed out. We were up in the balcony for the
show but the seats really weren't bad anywhere in the theater – it
wasn't a very big theater. The understudy was playing the part of
Jean Valjean and he was really good. Les Miserables is one of
Amina's favorite theater shows and I have to admit that it's the type
of show that you learn something new each time you see it. The
production overall was very good – not quite as flashy as the one
on Broadway but still very entertaining.
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| Chinese pastries for tomorrow's lunch |
After
the show, we walked across the street to a pizza restaurant to
re-group. Unfortunately, one of the students misplaced their wallet
and so while they were helping her search for it, Amina, Seth, Matt,
and I called for an Uber ride who found us pretty quickly and brought
us back to the hotel for just 8 GBP. We stopped by the bar where
Amina and Matt ordered drinks – a first for the both of them as
they were both technically old enough to drink in Europe. We watched
a bit of soccer on the TV and finished our drinks and headed
upstairs.
A
nightly ritual since we arrived into London has been uploading to the
OAM Facebook group that I had started before we left on our trip. I
was surprised, but not surprised, that we had well over 200 members
by the start of the trip and peaked at well over 300 by the end of
the tour. Prior to starting the group, I had contacted Greg Johnson
to ask about one. Interestingly, Greg explained that Voyageurs
discouraged staff from starting a group or participating but didn't
specifically tell me not to start one, so I did. The group was a
really great way for us to share our pictures with each other as well
as with the family members that stayed behind. I didn't mind
“stalking” the students as it became apparent quickly that the
male students would not do as well with their cameras (much less
texting or voice calls) as their female counterparts would. Many of
the parents pleaded with the other group members to catch pictures of
their boys just so they could confirm that they were, in fact, in
Europe alive and well. Oftentimes parents scoured random pictures
just to catch a glimpse of their child much like playing “Where's
Waldo”. In addition, I had various parents messaging me on
Facebook asking questions, making requests, and passing along
messages to their kids.
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