Hyde Park and Covent Gardens - London

Today was a bit rainy, but we managed to make the best of it. We walked around Hyde Park and enjoyed the fall scene in this beautiful London park near Kensington Palace. We also visited Covent Gardens which is a combination of an open air market and boutique shops of all kinds.

Since Cynthia is a Mac user, we found the London Apple store and had to visit it and play with all of the new Apple applications. You can really feel the beginning of the holiday season here with all of the special lights and displays going up.

I have discovered that you can buy cell phone company sims cards here that make calling anywhere in the UK and back home to the U.S. much cheaper than using your own cell phone. It just requires you to have an unlocked cell phone and you're in business. UK rates are as low as 8 to 10 pence a minute locally and 4 pence a minute for calls back home to the U.S.. Cynthia has also been using Skype to make free Internet calls back to her mom in Kansas. Technology has been our friend on this trip.

Tomorrow....more fun playing tourist.

Liverpool

We took a Virgin train from London to Liverpool on Monday and spent the day with cousin Keith Speed seeing the sights around Liverpool. Keith is English and has lived his entire life in and around the Liverpool area. Liverpool is a fascinating city with a rich history of maritime commercial trade and innovative port development. Of course, it is also the home of the Beatles. There are wonderful, open pedestrian malls for walking all around the city and public transportation is an easy and inexpensive way to get around. Liverpool architecture is bold and shows the successful port economy enjoyed by Liverpool for the last 300 years. Thank you, Keith, for a wonderful day in this beautiful area of England. The trip by train is only about two hours each way from London.

Saint Paul Cathedral - London

Today, we spent some time riding around on the Tube getting acquainted again with the Underground. We visited the London Museum, Saint Giles without Cripplegate (a church dating back to 1200 ad), Saint Paul's Cathedral, and the Tate Gallery. Because it was Sunday, we also had the opportunity to hear a wonderful church and choral service at St Paul's Cathedral. The sound was absolutely amazing in that very large cathedral. Today all over the UK, they celebrated "Remembrance Day" in honor of all veterans who served Queen and Country. Poppy wreaths were seen all over London.

Tomorrow we take the train to Liverpool to see the sights in that famous Northern City where the Beatles got their start.

London

We arrived in London after a four hour delay leaving Houston, but the flight on Continental was uneventful with no further delays. The day in London was beautiful. We spent a fun afternoon in Burroughs Market near London Bridge and had a great sandwich there. This is an outstanding combination of farmer's market and eateries. We walked around the area and then decided to turn in early and get up on Sunday for a full day.

Welcome

Cynthia and I will be sending regular posts along with photos while we are on our trip to England (London and Liverpool) starting November 7, 2009. We are looking forward to sharing our trip with you. Check out the Google map to see where we will be staying while in London. It is the Cleveland Hotel. Click on the link below.

Google Map

During this month of October 2009, Cynthia and I also visited Albuquerque, NM to see the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. Click here to view our video of the Fiesta on Saturday, October 10, 2009. Click here to view our photos taken at the Fiesta.

Chuck and Cyn