Category Archives: London

Tour London’s fabulous museums, cathedrals

Awe-inspiring cathedrals and churches

St. Paul’s is an architectural masterpiece that towers over Ludgate Hill. This 300-year-old marvel is recognized as one of London’s most magnificent buildings. Inside, the imposing dome is supported by eight huge columns. If you are feeling particularly fit, take the stairs to the walkway around the dome which was inspired by St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

St Paul’s Cathedral

More stairs up takes you to the Whispering Gallery, more stairs and the Stone Gallery, still more stairs to the Golden Gallery. There, you will be rewarded with amazing views of the city.

Interior ceiling – St Pauls

The crypt area has memorials to 300 of Britain’s famous residents including Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson and the Duke of Wellington.

St Bartholomew the Great – London

St. Bartholomew the Great is the city’s oldest parish church. Built in the Norman Romanesque style, it might look familiar. It was used as a backdrop in the films “Four Weddings and a Funeral” and “Shakespeare in Love.”

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Visit London for history, grandeur, culture

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It’s a city with history that goes back to Roman times and everywhere you turn is stunning architecture and sites recognizable from the news and movies. It’s a city of kings and poets, high tea and crown jewels, double-decker buses, tradition and pomp and circumstance and so much more. London has so much to offer and the travel advisors at GetAway Travel can offer you lots of options to make your trip there fabulous!

Take in the royal sights

See the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. The guards perform a ceremonial march accompanied by pomp and fanfare. Check the schedule, it doesn’t happen every day. You can tour Buckingham Palace. The state rooms open to tours have fabulous art and antiques. It is open for tours from July to September. After that, it becomes a “working” royal palace and is only open to the public at select times.

Buckingham Palace

The Tower of London is an iconic landmark with 1,000 years of history behind it. It went from being a royal palace to a fortress and then to a prison. It houses the crown jewels. We aren’t talking about a crown or two. We’re talking about a majestic display of grand proportions. More than 100 pieces of jewelry and coronation finery worn or used by kings and queens over the years.

The Tower of London

The most famous feature of the Palace of Westminster, which is the Houses of Parliament, is Elizabeth Tower which is more commonly known as Big Ben. The legendary 13-ton bell is atop the tower. You can take a tour and enjoy the fabulous views, but be prepared. You need to be able to climb 334 steps to see the clock and inner mechanisms. You are supplied with ear plugs because it’s loud in there.

Westminster Palace

Westminster Abbey, formerly known as Collegiate Church of St. Peter at Westminster has enormous historical significance. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it has been the setting of coronations for 40 English and British monarchs as well as a burial site for 18 English, Scottish and British monarchs.

Westminster Abbey

A tour here encompasses 10 centuries of history, with burial sites and memorials of individuals who shaped the history of the United Kingdom. Notables including Geoffrey Chaucer and Charles Dickens are buried here and there are numerous memorials to famous people including Charles Darwin and Isaac Newton.

Westminster Abbey interior Courtyard

Admire the soaring ceilings, including the vaulted ceiling in the Henry VII Lady Chapel that was an architectural marvel at the time it was built. There are stained glass windows and intricate carvings to admire. The Cosmati Pavement near the high altar, with its colorful stones and glass, is gorgeous.

Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey

Plenty of famous places to visit

The London Eye is a futuristic ferris wheel that takes 30 minutes to do a complete turn. When you are at its highest point, 443 feet, the views of the city can’t be beat.

The Eye

Seeing a production at Shakespeare’s Globe Theater means experiencing the work of the bard in its most authentic setting. It is actually a rebuilt faithful reproduction of the original Globe. It burned to the ground when a theatrical cannon explosion during a production set the thatched roof on fire.

Shakespeare’s Globe Theater reproduction

A guided tour takes you around the theatre to an exhibition on Shakespeare and life in the 17th century in Bankside.

Don’t skip an opportunity for an afternoon high tea while in London. While many venues require a reservation, there are still plenty of places, including several museums as well as cafés on High Street, that take walk-ins. Enjoy finger sandwiches — cucumber, egg salad and smoked salmon and cream cheese, and quiches, mini pies and sausage rolls. The sweets selections will include small cakes, tarts, sweet scones with jelly and cream, eclairs, petit fours and shortbread.

The Shard

The Shard is a splinter-like building that is one of the tallest buildings in Europe. It is 1,016 feet high with 95 floors. The 72nd story has an open-air sky deck with spectacular views.

The thousand-year-old Borough Market at the southern end of London Bridge has more than 100 stalls and small shops. Some scenes from Harry Potter movies were filmed here.

You can find fresh produce, meats, cheeses, baked goods and a plethora of international cuisine options for lunch including falafel, flatbread, bento boxes, black truffle pasta, tacos and pulled pork. Try the Camden Market with hundreds of stalls catering to your inner fashionista — from vintage to alternative. You can also find art as well as music and film memorabilia here. The Portobello Road Market is one of the world’s largest antique markets.

Tower Bridge

Up for a stroll? Take a walk along the South bank of the Thames River from Westminster Bridge to Tower Bridge. You can get a look at many of the most iconic sights including Big Ben, the London Eye, Houses of Parliament, St. Paul’s Cathedral and Globe Theater.

An upcoming blog will go through the great museum and cathedral options in the city

Vacationing in the United Kingdom, England, Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland, is a great way to dip your travel toe in the waters. Concerned about going to a country where you don’t know the language — this fits the bill perfectly. Is London and the surrounding area, calling you? Advisors at GetAway Travel will help you craft the perfect adventure!

Exploring the UK beyond London

Newcastle upon Tyne — beverage, industrial history

William the Conqueror decided to build a castle high on a sandstone bluff above the River Tyne on the site of a former Roman fortification. It was a “new castle,” hence the name. Now, it is more frequently referred to as Newcastle rather than the longer Newcastle upon Tyne.

Newcastle Gateshead Quayside with River Tyne

The city, which made its bones as an industrial center, first for textiles, then for coal and then for ship and steam train building, is a fascinating blend of modern and historical culture.

Earl Grey is a tea blend flavored with oil produced from the rind of bergamot oranges.

Grey’s Monument is in the city center. It commemorates Charles Gray, the 2nd Earl of Grey and creator of Earl Grey Tea.

However, if you aren’t a tea drinker, do partake of the area’s other famous beverage — Newcastle Brown Ale.

Brown Ale – you thirsty yet?

Newcastle Castle is one of the oldest buildings in the city and now it’s a great museum. Explore the ancient passageways and chambers, and the view of the city and countryside from the roof is amazing. Two of the other larger museums in the city include the Great North Museum and Discovery Museum. At the Great North visitors browse the eclectic offerings from mummies from ancient Egypt to local artifacts. The Discovery Museum, a museum of science and technology, has lots of hand-on activities for adults and children and some great ship models including its top attraction, “Turbinia” which was once the fastest ship in the world.

Built on top of a Roman fort around 1175

The Tyne Bridge looks like the Sydney Harbor Bridge. It is the most famous of the seven bridges on the Tyne which are all clustered in an area less than a mile and they all cross to Gateshead. The best views of six of the seven bridges is from the Millennium Bridge.

A view of Newcastle city centre from Tyne Bridge

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History, culture and scenery — just across the pond

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Do you hear London calling? Perhaps you’d like to see if you can spot the Loch Ness monster, picnic with a puffin or steep yourself in the mystery of ancient ruins? Then a holiday in the UK, arranged by GetAway Travel is just for you!

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is the birthplace of Shakespeare, The Beatles, Chaucer, Robert Burns, Charles Dickens and JK Rowlings.

Charles Dickens

There are so many amazing things to do and see in England, Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland. Think museums, cathedrals, castles and country estates, iconic landmarks, art galleries, music festivals and, in spite of what you may have heard, some great food.

Experience England

London offers the full-range of royal history, monuments, ruins and the changing of the guard! There’s the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, the famous River Thames, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and the Parliament Buildings.

South Kensington has some of the city’s finest museums including the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Natural History Museum. Of course you must shop at Harrod’s Department Store and visit Trafalgar Square.

Harrods Department Store

You can still really take a bath at Bath where travelers have used the healing waters for 2,000 years. The waters contain 43 different minerals.

You can go surfing in Cornwall. (Really, surf’s up!)

Cornwall

Stonehenge, one of the oldest UNESCO Heritage sites in the world, is still a mystery and still captivates the imagination. Nearby Salisbury has one of the country’s most famous cathedrals and the original Magna Carta.

Stonehenge

The university towns of Cambridge and Oxford are home to some of the world’s top academic establishments and Canterbury is home to the archbishop of Canterbury and is also a UNESCO site.

Canterbury Cathedral

Liverpool will be forever famous for The Beatles. The Cavern Club in the renovated Albert Docks area is where they used to perform and indulge in your own version of Beatlemania by taking a bus or walking tour of Beatle sites. Manchester is a sports town if there ever was one. Two of the country’s most famous soccer (football) clubs are headquartered there and have their own stadiums.

Liverpool

Make your way to Belfast in Northern Ireland and immerse yourself in all things related to the Titanic.

Scenic Scotland

Scotland’s largest city is Glasgow which offers a unique high concentration of gothic, Victorian, and Edwardian architecture as well as some pretty great shopping along the “Style Mile.” You can picnic with a puffin or two on the Isle of Lunga. Visit Islay, a Hebridean island that has whiskey distilleries and there’s an extravaganza of archeological ruins in Jarlshof in Shetland.

Glasgow, Scotland

The Isle of Arran is an island off the southwestern coast of Scotland it has standing stone landmarks, more whiskey distilleries, castles, castle ruins, golf courses, misty moors and coastal scenery. It is a sort of microcosm of the entire country.

Isle of Arran

Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland and is one of the country’s most beautiful cities. Its historic buildings are faithfully preserved and it is home to the awe-inspiring Edinburgh Castle. Towering above the city, the 13th Century fortress is perched on a rocky, barren outcropping. View the Scottish crown jewels in the Royal Palace while you are in Edinburgh, tour the Scottish National War Museum and save time for the Royal Botanical Garden and the National Gallery of Scotland.

Edinburgh, Scotland

Old Town’s Royal Mile in the city is an eclectic combination of great architecture, boutique shopping, cafes and restaurants.

The biggest, wildest street party in the world is held every year on New Year’s in Edinburgh. No one celebrates the dawning of the new year like the Scots. They call it Hogmanay.

Hogmanay

You may not have a Loch Ness monster sighting in Loch Ness, but the area has some of the best scenery in all of the UK. Check out the Loch Ness Centre for some great history tidbits.

Loch Ness

Wander in Wales

Cardiff, the capital of Wales boasts fabulous national parks, great scenery and historic castles including Cardiff Castle which was built on the ruins of a Roman fort. Tour the state apartments, the Clock Tower and the chapel of the nearly fully restored castle. Wales actually has the most castles per capita than any other European country, and more sheep than residents.

Cardiff Castle, Wales

A fun Wales fact, there are 10 million sheep and 3.1 million residents! Wales is home to the famous Badger Face Mountain Sheep which have striped faces like badgers.

Yep, Badger Face Sheep!

The city’s redeveloped waterfront has shopping, restaurants, clubs and the World of Boats which features the development of sea vessels and boats from around the world.

The most visited attraction in Wales is in Snowdonia and it is Snowdon Mountain. Enjoy a variety of hiking trails or take a tour on the Snowdon Mountain Railway.

Pembrokshire is thought to be one of the most beautiful corners of the country. There is not a bad spot to take in the views along any of the area’s 50 beaches. It also has an up and coming food scene.

Pembrokshire, Wales

A word or two on the cuisine

Beef Wellington

Ok, admittedly a country that has a dessert with a name that also doubles as street slang for a piece of male anatomy and serves jellied eels and pies with fish heads sticking out might not be considered a bastion of world class eats. Ignore that. The UK draws residents from China, Vietnam, Turkey, India, West Africa and the Caribbean and they put their best food forward. Chicken tikka masala is as tasty in the UK as fresh fish and chips. The country is home to 750 kinds of cheese, bacon so good you will weep, Welsh cakes, trifle, scones, craft beef, chocolate and Beef Wellington. You won’t go hungry.

Spotted Dick

Are you ready to go? At GetAway Travel we can design a full-on UK experience, or tailor a trip to London for you. We can be reached at:  (262) 538-2140, e-mail: sue@getaway.travel or paul@getaway.travel

Largest Grape Vine in the World

Hampton Court Palace – a “Gift” for a Tudor King

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Here is what Frommers has to say about Hampton Court Palace

“The 16th-century palace of Cardinal Wolsey can teach us a lesson: Don’t try to outdo your boss, particularly if he happens to be Henry VIII. The rich cardinal did just that, and he eventually lost his fortune, power, and prestige, and ended up giving his lavish palace to the Tudor monarch. Henry’s additions include the Anne Boleyn gateway, and the aptly named Great Hall, with its hammerbeam ceiling, as well as a Tiltyard (where jousting competitions were held) and a “real tennis” court.”

Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York and chief minister to Henry VIII spent lavishly to build the finest palace in England at Hampton Court. Wolsey however did not live at Hampton Court for very long. His fall from favor was swift as he was unable to assist Henry with his desire to have the Pope annul Henry’s marriage to his first wife Catherine of Aragon. The property was given to Henry who then went on to separate the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church and very famously have 5 more wives in his attempt to have a legitimate male heir. Along with St James’s, Hampton Court is one of the only two surviving palaces out of the many owned by King Henry VIII.

Today the palace is open to the public and is a major tourist attraction, quite easily reached by rail from central London. The architecture is amazing with stunning brickwork and of course the beautiful gardens. The palace is cared for by an independent charity and receives no funding from the Government or the Crown for upkeep.

Put Hampton Court Palace on the list of places to see when you vacation in London. We can help make this happen – contact us today!