Menagerie of Moments

This trip has been an amazing experience and we've seen so many things that I never thought we would, we've definitely crossed a lot of things off our 'bucket list', as well as some that weren't even on it.  We've met some interesting people along the way and their willingness to help out and communicate with us when we didn't speak their language was quite refreshing, we had quite a few laughs doing sign language!  These photos are random shots taken on many different days, I'm putting them here to remind us of little moments that I don't want to forget, it was a trip of a lifetime.

No train service to Versailles that day so it meant a long hot bus ride but we still went.

Coffee cart kids were adorable!

Seeing the Eiffel Tower at night never gets old.

A pastry a day keeps the doctor away...

We'd walk by this square each time we came home to our place in Paris, it was our landmark.

Many train rides, double checking the wall maps often!

Restauradores Plaza in Lisbon

After being lost for a few hours  in Spain Ted loved this meal of tripe and beans, he had three bowls. 

Tapas bar in historic part of Santiago de Compostela was crazy busy but a fun place, 

The oasis we found just when we needed it - Costa Vella! 

An Evening at the London Theatre

During our many trips using the underground 'Tube' here we had many opportunities to read the various posters advertising plays that are on at the West End theatres.  Last night we decided that we couldn't miss the opportunity to take one in so we headed off to see Beautiful - The Carole King Musical, which was playing at the Aldwych Theatre.

Upper lounge for refreshments

Ticket box

The theatre area of London is filled with fabulous classic buildings in the baroque style and the  Aldwych theatre was built in 1905.  It was Friday night and the streets were full of people at the restaurants and milling about outside, many going to the theatres - it had a good vibe.

View from our seats, looking down onto the stage which had a piano in the middle which the actress who played Carole King did an amazing job playing - it was a definite hit on our London adventures!

Wimbledon Day 2

Day Two:

I'm not sure if it was on purpose but Ted set the alarm for an hour earlier than when we'd planned, his iPad clock isn't on England's time zone - but it meant we were up and out the door early.  The weather  is better and there was already a thousand people more there than the day before.  We still got in and met some fun people in the queue while we all waited together, great place to sit and observe.  One thing we've noticed is how much champagne and prosecco people drink here in the tennis world, it's kinda crazy!  Every line-up and also in the stands you see people popping their bottles, but you're allowed to bring it in with you so that probably encourages it.

 We watched several matches including seeing Milos Raonic beat Andreas Seppi.

As well as Serena and Venus Williams playing doubles.  The court we sat at gave us a great view of some of the other courts nearby, pretty nice.

 A little later we were sitting over at 'Murray's Mound' watching on the big screen, it was Eugenie  Bouchard against Johanna Konta from the UK.  There was an announcement on the screen advising centre court tickets available so Ted hurried over and was able to get us some.  People who leave the match early sometimes turn their tickets back in as they leave, which then are resold for $20 CDN and that money goes to charitable causes.  It's a great deal for people like us who otherwise wouldn't get in.

Fabulous seats, although the people in front of us didn't like us cheering for Eugenie, kinda funny. 

Centre Court had the roof partially open 

Our Canadian played exceptionally well.

It's been such a great experience being here, probably once in a lifetime and we've loved it!

Wimbledon Day 1

Day One:

We had set the alarm for an early wake-up so we could be at the Wimbledon queue by 6:30-7:00 in the morning and we did pretty well actually, we were numbers 3668 and 3670, a guy snuck in between us somehow.

 This was the beginning of our long walk to where we would eventually receive our queue numbered card which would entitle us to line up to buy our grounds passes, after about a three and a half hour wait.

 Here we are feeling quite successful about having started our way into Wimbledon. They allow 8000 people in to line up so the field gets many lines of people sitting on blankets that the vendor sells you for $10 CDN which you eventually realize that you do need in order to sit down after awhile.

  

Almost into the grounds!

The amount of flower boxes and planters filled with blue, purple, violet and green flowers was amazing, and window boxes were everywhere on the upper terraces where the Members watch from.

Large scoreboard keeps you updated on all the courts, there's 20 courts in all.

The weather became more drizzly and wet as the day wore on so unfortunately we got to see less than two hours of tennis although we were there for twelve hours, but the forecast for Day 2 looked better.

Last Day of our London Pass

It felt a bit like Chevy Chase's European Vacation today, we covered quite a bit of ground and took in several of the big sights that were still on our list.  First stop was the Tower of London:

Gold weather vane

The Queen's Crown and all the fancy jewels are kept here but they don't allow photos.  Pretty over the top items in there!

 Westminster Abbey where the Royal weddings, baptisms and coronations take place.

Emblem in the cobblestones in front of Buckingham Palace.

Buckingham Palace 

After that it was time to go to  Harrod's Department store, the high end designer  merchandise they sell was still selling despite the high prices, it was a very interesting place to see.

 We stopped for a bottle of Harrod's own lager at the little bistro they have overlooking a deli section. Check out the chandeliers...

   

And that was another full day being a tourist in London, now we have three days of hopefully getting in to see some tennis at Wimbledon!

The London Zoo

Perfect day to visit the zoo so off we went, and after checking out their map we began our tour.  There's some great exhibits and seemed very well laid out, and although it's so old that the Queen used to come here as a child it's very good.

Pygmy hippo

The lemurs were in a walk through exhibit so the pathway took you right inside their habitat, with just a short chain keeping you from reaching over to try and touch them.  

Blue throated macaws make a lot of noise.

Pelican lagoon - they were interesting to watch as they ate the grass. 

The butterfly exhibit was another walk through, this blue one really liked Ted's shirt which was blue as well.

Nectar sipping station

Believe it or not I decided to take a look inside the walk through spider exhibit but once in the automatic door closed and I had to walk all the way through!

This one was behind glass though, thank goodness.

Hyde Park

'Speaker's Corner' at Hyde Park was on our list of places we definitely wanted to go to while we're here in London, and we were hoping to see Jay Smith who is a regular speaker there.  It's a place where anyone can go and stand up on a chair, step ladder etc. and speak on whatever topic they wish.  There is a lot of debating and interaction with the crowd who gather around to listen, and of course there are those there who merely want to stir the pot at each speaker's gathering spot no matter what the topic.

Topics ranged from religion, recent political events, and environmental issues.

Christian speakers

Muslim speakers

And on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Hyde Park you can also just take a picnic and enjoy the day.