London bound

This was our first experience on Ryan Air. We had heard all about flying Ryan Air, the luggage restrictions, the boarding of the plane (aka cattle call), the fees, the constant announcements from everything from smokeless cigarettes that they try to hawk on the plane to scratch & win cards, all the while you are trying to relax on the plane. We arrived at Frankfurt-Hahn, an out of the way, tiny airport that used to be a military airport (at least that is what I was told). It, now, is used primarily by Ryan Air. We were lucky enough to travel with a family we met through our church. This was a blessing as they have spent three years in Europe and have flown on Ryan Air many times, they were able to train us. That is the beauty of traveling with seasoned tourists, they know what you need to know. Now as they wind up their time and we become trained, we can pass along the information and soon we will be the experts...the circle of life...no wait that is a movie. We arrived in London very early on a Saturday. My wife reserved a car in London, now just to let you know I was very nervous about driving in England in general. When we got to the counter I learned that not only am I driving a car in England but I am driving a manual. I quickly described my hesitancy to the lady behind the counter and felt like saying "if you want your car in one piece, I should drive an automatic". For a few dollars more she obliged, and just for safe measure took out as much insurance as I possibly could on the car. We received a very nice 5 passenger Audi stationwagon. Not only was the pressure on to perform but mother nature decided to get into the act, it was raining. After taking a practice turn around the parking lot we ventured out. I specifically told Sharma that I am not going to drive into London, we will just catch a Metro stop outside of the city. The next thing I know I am driving through street lights, large buildings, restaurants looking for this elusive parking structure, all the time realizing that I am now in London. The first day was cold and rainy. But what are you going to expect for London. We bought Metro passes and headed for Buckingham Palace. We walked through a nice park where they had an art exhibit set up which consisted of several lawn chairs set up two by two. We decided what a great picture, much like many other people walking past. Whether or not it was allowed was a different story altogether. The park ended at Buckingham Palace. Throngs of people were lined up all over. We could hear in the distance the faint sound of music. It was getting closer. The pomp and circumstance was easy to feel in the air. We could hear the clomping of the horse's hooves coming toward us. The buzz in the crowd grew electric and then we could see the procession. It was the changing of the guards. It was quite a sight to see. After the hoopla died down we decided to keep walking. We walked over to Westminister Abbey and then down the road toward Big Ben (which quite frankly isn't as big as I thought it was going to be). On the way there we passed one of the infamous red phonebooths and decided that this would make a great family picture. We stuffed ourselves in and smiled. We found our way to Picadilly circus and Trafalgar square. We ate lunch at the Cafe in the Crypt, which is actually a crypt that they have put a cafe in. Apart from the ambience of eating lunch in a crypt the food was not that good. Next we took the Metro to the Tower of London and as we reached our destination the rain decided to pick up a bit more, we felt like paying the money to take the tour would be a good option as it would get us out of the rain. Plus I wanted to see the crown jewels. We meandered around a bit and went into a few buildings awaiting the tour. We could see the Tower Bridge from one of the many windows. The tour started and the guide was in perfect Beefeater mode, somewhat brash and abrasive but funny (in an English sort of way). In hindsight I don't think I would have paid the money to do this tour, for the price paid and the time spent it really was not worth it. We ate at a fish and chips restaurant for dinner. On our way back to the car we realized that we weren't that far from Sherlock Holmes' house. As you can see in our picture on this page we found the right door but nobody was home (it was locked), probably out solving a mystery. Our travel buddies had friends that lived at a military base about an hour north of London. It was really inexpensive and nice, but quite a ways out of town. Next day was an emphasis on the Theater and all things cultured. Our first stop was the theater district to buy tickets to the musical Wicked. There are places that sell same day tickets, half-off, but did not realize that Wicked was not included. They had several kiosks set up that sold discounted same day tickets, just not quite as inexpensive as we were hoping for. We bought tickets for the whole family and felt good about the price we paid. Next we decided to see the British Museum. We spent several hours there seeing many items of great historical importance. The piece de resistance was the Rosetta stone. It was a huge tablet with three distinct styles of writing on it. It also had the mummy of Cleopatra, some of the walls of Nineveh, pieces of the Parthenon, the beard of the Sphinx. Here is the eye-opener for me, I didn't realize that England 'acquired' so many artifacts and relics from so many other places. We then decided, on a whim, to see the British Library. Probably one of our favorite stops, especially for the price...free. There is a room in the library that houses many original works, pieces, movements and books. It contained original songs from the Beatles in their handwriting, the original Alice in Wonderland, Guttenberg bible, original writings of William Shakespeare, original pieces of Jane Austen, original songs by Beethoven, the wedding procession etc. I just thoroughly enjoyed the visit there. It was getting close to the time for us to see Wicked so we decided to pick up McDonalds and catch the subway to the theater. Unfortunately, we couldn't take the Tube all the way to the theater because of a mechanical issue. We took it as far as we could and then needed to run to the theater...literally run. We were very short on time and had no idea where the theater was exactly. only generalities. By this time it was pitch black and we were running at break neck speed...and that is exactly what almost happened. We ran across a street in a panic, and it being dark out, couldn't see the metal pole between the sidewalk and the street. Young little Maddi ran headlong into the pole which caught her throat high. In the instant it happened I could care less if we made it to the show, just as long as she was okay. I just knew we were on our way to the hospital. After a moment she shook it off and we were off and running again. We ran into the doors of the theater, sweaty, out of breath, just as they said "two minutes until the show starts". We sat in the balcony and had very decent seats...and we loved the show. The next day we decided to drive to Stonehenge and Bath. Stonehenge is this surreal place where you can't quite say for sure what happened and for what purpose. As we were driving we came upon Stonehenge so quickly we didn't even see it appear. You are just driving along and there it is, which is strange because the land gently rolls and these very large monolithic slabs stick out of the ground. We took the tour and marveled at the ingenuity and determination these people had. It is funny, however, that I thought the slabs were going to be much larger, I don't know why, I guess tv makes everything look larger. We then drove to Bath which is a Jane Austen favorite in her books and Sharma wanted to go desperately. It was a nice drive out and Sharma got to pay her respects to Jane Austen's geography. We walked around the little town and you could just see Sharma light up being there. Ah, those are the moments that as a husbnd you know you've done something good. When you see your wife happy like that, you almost believe that you can make up for all the wrong you have done in life...almost. We then drove back to our place and enjoyed a very quite evening before leaving very early the next morning to catch our return flight to Germany...that still sounds strange...Germany. Info Mode of transportation to city: Ryan Air (10 Euro/person, roundtrip) Lodging: Royal Air Force Croughton (base, associated with USAF) Transportation in England: Rental (Alamo) Car 89 GBP for three days; Tube (family pass) Sites: Tower of London-47 GBP/family; Stonehenge- 20.30 GBP/family; Wicked tickets- 40 GBP/adult (discounted tickets), British Museum, British Library-free