A Little Late, but the End of Mom & Dad's Visit...

This is a bit late in posting, but I wanted to do a conclusion to Mom and Dad's visit so we could have a record of all they did while they were here....

Saturday, July 25, 2009

(On top of the overlook with the White Cliffs behind)

(Dover Castle)

(The English Channel and all the ferries to France behind us)

We loaded up the car for a little road trip to Dover. Our intention was to see Dover Castle and tour the tunnels used during WWII. The Castle was closed, but it actually worked out for the best, because we were able to spend more time touring the grounds, which were open. There is an overlook located at the front of the grounds that was used to keep an eye on the sky and sea during the wars. The top of the overlook is now a great place to get a good view of the ferry harbor and the White Cliffs of Dover. The overlook, which is actually underground, is a series of bunkers, a communications system and a room with a full wall of windows that was used to view any enemies coming towards the coast. Keep in mind that we chose this day randomly, having no idea of what events may have been going on in the actual town. As we were standing in the overlook, looking out the same windows used by soldiers many years ago, we heard a rumble, looked up and saw a huge WWII airplane flying at eye level to us. We really couldn't believe our eyes! Come to find out, Dover was hosting their annual Dover 2009 event, which is an airshow showcasing everything from vintage planes to modern coast guard helicopters. Dad was beyond himself and I've never seen him move faster than when he climbed the staircase back to the top of the overlook to get a closer look at the plane and take some photos. We admired the airshow for a while before heading down to do the tunnels tour.

I had already taken the tour a few years back, so I hung out in the little cafe while Mom, Dad, and Edgar learned how they were used during the war for everything from communications, to a hospital, to housing. I think they thoroughly enjoyed the tour and learned alot about the Dunkirk retreat, which was a massive operation to move retreating Allied soldiers from France back to the UK. The operation was expected to save maybe 5,000 soldiers, but wound up saving close to 400,000. Pretty amazing.

It was a long day, but it could not have been more perfect. We all headed back to Richmond with smiles on our faces and just a few aching feet.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Tuesday was their last official day as tourists as they were leaving on Wednesday. We finished it with a bang...Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace and a tour through the National Gallery. Unless you get to the Palace 2 hours before the changing begins, you can't expect to get prime views. We thought we had a great outpost, but we wound up not being able to see much of anything happening in the courtyard behind the gates. We at least got to see everyone march in and out and here the band play a few songs.

We headed down the road towards the Texas Embassy for a much deserved lunch of mediocre TexMex. It's pretty good for London, but they would get laughed out of town in Texas.

We then did a quick, whirlwind tour of the National Gallery, where Mom and Dad saw paintings by artists such as Raphael, Van Gough, and Monet. I think they were pleasantly surprised by the art and enjoyed it!

(On the front entrance to the National Gallery with St. Martin in the Fields Church in the background. We had coffee and hot chocolate to fuel us for the ride back home to Richmond.)