We arrived in London March 2nd for a few days before heading to Ireland for several weeks. We had never been to the UK and would spend a few days in London and then ferry to Dublin. It was rainy most of the trip but enjoyable just the same.
Kensington and Hyde Park
The neighborhood was in the west end near Kensington Palace. I had no idea where I was but we walked to the Kensington and Hyde Parks and just roamed around past the Prince Albert Memorial, through the park past the Peter Pan statue to the Italian Fountains and back to the hotel past Royal Albert Hall. There is a flock of wild Parakeets that seemed very tame and the swans liked being fed by visitors.
Hampton Court
We had a good day to visit Hampton Court, a short train ride out of Waterloo Station. This was very impressive and, although changed significantly since then, it should where many important events took place during the time of Henry VIII.
The palace and gardens were expanded by the Stuart’s, William and Mary, and the Hanover Kings (the Georges) in a more modern (then) style as shown in the one photo.
King Tut
King Tut is getting a new home back in Egypt so a large collection of his treasures are in a traveling exhibit for the last time, never to leave Egypt again. We visited the gallery to see the exhibit of the amazing items that accompanied him to his afterlife. The exhibit explained the importance of ritual and religion in the items and the process of sending him on his final journey.
Roaming and the Ferry Trip
We took half a day after Tut to see parts of London. The exhibit was reasonably close to Buckingham Palace so we headed there. I was a little underwhelmed after seeing Hampton Court but was also raining nonstop which made it a bit difficult to appreciate as much.
After a visit to a tea shop to warm up with tea and soup we got on a tour bus to see London without getting wet. We didn’t see much and would have done better with a underground map and a short list of sights.
After the few days in London we took the train across England and into Wales to Holyhead where we would catch the ferry across the Irish Sea to Dublin the next morning. We stayed in a small all inn and walked to the ferry port the next morning. What we saw of Wales from the train was beautiful and I’d like to go back for a longer visit.
The ferry boat was the Estrid of the Stena Line, about one year old and very nice. I’ve been on a few ocean ferries and this was the best I’ve seen. We had a stateroom thinking it would be a small compartment where we would keep our stuff. Instead it had a queen size bed, a desk and a couple chairs, and a bathroom with a shower.
We made the crossing in about three hours and were in Dublin by about noon.
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The View From Here 