Post trip observation

There were some concerned people when the destination of this past trip was revealed. I wanted to comment on my personal feelings during the trip. I never felt in danger the whole trip: Dallas, London, or Dubai. The only time I did feel anxious-and that is not the best choice of words because it was not that strong of a feeling, was at Heathrow airport in London, in baggage claim, near the outside doors.

The thoughts of bombings that had occurred around London and Great Britain passed through my mind and I felt a small need to move farther in the building. Contrasting that, I never felt in danger in Dubai. There really was no visible crime other than the bad drivers, but we have that in the states. We walked most places or took cabs. Even at night, walking back to the hotel did not fell dangerous in any way.

Home Safe

We hope you have enjoyed the blog. We uploaded 6 or 7 posts tonight and fixed the comment problem so those who want to comment can and we will respond. Please scroll down and work your way back up to see our day of London from the start to the finish.

--Kirk and Leslie

Final Pictures

We ended our day about 11 hours after it started taking the moving stairs out of the Knightsbridge station for a walk back to the hotel and Leslie spotted this in a picture window.

Still More London at night

Some time lapse pictures by Kirk form the south side of the Thames The last shot is from the North side and is of the London Eye.

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More London at night

Some extended shutter pictures by Leslie. These were taken from the south side of the Thames. The last two were from the London Eye, aka the Millennium Wheel. I have never see a wheel like this before. It is not supported by two sides. Its axis is more like a plane prop and the wheel looks like a bicycle wheel and sets in/on a device that turns it.

Exterior shots of St. Paul's

An exterior shot of St. Paul's from the front, about a 10 second exposure.
Two different shots of the side of St. Paul's with varying exposure settings. I believe the first and last are mine and the middle two are Leslie's

Pics from the top of St. Paul's

Leslie and I standing on the Holy Crap Gallery...er uh...top of the Dome of St. Paul's Cathedral.
Tower Bridge (not London Bridge) as see from St. Paul's.
The Millennium Eye /Farris Wheel.
One of the sections of spiral stairs used to climb up or in this case down.

Pics from near the top of St. Paul's

Here are some pictures that Leslie took from the Stone Gallery mentioned in the previous Post.

Trek to St. Paul's

On the walk we passed the Globe theater that Shakespeare made famous.
From the Globe the next step was to get across the Thymes and the nearest option was the Wibbly Wobbly bridge , also known by it official name the Millennium Bridge. It was unofficially renamed because of it had too much movement in the wind.
Our goal was St. Paul's Cathedral. It was the highlight of the month I spent in London during college. The pictures in the next post (actually previous post) were from the different levels of the dome. Yes you can walk up stairs to see a view of London that most will never see.

The first level you reach is inside and is called the Whispering Gallery-I believe 250 steps up. It is named that because you can "whisper along the wall" and someone over 70 feet away can hear you. The sound travels along the perfect circle designed my Christopher Wren.

The second level is an outside area just below the gray top of the dome in the picture - another 120 steps up. It is called the Stone Gallery. I guess because of the stone wall that separates you from the edge.

The final level is at the top just above the dome but below the top "Handle"-- another 130ish steps; it is called the Holy Crap Gallery. Actually, that is just the thought that escapes you mind after having climbed 500 steps. You can barely walk around the "ledge" single file and there is just a metal rail between you and the edge. There are some alcoves and that is where the people who are afraid of heights adhere themselves until their friends can talk them down.
The view of the Wibbly Wobbly bridge from the top of St. Paul's.

Start of our Saturday Tour of London

We started our Saturday in London by sleeping in late. After a leisurely morning we walked to the Knightsbridge tube station, but a day pass for zones 1 & 2 (which cover almost all of what you would want to do) and then headed to the London Bridge station to see an outdoor market and snack our way through brunch.I had intended to take Leslie to some places that I visited on my first trip to London back in the the 80's and to places that I did not get to see.


We left the market for the London dungeon. Which now is not just a museum, but almost an amusement park. There was an hour line just to by tickets, so we took off on a walk. We visited the first jail in London called the Clink and learned that women were the first prisoners, click the third picture to read more statistics about the clink.

Click the fourth picture to read some of the stranger laws from London's past, including the last one that is still on the books!

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Finally back in London

After what can only be described as an extremely long, red-eye flight from Dubai last night, we arrived safe and sound in London about 7:30 a.m. After 'passport control' and baggage reclaim, we took the underground into town. Thankfully the hotel had a room available so we could shower prior to meeting a marketing colleague at the London TP office for lunch. More London pictures to follow, for now we're off touring!

Dine and Dash

We just finished dinner at our favorite Lebanese place. Some wonderful chicken and Lamb. The strange thing was that it was 10:00 and that is the normal hour for dining out. For us it was our last meal before a 2:55am flight to London.



It is twenty past midnight and we are blogging from the hotel lobby. Our airport transfer leaves in 1o minutes so we are trying to use as much of our internet access as possible.

The flight to London is about 7 hours. We land 4 timezones west at 6:45ish am. We hope to sleep most if not all of the way.

Wish us luck, and meanwhile, leave some comments or questions for us.

Lunch and three Souk (or Souq or what ever letters you want to use)

After lunch on the Creek, we visited the Old Souk where textiles rule the day, Gold Souk where diamonds, silver and gold are king, and Spice Souk where you can find everything under the sun.

Dubai Museums

We visited two museums in dubai today. The courtyard picture is from the First Sheik of Dubai, Saeed Al Maktoum. This house now houses Historical photos, stamps, money, and documents from the founding of the city to present. The boat is a replica pearl diving boat that was later used for fishing. It sits above the Dubai Museum.

Destination: Mercato

So I finally reached the shopping center - and it was gorgeous! A smallish, urban shopping mall modeled after an Italian villiage - several actually. I haven't seen a 'fake' this fabulous since Las Vegas. Strangely, this town has a lot in common with Las Vegas - lot's of fabulous shopping, tons of brand new construction, right in the middle of an arid desert! Just about everything except the casinos - strictly verboten here. But they do have betting on their horse and camel races...
The jewelry stores were all located in a section marked "Pont de Veccio".

The food court was the one dose of rather scary reality.

Who knew there was designated parking?

'nuff said.