If you were here yesterday and read part 1, welcome back. If you are new to my blog then you may want to read yesterdays blog before reading this one. When I ended yesterday, we were about to leave Normandy and head for England. The team of students we were with was going to head to Chalons en Champagne, there wasn't enough places for all of the team to stay in Chalons, so this was the perfect time for Taylor and I to slip off to England. I had planned to only go for a day but when I was offered the opportunity to go for 4 days I took it. This would allow us time to visit as well as a bit of time to see some of London. The team left Normandy and headed back to Paris, from Paris we got on a train to England the rest of the team got on a train to Chalons en Champagne.
When we arrived in London my friends son met us at the station and took us to their place in Putney, a suburb of London. We spent our first night just hanging out and having a time of reunion.
Our first day we spent the day walking around London seeing the sights, the London Eye,
Big Ben,
we walked along the Thames River,
walked down Fleet street,
visited a street market,
visited an art museum, the part of London where all of the Broadway shows were playing
and much more. We rode the tube, rode a double decker bus,
took a train ride, but never a taxi ride as they were expensive. When our legs were ready for a break we stopped at Starbucks coffee for a coffee break then we continued our tour of London. The next day we went sightseeing and shopping, being in England was much like being in the US but looked more like France. The buildings and streets were very foreign to us but the lifestyle was much like our own.
Most things still closed early but there were shopping malls and restaurants in large shopping centers. They had ASDA stores which is England's Wal Mart they are owned by Wal Mart. On the way to the shopping center we went through a large park that was teaming with wildlife, I was very interested in stopping and taking pictures but it would have to wait. We had wanted to do some shopping but the Dollar was so weak against the British Pound that each Pound was worth twice what a dollar was worth. This kept us from spending much money, I only bought some books that I had been trying to find in the US but wasn't able to find reasonably priced. I needed 2 more of the Harry Potter series in the British style to complete my collection. I was able to get them while I was there, that is all that I spent money on. Taylor bought a couple of little things to remind her of the time we were there. She got a free British Subway sandwich shop t-shirt, my friend Jeff owns a Subway franchise. On the way back from our day of shopping we made a trip back through the big park I mentioned. This time we stopped, this was the highlight of my trip. It was no ordinary park, in the past it was the private hunting grounds for the Royal families. It was regularly stocked with deer, fox, pheasant and other wildlife. I am not sure when but at some point it was no longer the Royal hunting grounds and it became a public park. It was open to the public for recreational use but not for hunting. The wildlife was left in the park and over time became used to being around people. They have no fear of being hunted and therefore they will walk within a few feet of humans with no fear. I was amazed at this and I wanted to get close to get some pictures. I saw 3 different kind of deer in the park, some looked much like the deer we see here but some were smaller, not much bigger than a large dog. I saw these deer but was not able to get pictures of them. Where we stopped the deer were of the larger breed. Where I first got out of the car there was a deer within 10 feet of the car. I was able to walk up to within 4 feet of it. I might have been able to get closer but it wasn't necessary so I didn't try. I soon noticed a ways off a herd of maybe 50 to 75 deer,
I also noticed among the deer very large racks of antlers.
I quickly headed that way, when I got within 50 feet of the herd I noticed that some of them were watching me. I also noticed that every deer I saw had antlers, it was a herd of very large bucks. I didn't have my 300 mm lens so I wanted to get closer but those few were still watching me. I felt safe next to the tree I was standing by but I couldn't resist it I had to try. I slowly started making my way closer to the herd, with every step I took I was further from the safety of my tree. I noticed that the deer were monitoring me closer. They didn't seemed to worried but they definitely kept a close eye on me. I was so busy snapping photos that before I realized it I had walked smack dab into the middle of the herd. When I finally stopped shooting and looked, I realized that on every side there were deer and I couldn't get away safely if I needed to. Luckily for me I never needed to. I got some really good shots and I didn't get nervous until I saw several pairs of bucks start to fight. I then realized that I was probably not in the safest position and I started making my way out of the group, after getting some really good shots of the bucks fighting of course.
I must say it was very exciting. After the park we went back to their home and hung out. The next day we went to Church with Jeff's family,
it was quite nice and the people of their church were very warm and welcoming.
After church we had a little time so we took a drive into London and saw the Royal Palace,
the queen however was not home so she had to miss her opportunity to meet us. It was all quite fun but it was coming to an end as the next morning we had to meet the team back in Paris and head to the French Alps. After we finished visiting the Palace gates
we headed home and gathered up the family for Sunday evening church service. They were having a special family game night and we had a lot of fun. The team that we were on won and we each got a plastic medal and a box of chocolates.
Very yummy. The next day we went to the train station and hopped back on the train to Paris. This day will be discussed in part 3 of the story that you can read tomorrow, let me just say that it turned out to be quite an adventure for Taylor and I.
Photoman
When we arrived in London my friends son met us at the station and took us to their place in Putney, a suburb of London. We spent our first night just hanging out and having a time of reunion.
Our first day we spent the day walking around London seeing the sights, the London Eye,
Big Ben,
we walked along the Thames River,
walked down Fleet street,
visited a street market,
visited an art museum, the part of London where all of the Broadway shows were playing
and much more. We rode the tube, rode a double decker bus,
took a train ride, but never a taxi ride as they were expensive. When our legs were ready for a break we stopped at Starbucks coffee for a coffee break then we continued our tour of London. The next day we went sightseeing and shopping, being in England was much like being in the US but looked more like France. The buildings and streets were very foreign to us but the lifestyle was much like our own.
Most things still closed early but there were shopping malls and restaurants in large shopping centers. They had ASDA stores which is England's Wal Mart they are owned by Wal Mart. On the way to the shopping center we went through a large park that was teaming with wildlife, I was very interested in stopping and taking pictures but it would have to wait. We had wanted to do some shopping but the Dollar was so weak against the British Pound that each Pound was worth twice what a dollar was worth. This kept us from spending much money, I only bought some books that I had been trying to find in the US but wasn't able to find reasonably priced. I needed 2 more of the Harry Potter series in the British style to complete my collection. I was able to get them while I was there, that is all that I spent money on. Taylor bought a couple of little things to remind her of the time we were there. She got a free British Subway sandwich shop t-shirt, my friend Jeff owns a Subway franchise. On the way back from our day of shopping we made a trip back through the big park I mentioned. This time we stopped, this was the highlight of my trip. It was no ordinary park, in the past it was the private hunting grounds for the Royal families. It was regularly stocked with deer, fox, pheasant and other wildlife. I am not sure when but at some point it was no longer the Royal hunting grounds and it became a public park. It was open to the public for recreational use but not for hunting. The wildlife was left in the park and over time became used to being around people. They have no fear of being hunted and therefore they will walk within a few feet of humans with no fear. I was amazed at this and I wanted to get close to get some pictures. I saw 3 different kind of deer in the park, some looked much like the deer we see here but some were smaller, not much bigger than a large dog. I saw these deer but was not able to get pictures of them. Where we stopped the deer were of the larger breed. Where I first got out of the car there was a deer within 10 feet of the car. I was able to walk up to within 4 feet of it. I might have been able to get closer but it wasn't necessary so I didn't try. I soon noticed a ways off a herd of maybe 50 to 75 deer,
I also noticed among the deer very large racks of antlers.
I quickly headed that way, when I got within 50 feet of the herd I noticed that some of them were watching me. I also noticed that every deer I saw had antlers, it was a herd of very large bucks. I didn't have my 300 mm lens so I wanted to get closer but those few were still watching me. I felt safe next to the tree I was standing by but I couldn't resist it I had to try. I slowly started making my way closer to the herd, with every step I took I was further from the safety of my tree. I noticed that the deer were monitoring me closer. They didn't seemed to worried but they definitely kept a close eye on me. I was so busy snapping photos that before I realized it I had walked smack dab into the middle of the herd. When I finally stopped shooting and looked, I realized that on every side there were deer and I couldn't get away safely if I needed to. Luckily for me I never needed to. I got some really good shots and I didn't get nervous until I saw several pairs of bucks start to fight. I then realized that I was probably not in the safest position and I started making my way out of the group, after getting some really good shots of the bucks fighting of course.
I must say it was very exciting. After the park we went back to their home and hung out. The next day we went to Church with Jeff's family,
it was quite nice and the people of their church were very warm and welcoming.
After church we had a little time so we took a drive into London and saw the Royal Palace,
the queen however was not home so she had to miss her opportunity to meet us. It was all quite fun but it was coming to an end as the next morning we had to meet the team back in Paris and head to the French Alps. After we finished visiting the Palace gates
we headed home and gathered up the family for Sunday evening church service. They were having a special family game night and we had a lot of fun. The team that we were on won and we each got a plastic medal and a box of chocolates.
Very yummy. The next day we went to the train station and hopped back on the train to Paris. This day will be discussed in part 3 of the story that you can read tomorrow, let me just say that it turned out to be quite an adventure for Taylor and I.
Photoman
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