Tom Whittaker's Blog

Of course every day of this trip was splendid, but here are what Dale and I feel were the highlights:

1. The boat tour through the canals of Amsterdam.

2. Trip to Stonehenge.

3. Visit to the Anne Frank Museum.

4. Trip to Bath, England.

5. The double-decker bus tour in London.

6. Sister Act, the Musical for Tom 's birthday evening.

7. Trip to Windsor Castle.

8. Pancakes in Amsterdam.

9. The London Eye.

10. Visit to Westminster Abbey.

Every vacation with Dale is always wonderful. He is the perfect travel and life companion.

Here is a picture of our hotel. We have been walking the city saying goodbye to Amsterdam. We stopped for pancakes for dinner. Tomorrow is a full at of flying.

So far, it looks like everything actually may contain fleas. Also, as an update Dale is sleepy.

...sailing through the canals on a beautiful summer day getting one last view of the canals of this glorious city.

We will run it as a hotel and Dale will dress as a French maid each day to clean the rooms.

Looking forward to seeing the painting the painting Night Watch by Rembrandt.

Well, actually Dale is enjoying coffee. I never touch the stuff and I am having some apple juice.

On a side note MC Hammer pants or as Dale calls them 'poopie' pants are still popular here. Remember those? A throw back to the 90s.

The nice part of Amsterdam is it is very casual, so even the fancier restaurants are casual dress. I am NOT wearing pants.

They are all around our hotel courtyard and park. They are native to Amsterdam I guess. Quite beautiful.

Debated hitting the museum today, but decided we would do that tomorrow.

Canal
Wine
Canal
Wine
Canal
Well, you get the picture
Tom is drunk

...relax. Heading to a canal dinner cruise tonight.

Dale is addicted. His mom used to make these types of pancakes for him as a kid - called them 'skinny pancakes'. I imagine this was in reference to the thickness more than the calories.

...Amsterdam is not really known for early mornings probably.

De stad is groot, maar voelt zo klein en quaint. De schoonheid vult kleinst van ruimten, vanaf een bloem die van een barst aan een venstertuin groeit. De stad verbaast u enkel meer en meer met elke stap en draai.

In case you are not up on your Dutch:

We walked for hours today from street to street to canal to canal. The city is large, but feels so small and quaint. Beauty fills the smallest of spaces, from a flower pushing up from a crack to a window garden. The city just astonishes you more and more with each step and turn.

It stays light here until almost 11:30 PM. Glorious.

My Latin is rusty but I think that means don't piss in the wind. Picture is not great. Sorry. Google it and let me know.

...was a very moving experience for me. I feel honored in a way to have read her words and now seen the Annex.

She spoke for millions. What amazed me most of her dairy was she was never hateful about her situation. Sad, but never hateful.

It is a little surreal in a way. The church bells are ringing. The same bells that Anne writes about. Very somber.

The Holocaust seems so long ago in many ways but is truly not.

Having just re-read the book on the airplane all her words are so fresh in my head. Her fears. Her frustrations. Her hopes for love. For life after the war. So senseless. So many lives wasted.

In a way it is nice to see her life brought such meaning and is still honored. She prayed that her diary and words would be a legacy and they are.

You can't be at an Irish Pub and not have beer, right?

sell little white chocolate ears in a box. Or on a stick. Great marketing opportunity missed.

..so we are calling it a night.

We spent our first evening here just wandering the streets and taking it all in. So romantic. Why do canals scream romance to me?

Splendid city.

...there is a huge group gathered around a van playing Michael Jackson music. Must be several hundred people singing along and dancing.

It is a nice, spontaneous tribute.

Dale is on his third girl in the red light district. He just can't get enough of it.



I am at a Steak House and just ordered a steak the size of my head.



I hope Dale finishes up soon, so we can have dinner too. And for those of you not guessing, I am kidding. I ordered the chicken.

The drive from our hotel in London to Heathrow was 1 hour. The flight time from London to Amsterdam was only 30 minutes. Too funny.

We are waiting for plane to taxi. Then need to find our car service and next the hotel. Then onto see the sights!

Talk to you later!

...rather than you handing away your credit card. If you are paying by credit card, every business has a wireless credit card machine they bring to your table. So much better in preventing credit card fraud.

...some breakfast at the Giraffe Restaurant. Funny, but baked beans are a breakfast item here.

Incredible city.
Civilized.
Proper.
Historic.
Traditional.
Yet electric.
Welcoming.
Comfortable.
Sad to leave.

Where we will be seeing Chicago, which looks good except that Jerry Springer is playing Billy Flynn.

Oh well, I once saw it with Melanie Griffith in NYC, who was bloody dreadful. She looks at her feet when she dances and sadly cannot sing, dance and look at her feet all at the same time.

It is a monument where 7 roads all lead directly into. It is fun. Lots of people and directly in front of the Cambridge Theatre where we are seeing Chicago tonight.

The Muffin Man, how cute huh?

It was probably the warmest day so far on our vacation. Glorious blue skies and sunshine. We walked for 5 hours around Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Knightsbridge and South Kensington. It was so nice and relaxing.

We stopped and saw the Memorial Fountain for Princess Diana. It is unlike other fountains here. It is set up so people, in particular children can play in the water. It is very approachable and seems to reflect Diana very well. It was nice to see.

We are back at the hotel to clean up, take a short nap and later we are going to see the musical Chicago.

It is our last night here. I will miss London.

Yes, it is true. Our vacation is not all glamor and tea with the Queen. At some point you have to stop and wash your underwear. Well, Dale does. It is free-ball vacation for me. Just kidding, I brought underwear.

We pack very light with only one carry on each, which is great as it makes travel easy, but 1/2 way through the visit you need to stop and do some laundry. It takes about an hour or so and it is worth it to not drag so many suitcases around Europe. Plus, it is always interesting to figure out the machines in another country. We have always been fortunate and found a laundromat close to our hotel while in Paris and Florence last year and now London.

Today is our last day in London and then onto Amsterdam. We plan to just wander the streets today and get a final view of life in London.

Madonna's house. She was 3 hours late, just like her concerts. It was weird she kept calling her new daughter Percy. I said, "I thought it was Mercy?" She said, "Whatever."

The children were quite nice. As was her entourage.

Breakfast was okay. Madonna, her daughter Lola (Lourdes) and son Rocco were each served a beautiful plate of fresh fruit, pastries and eggs. Dale, myself, her adopted son David and latest addition 'Percy' were served porridge. Strange.

Oh well. Madonna's sold us two t-shirts and some other nice items from her gift shop and we were on our way. All in all a nice visit. Funny. We even charged us for parking.

Now we are off to the laundromat to wash our knickers.

The men of London spend more time on their hair than the women of London. They really work it! It is impressive. They have very stylish cuts and sport the spiky, bed-head look like no others.

They also have very stylish shoes and eyewear. Overall I have to say British men have better and more exciting hair, eyewear and footwear than American men. We have much better teeth, but that is still only 1 against 3.

I do not dream while on vacation. Okay, perhaps I do dream but I do not recall the dreams like I can at home.

Not sure what that means. Am I having so much fun in reality that I do not need the recollection of a dream? Who knows? Perhaps. Just an observation.

Anyone else ever notice something like this?

Today I let you vote on how Dale & I would spend the evening in London. You picked #2 - Dale and Tom storm Buckingham Palace by force and declare themselves the new Royals, with Tom of course taking the role as Queen.

Here is what I learned:

1. It is difficult to find all black clothing last minute when needed, especially in XL.

2. Dale is not very good at helping to boost someone over a gate. When I say lift, I expect you to put some muscle into it.

3. The Palace Guards may look ceremonial, but when they see some guy hanging half on & half off a gate, they really spring into action. Those battons can really hurt.

4. I scream like a girl.

5. Apparently you cannot declare diplomatic immunity and expect assistance unless you are in fact a 'diplomat'.

6. British Intelligence does not have a sense of humor.

7. Lockup as they call jail here is actually quite nice. It is about the same size as an average English hotel room and get this - it is free, plus the food is included.

8. When the British say God Save the Queen it is more than a slogan, they really mean it.

9. I was informed you cannot declare yourself Monarch, even if you want to.

10. Once you get all sweaty and beat up in your new black outfits you cannot return them. Apparently store policy is if they were used in a royal uprising, they cannot be exchanged. Who knew?

Just kidding folks, we did not do #2. We are not crazy. Well, they are almost done with my God Save These Queens tattoo, so Dale's turn is next.

Okay, seriously Dale and I had a great evening. We headed to Chinatown and started the evening at a wonderful Chinese restaurant. After dinner we walked a little around SoHo. I was looking quite dapper and British tonight in my new hat. Next we went to see Jersey Boys. We bought 1/2 price tickets today and got great seats about 10 rows from stage. The show was excellent and just as good when we saw it back in the States. Another glorious night in London.

Oh, by the way...I am addicted to the British Big Brother TV show. I love it!

Cheers.

...what Tom & Dale do next.

Here are the options:

1. Dale and Tom go to a nice dinner and then see the musical, Jersey Boys in the Old Compton area.

2. Dale and Tom storm Buckingham Palace by force and declare themselves the new Royals, with Tom of course taking the role as Queen.

3. Dale and Tom climb to the top of Big Ben, reset the clock and declare the United Kingdom officially is now on Mountain Standard Time.

4. Dale and Tom gets matching tattoos on their left arms that read God Save these Queens.

5. Dale and Tom spend the evening randomly calling London phone numbers and ask if each person if they have Prince Albert in a can, then giggle and hang up.

Vote now by commenting on my Blog, Facebook or Twitter. Voting closes soon!

Dale and I are back at the random park in Westminster sipping Starbucks in the shade.

I have a new hat.

We have been wandering with no plan in sight for a few hours. We just walk random streets. It is such a fun way to explore a city. One turn lead us back to this park and I remembered there were two nearby Starbucks, so here we are.

It is sunny and glorious here today.

We are at Rock & Sole Plaice on Endell Street in the Covent Garden area. They have been serving Traditional Fish & Chips since 1871, so after 138 years in business we figure they must be doing something correct. It was recommended by our tour guide yesterday.

...after a great day in the English countryside. It was splendid.

We came back to Kensington and had dinner at a lovely Thai restaurant we had passed several times the past few days. Happy to report excellent food and service.

We are now wandering the streets. It is around 10 PM here. Another wonderful day of vacation.

We are heading back to London from the town of Bath. It was splendid and I highly recommend if you ever make it to England you visit or if you can stay in Bath. It is quaint, beautiful and very British.

This is the pub, Stonehenge Inn, we stopped for lunch. Quite enjoyable. We both had roast beef with peas, carrots, potatoes and yorkshire pudding.

My Mom used to make yorkshire pudding. This place's was good and I am sure authentic but my Mom's was better. Nice memory of my Mom.