rnheaton

London I: Mostly Windsor and Hampton Court

St. Paul's Cathedral
I didn't get to go in, but I hope to soon. It's incredibly tall and visible from quite a distance.

Tower Bridge
Taken from London Bridge (which isn't falling down). One of those sights that makes you realize you're in London.

Windsor Castle
The oldest castle that people still live in. It's supposedly the Queen's favorite.

The keep
If I remember correctly, this is the oldest part of the castle.

"Window"
Light can get in, but arrows can't!

St. George's Chapel
It's too bad you're not allowed to take pictures in these buildings.

Moat garden
Where a moat would be, they've put in a garden.

More moat garden
It's quite pretty considering it should be grimy water.

Courtyard at Windsor
Look at that perfectly manicured lawn.

Different courtyward at Windsor
I don't remember who the statue is of...

Hampton Court Palace
Owned by several people, the most famous being Henry VII. You know, the one with a gazillion wives.

Clock tower
In the main courtyard at Hampton Court

Gardens at Hampton Court
These were beautiful, as was the weather. I could have easily spent the whole day in these gardens.

Maze Garden
Mia, the professor's daughter I spent the afternoon with, was so excited to go in the maze. She took off running the minute we got in.

Messy Mia
After a snack (a huge cookie that we shared), Mia shows off all the crumbs on her fingers.

London Bridge at Thames Festival
It looks orange here, but it was actually lit up a pinky red.

Thames festival
The first band we encountered had a cajun feel to their music.

The jazz area
The very good jazz-funk band we listened to.

Tate Britain
The first museum of the trip!

Democratic National Convention '08

The Ranger Dome...where we spend all our time.
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Annie sneezing at the "tissue statue"
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Enjoying dinner at Rio Grande Monday night
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First glimpses of Pepsi Center, where the magic will happen
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Christina was parched, so she used these water fountains for bottles.
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Stumbled upon the CNN bus!
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Another view of Pepsi Center, pre-banners.
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CNN Grill, before they put up the sign.
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Inside the CNN bus!
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Ten Mizzou J-School kids on the CNN bus!
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Posing for a group photo!
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One monolith at Red Rocks!
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Rev. Leah Daughtry, one of my favorite speakers.
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The ampitheater at Redrocks!
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Denver from a distance
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A glass player! This guy was so cool.
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The Capitol is peeking out
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Outside the Brown Palace
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Just hanging with some candidates...
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The Big Blue Bear at the Convention Center
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The Brown Palace Hotel, where the Clintons are staying
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Looking up from the lobby of Brown Palace
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Why, hello there Senator
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Denver has art everywhere. This one is a bull from around the world.
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Where the buffalo roam...
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I met Nancy Pelosi!
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And so did Annie! We are the future!
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Sean is annoyed because Pelosi did not tell him he is the future.
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Invesco Field at Mile High; where the magic will happen.
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Only days before Obama-mania
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And this would be Pepsi Center; no big deal
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In front of the podium!
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I'm never going to get over how amazing this looks
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Howard Dean, the Chairman of the Democratic Party.
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Talkin' 'bout my generation...
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Big Blue Bear from the other side
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Coors Field; time for a Rockies game
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For a couple of bucks, the Rock Pile has pretty decent seats
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Cheering on the Rockies; too bad they lost!
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The security line I wait in for an hour on Saturday morning...
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CNN Grill. You can only eat there if you work for CNN.
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Banners are up everywhere!
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It's still so cool...
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This is the old Missouri sign. The new one has bigger letters and is uglier.
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The view the MO delegates will have
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Wolf Blitzer and John King. I love CNN!
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MSNBC is broadcasting right by Union Station. This is their setup at night.
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Sign for Media Pavillion 4
Media Pavilion 4...where the Dallas Morning news was housed and where I spent an incredible amount of time freezing to death even though it was pleasantly warm outside.

Divided we fail mascot!
It's a hybrid donkey and elephant, in case you couldn't tell..

More banners
The view from Pepsi Center ground looking toward Elitch Gardens, a theme park.

The Pepsi Center
Now fully prepared for all the magic.

The crowd at Pepsi Center
There's such a pretty blue glow over everything.

The ostrich is native to Denver
I kid you not, this person was in an ostrich costume. On the streets of downtown Denver. With a sign that said something about McCain's head being in the sand. I'm telling you, Denver was crazy.

It's Bill Clinton!
See the guy with grey hair on stage? It's Bill!

Bill on screen
See, told you I wasn't lying.

John Kerry
Different guy with grey hair. Great speech; we wondered where this Kerry was in '04.

Kerry speaking
A few days before I was close enough to him to see individual hairs on his head. However, I was on a work errand, so I couldn't take a picture.

It's Biden time!
Prepared for Biden. Did you think you were suddenly looking at pictures of the RNC?

Biden addresses his public
You can barely tell, but I promise he's there on stage.

Surprise...
It's Obama. The crowd went absolutely nuts. It was such a crazy moment. And we almost missed it by leaving early.

Obama - Biden '08
The pair on stage.

Invesco time!
The whole point of this event is finally upon us!

Stevie Wonder!
Look beyond CNN to the screen. That's right, it's Stevie Wonder.

This one's for you, mom.
CNN anchor John King takes a moment to play football. I suppose he is at a football stadium after all.

Oh hello there Mr. Gore.
This is when I discovered there was a giant screen behind my head.

Gore, giving his speech
The Nobel Prize winner looks pretty tiny from where I'm sitting.

Biden part deux
Mr. Biden takes the stage at Invesco.

Biden speaking...
I have a lot of pictures of tiny men with grey hair standing and talking. You're going to have to take my word for it, this is Biden.