Dublin, May 2010
One day Roger came rushing into McBear's office.
"McBear, McBear! They are here! They are here!"
McBear was busy surfing the Internet finding bear websites.
"What's here?" he asked baffled.
"Our new cards! I've ordered Travelling Bears business cards and they've just arrived. We'll
bring them to London..."
"What? London??? Hey, what's going on? Why am I not being updated?"
"Well, you're a top politician and organizer, but... you're not a gossip!"
"A GOSSIP? C'mon, Roger, you're not a gossip yourself!"
"Weeell, I agree, but still there no harm keeping your news channels open ... Anyway, our owners
are going to a conference, and we're invited over for a long weekend..."
Dublin, May 2010
Roger turned around and whistled loud.
"HEY! Bring'em in!"
McBear witnessed Chong and Sam moaning aloud while pushing in two huge boxes.
"One-two-three-PUUUSH...one-two-three-PUUUSH!" Roger moaned even louder as he was conducting
the heavy work.
Dublin, May 2010
Chong and Sam opened the boxes and took out samples of business cards. They came in
two versions: one with the bears in Monument Valley, USA, the other one with the bears
snowboarding in Ellmau in Austria.
"Notice our website www.travellingbears.dk is printed on them!" Roger said proudly.
"Fantastic! They are so ... COOL!" McBear said in recognition.
"I'm glad you like them. Now we can leave business cards in all the hotels we visit..."
London, June 2010
Three weeks later we had seats on an Aer Lingus Airbus aircraft to London Gatwick. From here
we took the train to the city centre. It was getting late, but we managed to find an open restaurant, All-Bar-One near St. Paul's Cathedral.
"That's a mighty church!" Tom said.
"Well, it's not actually a church, it's a cathedral," McBear said and continued: "It's a miracle how it survived all the German air bombings during the Second World War."
London, June 2010
Next morning we got up early and went out the door. We were staying at the lovely Hilton hotel
near London Bridge Station. It was to be a sunny day so Tom bought a cap as protection against
the sun. "I love London" it said.
"Very appropriate!" Roger said in recognition.
London, June 2010
The Hilton was located close to River Thames, so we walked down to the river bank to have a
look. We were met by the sight of the imposing Tower Bridge.
"Wow!" Roger said. "That is a fantastic bridge! No wonder it's one of the landmarks of
London..."
"This could make a nice photo for next year's bear calendar," McBear noticed.
London, June 2010
We walked a bit up the Thames until we passed some tall buildings.
"What's the weird shaped building?" Tom wanted to know. "It looks like a giant dinosaur egg..."
"Yeah, well, I suppose that's why they call it the Gherkin!" McBear replied.
London, June 2010
Further up the river we could see St. Paul's on the north side and we had to cross the Thames
by walking the Millennium Bridge. The origin of St. Paul's cathedral dates back to 600s, and the
present day cathedral was finished around 1705.
London, June 2010
Approaching St. Paul's, we stopped to have our photo taken with the cathedral as a background.
Curious people watched us - and the lady with her kid in the pram even stopped to ask what we
were doing...
What we were doing??? Well... it was obvious, wasn't it? Our photographer was a bit
embarrassed, so he just mumbled: "I'm taking photos of the bears..."
As we moved on, Tom said: "Sometimes people ask odd questions, don't they?"
McBear and Roger agreed and nodded their heads.
London, June 2010
From St. Paul's we walked down to have a look at the impressive Tower of London. This is a famous
medieval fortress. The oldest parts of the fortress dates back to before 1100. Nearly 200 years
ago it became a tourist attraction, and today more than two million people visit the fortress
annually.
London, June 2010
As the sun started to set in the west, we reached the famous Buckingham Palace.
"Is this where the queen lives?" Tom asked.
"It is," Roger replied. "It's gas, back when we were forming our band, Bearlife, I used
to visualize us playing at Rockingham Palace! I'm sure the queen would have
appreciated our performance...!"
Brighton, June 2010
Next day it was another scorcher, so we decided to escape the city heat and flee to the
beach in Brighton. This was the sunny south coast of Britain. Now, the beach was lovely,
but... it wasn't exactly sandy. More like chippings - or stones, as Tom put it!
"I'd never be able to promote this place as a tourist destination for Tom Teddy Tours!" he
said with disappointment.
"Imagine the posters: Wear you feet out on Brighton rocks - or
this: Lying hard on our beach; you'll never get your back back!"
Brighton, June 2010
We went to visit the famous Brighton pier. Amusement halls were everywhere. McBear
discovered one of these machines where one can put in a coin and see if one can grab a toy animal
with metal claws. McBear tried to communicate with the TA's on the other side of the glass,
but our attempts to fill in coins and let the TA's inside grip a claw failed. So no freed
bears this time...
Brighton, June 2010
There were lots of lovely cafés around Brighton, and - surprise, surprise - we even found
an Irish pub selling Guiness. Tom said he wouldn't mind a pint in the heat so we went inside...
Brighton, June 2010
Brighton has another famous attaction: The Royal Pavillion. Built by King George IV,
the pavillion looked like a British inspired version of the Taj Mahal in
India. It is said that around 400,000 people visit the pavillion annually.
London Gatwick, June 2010
The weekend ended much too quickly and we had to pack our gear and head back to Gatwick. To our
pleasant surprise, the Air Lingus lounge turned out to be a lovely spot, and the nice
young gentleman brought us tea with biscuits - and honey for McBear!
London Gatwick, June 2010
McBear wanted to study the airport and some of the aircraft. Unfortunately, the frame around
the window was very large, so only Roger was tall enough to be able to look out. McBear and
Tom had to borrow a book and a laptop to build a platform. That enabled Tom to look out, but
McBear additionally had to borrow a jar of honey. Then he was able to study the airport. Exited,
he spotted a Jumbo jet from Virgin with its characteristic red tail.
London, March 2009
For St. Patrick's Day in March 2009, James, Chong, Christmas Bear and Sniffy were invited for
a weekend to London. We went to see some of the hot spots that the other travelling bears had
visited in 2005, for example the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben.
London, March 2009
We also went up the London Eye. Boy, as the gondolas went upwards, it felt like we were
reaching the sky!
