A London Friday - part 2

Ok, so we were at Kensington Palace and we wandered out down a little lane and this is where not carrying a guide book/smart phone, and instead just walking around with a small tourist map all of a sudden seems like not such a brilliant idea.

Because we have no clue where we are; but we like it! We're in this lovely little lane with gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous houses, and Roo & I are having this long mock argument about which house is better. I'm gesticulating wildly and pointing at one with a balcony and he's shaking his head and pointing to another with tall windows on the second story.

Amelia and Hugo are snapping pictures until I actually look at a small, discreet, supremely elegant, black sign which indicates "no photography allowed" & says something about a security zone. I point out this sign to everyone and we all gawk around in confusion. WHAT is is that we're not allowed to photograph? The back of Kensington Palace? Yes, that must be it, I say. Maybe it's because it's a working palace still?

We shrug and start walking in a different direction and I realize this is a very quiet street. And some of the buildings have barricades. And flags. And big black heavy armored looking vehicles parked in front. And of course the ubiquitous CCTV cameras are on every tree and lamp-post. But they are ubiquitous and by this time I've stopped noticing them. Except now I notice them again. I blame low blood sugar for how long it took me to realize that we were right in the middle of a bunch of embassies and probably in the scopes of sharpshooters on all the roofs.

"I want to attack THAT embassy!" they imagined me saying when I was extolling the virtues of the adorable little balconies and waving my arms.

"Nepal? What have you got against them? How about the Russians though?" they imagined Roo saying.

It's the Israeli Embassy that gives it away. Between the flag, the closed off sidewalk and the barricades, even I figured out it.

So I'm not posting any pictures from that street because I figure we tried their patience enough already & I'm not sure what the penalties actually are for photographing secure zones.

We eventually scurried away from there and wandered down another street which also had lots of embassies & high commissions but of nations which apparently don't fear terrorist attacks quite so much. Or maybe there were no photography signs here too & I just missed them......

These are apparently some of the most expensive streets in London. Hell, most streets in London are expensive from what I can make out. It's like Vancouver in that respect....

This wisteria against the white plaster is stunning. It's paved right up to the edge of the plant; amazing it's living and growing like that.

 We kept on walking & even walked right by TS Eliot's house.

By now it was 5'ish and we still had lots of plans for the rest of the day so we took a break to eat at a small restaurant a few blocks away from the Natural History Museum which was our next stop.

See you in A London Friday - part 3 soon!

A London Friday - part 1

Our Friday in London was amazingly full of activities.

First off, we went to the British Museum and spent several very happy hours there. Roo & I were just saying recently that it would be easy to go to London in the winter & just spend the entire time hiding from the weather in the amazing (& free!) museums.

Here's a slide show of some of the highlights for us. You'll notice a heavy Egyptian slant - because we all really like Egyptian art and antiquities. It was pretty much all we saw in the BM and we spent about 4 h there!



Then, after a bit of shopping at the gift store & a quick snack, we were off. We had to switch trains at the Baker Street Station so we quickly hopped out for a photo with a statue of Sherlock Holmes.

 

 

There is a museum at 221 B Baker Street but we didn't go in. Instead, we headed out to Hyde Park. 

   

We weren't quite at the park yet when we saw some horses and just followed them.

  

More horses at the park, and :( missing dog signs. 

  

We saw lots of running loose dogs in the park, including this beautiful husky. 

Oh Look! It's raining again! We're in the Italian Gardens at Hyde Park. 

 

  

Raining really hard now! 

We perservered in our stroll through the park & ended up at the Albert Memorial.

Obviously Queen Victoria missed Albert very much but we all think she got carried away with the memorial.
It's like she kept adding stuff on to the design plans. Can there be gold? And pillars? And a cross? And bobbles? And towers? And native Americans? And elephants?

Some hapless official just had to keep nodding and saying Of course, Your Majesty.

 

I think Queen Vicky would have loved the bedazzler.  

By now the sun was shining again & we headed off towards Kensington Palace.  

I TOLD you to ask for directions.  No way this is Toronto.

Tada! Sunshine & Kensington Palace & Queen Victoria. Oh & my pretty girl too!

 

Here's my Bazinga dude at the gates by Kensington Palace. 

Stay tuned for Part 2 of London Friday! 

Hitting our stride

By Friday we were pretty set in our routine: alarm clocks set for 7 (except a few travel days where we had to get up earlier), washed & breakfasted & ready to go - plans made, itineraries and maps checked, day bags packed - by 8:30 or 9 am. Then go, go, go, go! Come back to the hotel between 9 & 10 pm. Check email, download photos, charge camera batteries, talk about the day, confirm plans for next day, wash up & crash into bed at 11. Repeat until it's time to return to Canada!

Amelia & I were sharing a room in London. It was the only hotel where we had two double rooms instead of a quad and so it was that it fell to me to keep Amelia from wandering off.

 

I can’t remember now whether it was the first or second night there that I woke up in the middle of the night to the rattle of the hotel door & found Amelia ineffectually pawing at it. It turned out to be a fortunate thing that the hotel lock was a weird gizmo and required a fair bit of strength & dexterity to open.

 

“What are you doing?” I sleepily inquired.

 

To which she cheerfully replied “I thought I’d just go get some moisturizer.”

 

Uh-uh.

 

My kids sleepwalk. They sleeptalk. So does Roo. He likes to sit up in bed and make announcements in complete declarative sentences. I can’t be bothered with such activities. The only thing I do in my sleep is grind my teeth.

 

But the kids are more energetic. They also both had episodes of night terrors during early childhood and that is something I wouldn't wish on anyone. Trying to soothe a child who keeps staring through you and shrieking in panic as if a monster is standing right behind you is more than a bit unnerving.

 

Since this didn't involve screaming or freaking me out by making me think somebrainsuckingthingwithbigteeth was sneaking up on me, I was feeling pretty mellow. “How about you go to the bathroom instead and then go back to sleep?” 

 

“Ok,” she readily agreed.

I'm not even sure that I stayed up long enough to wait for her to return to bed. All I know is that in the morning she was there. 

 

And of course, she remembered none of this.

Paddington Tales

Inside Paddington Station is a statue of Paddington Bear. Right in front of a donut shop actually, which strikes me as a great place for a Bear.

Here he is with his suitcase.

Closer look at his tag: Please look after this Bear. Thank You.

the plaque explaining it all

Paddington Station also sniffer dogs.

view to the outside from the station

view from the outside. Here are H & I coming out.

Agatha Christie fans will recognize this title

I just had to check the schedule:

Yup, there still is a 4.50 from Paddington!

There is also a Paddington Bear Kiosk in the station & I thought I had a photo of it but I can't find it. So you'll have to imagine it. You won't have to imagine this though:

This is a real Paddington Bear, bought at the Paddington Kiosk, in Paddington Station. Here he is on Amelia's bed in the London Hotel. 

In the Paris hotel room.

Looking out the Venice hotel room window. Where the paving ends, that's one of the small canals.

Florence hotel.

No, he never was allowed out of the hotel rooms & can you blame Amelia? This is after all a Bear who came from deepest, darkest Peru & thinks nothing of hopping on boats & trains and just taking off. It was much safer to keep him in the room.

Eye spy

Here we are, still moored at a pier near Tower Bridge.

This is the HMS Belfast which is moored in the middle of the river & is a museum. It was closed to the public for reno during our stay. 

The bridge showing off. I mean seriously? How pretty is that? 

This lady took out her little Paddington Bear & was photographing him against all the sights. Amelia & I giggled until Roo made us admit that we were just jealous that we hadn't thought of it. Then I did the next best thing & snapped this photo. 

We're finally off. Beside the Tower Bridge is the Tower of London - aka Her Majesty's Royal Palace & Fortress. It's a castle dating back to 1066 & the Norman conquest of England.

I love this little Tudor window. 

We're sailing away now & can see the Entrance to Traitor's Gate.

See? There it is. We'd go back to visit the Tower another day.

Meanwhile we sailed under London Bridge.

Past Shakespeare's Globe Theater.

Under the Millenium Bridge which is a pedestrian bridge. Our tour guide said it's good luck to get people to wave at  you from the bridge so the boat captain honked the horn & we waved like mad & people did wave back. This bridge had to close soon after it opened because apparently it had a strong wobble & it took a couple years to repair it. The dome in background is St Paul's.

Blackfriars Bridge.

neat buildings

Colonial Swag: Cleopatra's Needle. It's an ancient Egyptian obelisk but apparently had nothing to do with Cleopatra. 

Golden Jubilee Bridge

Our guide told us this is known in London as the Eyesore

And here we are, coming up to Westminster Square again. 

This is our guide. He was very fun and delivered a sarcastic black humor commentary. He accepted tips saying that after they finish the tour, he & and the other tour guides spend hours - many hours sometimes - visiting shoreline pubs and gathering information for future tours and gratefully accepted any donations to offset their sometimes considerable costs. 

the windswept passengers

London is serious about rabies. This is a sign on Westminster Pier.

This is how I looked most of the trip. Now you know why I have so many photos. Also why I prefer a small camera  - the arms would get tired otherwise!

If you peer closely at Big Ben you'll see it's coming up to 6 pm.
We got off the boat, headed over the bridge & checked out the line ups for the London Eye. It turned out that at that time of day the line ups were very reasonable: maybe 15 minutes at the ticket office & another 5 at the Eye. We had our 2for1 passes from British Rail & that made the somewhat steep price more tolerable.

And here we go! 

Because it wasn't very busy, they didn't load up the cars fully. I think we had less than 10 people in ours. 

One neat thing that I didn't realize is that the Eye doesn't stop for people to get on & off. It's kind of like a ski lift - you have to get on while it's moving. 
It moves very slowly though & there are attendants to make sure you get on safely (it is over the water after all) and if you have mobility issues there are apparently special provisions (so maybe they do stop it then? I don't know but there were signs saying you just needed to let them know you needed the extra assistance.) 

After a while neighbouring capsules draw up alongside & you can wave to the other people.
 The entire ride is about 30 minutes & it goes by quickly - there is a lot to look at!
It is very smooth & not scary at all though it goes up to 135 meters. There is no lurching though we did feel a bit of a sway as it was a very windy evening.
Ok, no more commentary because now it's just views from the Eye.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After you get off the London Eye, there's a 4D experience you can visit. It's just a couple minutes in a movie theater and is essentially an advertisement for the attraction you just visited. I guess it's to make you feel even better about spending the money on it. You can also buy a souvenir photo - on the way down, there's a spot where if you stand an automatic camera takes your photo with Big Ben in the background. And that's the end of the London Eye experience.
We were pretty tired by then and headed back.  

By the time we got back to our neighbourhood it was night time. This is a street near our hotel. 

And that's (finally) the end of our Thursday in London :)