London Break, Day 4 (Thursday 24th)

The Great Hall of the Natural History Museum
with Darwin overseeing the activities at the top of the staircase.

My feet are killing me. That's official. They're not round my throat like the old Tommy Cooper gag, just sore and blistered.

My wife wore a new pair of jeans today and after we came back to the room from breakfast, she noticed that she still had the sticky size labels stuck to the back of one of her legs. I got the blame of course for not noticing them! How does that work then?

On our last full day in London, we decided that we wanted to see some of the classic national museums - just to experience the wonders contained within them and to say that we've been. The morning trip took us the the magnificent Natural History Museum in South Kensington. This is one of London's mist beautiful and ornate buildings built as you might expect, by the Victorians in the most decorative and eccentric style. There are carvings of animals everywhere you look. Darwin's marble statue of him seated is on top of the staircase in the main hall. In many ways, I'm surprised my other half stuck around for the trip round this building, her being a confirmed creationist believer.

The 'Cora Sun-Drop' diamond from Africa, 110.03 carats
which can be viewed in 'The Vault' section of the Natural History

Like most modern museums, it's well laid out with themed exhibits and was everything as wonderful as I imagined it. This is highly recommended and took us around three hours.

Bust of Albert Einstein in the V & A, about 1933

The Victoria and Albert Museum is across the road. This is a museum of design, and if I am honest, wasn't my cup of tea (call me a heretic.) Don't get me wrong, if you want design, this is your thing and there were a couple of exceptions which I really enjoyed, one of which was the sculptures, old and new which were wonderful and spell binding in their beauty. It was lovely sitting in the John Madejski garden for a break in the sun looking at the facade of a building celebrating the 1851 Great Exhibition. If you want see something specific, then this is for you.

The Wellcome Hall in the Science Museum

Finally this afternoon, we wandered extensively through the Science Museum, opposite the V & A. Don't forget, all these museums are free entry and apart from cafes and shops inside are virtually cost free. The Science Museum is slightly different in that there are some films in 3D and simulators which do cost extra. This is a fun museum, informative and wide ranging in its variety of subjects. There's science of life, flight, space flight, shipping, science in the home, transport (including Stephenson's Rocket), industrial machinery and lots of hands on exhibits too for kids and big kids (like us). This was one of the best and lots of fun.

Although we travel back tomorrow by coach, thereby giving us in effect three full days in the capital, this was a good value for money holiday. The extras were the show and the London Eye and River Cruise and for three days on the tube, a prepaid Oyster card took just £12 off us for tube fares - that's travel throughout zones 1 & 2.

Getting round is easy and hassle free and if you're lucky to get some good weather, walking round and seeing the sights at leisure is highly recommended. I hope you enjoyed the story of the trip and if you can use any of the information to help any planning for a trip to the capital, it's worth while.

Chat soon

Ta-ra.

London Break, Day 3 (Wednesday 23rd)

The Royal Gold Cup, about 1370 - France.

Wednesday is a leisure day in the smoke - except there's no sign of smoke as the day began with bright sunshine and clear skies. So warm in fact that her indoors went out for the day with no coat - very unusual.

The tube took us along two line, Jubilee and Piccadilly to Russell Square and onward by foot through the very picturesque Square to the British Museum. In may ways 'British' is a strange name for it really because the museum gives a huge amount of its space to everything except British. There's lots of Africa, Europe, Egypt, Greece, Roman, Asian, Middle East but not a lot of 'British.' If you want British, visit other museums and some of the local museums in the UK tell us much more about our heritage that the British Museum which is a real shame.

Why is it a shame? Because the vast majority of visitors by a long way were not British at all and I wonder what they expected to see - certainly not a lot of this country's dim and distant past. Perhaps a change of name might be appropriate. Nevertheless, I can't take away from the place that the exhibitions are immense in quantity and quality and we were there about three and a half hours, and could have spent more.

Spot the philosophers.

The highlights were the Egyptian funerary things and some of the jewelry both from home and abroad. The Greek things, statues, buildings etc were fabulous and if you are rich, you could buy a statue of 'David' for £10,000 from the shop along with other equally as expensive replicas.

A 'problem' on the tube, which was not explained to us just delayed our journey back to the hotel, but we made it back in time for an early tea and then onward to the Lyceum Theatre to see The Lion King. We were picked up at the hotel by 'Barry' who collected is at the end of the show in a large black BMW. We felt like royalty.

The Lion King was an extraordinary experience of colour, song, wit, strong characters telling a strong story with singing of the most exquisite beauty. The theme was strongly African as you would imagine, with different lyrics and music from the film, but it still retains the Tim Rice and Elton John magic enhanced by the wonderful African harmonies. This is thoroughly recommended and will be enjoyed by all ages.
 

By the way - the theatre itself inside is spectacular in its old fashioned design with carvings all over the place, on boxes, on the ceilings, the walls - stunning. Unfortunately, it was too dark to capture it on my camera.

A long, tiring, but entirely satisfying day.

Chat soon

Ta-ra.

London Break, Day 2 (Tuesday 22nd)

A misty warm day greeted us today in London and breakfast was a full English, something I have rarely, which probably made it more enjoyable.

We walked from the hotel to the Canary Wharf Underground across the river on a footbridge and was stunned to see two grebes swimming side by side and diving for food. The underground journey to Waterloo on the Jubilee line was my wife's first experience on the tube and she was okay with it. Fortunately it was neither jammed packed not too hot, both of which I've experienced in the past and can be a real pain.

We got off at Waterloo and walked to the EDF Energy London Eye to get our tickets for the Eye and a River trip later in the day. Another pleasant walk took us to the Imperial War Museum. This was an extraordinary experience and one which I would recommend to all ages. There is plenty to do and experience from the Great War through to the Second World War and beyond. There are hundreds of exhibits from a rocket to a tank to a Supermarine Spitfire hung from the ceiling.

However, the most emotional experience in the museum for me was going around thee Lord Ashcroft Gallery which is an exhibition of Victoria Cross and George Cross recipients. Stories of heroism of ordinary and brave men and women who sacrificed their lives and their personal safety for others. There are hundreds of Victoria Cross medals to see - take a hanky - this is extraordinary stuff.

Formally an asylum for the insane (from where 'bedlam' came from in the context of an institution for the insane), this is a wonderful building, guarded by two huge 15" naval guns standing imperiously as a snapshot of naval history.

Allow three hours to go round this museum or four if you want to dawdle. There is a WWl Trench experience which you can experience and a Holocaust exhibition which is for over 14s only and is not for the feint-hearted - allow an hour for this alone.

Another nice walk in warm balmy spring weather took us back to the EDF London Eye. I had been on the eye before, late evening on the 5th November 2005 when fireworks starred across the London skyline. Today was a lovely sunny day with crepuscular rays of sun over Westminster highlighting the Palace of Westminster and the iconic Clock Tower (most people call it Big Ben).

The Tattershall Castle which used to ply its trade across the Humber in the years before the Humber Bridge now graces the London Thames northern embankment.

A River trip, bought more cheaply as a deal with the Eye ticket, took us along the River Thames and an excellent guided tour with a live commentary from a very humorous and knowledgeable young man. This took three quarters of an hour and again, highly recommended; you'll see views not normally experienced from roads or footpaths. There were several bridges including Tower Bridge, Houses of Parliament, the Tower of London, St Paul's, the Golden Hind (replica), Cleopatra's Needle and the spectacular MOD building and many more.

Back in the hotel after a great day and had a much needed bath.

Chat soon

Ta-ra.

London Break, Day 1 (Monday 21st)

Our day started with an early morning and catching our coach to London from our local village square. We sat waiting in bright glorious sunshine. Stopping off in Leeds and Wakefield, the journey was completed when we were dropped off in Oxford Street for a couple of hours wander round before our hotel would accept us at 5 pm. Whilst this bit was unexpected, we were in a lovely area of the city next to Hyde Park and Marble Arch.

Originally built as an entrance to Buckingham Palace, there was no room for Marble Arch when it was finished so it ended up as a wonderful gateway to Hyde Park and Speakers Corner (which is just grass.) There is a lovely memorial there to animals who are used in times of war. Hyde Park itself is a vast expanse of lovely grass and meadow with glorious trees in the middle of London surrounded by busy roads. A group of children rode horses there, perfectly safe in this traffic free park (apart from a police car patrolling in the distance.)

We've seen it all now, Oxford Street has a Primark. We now own a bag with "Primark of Oxford Street." We've made it now with the best. Our first hint of humour was when we descended on MacDonalds of Oxford Street for cups of tea (all prices identical to home.) I was stood in the queue behind two young Scotsmen who had broad, like REALLY broad accents and I had to listen hard to understand them. Imagine the difficulty that the server had behind the till who clearly had an even stronger French accent. It took a while for the order to be understood, but it provided some entertainment at least.

After we got picked up again, we wound our way to the hotel in Canary Wharf and passed a number of classic historical landmarks: The Duke of Wellington's address stands magnificent with the most unique postal address in the UK: 'London 1.' We travelled along Piccadilly and onward round Trafalgar Square onto the Victoria Embankment and we passed Cleopatra's Needle (it would be a bugger sowing with that)and eventually onto Upper Thames Street then Lower Thames Street alongside the River Thames which was on high tide and onto the Wharf. Some of the iconic landmarks we saw included Lords Cricket Ground (looks smaller in real life than on the TV,) the Ritz hotel, lots of embassies, O2 arena and hundreds of beautiful buildings of all ages.

An extraordinary statue of a horses head grazing next to Marble Arch.

Interestingly, my grandfather was born in Islington in the capital and as we passed a pub today called 'Wine and Wallop,' I was reminded of him because one of his favourite words was 'wallop,' which is either an alcoholic drink like beer or to hit someone. It's a sign - hello Grandad.

The hotel is okay, very pleasant, surrounded by water and the evening meal was carvery style and a cheap large glass of house red wine which was just £5, which is less expensive that Crewe Hall last week - £6.30. The waitress didn't understand the request for blackcurrant and water - "I'm Czech. Not understand." A jug of water was cheaper - £0.

The Internet connection is hopeless 'High Speed Internet Wireless Access Available,' allegedly, so I will have to bank these blogs up for each day.

Chat soon

Ta-ra

Londinium via Petuaria and Danum

Sorry I haven't posted since last weekend, but business drove me to London during the week and today is my first day back to myself, so having taken the day off to recuperate, I thought I would record my musings for posterity. Despite the hotel's claim that there is free wifi connections in the hotel, it isn't true and I wasn't prepared to pay extortionate sums of dosh to connect.

I've just returned from a lovely lunch with two work colleagues and friends Gill and Rachel who also have some time off.

My trip to London was for my professional development in my area of business. Two days spent at a very nice hotel close to the Tower Hill tube station on Pepys Street in the City was a pleasant experience. The course was good and I learned much in company with some good people from around the UK some of whom were ‘learning their trade’ as it were, so I was able to help with some experiences of my own.

The hotel is modern with modern London prices with bed and breakfast over £300 if you book direct, but with delegate discount the price came in at less than half of that -thanks goodness. The diet didn’t suffer either with good food and healthy options available. For evening meal on Tuesday after a great journey on Hull Trains straight into Kings Cross and a tube journey to Tower Hill, I found an Italian restaurant run by and staffed by Italians in the Regency district of London. I had a tuna steak, medium cooked and it was the first time I have ever had a tuna steak (I normally get it out of a tin) and it was to die for: meaty, tasty and lots of it.

The hotel was the location for my evening meal on Wednesday and I tried duck breast. Again, I’ve never had it so as the portions were small and the accompanying vegetables healthy again, I gave it a go and it was delicious albeit fairly delicate and I’m not sure I would go out of my way to have it again, but it was nice. None of the staff in the hotel were English (that I came across,) but all were so helpful, friendly and accommodating.

Apart from the professional highlight, as you’ve probably guessed by now, I am a people watcher and let me tell you there’s lots of opportunities in London. I suppose the first chance I got was the train journey from Hull sat in a four round a table. I was first to sit at a seat which was reserved and a woman sat opposite me and the first thing she said was, “perhaps you don’t need to wear your ID.” I looked down and I had forgotten to remove my company ID badge so that was hastily removed. She was very posh with a ’southern’ and refined accent, around 50 years old and had with her a catalogue of Vogue and a Dell laptop which she tapped on for half an hour. She made a call to ’Sandra’ at her office and asked Sandra to do several tasks, politely but firmly and after further tapping on the keyboard, she decided to have a nap. This professional well dressed woman then proceeded to snore and dribble and make strange noises whilst she napped which I thought was amusing. Not another word was said between us as I listened to my ipod.

The tube was packed, but quiet of chat as people of all races, sizes, genders, either read books, magazines, played with their mobiles or listened to their music on headphones. They all did this, with few exceptions. Later that night on the more sparsely populated tube trip to Pimlico via the Circle Line and the Victoria Line, a couple of long haired business suited Australian guys in their mid twenties were having a conversation about shooting melons in the outback -’back home’ and the difference between shooting a melon with a small round, which went straight through it or a large calibre which made it explode. Fascinating!

My final observation on the people score was seen through the hotel restaurant window on a couple of occasions as rush hour hit the streets in the morning and at tea time when there was an extraordinary ant like constant line of people walking to and from the tube station. Again, there was almost a stereotype commuter: dark coat, knapsack, backpack or holdall; kids around twenty with woolly hats and the guys with scarves. Few smoked and all walked at the same pace. No conversations, just head down determination to make the tube in time to get to work.

Even the down and out was polite, when a Rastafarian asked me for the price of a cup of tea and I politely declined, he smiled and responded, ‘No problem dad!‘ Cheeky bugger.

Although the Tower of London, which was a stones throw away is a normal sight for the Londoner (and I'm not sure what it means to them), the sight of the Tower lit after dark was a lovely sight for me and I took a couple of photographs on my small digital camera which frankly doesn't do it justice. I had a great commute back home and on the train back, I met someone I hadn't seen for a year who I used to work with, so there was a nice three hour natter catching up.

The day is dreadful here, hard and persistent rain and parts of the garden are pooling with water which is not a good sign.

Hope you have loads planned for the weekend; if the weather lets you enjoy it - go for it.

A three year old little boy is being bathed by mummy. He looks down at his testicles and says, "Are these my brains mummy?"
She responded, "Not yet son, not yet."

Chat soon

ta-ra.