The US also insists on a negative test before reentering. Those two tests in England cost me $156! And those were the cheapest tests I could find. There are signs about wearing masks on public transportation, but probably only about 60% did (and elsewhere almost no one did). I did just to be cautious.
I decided to stay in London (nice not to have to unpack and repack) and take day trips from there. That restricts my movement somewhat, but it worked out okay.
Friday-Saturday. Monday Rita took me to GSP where I got randomly selected for extra scrutiny at security (thus had to go through the full body scanner), failed that and had to do the pat down. I got selected 3 of the 4 times I went through security on the trip. Maybe they figured an older person wouldn’t object.
I had a long wait at Newark and we left 1 1/2 hours late but were only a little late to Heathrow. Then it was that long, long walk to customs and then to Heathrow Express. Customs went really quickly (I’d read about problems they’d had in September with hours long waits); US citizens got to go through e-lines where they took a picture of my passport picture page and that was it. I had to fill out a passenger locator form before the trip—which included your seat number on the plane. They use that to find you in case someone who was sitting near you tests positive on the Day 2 COVID test.
At Paddington I topped up my Oyster card used for rides on all London public transportation. They’ve changed their system some time in the last two years; locals were just touching their credit cards to the reader as they went through the turnstyle. They used to have deals like 7-day ride all you want, but now you just pay for each ride. So it’s just as easy to have it on your credit card for each trip—provides a record also. That was my introduction to the London of 2021. My credit card was never touched by another person. In European restaurants they’ve long had the machines which they bring to the table to take your payment (why we are taking so long to get that I don’t understand—just like still not adopting the metric system and resisting roundabouts which save gas and reduce accidents). Now those machines are in all stores. And many places were cashless.
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| Pembroke Gardens street sign |
I got the Circle line to Notting Hill Gate. I haven't stayed in this area before but thought I would try it instead of my usual stays in the Paddington area. The place I picked was actually a long stay hotel which I didn’t know when I chose it from booking.com. Almost everyone staying there was young and they were from all over the world, so I think they were students studying at one of the several colleges in London.
I wanted to try to keep my carb consumption low, hard as that is to do when eating in restaurants, so I decided that I would eat some meals in my room. I had a small frig and there was a microwave downstairs. Of course, my room also had a kettle and tea supplies; that is standard in the UK. That worked out pretty well. Within 2 blocks of my hotel were three small grocery stores obviously catering to people like me (lots of ready-to-microwave meals), and a little farther away was a trendy place called Ottolenghi which had wonderful vegetable salads.
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| Ottolenghi |
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| Vegetable trays at Ottolenghi |
Everywhere I went I stuck out because of my age—especially on the tube. Maybe it was because tourist season was about over so there weren’t many overseas visitors. There were some older locals at some of the sites I visited.
Londoners are very considerate of seniors. Three times on this first day my bags were carried up or down stairs for me (and this has happened to me before). And a senior never has to stand on the tube or bus; you are always offered a seat. On my return in the shuttle at Newark, there were three teenagers taking up the four seats in the car; none got up to offer me a seat.
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| Spring to Go food display |
After a little rest, I set out to find the place where I was getting my COVID test. That was simple and quick. It was in the Notting Hill area, so I just explored. Lots of trendy clothes shops and one lovely organic produce shop. This was Saturday and Portobello Road was near, so I walked down the street. The morning vendors were mostly gone, so I just browsed a little, intending to go back another Saturday.
The weather was dreadful that day—rain off and on and always gloomy which I had read was typical of October. Actually the weather turned out to be better than I hoped—some rain and some gloom especially in the morning but often actual clear skies and sunshine for a small part of the day. The temperature was around 60 degrees, so a sweater or my rain jacket was fine though most of the Brits were dressed for winter already.
For a first day after precious little sleep on the plane, I was ready to call it a day. So I went back to the hotel early and enjoyed my dinner and TV and podcasts and reading and puzzling (as I did every night). 10,342 steps.
Sunday. I must have needed sleep. Woke up early but eventually fell back asleep and didn’t wake up until 9:54. I was soon off to the Royal Horticultural Hall Antiques Fair, a Sunday fair that I have visited before. There were tons of silver and jewelry and little else. I did get one item, a Victoria basket, for my collection.
Not too far away was Westminster Cathedral, a place I hadn’t visited before. This cathedral is the mother church of the Catholic church in England and Wales. I arrived just at 1:00 when the 12:00 mass was still in process, so I stood in the back until it was over. You always hear that Europeans don’t go to church. Well, this service was pretty packed. At the end the organist played an amazing postlude; it sounded like hell fire and damnation. I wish I had known its name.
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Steeple of Westminster
Cathedral |
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| Westminster Cathedral west front |
I walked all around, noting each of the wonderful side chapels and the Byzantine Revival architecture (it was only built in 1895-1910). It is squeezed in among lots of other buildings with only a small plaza out front.
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| Chancel of cathedral |
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| Nave of cathedral |
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| South aisle |
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| Ceiling of south aisle |
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| Me proving I was there! |
I was ready for lunch and so walked in the direction of Victoria Station. I settled for a restaurant in a newish pedestrian area and ate outside. Good choice. First off I was asked if I had any allergies; I was asked that at every restaurant so it must be a requirement. I had Sunday roast—lamb, Yorkshire pudding (only two bites!), roast potatoes, au jus, various yummy grilled vegetables with a lager and lime. I’ve always liked the sweetened lime juice in my lager (like our Rose’s Lime Juice) to take the bitterness away (even from lager—you can tell I wouldn’t be able to drink bitter which most of them prefer). Now they didn't recognize the term ‘lager and lime’. They say instead they will put lime cordial in it.
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| Construction cranes everywhere in London |
After a bit of rain the sun came out, so I took the tube to Vauxhall and walked along the Thames toward the new American Embassy in Nine Elms which I wanted to see. This is obviously an up and coming area—tons of high rises going up, mostly residential by the looks of them. The new embassy building is so much better than the really hideous previous one at Grosvenor Square. This one had a nice wild garden and water features around it.
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| View of American Embassy |
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American Embassy in Nine Elms
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Old American Embassy in Grosvenor Sq--but the
eagle was nice |
I could have done something else like walk down to Kensington Palace, not far from Notting Hill Gate, but I opted to wait for another day to do that. That evening I watched The Rainmaker on TV. 10,419 steps.
Monday. Today I took the 45-minute train trip from London Bridge Station to Royal Tunbridge Wells, a new town for me. There I wanted to see Penshurst Place and the old town. The castle is 7 miles out of Tunbridge Wells in the village of Penshurst, so I took a taxi through farmland and villages to get there. The driver must not have been familiar with the place because he pulled into the private entrance (I noticed the sign) and we got all the way up to the back of the house before he was told he had come the wrong way. Back out and back into town to the very obvious arched entrance to the property. Then his credit card machine had no Internet access (or so he said) and I had to pay with cash. This happened on the way back to Tunbridge Wells also. I had only exchanged for 50 pounds and was now out of cash. I later got 100 pounds and then had trouble getting rid of it on the rest of the trip.
To get to the house, you walk through extensive gardens that were laid out hundreds of years ago. They are very proud of them (and have won awards for them) as exemplified by the several large panels of information about the gardens from the 14th century to today. The garden sections were separated by tall hedges that you couldn’t see over. I had plenty of time to explore because the house was not yet open.
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Porcupine, the Sidney family symbol
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Coronation Walk with hedges
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| Rose Garden and church beyond |
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| The Stage Garden |
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Italian Garden near the house
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| Aren't these gorgeous? |
The house was quite wonderful, the oldest part built 1338-1341, the next section in the 16th century and the last part in the 17th century. The family was quite a prominent one, so important events happened here. Pictures were only allowed in the Baron’s Hall, but I managed to sneak a few others.
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| Penshurst Place |
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| Penshurst Place from the garden |
The Baron’s Hall was fabulous with its original roof and ceiling and servants’ tables. The floor was bricked but had at one time been dirt covered with rushes as they all were. It is considered to be the best preserved and largest example of a medieval great hall in a house in England.
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Entry hall and doorways to kitchens
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Baron's Hall looking toward back
 | | Wooden figure of 14th c worker |
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| Original ceiling |
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| Original servants' table |
The crypt was a smallish room with a central pillar, below the level of the hall. It had photos from the Wolf Hall trilogy (which plays on PBS and some streaming services) which was filmed here. There were pictures with Mark Rylance (as Cromwell), Damien Lewis (as Henry VIII) and Claire Foy (as Anne Boleyn) as well as other cast members. Later in the trip I heard people talking about the film of the third book which had just come out.
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The Crypt--I love the central pillars
Note the Wolf Hall posters |
The Solar was above the crypt and had a small window from which the ladies could peer down to see what the men were doing in the Baron’s hall (docent in this room so I couldn’t take pictures). Throughout the house there were wonderful portraits on the walls—of family members and royals with whom the family was associated.
The 16th century section of the house had the Queen Elizabeth (the first, of course) room with several pieces of furniture original to the house and the Tapestry room hung with tapestries and an embroidery done by the lady of the house, Lady Sidney.
The 17th century section had a Long Gallery which was used as a recreational space by the Sidneys. It was very light because the Sidneys had cleverly had this wing built at a right angle to the older part so that there were windows on three sides. The Panelled room had been made into a bedroom, and the Nether Gallery contained all the family armaments. I noted particularly the ferocious looking executioner’s sword (another docent).
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| 17th century long gallery |
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| Nice rug and table in long gallery |
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| Love these old spiral staircases |
Back in Royal Tunbridge Wells I was dropped at the Pantiles which I had read about. It is a Georgian colonnade that starts at the well that gave the town its name and its fame. Today every place seemed to be a restaurant with outdoor seating. I had lunch in a pub—a lager and lime with a delicious, sinful baked mac and cheese.
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| The Pantiles in Royal Tunbridge Wells |
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| My yummy mac and cheese |
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Just a nice half timbered pub
on the high street |
Then it was back through the High Street to the train station to go back to London. The man who was near me carried on a loud phone conversation the entire trip but at least it was interesting. Back in London I thought about going one more place on my list but then decided against it. Good thing for it was soon pouring. So I went back to the hotel instead. That evening I watched several interesting and typically British quiz shows. I also got one of the free papers every day, both of which had some interesting puzzles. One called Battleships I really got into (because it was basically a logic puzzle—to find the hidden battleships in the grid). 10,511 steps.
Tuesday. On a whim I decided to spend this day at The Making of Harry Potter exhibition. I went with Evan Evans Tours near Victoria. They only took us to Watford (an outlying suburb of London), got us our ticket and brought us back. When we got there I saw that there was a shuttle from there to the Watford tube stop, so I could just as well have done it on my own. The ride through London seemed to take forever with the morning traffic. The huge facility, Leavesden Studio, belongs to Warner Brothers and is where most of the scenes were actually shot. We had 4 hours on our own to go all around and have lunch if we wished. It really was very well done. This place is a MUST for a Harry Potter fan.
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| Leavesden Studio |
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Entry hall with dragon
|
The focus was on the many artists and technicians who were involved in the production. There were lots of short videos with the artists’ speaking about their roles. There were also videos of the actors talking about the production from their point of view. In the producer’s interview, he said that he hadn’t read any of the books. But one of his assistants assigned to researching story ideas came to him one day and recommended them. He said he read the first book in one sitting and was sold.
One interesting insight was that the children felt that the set was their home and the production workers their families; they actually lived there at times. And it took 10 years to make the seven movies, so of course they did grow up there. It was fun to see them age with all the pictures that were on the walls.
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| Older Harry |
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| Young Harry |
There were lots of props and the actual sets.
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| Harry's bedroom under the stairs |
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| Quidditch equipment |
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| Amazing Ministry of Magic facade |
They did a good job of showing how first there was an idea and then a model and finally the real thing whether for sets (like houses) or characters.
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| Line drawing of the Burrow |
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| Painting of the Burrow |
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| White card model of the Burrow |
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| Image of the Burrow from the movie |
The most fun was the great hall of Hogwarts where they had their meals. It was all set up with food for a Halloween feast.
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| Great Hall set up for Halloween |
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| Dumbledore at the head table |
Also fun were the Gryffindor and Slytherin common areas where there were explanations of why each was set up as it was—colors, types of furniture, decorations on the walls, etc. They noted that the warm colors and shabbiness of the Gryffindor room were meant to provide a homey place for the orphan Harry and the darkness of Slytherin indicated the evil there.
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| Gringott's Bank |
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| The bank's vault with its treasure |
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| Gringott's destroyed |
And at the end was the truly glorious 1:24 scale Hogwarts Castle from the outside.
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Whole case of masks
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| Table full of masks |
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| Hagrid's mask and how it was used |
What I found most intriguing was how they did Dobby’s movements. To simulate it, we could stand in front of a wire figure of Dobby on a screen in front of us. If I moved my arm, he moved his arm in the same way.
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| Dobby pointing |
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| Dobby raising his arms |
I’ve always been fascinated by the whole movie making thing and even thought it would be fun to work on a set, so this day was right up my alley. On the way back I saw one petrol station with a long lineup of cars waiting to get petrol and another that was closed because they had none; the shortage continued throughout my trip. There was also talk on every newscast of the trucks that couldn’t get over from the Continent to bring supplies and the lack of dockworkers and drivers.
After another trip to Ottolenghi I went back to the hotel for the night. Only 7363 steps.
Wednesday. Today was a big trip—to the Isle of Wight where I had not been before. I took a train from Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbor, then a ferry to Ryde Pier Head, a long walk down the pier to land because the train is out of service, and then a bus ride (just missed one and had to wait an hour) through Ryde neighborhoods and pretty countryside to the very gate of Osborne House in East Cowes.
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| A ship on the Solent |
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| View of Ryde from the ferry |
The property, of course, was one of Victoria and Albert’s getaway places—fans of Victoria will remember the episodes that took place there. After a longish walk I spotted the beautiful cedars of Lebanon trees as at Highclere (Downton Abbey) and Osborne House behind them. I liked it immediately. The house was built of a warm yellow stone. It just looked inviting—exactly as Albert intended when he designed it down to the last detail. He really was quite a Renaissance man; too bad he didn’t live longer than he did.
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First glimpse of Osborne House
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| Osborne House rear |
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Another view of Osborne House
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| Animals guarding the entrance |
The first rooms we visited in the house were an exhibition of how they celebrated birthdays; they made it a point to be there in both May (24th Victoria) and August (26th Albert) to celebrate. All the gifts they got would be displayed on tables so that the first thing they saw in the morning was all their gifts. The rest of the day was filled with feasting and recreation—with the children when they came along.
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| Ground floor hall |
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Wonderful depiction of lengths of reigns
of kings and queens |
Also on that floor were the council room and the audience room where Victoria dealt with business—both quite modest—as well as the dining room and drawing room. The latter led into the billiards room, the two rooms making an L, so that Victoria couldn’t see the men playing billiards but was still in the same room and could hear their conversation.
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| Council room |
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| Audience room |
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| Victoria's dog Noble |
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| Painting of family with five children |
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| Dining room through the mirror |
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| Drawing room |
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| Billiards room for the men |
Upstairs we saw their private rooms—Albert’s study/dressing room, the Queen’s sitting room where they had side-by-side desks, Victoria’s slightly lower, and Victoria’s dressing room with her tub and shower and finally their bedroom.
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| Albert's study and dressing room |
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| Queen's sitting room with two desks |
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| Victoria's dressing room |
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| Victoria and Albert's bedroom |
The nursery on the third floor was closed due to lack of staff! But the experience of going through their house made me want to watch the series all over again even though I’ve watched it twice already.
A new wing, the Durbar wing, was constructed after Albert died. Victoria really got into all things Indian (as shown in the movie Victoria and Abdul). The hallways leading to the dining room were filled with portraits and scenes from India. The dining room was breathtaking—just over the top Indian.
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| Indian painting in hall |
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| The Durbar Room |
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| Table set for dinner |
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| Balcony of Durbar Room |
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| Shell plaque over fireplace |
Outside I walked around the gardens at the back of the house which were still beautiful. Victoria liked being outside so she had alcoves built to keep her out of the sun.
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| Front of Osborne House |
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| Gardens in front of house |
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| Here I am in the gardens |
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| One of the beds--still pretty |
I backtracked to the walled garden which had only the pink anemones to recommend it at that time. Probably also beautiful in the summer.
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| Anemones still around |
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| Flowers along wall outside garden |
They had shuttles to the beach and the Swiss Cottage (the children’s playhouse). The strip of beach wasn’t very long but was long enough to make one feel one was actually at the beach. It was a beautiful day, so lots of people were enjoying being outside. Victoria’s dressing cabana on wheels was there—it was in a scene in Victoria. I had a delicious chocolate bliss ice cream as I waited for the shuttle back up, having missed the first one because it was full. But while I waited I had a lively conversation with two British ladies about travel and politics. That was fun because it was the first time I had talked with anyone other than someone from whom I was buying something or asking directions.
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| My shadow on the beach |
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| Victoria's alcove |
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| Victoria's swimming cabana |
By the time I got back to the house, I decided it was too late to wait for shuttles and see Swiss Cottage, so I just went through the really nice gift shop and out. I got the bus back to Ryde within 20 minutes and had to make the long walk out to the ferry, got it and the train back to London and the tube back to my hotel.
I’m not fond out being out at night by myself, and it was definitely dark when I got back. But the Notting Hill area is so busy that it was no problem. After getting some dinner to microwave I was back at 9:15. That evening I watched an interesting show about taking a falling down wreck of a building (one was a mill and the other a church), shoring it up but leaving it intact and then building a house around and above it. I thought that would be something Glenna would like to do. 15,425 steps, but it felt good.
Thursday. Today I decided to revisit the British Museum. I had read the book and seen the movie The Dig about the Sutton Hoo dig in Suffolk (where I lived many years ago for two years) and knew that the artifacts had been transferred to the British Museum.
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| Kids on a field trip on the tube |
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| Changing summer flowers at a pub |
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| Inspired by Raphael |
But first I was attracted to a room off to the right inside the entrance because I saw the word Raphael. This was a space where they do small exhibitions that might not be found elsewhere. This one was asking young artists to create a piece of art based on their impression of one of five drawings by Raphael. When I finished looking at them, the docent asked if I would answer several questions about my reaction to the exhibition, one of them being why I stopped in (in my case, because I saw the word Raphael). I thought it was a very interesting idea and one that might be tried at the Columbia Museum of Art where Glenna is.
Then I headed to the Medieval Europe section where the Sutton Hoo cases were given prominence. In 1939 a landowner Edith Pretty asked a local archaeologist Basil Brown to investigate a series of mysterious earth mounds on her estate near Woodbridge, Suffolk. He discovered a burial ship and a chamber filled with treasures believed to have belonged to East Anglia’s 7th century ruler King Raedwald. The ship was made of wood which has rotted leaving the metal bands and the depression in the earth.
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| Sign for Sutton Hoo section |
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Photograph of the metal remains
of the boat where they were found |
Then I headed to the Medieval Europe section where the Sutton Hoo cases were given prominence. In 1939 a landowner Edith Pretty asked a local archaeologist Basil Brown to investigate a series of mysterious earth mounds on her estate near Woodbridge, Suffolk. He discovered a burial ship and a chamber filled with treasures believed to have belonged to East Anglia’s 7th century ruler King Raedwald. The ship was made of wood which has rotted leaving the metal bands and the depression in the earth.
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| Reconstruction of helmet |
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| Recovered silver dishes |
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Purse-lid that was attached to
a leather purse |
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Shoulder clasps that were
attached to clothing |
I wandered through the rest of the medieval section and then visited the Islamic rooms which I always like.
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| Danish 9th c whalebone plaque |
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| Egyptian marble panel c 967 |
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| Syrian 19th c tile panel |
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| Egyptian 9th-10th c combs |
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| Syrian 19th c bath clogs for the hammam |
Every time I go to the British Museum I visit the Levant and Egypt rooms. The Elgin Marbles room was closed for renovation (Or return to Greece? Probably won’t happen but it could. So go if you can.), but the remarkable Rosetta Stone was in its place. It was interesting to read about how the hieroglyphics were deciphered. It had been thought that they were purely pictoral. But Francois Champollion, one of two who were trying to decipher the hieroglyphics, in 1822 realized that it was a combination of pictoral and images that represented sounds. With the assistance of the other two languages on the stone, Greek and Demotic, they were able to figure out the hieroglyphic language.
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| Rosetta Stone in 3 languages |
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| Close-up of the hieroglyphics |
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| The Thorn Puller. Isn't this adorable? |
This time through I was especially impressed with the Assyrian section (Assyria was in present day Northern Iraq) where there are massive sculptures of people and animals and panels with carved scenes of life from 1000-500 BC. Given their age they are remarkable in their realism and detail.
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| Assyrian guardian lion c 865 BC |
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| Massive arm of Amenhotep III c 1370 BC |
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| Palace of Sargon lion c 720 BC |
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| Nimrud Palace scene c 860 BC |
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| Palace of Nineveh hunt scene c 640 BC |
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| Palace of Nineveh lion hunt c 640 BC |
The Foundling Museum was nearby, so that was my next stop. I had read about the place in a book I read recently and so put it on my London list. This museum commemorates the children and infants who were given up by poverty-stricken parents (usually only mothers) who could not care for them.
In 1739 the philanthropist Robert Coram observed that children were being abandoned in the streets because of poverty or illegitimacy and determined to do something about it. After 17 years he got a Royal charter from George II to start the Foundling Hospital to care for and educate these children. Babies were fostered until the age of 7 and then brought to the hospital to live until they were adults.
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| Some of the many orphaned... |
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| ...children from literature |
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| The Foundling Musuem |
The hospital continued until 1954, having cared for 25,000 children. The present day museum building is on the site of the hospital and uses many of its architectural features. The Coram children’s charity continues the work today that was begun so long ago.
On the bottom floor were exhibits about the mothers who gave their children up and the children. Names were not kept to protect the identities of the mothers, but each one left one small item as an identifier of her child. The exhibits focused on the daily activities at the hospital, the stress on physical exercise, their education, the environment in which they lived and the yearly reunions with the foster parents. There were video clips of the grown-up children retelling stories from their pasts.
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| Page from the log book with ribbon |
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| Tokens left by the mothers |
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| Photograph of dormitory |
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| Video of one foundling |
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Poster for foundling as a
child and adult |
The painter Hogarth and the composer Handel were instrumental to the success of the place. Hogarth encouraged other artists to donate paintings to be auctioned to raise funds, and Handel conducted annual benefit concerts of his Messiah. The upper floors were devoted to donated artistic works and Handel’s organ and musical scores. Afterward I walked along Coram Fields adjacent to the museum where children sponsored by the charity were engaged in football (soccer).
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| Painting of foundlings |
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| Pages from The Messiah |
After getting a late lunch at a Chinese restaurant, I continued my walk down Chancery Lane to the tube and back to the hotel to get ready for the evening, my first theatre outing.
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| Staple Inn, original Tudor facade |
I left about 6 for the 7:30 performance at the Lyttleton Theatre, part of the National Theatre complex. There was a disabled train ahead of us on the Central line which held us at Notting Hill Gate station. After 10 minutes I got off. Since the Circle line had been slow the day before, I didn’t think I should take a chance on it either. So I caught a cab which took forever because of the traffic and because the driver didn’t know exactly where the theatre was nor did I. I just made it on time for the opening-night performance.
East is East is the age-old story of parents who can't understand why their children don’t want to pursue paths that the parents want them to. In this case, the father is Pakistani (but married to an English woman), transplanted to London where he owns a store and expects all his 7 children to work in it as they grow up and do whatever he says, including marrying whomever he says. Some of them rebel; one has already left causing the father to forbid his name to be mentioned. There was a lot of bickering between the parents, between the father and the kids, and among the kids. An element of humor was introduced in the form of the youngest child who insisted on wearing a parka night and day for weeks who somehow had not been circumcised and had to undergo that operation. The performances were very good though I missed some of it because of the accents and the hurried speech. The audience was appreciative though they don’t go on and on with clapping and curtain calls as we Americans do.
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| Marquee for East is East |
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| Stage of East is East |
Based on my experience two days ago, I took the tube back to the hotel without fear. 14,639 steps.
Friday. This day I took the tube to Bank and then the DLR to Cutty Sark which is in Greenwich. I came on a Friday because I wanted to go to the Friday market which was supposed to concentrate on antiques and crafts on Fridays. I don’t know if it used to be a lot larger and worthy of mention in guidebooks, but now it wasn’t all that great. It was mildly interesting and I got something for Glenna. Later I found a collectibles market which was more fun.
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| The ancient Greenwich Market |
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| The fun Greenwich Vintage Market |
I wandered around town, having visited before and been to many of the sites like the Royal Naval College, Prime Meridian, the Observatory and Cardiac Hill. I stumbled onto a museum exhibit in the Royal Naval College about the building of the college which was pretty interesting. Both Henry VIII and Elizabeth were born in Greenwich which was an important royal residence then. Not long ago they were digging in the college and discovered the remains of the Tudor chapel from that residence.
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| Greenwich Royal Naval College building |
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Royal Naval College building
along the Thames |
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Queen's House with view
of the Thames |
Another interesting factoid is that when Wren and Hawksmoor designed the college, it was Wren’s intention to have a long building with a large dome in the middle. That would have obstructed the Queen’s view of the Thames from her house behind. His solution was to have two buildings with a space between to facilitate that view. He still wanted his dome, so he put one on each of the buildings, not centered on them but near the ends where the interval was.
In the town I visited St Alfege’s Church which claims to be the place where Henry VIII was christened. There has been a church on the site since 1012 when Alfege was martyred.
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| St Alfege's Church |
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| Nave of St Alfege's |
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Stained glass window showing
Henry VIII's christening |
I walked round and round looking for an appealing restaurant for lunch and picked one that turned out to be a great choice. I had grilled chicken on skewers, a salad of cucumbers, onion, rocket, grains and wild rice with tzatziki dressing and a lager (no lime cordial, but it was good).
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| Great lunch at Bill's in Greenwich |
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| Tony townhouse near Holland Park |
Back in London I tubed to Holland Park. I went in through the north entrance, first passing beautiful townhouses—obviously a nice part of town.
The northern part of the park is a wild forest which seemed amazing in the middle of a city.
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| Natural part of the park |
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| Tortoise sundial |
The middle section has the really pretty Kyoto Garden with birds, squirrels and peacocks and what is left of Holland House (the rest was destroyed by a bomb in World War II), once the home of the diplomat Sir Walter Cope as well as other families.
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| Peaceful Kyoto Garden |
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| Gorgeous peacock in the garden |
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| Sculpture of a common man |
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| Flowers still beautiful in October |
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| Young girls playing chess |
The southern section of the park is taken up with lots of playing fields. Outside the park on the west side there were more beautiful townhouses. I walked past two supposedly notable houses, neither of which is worth mentioning in my opinion.
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| Kids learning to play soccer |
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| Another upscale townhouse |
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One of many kids on a scooter--
seems like a good idea to me |
That was an incredibly long walk, so I was done. More groceries, another meal in the room. 14,855 steps.
Saturday. Portobello Road market day. Once again it was mostly silver and jewelry, so I tired of it after awhile. I did get an elephant for my collection.
Then I decided to take a walk past familiar places. Tubed to Green Park and walked up to Fortnum and Mason to see if they had anything new and interesting. Not really. Then down through Green Park to Buckingham Palace. It was a beautiful day, and there were lots of people enjoying the weather. Then it was up the Mall to Admiralty Arch where there was a lot of construction (As there was all over London—the skyline is full of tall cranes. Charles can’t be pleased!). The Mall was marked off with a lot of stanchions; there had been a marathon the previous weekend, so I wasn’t far away in Victoria that day.
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| Fortnum and Mason |
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| The sunny Green Park |
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| Victoria Memorial through gate |
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| Buckingham Palace and Memorial |
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| Stanchions left over from race |
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| Admiralty Arch--and construction |
I continued on through Trafalgar Square and up Charing Cross Road. The goal was to get near the Phoenix Theatre before I got lunch. I had another mac and cheese (I guess that’s a thing in London now; I hadn’t noticed it before but did everywhere this time.), not as good as the first one, but a nice break from the walk.
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| Trafalgar Square, St Martins in the Field & National Gallery |
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| George IV and National Gallery |
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| Cambridge pub |
All the theatres were saying to get there an hour early. It really wasn’t necessary, but at least they did check my vax card this time. This performance was Come From Away, the story of the people of Gander, Newfoundland who hosted the thousands of passengers on 38 planes that could not fly into the US after Sept 11, 2001 and instead landed there. It recounts the 5 days the passengers were there, the special events the locals devised for entertainment, the open bar, the friendships that were formed and the general welcoming spirit of the natives. The title refers to the word used by the locals for anyone who does not come from there. It was a musical; the numbers were catchy and meaningful and the performers energetic. Everyone played more than one role and made the changes skillfully. I thought that the confusion of the time was better portrayed than the actual generosity of the locals. But it was an altogether touching experience; seeing it so soon after the 20th anniversary, I had tears in my eyes a couple of times as I did on that day. The really appreciative British audience gave it a huge ovation—and stood!
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| Marquee for Come From Away |
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| Stage for Come From Away |
Afterward I wandered around Soho a bit and down Shaftesbury Avenue to Piccadilly and then back to Notting Hill. 15,473 steps.
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Brits standing outside the pub
as is their custom
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Piccadilly Circus with its now
electronic coke sign |
Sunday. After breakfast I took two buses to Chiswick, an area in west London, nervous on each to make sure I got off at the right stop. The attraction here was Chiswick House, a decent walk from the bus stop and then another walk through the grounds to the house. Along the way I passed a faux Greek temple and walked over a pretty bridge over a pond.
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| Pond running through Chiswick |
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| Obelisk and temple at Chiswick |
The house is Palladian and designed by the owner, Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, and William Kent in 1725. Boyle had studied in Italy and became enamored of the Palladian style. It was new to England and much copied after Chiswick House. He didn’t build the place as a house but rather as a repository for his vast art collection. He sent almost 700 crates of his purchases back to England. A later owner built wings for kitchen/dining room and bedrooms, but they were torn down in the 20th century because they were decaying.
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| Approach to Chiswick House |
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| Side view of Chiswick House |
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| Blue Room ceiling |
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| The Red Room |
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| Upper Tribune Room |
Chiswick ownership went from Boyle to others and eventually to the bachelor Duke of Devonshire (whose main residence is Chatsworth House which I have not visited yet). After the Duke’s death the house was put out for let. Eventually it was an asylum for mental cases where fresh air and freedom to walk about the grounds was a new and more effective treatment.
Boyle and Kent also built gardens in the natural style which was also new to England and much copied. To me the difference between an English garden and a French garden is that the French one is extremely orderly (reflecting the French character) whereas the English is more haphazardly pleasing; they both have their appeal for me but I do like an English garden such as my friend Kathleen has.
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| Conservatory at Chiswick |
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| The Kitchen Garden |
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| Gorgeous flower |
The grounds were extensive and quite wonderful. They encourage visitors, and on this pretty day there were tons of families and dogs. I visited the Italian garden and the kitchen garden and walked around much of the grounds, partly by mistake. I took a wrong turn at the bridge and went far out of my way to get back to the exit that would take me back to the bus. But that took me past the cricket pitch and other pretty parts of the property.
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| Playing in the rocks |
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| Lots of people with their dogs |
Back at Notting Hill, I wanted to do something else, so I walked down Jubilee Walk to Kensington Palace.
I first visited the Sunken Garden which has the new sculpture of Diana with three children which William and Harry unveiled on her birthday July 1. I had seen closeup pictures of it in the media and wasn’t really impressed. I didn’t like the outfit she was wearing (even though it was taken from one she actually wore) or her hair; I guess in bronze it looks more stark than on the actual person. But when I saw it as far away as the public is from it, it looks very nice and very appropriate in the pretty garden which I have visited before in its full summer glory.
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Soccer at Diana Memorial
Playground |
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Diana Memorial from the rear--this is
as close as you can get
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| View of the garden |
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| Memorial from far end |
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| From the side--I like this view |
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| And one last view |
I always like to have tea and a scone whenever I go to the UK, so I thought this was my opportunity at the café. Well, they had an hour to go and they were already out of scones. I was disappointed and turned down the cake I was offered. Instead I went through the gift shop since I always like to see what new royal things are on offer.
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| Kensington Palace--where the Cambridges live |
I walked back to Notting Hill on a different path. There were loads of people because it was sunny and beautiful. I think the English do a better job of taking advantage of sunny days by getting outside even if they are just sitting. Maybe that’s because they have fewer really nice days than we do in most any place in the US.
I had been reading how about very popular the NFL is in the UK; there is even an NFL TV network. For a number of years two games have been played in London on successive Sundays. On a previous trip I had seen a rally in Trafalgar Square with several of the players who would be playing in the games that year. This year the games were this day and the next Sunday. I tried to find the game on the TV in my room but couldn’t. I wondered if the commentary would be given by the Brits, and I thought that would be interesting to hear. The next Sunday it was going to be the Dolphins and Jaguars and I would have been able to see Trevor Lawrence; I was disappointed. So I watched part of Howard’s End. 14,282 steps.
This is getting long, so I divided it into two parts.
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