London - Days 1 - 2
Friday, 1st December, 1989
irst we went to Lloyds Bank to cash some traveller's cheques, then to Euston Station to book tickets for Kidderminster for Monday. Our railcards are being well used. We spent more time underground this morning than up on top. It was a lovely morning too. Sunny, crisp and clear. Geoff is putting up well with the weather. Mac is the one who complains the most and he is coughing all the time. He is also suffering from diarrhoea, I think he drank too much water in the plane, who knows where they got it from. I am loving the weather, I consider the English climate much maligned (after two days I really am asking for it!) But really, I am wearing about the same as for a Blaxland winter - indoors it's too warm and outdoors I wear a coat, necessary, but I reckon it's colder in Armidale in autumn and spring than it's been here today and yesterday. It got somewhat misty this afternoon and became much colder.
e went to Madame Tussaud's this morning - very good, but expensive. I felt the older figures were better than some of the more modern ones. Madame T's is near Baker Street and we had lunch at a place called Baskerville's, which is full of Sherlock Holmes memorabilia and old prints of the illustrations from the Strand Magazine, then we walked along Baker Street to 221(b) which is now a large office block, but they have put a plaque on the wall outside commemorating Sherl and the Doc.
fter lunch, we went to Covent Garden. Saw St.Paul's church ( not the cathedral) the actors' church, lots of little shops and the Theatre Museum. Very interesting, especially for anyone interested in theatre. Costumes worn by Ellen Terry and Garrick, original prompt copy for "Look Back in Anger", sets, jewellery, programmes etc. Geoff found a hologram exhibition which he enjoyed. Then back into the Tube and home. We are spending money hand over fist so to McDonald's for dinner; it was dearer than at home, I thought (VAT probably) but the same food. Walked it off in a stroll down Holborn and Bloomsbury to Shaftesbury Avenue - Theatreland, then past the British Museum, very impressive.
elieve it or not, we bought a jar of Vegemite for Geoff (how Everage) but they only provide jam and honey for breakfast and Geoff can't eat that. We just picked it up in a local supermarket. Tomorrow, the Bloody Tower!!!
Saturday, 2nd December, 1989
Geoff at the Bloody Tower
he Tower is fantastic! Everything I thought, and more! We spent six hours there and could have spent more, but we were getting bushed! The displays of arms and armour were very good but I think our brains were overloading. The Crown Jewels were worth the price of admission alone. Geoff was absolutely drooling! So was I. The little parish church of the Tower (which is like a village, the Beefeaters actually live there with their families) St.Peter ad Vincula [St.Peter in Chains] was lovely and full of relics. Among the thousands of corpses under the floor of the church are Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, Lady Jane Grey and the Earl of Essex.
Rosemary and Mac at Byward Tower
Scaffold site at the Tower
The scaffold where they lost their heads is outside. Geoff fell in love with the ravens of the Tower, which are really huge birds. There are signs up saying "do not touch the ravens - they bite". Their beaks do look dangerous. The wall walk along the battlements through many of the towers is great. The weather was the coldest we've had here but not really much colder than Katoomba or Mt.Victoria in winter - or Armidale in spring and autumn.
omorrow Buckingham Palace, St.Paul's, Westminster Abbey. The V. & A? maybe. Time is going so quickly I feel I must revise my ideas. Still I am enjoying it so much. I wish we had more time here.
