London
23rd August, 1992
24th August, 1992
25th August, 1992
26th August, 1992
27th August, 1992
28th August, 1992
Sunday, 23rd August, 1992
ell, today is D-Day (departure)! Chris and Dick arrived in very good time to get us to Mascot where we checked in, paid departure tax, picked up some currency and hot coffee. Neil had arrived, so a fond farewell to the boys, although Mac complained that he hadn't said Goodbye to Claude! Qantas service much more slick than Phillippines and the food was light years better. We ate everything put before us although I had not intended to. Not much sleep unfortunately but the plane was not full to Bangkok so we had 3 seats between us. After Bangkok it was chockablock.
Monday, 24th August, 1992
ell, we arrived about 7 a.m.. Long queue in passport control but no hurry. Then we caught the Airbus from Heathrow to Euston where we picked up our rail tickets and sleepers to Inverness. Then by cab to our hotel. "The Londoner" is small but very nice, the room comfortable, with ensuite bathroom (with a phone and hairdryer) remote control TV and 24 hour roomservice. It's the first hotel I've ever been in where the porter picked up our luggage from the cab and took it up to our room for us.
fter a shower and change we went for a LONG walk - Wimpole Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly Circus, Shaftesbury Avenue, Leicester Square (It was just like a game of Monopoly) Back to Burlington Arcade, a lovely Georgian shopping arcade, fantastic (I could go mad for boxes if I were a millionaire) Bond Street, very classy - Asprey's jewellers and all the top names. Then back to Welbeck Street. Absolutely exhausted, we lay down on the beds and did not wake until 9.30 p.m! I didn't feel like going out to dinner then so we got some sandwiches and OJ from room service. Big deal. Hope tomorrow brings some rest.
Tuesday, 25th August, 1992
Marble Arch, London
h boy, what a long day! We WALKED from here to Victoria Station , via Marble Arch and Hyde Park, almost unrecognisable in all its summer greenery. We remembered how bare it was in December 1989. Then on to Tower Hill to see the Tower Hill Pageant. This was very interesting, taking the form of a ride in a "Time Car" back to 50 B.C and then upwards, all in the same area, London Docks.
Old Observatory, Greenwich
fter our return to 1992 we had a picnic lunch and sallied forth on the Docklands Light Rail to the end of the Isle of Dogs. Then we walked UNDER the river to Greenwich, using the Pedestrian Tunnel built in 1902. At Greenwich we climbed the very steep hill to the Old Observatory which houses the meridien of longitude.
Mac with a foot in each Hemisphere
ac straddled the line while I photographed him with a foot in each hemisphere. Then we walked down again to the pier and took a boat to the Thames Barrier. This marvel of modern engineering stops London from flooding in dangerous tide conditions. Apparently it has stopped the floods 8 times since it was completed at horrendous cost. So they feel it is justified, which it is. After that, a long boat ride upriver to the Tower Bridge, then tube back to the Hotel. Totally wiped out. Dinner in the hotel carvery was not bad. And so to bed - tomorrow maybe the theatre.
Wednesday, 26th August, 1992
oday we had our first bad weather. It rained a little and the wind was cooler. However, it did not damp our ardour. First we posted some 2000 ADs to the boys and the first batch of cards, then went to Selfridges to look for a Thermos flask, which we found. It is a lovely store in Oxford Street, of the ilk of David Jones, tres snob. Then we went to Covent Garden to book our theatre tickets. We decided on the "spine chiller", "The Woman in Black" with Milton Johns, whom I have seen in everything from Dr.Who to Horseman Riding By. So we got orchestra stalls, I am looking forward to it.
Westminster Abbey, London
HEN Westminster Abbey! We did not want to wear ourselves out so did not do the full tour but we saw the Chapter House, and the Pyx Room and the Library and the Museum. There was a special altar where one was invited to pray for peace in Yugoslavia and for the success of the Peace Conference at a centre opposite the Cathedral. There were demonstrators and TV cameras everywhere but the biggest headlines concern the crisis the pound is having.
fter lunch we went to Baker Street, where just up from 221b some enterprising people have set up the Sherlock Holmes Museum. It is in a slip of a house, decorated exactly as the books describe, down to the Turkish slipper by the fire with the tobacco and the VR in bullet holes in the wall. One can have one's photo taken in deerstalker and pipe by the fire, but one didn't. Upstairs is a room with "memoirs" of the cases, from the wig in the Copper Beeches to the snake in the Speckled Band. It was excellently done.
ack to the Hotel early so we can have a sandwich and prepare for the Theatre. Can't wait!
11 p.m
he play was superb! There were only two actors and they created a marvellous atmosphere which was truly creepy. The Theatre, the Fortune, is very small, the stalls where we were only held about 250. There were Dress Circle, Upper Circle and boxes but it was very narrow and intimate. Very good for that style of play. We both enjoyed it although I found it very creepy - horror isn't my thing but when it is as well done as this I can take it.
Thursday, 27th August, 1992
Rosemary with a Landseer Lion in Trafalgar Square
mizzle of rain again this morning but we decided to head for Windsor. On the way we stopped at Charing Cross and went to look at Trafalgar Square. It is really impressive! The space is enormous with one side of the square filled by the classical National Gallery and the huge lions supporting Nelson's Column in the centre. The pools and fountains were clean and elegant, the blue tiling keeping them much cleaner in appearance than cement would.
Windsor Castle
hen back to the tube to Waterloo, where we got a Network South East train to Windsor and Eton. As soon as you get off the train you see the Castle, towering huge on its hill. The High Street is full of antique and souvenir shops and restaurants. Madame Tussaud has set up a display called "Royalty and Empire" in the main station which combines a Victorian slide show extolling the greatness of the Empire, just to get you in the mood, then a marvellous tableau of Queen Victoria, her son the Prince of Wales & his wife meeting weekend guests to Windsor from the Royal train. The train is in the station and the carriages are fully fitted out. Then you go to the outside of the station where there is a detachment of Coldstream Guards, sundry peasants, coach persons, royal visitors, hangers on etc. It was very good.
e had a picnic style lunch (lovely fresh baked baguettes filled to taste) on a bench outside the castle then went in. We wandered about, just looking at first (fabulous views) then bought tickets for the Queen Mary Dollshouse (absolutely fascinating, even Mac liked it.) Then we went into the State Apartments - very grand and ornate, painted ceilings, fabulous chandeliers, SIX Rubens portraits in one room. We saw the Queen's State Dining Room with the table that seats 130 that we saw on TV. It is so big that the servants polish it by wrapping their feet in polishing cloths and skating. I shouldn't think the Queen spends much time in the State Apartments - not very homey. Still, worth seeing.
omorrow is our last in London. We will check our bags in at Euston and see how to fill the day - Tower Bridge and the Globe Theatre maybe.
Friday, 28th August, 1992
ur last in London. We checked out early and as planned, took the luggage to Euston and left it in the Left Luggage Department. They examined them for explosives! I suppose it's only natural, given their recent history but they are paranoid about bombs in London. When we were coming home from the theatre on Wednesday night there was some unattended baggage on the platform at Covent Garden and the rail staff were converging on it and customers edging away. Luckily our train came in and we distanced ourselves from it. It looked perfectly harmless but with this sort of thing and the beggars sitting in the Tube with signs saying "Hungry, please help" it makes you wonder what we are coming to.
nyway. We went from Euston to London Bridge whence we explored Bankside on foot until we came to the Shakespeare Globe Theatre Museum. This is a fairly new venture and has been set up very close to where two Shakespearian Theatres, the Rose and the Globe, have been discovered and are in the process of being excavated. The major thing is that the Globe is being recreated to original specifications and we saw the first of the circular sections in place. The thing is , it is being built using ancient techniques and materials - it will even have a thatched roof. As the original was destroyed by fire when a prop cannon set fire to the thatch one can only hope for more care this time.
he whole area was fascinating. As we walked we found the remains of the Palace of the Bishop of Winchester, Henry of Blois, who was related to King Stephen in Cadfael's time, also of the old "Clink" prison, which they say gave its name to all other prisons.
e crossed the river , walking over Southwark Bridge, and after lunch we went to explore Tower Bridge. They have quite a good museum and video show and you get a lift up to the 4th level and walk across the top. Quite interesting, more to Mac than me but worth seeing. My feet had begun to give out already. I have a blood blister on the side of my left foot which doesn't feel good and my ankles are aching.
owever, we got on the Tube again and went to Hampstead, a lovely village type suburb. We walked around it (up and down hills!) till my feet could take no more then returned to Euston to await our train.
lthough very cramped, the train was a comfortable way of spending the night. In fact it was the best sleep I've had all week.
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