Friday 22^nd August                               LONDON

Robyn writes: A nice ‘down’ day today, after the frantic activity of the last few days. It was good to not be woken up by the alarm, and to have a slow start to the day.

Lex wanted to go and visit Eltham Palace (English Heritage) near Mottingham, south of Greenwich. Unfortunately, as he was looking at trains over breakfast, the route he needed had severe delays, so he plotted an alternate route and set out around 9.

I got into my big port and did a bit of culling and sorting. I talked to Mum, Cait and Danny, and Sandy, so had a nice sociable morning. Then I checked up on my family history to see which places in London I needed to visit, and decided to go to the National Army Museum first, as it’s only a quarter of an hour’s walk from here.

Glen was arriving at around midday, as he’s down for the weekend, so I waited for him to arrive, as he’d never been there either. He arrived pretty much right on noon, so we had lunch before setting out for the museum. It’s in the same precinct as the Chelsea Pensioner’s Hospital, so we popped in there for a look before going in.

                                                   Chelsea Pensioner's Hospital precinct

The museum is over about 5 levels, and has a lot of different galleries dedicated to telling the story of the British Army since it began after the restoration of Charles II. We really enjoyed looking at them all, and in the end, stayed there until just before they closed. I spoke to their archivist about researching my gggg-grandfather McKay, who was in the 71^st Regiment of Foot in the 1780s. They don’t have information about individual regiments there, but she gave me some contacts who might be able to help. The museum also has excellent activities for children, and there were lots of happy kids there.

                            A huge tank outside the National Army Museum.

    This is Crimea Tom. He was found in Sevastopol during the Crimea War, adopted by soldiers to keep mice and rats away, and brought back to England when they returned. They loved him so much they had him preserved when he died. Good kitty! He doesn't look bad for nearly 180 years old.

Busts of Wellington (L) and Napoleon (R) and the skeleton of Napoleon's beloved horse, Marengo.

Marengo was captured at Waterloo and brought to England, where he died peacefully in 1831 aged 38.

            Looking down from the top level of the museum.

The museum has Captain Patrick Logan's jacket! I was quite annoyed, as I think it really should be in Brisbane. He was such an important figure in Brisbane's history.

At about half past 4, we left to walk back to Chelsea Cloisters (Glen is staying in an apartment upstairs) and called into Sainsbury’s for tea (fish and chips for Lex and Glen, macaroni cheese for me, and vegetables for all.) All were very tasty, as one would expect of Sainsbury’s! Lex was home when we got back, having not long arrived home from his day out.

   Glen and I walked along the Royal Avenue, laid out by Sir Christopher Wren in 1682.

It was going to be a direct route from the Royal Hospital to Kensington Palace, but King                      Charles II died, and the full route was never completed. 

       The beautiful Regency houses on either side were built in the early 1800s.

Lex writes: I arrived at Eltham Palace and had morning tea first, in the old greenhouse – which was bloody hot! Then I walked to the Art Deco house, built by the Courtauld family in the 1930s on the site of the ancient medieval and Tudor palace. The great hall which remains was built by Edward IV in1470 and has an amazing hammer beam roof. The rest of the palace has been demolished and robbed away over the centuries, but the Courtaulds built their Art Deco mansion adjoining the old hall. The ruined remains of the kings’ and queens’ apartments are also in the garden. There is also a moat which originally went all around the palace, but half of it has been filled in. The Art Deco house has a very impressive entrance – it has two wings and at least eight bedrooms. There’s a sumptuous dining room (very 30s) with beautiful lacquered doors, and a definite Japanese influence in some of the rooms. The house was very different, and not what I’d expected. It seemed rather bare – from 1945 for many years, it was occupied by the army, and a lot of the fittings and decorations would have been removed. Hopefully, English Heritage will build it up more. The gardens have also suffered from the lack of rain, as everywhere is at present.

                               The moat and the Art Deco frontage

                                    Very high hammer beam roof in the great hall

                                                       Amazing lacquered doors

                                              Bathroom was a little over the top!

                   From the side, you can see the two eras - medieval and 1930s

Glen checked into his room, and then he and Lex went for a drink at The Brompton Cross, a corner pub in our local district. They were home around seven for tea, and we were all keen on an early night. Lots to do in London over the weekend!