Wednesday 27^th August                              LONDON  -  GATWICK

Well, it’s finally arrived – our last travel day in the UK is here, and now we find ourselves safely ensconced in the Travelodge at Gatwick, ready to fly out tomorrow morning.

We were up around 7, and had a very slow morning, as we had until 11 o’clock to check out. Cait and Danny called, so we chatted to them. Lex was pretty much packed, so once they’d gone off for Danny’s bathtime, he headed out for a last walk around the Chelsea/Kensington area, while I finished off my packing and cleared the kitchen. He was back around quarter to ten, then we spent some time looking at taxis and trains and figuring out how best to get to Gatwick. We had to get to Victoria Station, and did not want to go via the subway, as South Kensington has no lifts or escalators, and we have two huge and two small bags! All of the taxis we looked at seemed to want you to book online, but a minimum of three hours ahead and cost of at least 30 pounds. Finally, we popped down to the front desk to consult them; the girl there said they would call one, and it would take about one minute.

                            Almost ready to go!

So, a bit after half past ten we made our way to out in front of the building and Lex got them to call a cab – literally as he walked back out the front door, our taxi pulled up! We had a lovely chat to our driver along the way, and he dropped us at the door closest to where tickets were sold and made sure we knew where to go. And he only cost us 20 pounds.

                                            London taxi to Victoria

                                             Victoria Station

Victoria Station is huge – not quite as confusing as Paddington, but still hard to work out. Finally, Lex went and asked at the ticket office, and found we just had to tap on and off to pay for the Gatwick train. We had a half hour wait for the next one, so we both had a wander around to look at all the shops. I may have even done a teensy bit of Christmas shopping! Finally, we were able to go in and get on a train, which wasn’t the express, but beat it there anyway. As soon as we left, announcements started coming that due to track trouble, the train wasn’t going to Brighton as expected, but would terminate earlier. They were offering other suggestions to the poor folk who were suddenly having their day upset badly. We had a small holdup, but arrived in Gatwick at the airport a bit after midday.

Then we had the usual experience of wandering forlornly around the airport looking for signs to the shuttle bus. In the end, I rang the hotel and established that we needed stop 9. It only took about another 20 minutes of following the wrong signs to the wrong terminal, turning around and coming back before we finally found it with the help of two very nice security men. We had about a 20-minute wait before the bus came along and (for 5 pounds each) carried us off to the hotel. Here we cheerfully paid the early check-in fee to get into our room and dump our bags – by this time it was 1.30.

Lex had discovered that there was a nearby pub which was really the only place to go to find lunch, so we headed out, across the very busy roundabout nearby (three sets of traffic lights to get through) and a stroll across the churchyard path. Ye Olde Six Bells is without a doubt the highlight of this travel day. It was built in the 14^th century and named after the six bells in the church next door. It’s absolutely delightful to look at, and the food was also wonderful. The Lamb kebab I had was one of the best meals I’ve had on this holiday! Lex tried a Czechoslovakian beer, a Prabha, which he was really impressed with. After our meal we looked at the upstairs room, which had the most impressive solid oak beam I’ve ever seen. As we’ve prepaid to eat at the hotel tonight, it was a fabulous last English pub meal for the holiday.

                                    Ye Olde Six Bells for a late lunch

                                  The pub had warnings painted in several places:                                                                                                     'DUCK  OR  GROUSE'!

After our very late lunch, we came back to the hotel, and both had a much-needed nap, before resorting our bags for the morning. Our plane doesn’t leave until after 10, so we’ll have time to have our breakfast before we head off to the airport again.

                                      Gatwick Travelodge

Tea was a nice meal in the hotel restaurant, ‘85’. We both had very English meals: Lex the meat pie and mash, and I had the sausages and mash. Now for the final packing and weighing and hopefully a good night’s sleep before tomorrow’s adventures start. This time tomorrow we’ll be in Dubai!

                                              A nice rural view from our window.

 

Tuesday 26^th August                                 LONDON

Our last day in London, and we’ve walked for miles and seen so much!

As usual, we slept well (tourist exhaustion can do that for you) and it was just as well, because this morning there was a lot to be done. After breakfast, we continued with yesterday’s chore of the final big sort, toss and pack. In the end, our ports are reasonably within weight (so far) and the op shop pile was about 10kg worth! I’d finished my lot by about quarter past 10, so popped across the road to the ritzy organic deli there, and got us morning tea – Earl Grey fruitcake for Lex and the most delicious hazelnut brownie for me. We also checked out where would be the best place to see London from, and in the end the Shard’s viewing platform won easily, with 17 pound Summer Specials on today. We booked for 3.30 online.

By 11, we were finally ready to head out for the day – first port of call was the Octavia Foundation Op Shop just near South Kensington station. The man there seemed happy to take our two bags of goodies off us. Then we boarded our train to Westminster, and changed there to St Paul’s. We walked out to find that it was raining! Very much needed for London, but a prize pain for us, so we decided it was time for lunch. We were right next to a Japanese restaurant, so had a lovely lunch there, and by the time we came out, the rain was all but gone. We walked right around St Paul’s to admire it from all angles (we’d visited it in 2014), then navigated ourselves to the Barbican area. 

                                                              St Paul's Cathedral

              It was built by Sir Christopher Wren to replace the old St Pauls, which had been 

              destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666.

Here we found some of the city’s walls, dating back to Roman times and with a lot of medieval stone still in them. We also found St Botolph’s without Aldersgate, the church where my gg grandparents, Richard Bowles and Martha Ellis, were married in 1853. It only opens for an hour or so, one day a week, so I was thrilled to be able to see inside.

                        St Botolph's without Aldersgate, the Barbican, c. 1790

                                                   Roman and Medieval London City Walls

                 Interior of St Botolph's. A meeting was about to take place.

           Current entrance to the church through Postman's Park.

After this, we came across another church, St Bartholomew’s the Great, which is the oldest church in London, having survived both the Great Fire and the Blitz. It is an amazing building, and has also featured in a lot of films, such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, and Shakespeare in Love. Across the road from it is the huge complex of the Smithfield Markets (fish and meat, and only open in the mornings). And across from the markets we found 59 Long Lane, which is a café currently being renovated and not yet reopened. Which is sad – I’d really wanted to have a cup of tea there, because in 1871, the same building was a coffee house run by my GGG Aunt Sarah and her husband John Hopper, and 17-year-old Richard Bowles was working as a waiter. We also walked past St Bart’s hospital, where Richard spent a good deal of time and eventually the poor bloke died of dropsy only 7 months after their marriage. Pa’s father (also Richard) was born posthumously the following January.

                                 St Bartholomew's the Great, oldest surviving church in London

                                                         St Bart's interior

                              59 Long Lane, which was also a coffee house in 1871

                               Smithfield Markets

With this lovely excursion into the Bowles family history finished, we headed for the Shard, roughly a half hour walk over London Bridge (not falling down). The modern London Bridge is an extremely boring and functionally ugly 1960s construction, not a beautifully photogenic one like Tower Bridge. At least we could see Tower Bridge from London Bridge! We could also see the Shard shining ahead of us, because as the Met had promised, the rain had departed and the sun was coming out again. We made sure we knew where the entrance to the viewing platform was, then went looking for afternoon tea. We discovered Hay’s Galleria, which is a modern enclosure (1980s) of Grade 2 listed warehouses and wharves right next to the river, and settled in there. There is a Padel Ball court there at present (which seems to be similar to the Australian Pickle Ball), so kids having lots of holiday fun. It’s a lovely area.

                                          Monument to the Great Fire of London

                View from London Bridge: Tower Bridge and HMS Belfast

                               Lex and the Shard, as seen from London Bridge

                                          Hay's Galleria, on the river front

By 3.15 we made our way back to the Shard entrance, and they let us head on up – first on the elevator to the 32^nd floor, then another one to the 68^th floor. Very fast – my ears popped! From there, we walked up four more flights to the 72^nd floor and the top viewing platform. The sun was mostly out by then, so we had amazing 360-degree views over London. We spent ages happily clicking away and working out where things were. Then we went down to the 69^th floor, which had icons to tell you where things were and the compass points (very handy!) It’s very hard to orientate yourself in the UK, we’ve found – north is never where you think it is. At any rate, it was really worth seeing.

                                           Lex with Tower Bridge in the background

     There are so many bridges over the Thames! St Paul's is on the other bank.

                     The Tower, and Tower Bridge

                                                    Loo with a fabulous view!

By a bit after 4, we were ready to head off, so whizzed back down in the elevators and then to the London Bridge subway station below the building. The train was absolutely packed, so we were glad to get off at Westminster, and change to our line, travel to South Kensington and we were home by 5.

We’ve since had a good rest, popped out to Sainsbury’s for tea, and are contemplating tomorrow’s move to Gatwick – we book out of our apartment in the morning, and have to get ourselves to the Travelodge near the airport there, as we fly out for Dubai on Thursday morning. The great British adventure is nearly over!

 

 

 

 

Monday 25^th August                  LONDON  -  BANK HOLIDAY

Well, the summer is certainly here in London! We got to a very warm 27 degrees today under dazzling blue skies, and all of London was out to celebrate. We’ve had a lovely, very busy day.

We slept well in our Chelsea flat, and were up and had had breakfast by the time Glen came down a bit before 9. He left his bag in our flat as he had to check out by 10. We’d decided to head to the Kensington area – he and Lex to go to the Design Museum, and for me to go to Kensington Palace. We walked to South Kensington Station, and only had to go two stops along the Tube to High Street Kensington. We stopped in the arcade there at a little French café for a quick morning tea. Lex and Glen both had coffees, and I just had to try their mysterious (unlabelled) ‘cakes’. I chose a coffee one – it turned out to be like a little, tall coffee flavoured pavlova! More coffee cream than meringue, it was absolutely delicious.

                                 Lex and Glen in front of our favourite Tube station

                                                         Mysterious but delicious French 'cake'

                                                 The chandelier isn't at all over the top!

From here, it was only about a ten-minute walk to Kensington Gardens and through them to Kensington Palace. When we arrived, it was just after 10, and the first admissions of the day were still lining up. There was a nice little troupe of actors in period costume putting on a show for us all, which was very entertaining! I said goodbye to Lex and Glen then, and headed in.

                                                Kensington Palace and actors

I paid my 24 pounds and set out to explore. Kensington Palace was built in 1605 and originally called Nottingham House. When William and Mary were invited to take the joint crown of England in 1689, they bought it and commissioned Sir Christopher Wren to expand it. They moved in, renamed it and made it a royal palace. Later royals also added extensions, and it’s still a royal residence today – it’s the London base for William and Kate, for example. I collected my audio guide, which was great for telling me about the different areas of the palace.

                                                                   William III

My first stop was the gallery where they have their current exhibition: Dress Codes, which is about the expectations of royal and court clothing. It had examples of clothes worn by various royals and members of the court over the centuries, from Queen Victoria’s mourning clothes, to the Duke of Windsor’s flashy suits and the Queen and Princess Margaret’s dresses when they were little princesses (my favourites).

                             1927 gold lame wedding gown worn by Lady Ursula Lawley

                                                     Queen Victoria's mourning gown

                     Her daughter in law Queen Alexandra's mourning gown from 1911

                           The Queen and Princess Margaret's matching dresses from the 30s.

From here I went to the rooms where Queen Victoria was born and lived until she came to the throne at the age of 18. She was bought up so strictly that she wasn’t ever allowed to sleep in a room by herself or even walk down the stairs alone, and because of this she left the palace as soon as she could and never stayed there again! They have things like her toys and dolls house on display, some of her letters and art work, and the table in the room where she held her first privy council meeting the day she became Queen. I really enjoyed going through the suite of rooms and imagining what their lives were like – it’s very well done.

                                         The young Victoria and her mother, the Duchess of Kent

    Victoria's doll house and toys. The figures at the top are ones she has drawn herself.

                                                Victoria was born in this room.

          The table in the room where Victoria first met her Privy Council.

The last two suites I went through were those of William and Mary. I hadn’t realised that she died of smallpox in only her early 30s, poor thing. He was twice her age, and had never expected to outlive her. They were both great promoters of the scientists and thinkers of the day. There’s an amazing ‘clock’ in the King’s Gallery that actually shows the direction the wind is blowing from. William was a keen soldier and sailor, and always wanted to know if the winds were favourable for his ships! (We had a nice breeze coming from the south east today.)

                                        Grand staircase leading to the King's Rooms

                           Main reception area

                                             So many works of art! The Privy Chamber

                     The Cupola Room. The machine in the middle used to play music.

                                    King's Gallery dial which shows the wind's direction

                                      Queen Mary II

     How the palace looked in the days of William & Mary. They had their own deer herd.

                                                 Mary's bed chamber

I spent several hours exploring the palace, then headed into the café there. I bought some quiche and salad, and sat outside on the shady terrace.

               View from inside the King's rooms, looking towards the Round Pool

                                            View from inside the Queen's rooms

                                             A nice shady terrace meal

From here, I walked across to the Round Pond and looked at all the various water birds there. Kensington Gardens is, like everywhere else, getting very dry and brown. However, the Princess Diana sunken garden I went to next is obviously being watered, as it was just beautiful. Then I walked south across the gardens towards South Kensington. There were people everywhere enjoying the summer heat. It’s a huge area, and for a good deal of it you couldn’t see any buildings or hear the London traffic. 

                                            Statue of Queen Victoria in front of the palace

                                                       Lots of swans!

                                   Diana sunken garden and statue

I came out near the Albert Memorial – that monument to overstatement. The gold is really a bit much. It’s right across the road from the Royal Albert Hall, which is next to Albert Hall Mansions and there’s a big statue (black marble this time) of, you guessed it, Prince Albert!

                                                    Golden Albert

                                   Royal Albert Hall and black marble Albert!

Having soaked up all the Albert vibes, I bought an ice-cream and walked along Exhibition Road to the Natural History Museum. Four trips to London, and I had never yet been here. Unfortunately, five minutes after entering today, it occurred to me that a Bank Holiday Monday probably wasn’t the best time to visit – there were so many people that it was actually hard to move through some of the galleries. I visited the Earth zone, and got to experience the Kobe earthquake, which was cool but quite scary. Then I just had to go and see the dinosaurs, of course, and had just decided to head home when Lex texted me. Glen had left to get his train, and he was out in front of the museum, so we met up and walked our tired feet back to the flat. Then we both had a nap!

              Coolest escalator ride ever takes you through a giant red globe to the Earth section.

                          Main entrance hall stairs. Charles Darwin is at the top of the first flight.

                                                       Huge, roaring, animated T Rex

                     Fern the Diplodocus in the Jurassic Garden outside the museum.

Lex and Glen had gone to the Design Museum, which wasn’t quite what they expected – it seemed to have more art elements. Lex was impressed by a modern glass bowl made by Lulu Harrison out of crushed mussel shells, biomass ash, wine lees and sand. They looked around for a couple of hours before having lunch there.

                                                Design Museum, Kensington

                                               2024 Lulu Harrison bowl

After our naps and a cuppa, Lex decided to head out for a walk towards the river, while I wrote the blog and popped out to Sainsbury’s for tea. The dreaded chore of the big final pack looms over us, and we have a growing pile of clothes which are going to be given to an op shop tomorrow, as there simply won’t be the room or weight to take them home. (And having worn then non stop for 3 months or more, some are quite trashed by now!)