London

We are in London from the 1 - 8 May and from the 22-26 May

May 24

Yesterday was spent visiting that den of iniquity known as Harrods. This is a place,where you are meant to,spend as much money as possible and I must admit that we did indulge a little. The shops in the Knightsbridge area were quite busy but it is a long weekend. Other than that it was a generally lazy Sunday. Tomorrow we will head out to visit a second cousin who lives about an hour away from London so Tuesday morning will be the last blog post as we will be on the plane on Tuesday night and arrive home on Thursday around lunch time.

May 23

Yesterday we caught the train from Edinburgh to Kings Cross in London. The first part of the 4.5 hours took us along the sea near Berwick in Tweed, on to Newcastle, York and then London. We had an interesting trip as the Scottish woman in the couple opposite us did not stop talking, with the f word thrown in regularly for good measure. She astounded us by heading to the bar carriage at 10am for a wee whiskey which she brought back to the seat. I now know that Amanda her sister is useless, that she doesn't like Amanda's boyfriend, that she worries about Nanny (her grandmother), her mother was using her flat in Brighton, the cat had kittens - need I go on? Her suffering companion just sat there, nodded his head at regular intervals and glancing at us to see how we were coping with it all. We arrived at the flat (another Air BnB one) which is lovely and quite big so after walking to the nearest supermarket we opened up the wine, put out the nibbles and relaxed - so nice not to have to eat out or have takeaway every night.

The morning we were up and about early as we needed to be at the Chelsea Flower Show by 8am. It took us about 15 minutes to walk there, pick up our tickets and join the queue. When the gates opened, we headed straight for the show gardens as these can get very busy apparently. We both thought that the garden which got best in show was quite ordinary but we really liked the People's Choice and the one by Charlie Albone of Selling Houses Australia. Even before we realised that it was Australian designed, it drew us in. The show was wonderful and there was lots to see and buy but I must admit that I thought that there would be more show gardens. By the time we left some hours later, the grounds were packed so I am pleased we arrived as early as we had - certainly a worthwhile visit and we both thought that it was worth every pound.

More May 07

I'm updating the blog today because we head out in the morning to catch the tube to Heathrow and then fly to Dublin at lunchtime. We will then hire a car and head off into the wilderness of Ireland so I am not sure what internet access we will have for the next few days. I had a much better day today at the Archives and located some of the documents I was looking for. I have to say that some of the staff at the Archives weren't especially hepful or knowledgeable compared with the help at the British Library. I just wish that I had more time to delve further into the mysterious background of our 3x great grandfather, James Phillips. Bank holidays (2 in 2 weeks) don't help and the Archives are closed on a Monday anyway.

The weather was quite good today and Maree had a great time getting more fabulous photos.

Another great day exploring London.  First stop today was St Paul's Cathedral - what a beautiful church even more impressive than Westminster Abbey.  St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral for the Diocese of London and was designed in the English Baroque style by Sir Christopher Wren who is buried here. It dates back to 16th century.

I really enjoyed my time here.  Again I had an audio guide which gives you great information on every aspect of the church.  I could not take photos here so have surfed the Internet for images of the inside.  The nave of this building is spectacular - hard to describe in words.  I think it would be great next time to come to evensong to hear the choir sing (all men and boys) as it is supposed to be one of the greatest in the world. I also did some great exercise here and walked 257 steps in very tight spaces to what is called the Whispering gallery and a further 81 steps to the stone gallery. Today the walk to the golden dome was closed - such a shame. The whispering gallery had a magnificent view of the cathedral floor, ceiling and altars etc - fantastic.  Apparently If you whisper facing the wall the sound of your voice will travel around the curved wall and reach another person.  There were lots of people trying it out. At the stone dome you go outside and walk around with great views of London.  It certainly isn't for anyone who has fear of heights.

After St Paul's I decided I would explore the area and see where it would lead me.  Next place I saw was the royal courts of justice which is a court building in London which houses both the High Court and Court of Appeal of England and Wales. What a great experience.  While I did have to go through security, there wwere no more restrictions after that.  I managed to see some of the court action and saw in one of the courts everyone in their robes and wigs just like we see on TV.  The building itself is beautiful and was opened in 1882 by Queen Victoria.

Outside the courts I went to St Clement Danes which is an Anglican Church and claims to be the one featured in the nursery rhyme Oranges and Lemons.  This church was also built by Sir Christopher Wren in 1682.  It certainly was quite lovely inside and you could see the similarities with St Paul's but on a minor scale.  It also has a crypt downstairs with a little chapel.  Great find.  All in all very enjoyable day.

May 07

Yesterday was a pretty terrible day for me - research and otherwise. I arrived at the Archivs in good time, headed up to get my reader's card and realised that I had lost my travel card somewhere in the space of 10 minutes. Panic almost ensured but I managed to locate it still in my bag around lunchtime. Sigh!  I had spent all day scouring records for a letter I wanted to find and when I did locate the box of letters, this particular one was missing. Of course this all happened at 10 to 5 so when I advised the staff they searched the boxes I had been viewing to make sure that no mistake had been made. I ended up being the last person to leave the Archives (other than staff) and headed to the tube to find that my pass wouldn't let me on. After discussions with the ticket person, I found that Maree and I had been sold a ticket for the wrong number of zones so out came the wallet to pay for the difference just to get back to Earl's Court. I hope that today's visit will be more productive.

Maree had a better day.

Today I went to Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey.  Once again the weather was not good, cold and raining.  For the first time I managed the tube with no drama.  When I exited the tube, I went wow!!!!  In front of me were the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. I just had to stop to take in what I could see.  The scenery was fantastic.  I know the photos will not do justice to these places.

My first stop was at St Margaret's church which was founded in the twelfth century by Benedictine monks for local people who lived in the area around the Abbey. It was rebuilt from 1486 to 1523. It is a lovely church that also has old graves buried in the floors.

Westminster Abbey was my next stop for the day.  This was such a great experience and took about three hours to complete.  This place is full of history.  Part of the tour price is an audio guide which guides you through the Abbey.  No photos are allowed here but all I can say is that I would come again it is that good.  Just to experience the burial places of the kings and Queens of England was in itself the burial places great.

May 05

Today Maree and I went our separate ways. I headed back to the British Library to find out more about our great grandfather and his life in India. I had a wonderfully productive day and tomorrow I head out to Kew to the National Archives to delve into another branch of the family. What follows is Maree's day as she explored places on her own.

Today was a fantastic day for me.  First up I ventured on the tube by myself without my navigator in hand.  I managed to get the train and realised at the next stop I needed to be going the other way.  So without any concern got off that train and found my way to the right train to go to the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge.

 I arrived at approximately 9.15am to a howling wind going through the Tower of London almost blowing me sideways.  The Tower was founded towards the end of 1066 as part of the Norman Conquest of England.  What a fabulous castle just what I imaged them to look like.  While it does cost to go through the tower, for me it was worth every penny.

There is so much history here too much to write about.  I did walk through everything I could and would visit again.  The Crown Jewels are wonderful - no photos allowed here - I wonder why.

Free tours depart every half hour or so (until mid-afternoon) from the main entrance. They are conducted by the Yeoman Warders, better known as Beefeaters, dressed in resplendent navy-and-red (scarlet-and-gold on special occasions) Tudor outfits. Beefeaters have been guarding the Tower since Henry VII appointed them in 1485.  They are really great wonderful in sharing the history and very gracious in having their photos taken by the crowds.  There are also ladies dressed up in historical costumes who tell stories to the younger children in parts of the tower.

In many of the connecting bridges there are wonderful views of tower bridge where I went next.  This bridge was built between1886–1894.  What wonderful piece of construction.  I went across both ways and managed to get some great photos of the Thames river and again of the Tower. Once more I had great concern about the wind that was blowing a gale causing me to stay away from the sides.

On the return journey almost got home with no mistakes but realised the train I was going on wouldn't get me all the way to Earls Court so got off and managed to get the right one.  It certainly was an enjoyable day and I have now mastered the London Underground!!! 

May 04

Yesterday started out as a cold day but ended up warmer and with some sun. We arrived at Buckingham Palce where there was a huge crowd so taking good photos proved to be difficult. The biggest crowd was trying to take a photo of the tiny sign posted just inside the gates announcing the birth of the princess on Saturday. Not sure how people were expected to read it!!! After that we took a long walk to the pub in which I worked in 1976. This is in Mayfair just behind Park Lane and it hasn't changed much. We had a drink here and then continued up to Grosvenor Square, past the American Embassy, a truly ugly building, across Park Lane and into Hyde Park at Speaker's Corner. Speakers were mainly talking about religion but I would have thought with the election on Thursday, that politics would have been more prominent. From there we walked right across the park around the Serpentine (which is a large lake) and Maree got to see her first squirrel. They are obviously used to being fed as they came right up to us. We continued  into Kensington Gardens to see the Peter Pan statue, past the Italian Gardens and then on to the tube for Earl's Court. All of that took almost 6 hours.

We did wonder why so many police were around the tube and on the road, especially as we walked back to our flat from the tube. It turned out that it had been the soccer final between Chelsea and Crystal Palace (Chelsea won) and it was played at Chelsea's grounds which are the other side of the big cemetery near us. There was some singing around us last night but the area we are in is very quiet so it really wasn't an issue.

We are thinking of heading to the Tower of London today to see the Crown Jewels and Tower Bridge too of course.

May 03

We left Paris on Friday, catching the Eurostar to London about lunchtime, arriving in London at 2pm, having gained an hour. The trip on the Eurostar was great.  I am sure we were travelling very fast but it certainly did not feel that way.  The apartment we have is very comfortable and only a few minutes away from the tube.  It is a lot colder than Paris here so the coats have been in use. Cath and I have brought travel cards which allows us travel on all buses and trains in zones 1-3 which covers all of central London. After that we caught the tube to Earl's Court, the first place Cathie lived when she arrived in London in 1975. The flat is a very short walk from the tube and is great - a bathroom each for us, TV we can understand and 900 channels with nothing worthwhile watching! We bought some groceries from a convenience store and settled in.

Yesterday we went to the British library for Cath to do research on the family history during this week.  In the library I went to an exhibition called the hidden treasures of the British library which contains the world's most beautiful and influential books.

Some of the books that were in this exhibition were sacred texts from many religions, all kinds of illustrated manuscripts, early books and music scores. Some of the bibles on display were as old as 400 AD and beautiful illustrated.  I was amazed to see original sketches and notes of Leonardo da Vinci, works by Shakespeare, song sheets produced by Handel and Mozart.  I think it is just fantastic that I can still see these beautiful artefacts.

After lunch I went to the British museum which about a forty minute walk from the library.  I am certainly getting my daily exercise.  This is a huge complex and most of the galleries are free to visit.  I went to the Aztec, Chinese and Anglo Saxon exhibitions.  Again this was wonderful and there are numerous items dated from 600 to 1800 century.  It is a place that you need lots of time to see it all.

It is now Sunday and it is stil quite cold though the flat is heated. It is a public holiday tomorrow so I am not sure what will be open. The Poms go to the polls on Thursday so this makes for an interesting time to be here.