Category: Travel (Page 9 of 14)

Deana, Kathleen and I jumped in the car bright and early to get me to Stansted airport in time for my flight. We took the back roads and enjoyed a leisurely drive. Kathleen surprised me halfway through the trip by handing back a little package.

It was a tiny Toby jug. “I knew you have to be careful of size and weight, but I thought this wouldn’t weigh too much.”

“It’s perfect!” I said. “And it’ll fit in a tin beautifully!”

Of course, in order to bring all my tins home in my small case, I have to pack them with things.

We said our goodbyes and I sped inside. I was very grateful to Scott for booking Priority tickets for me, though it did mean that I was unexpectedly at airport security and I had to drink half a litre of water before they’d let me through.

I could’ve thrown away my water bottle instead, but there was no way I could do that. It’s my pee bottle from Antarctica! It’s been all over the globe with me, though thankfully, it never had to actually be used as a receptacle for urine.

I must’ve been tired, because before the plane even took off, I was asleep. I slept the whole way, and there was James waiting to meet me. Ww jumped into the car and off we went.

Our first thing was to see the statue of Molly Malone. When I was a kid, we had to learn songs and sing along to them every Tuesday afternoon to a radio show for kids on the ABC. I still remember the song lyrics.

Here I am, helping the poor girl.

Here’s James, booking us in to see the most important things in Dublin, which the tour that I’m booked in for doesn’t include.

We went there and booked a tour for 4pm. 

Then we went and grabbed a coffee and a Bakewell tart and found a bench in the quad to catch up.

He’s just as I remember him. So funny and warm and we picked up right where we left off 5 years ago. 

The Book of Kells is an illuminated manuscript that monks did, way back in the 800’s. it’s very precious to the people of Ireland, and by all accounts they’re lucky to still have it, considering how often English armies were ranging across the place over the centuries.

Here are some educational panels t it, as understandably, with something so old, there were no photos allowed. As you know, I take the odd sneaky snap, but not when the request for no photos is reasonable. 

We walked into a very dimly lit room and there it was. Its pages are of vellum, and sometimes it has notes in the margins by the monks who were copying things. 

“I wish this was finished.”

“I’m so cold.”

“ This is so boring.”

Goes to show that human nature has stayed the same!

The drawings are incredibly intricate. It’s no wonder that they felt the tedium of it at times.

Directly after that we found ourselves in the Long Hall, which is the inspiration for the Harry Potter decor at Hogwarts. It was so beautiful. 

We walked around, looking at the busts and books. They’re currently doing the massive job of digitising and restoring over 200,000 books, so some of the shelves were bare. There was still enough there to give a strong idea of what the place would look like when it was full.

The library was full of busts that immortalised the greatest thinkers of the world. Utterly surprising to no one, the original ones were all of men. Lately though, four busts of exceptional women have been moved in.

Ada Lovelace. Mathematician. Awful haircut.

Look at how cool this bust is.

Rosalind Franklin was the person who actually discovered how DNA works, but her work was stolen by the guys she worked with. She died soon afterwards, so they got away with it for decades until the truth came out.

See the base of her bust? It’s a DNA helix.

Time for some refreshment! We went to an old pub, reknowned for its Guinness.

Yuck. I had a Shiraz. Then we were off again.

By now a light shower was beginning to fall. 

“ You’ve been really lucky with the weather so far,” said James. “ A couple of months ago, it was torrential rain for weeks. It would’ve ruined your holiday.”

Then James took me to see another statue, one I was so excited to see for real.

it’s Oscar Wilde.

Different types of marble were used for the different colours.

It looks fantastic. There are pillars all around with his famous sayings written on them.

Such a brilliant man.

Then it was time for dinner. We went to a way famous burger place called Bunsen. Get it? Bunsen Burger… 

It’s rather specialised… their menu is printed on a business card.

Then we popped into a local gay bar to have a drink. Then it was a walk through the drizzle across the Ha’penny bridge, so called because back in the day you used to have to pay to cross it. There were swans and kayaks on the river. Temple Bar was lit up like a Christmas tree.

It’s a tourist trap. James says the locals don’t have anything to do with it.

We also saw the hotel Bono and The Edge own. James said that every Christmas, Bono chooses a random day to come out to Dublin and busk. Imagine how much fun that would be, both for Bono and anyone who happens to strike him?

Later that night I was deposited at a lovely little boutique hotel in Drogheda, where I messaged David30 to wish him a happy birthday. 

What a lovely first day in Ireland! The forecast is for rain all day tomorrow, which is hardly surprising. Everything is so green here in the Emerald Isle.

This place was one that Scott was going to put on our itinerary when we go on our tour of Essex, but when he found that it was going to be closed for that week, he suggested that I go with Deana.

It turns out that she’s very familiar with this place. When she was working at a school, this used to be a place where they’d take the kids to every year. She agreed that it’s a lovely place to see.

We had a leisurely morning. She took the dogs for a walk while I wrote a blog post. She prepared a Deana picnic for us, then we set off.

Ingateston Hall was acquired by the first Lord Petre, a man by the name of John Petre, for the huge sum of £849 back in the reign of Henry VIII. He must have been a very shrewd operator who knew where the bodies were buried, because even though he and his wife were Catholic, they survived and thrived through the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Bloody Mary and Elizabeth I.

He first came to the attention of the powers that be when he was a tutor to the Boleyn boys.

The interesting thing about this man is that HE was the diplomat sent to the court of Cleves to arrange the marriage between Anne of Cleves and Henry VIII, (the marriage that ended in divorce because he said she was too ugly), yet Cromwell lost his head over this marriage and John Petre didn’t.

Even though he was Catholic, he was involved in breaking up huge cathedrals such as Canterbury when the dissolution was happening, which enriched the family very much. His second wife was extremely good friends with Mary I, being with her when she entered London after defeating Jane Grey who tried to steal her throne; her coronation, wedding and sadly, her funeral.

Mary Tudor stayed here on her way to London and Elizabeth I stayed in July 1561 on one of her summer country holidays away from the stink of London.

There is a letter they’ve found that John Petre sent to Elizabeth I, asking for permission to retire due to illness and old age. He died safe and secure in his own bed.

I took this shot before I knew that you weren’t allowed to take photos inside. I did my best to behave, but…

Omg, here’s a priest hole! This house has two. This one is in Lady Petra’s sitting room so she could worship in secret and bundle popish things away when the inspectors came knocking.
The other one was only discovered in 1855 when a child lost a toy through the floorboards. When looking for it, they discovered a trapdoor. There was a long ladder down, with a plate, a knife, fork and some chicken bones beside it. Clearly, someone had been sheltered there.

The dining room has genuine Tudor panelling on the walls. It was more than flesh and blood could stand, to not take a picture of this!

There’s a view of the master bedroom. This house has been in the same family for 18 generations and this room has always been used for this purpose.

The 16th Baron had 16 kids and said, “Thank the lord for the colonies!” Apparently there are quite a few Petres in New Zealand.

The bed has carvings on the bed head of the family crest and John Petre’s first wife’s portrait. The second wife had to sleep underneath this for the rest of her life…

Look at this girl! She is “ The Rape of the Lock” inspiration. She was a wealthy heiress who came to London to marry a rich man. The 8th baron cut off a lock of her hair and ruined her reputation. She went back to the country and married a nobody. Alexander Pope wrote a poem about the whole thing.

After the tour of the house, we were talking with the guide, whose knowledge was encyclopaedic. She recognised my family name, which was nice.

Deana and I then chose to sit under this tree to eat our Deana picnic. My contribution was some Belgian chocolate biscuits that were in a fabulous art deco tin that I bought in the gift shop at Eltham.
I’ve been buying tins to take home to use in my sewing room, but of course I can’t take the fudge, shortbread and chocolate biscuits inside them. They’re far too heavy for a woman with just carryon! So every day since Buckingham Palace, I’ve been harassing people to eat.

After lunch we walked around the gardens. This was the Lime walk. The autumn leaves were crunching under our feet as we walked. Every now and then we might see someone else wandering around, but we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

All we could hear was the sound of the nearby stream and the cooing of doves.

I tasted a blackberry along this path.

Look at this Lime tree with the hollow at its base. It’s still happily growing away.
You can imagine kids having a magical childhood here.

We came out where the old stables and other buildings were.
As time went on, the family used this estate to basically train the eldest sons how to run a working estate.

On the way home we stopped at the site of Worley Place. A woman called Ellen Willmott made it her life’s work to create an incredible garden. It was way famous in its day, but after she died the house was pulled down and the gardens were totally neglected.
It’s a shame. The pictures posted around the various paths show that it was an amazing place.

Home for a dinner, a great chat with Deana’s son Alex and his lovely girlfriend, a last night talking our heads off before the adventure moves on to its next stage.

Tomorrow I fly to Ireland to see James from my North Korea trip!

I’m not called Fortunate Frogdancer for nothing.

Bright and early, we picked up Kathleen and we were on our way to Tilbury Fort.

Remember that Armada portrait of Queen Elizabeth I at Greenwich that I was so excited to see? Tilbury was where she gave her way famous speech to her troops.

On the way, I mentioned in passing that in both my trips to the UK, I’ve never seen a hedgehog.

it seems that Kathleen is one of those people who Gets Things Done. Without saying a word, she started directing Deana to go down this road and that. We both thought we were still on our way to the fort, but we were actually on our way to an animal rescue shelter.

“ They might not show you one, “ she said as we got out of the car. “ But it can’t hurt to ask.”

Deana and I were both sure we’d be turned away, Australian tourist or not, but Kathleen asked the question and suddenly there I was… face to face with a hedgehog.

Such a cute little face! It was lovely. This is the point where I was just about to touch it, when Kathleen asked, “Is this one healthy?” And the girl replied, “Oh yes. It just has a lot of parasites.”
I decided I’d pull my hand back!

What a wonderful thing. I haven’t seen any English deer, but we have some in Australia so I’m not fussed.

We jumped back in the car, revved up by this unexpected treat, and headed off to Land’s End, where Tilbury Fort is located.

When we got there we were slightly dashed to see that the fort wasn’t open on Tuesdays, but that was ok. We took a long walk along the River Thames, taking a good look at Kent on the other side.

We passed by the fort. It had a few ancient cannons still pointing out across where the river bends.
It seems that it wasn’t only foreign invaders that the soldiers had to look out for.

After a pigeon shoot competition was held in 1843, members of the army and civilian teams went off to the pub. A slight disagreement between the two groups led to the pub being besieged by over 50 soldiers armed with clubs and bayonets.People were severely wounded and it was only when a detachment of sentries from the fort arrived that the fight was stopped.

Fun times at Land’s End back in those days.

As we turned to head back to the car, a church over in Kent started ringing its bells in a song. It sounded lovely.

Next stop was Prittlewell Priory in Southend. It dates from the 600’s, which you have to agree is pretty impressive. There is a small museum and church on the grounds… which was closed on Tuesdays.
Of course it was.

The sprawling parklands had been donated to the people of Southend to use as a public park in perpetuity.

We were treated to a Deana picnic lunch, then we set off to explore the gardens around the old church.

They were terrific.

There were a series of walled gardens all around the old church, one leading into the next. Some were grassed areas, while others were more formally laid out as flower gardens.

The smell from the flowers here was amazing.

Did you see the woman quietly reading her book here?

There she is.

“What a beautiful place,” said Kathleen. “If I lived here, I’d come here every day.”

The roads were a stone’s throw away, but the sound of cars seemed very distant. Fat bumblebees were rolling from one lavender spear to the next. It was wonderfully peaceful.

We walked around the outside of the old church. It had shutters on the windows so we couldn’t see in, but it had a lot to see on the outside.

Look at where various things have been added, bricked up, replaced.

The huge old door with the ornate carving above.

And this paving at the entrance. Someone put their heart and soul into getting this pattern correct.

on the way out, we walked through a large grassy area with big old oak trees. Suddenly, Deana grabbed my attention.

“Look over there! A squirrel!”

Turns out the place was alive with them. They were coming down from the trees to bury the acorns for winter.
I love the undulating way that squirrels move.

We went to see the exhibition of a cache of Saxon gold that was discovered when they were building a new motorway, but that was also closed. Of course it was. This was the theme of the day, though to be fair, I’ve never heard of a library being closed on a Tuesday before.

We swung home via the Southend pier, just to see what a seaside promenade town looks like.

We rounded off the day by going to the local pub for a trivia night. We arrived too late for our team to officially play, but we answered all the questions and, quite frankly, were killing it.
I even messaged Tom31 for an answer, which he gave, along with a stern “Stop cheating!”

It was a fun night.
Tomorrow we’re going to a Tudor manor house. Woo hoo!

I said a fond farewell toCorinna and Michelle and wheeled my trusty overnight case to the bus. The arrangements for today were that Deana and her friend Kathleen would take her car to Eltham Palace, while I’d make my way by train and a walk. I’d be able to stash my case in the car and then we’d gallop all over the place.

The only thing I’d heard about Eltham Palace was that it was very pretty. Seeing as this was turning into the tour of palaces and castles, I thought this one would round it out perfectly. 

(The exterior of the Great Hall.)
But something about the name niggled at me… it was familiar. I knew it wasn’t because Melbourne has a suburb of the same name. It was something else…

I walked to the gate ten minutes early, at 9:50, so I chatted with a lovely girl who was there to check tickets. She said that Eltham Palace had once been a royal residence, but had been left to fall into rack and ruin. The massive medieval Great Hall was used as a barn for hundreds of years. 

Then an extremely wealthy couple called Stephen and Virginia Courtauld bought it. They were allowed to demolish all of the ruined parts of the original house as long as they kept theGreat Hall and restored it.

Then the guide happened to mention that Henry VIII and his brother and sisters were brought up here. Now I know why the name niggled at me!

I decided to wait at the cafe near the car park, so I wheeled my trusty carryon down the garden path to the cafe, bought a coffee and started writing a blog post under the shade of an umbrella.
After an hour went by, I started to wonder where they were. I sent a message, tried to call, then went back to writing.
By the time 2 hours had gone, I decided to go through the house and turn up on her doorstep in the evening, hoping that she and her friend hadn’t died in a fiery car crash.

Just as I reached the front door of the house, Deana messaged me.
I thought about taking the case back to the car, but I’d already stashed it behind the front door with the connivance of a friendly guide, so I hung around the front garden and chatted with the guide while I waited for them to arrive.

The entrance bridge is the oldest working footbridge in England, she said. It was lovely.

The guide was holding a guidebook and I asked to take a picture of the quote from the Queen Mother.

It made me laugh! It also made me wonder what on earth I was going to see…

Over the front door was Hestia, goddess of entertaining. This was a very deliberate choice, as they built this house especially with entertaining in mind.

“I can’t believe that this couple went to all the trouble of this massive building project, only to leave it 10 years later,” I said to the guide.

“They actually intended to stay here forever,” she said, beckoning me to follow her around the entrance to a side wall. She pointed up at the window. “ When you’re coming down the stairs towards the end of your visit, look through the round window. Eltham is right on the flight path the Germane took during the second war. We were getting bombed both coming and going.. They left in 1943, never to return.”

While I was waiting, I read this information panel – always read the info panels! You never know when there’ll be an interesting fact for the blog! – then thought, “ Bugger it. I’m going in.”

I was gazing up at the beautiful ceiling at the beginning of this post when Deana and Kathleen turned up. Kathleen had already been to the house a few times, so she went back to the cafe to wait for us, while Deana and I grabbed some audio tour thingys and headed off.

These walls were in the entrance hall, underneath the spectacular ceiling. The room appears circular, with two sides of the three being curved.

The walls are veneered with Australian Black Bean, a timber so rare and exotic that I, an Australian, have never heard of it.

The walls had speakers that could play music from a gramophone that was outside in the hall. There was also a pay phone for guests, along with the internal phone system. No need for servant bells here! Just pick up a phone.

The first step on the tour was a video about the Courtaulds, with original footage of them relaxing in the garden with their Great Dane and their tame lemur called Mah Jongg. The lemur went with them everywhere. He wasn’t altogether popular with dinner guests, as he’d sneak under the table and nibble on people’s feet.

The room used to be the bedroom where Virginia’s mother used to stay. The adjoining bathroom has a bidet. As well as underfloor heating, naturally…

Here’s the ladder where Mah Jongg would get in and out.

This looked beautiful in real life, but this photo looks a bit strange. It’s a bust of Virginia Courtauld.

She and Stephen met at a dinner party and he didn’t speak. This challenged her.

She was vivacious, rebellious. He adored her- if she wasn’t happy, then he wasn’t happy.

Here is a portrait of them, along with Mah Jongg.

This is in the entrance to Virginia’s suite.

Her walk-in wardrobe.

Her bed. Notice the telephone beside it. This was connected to the internal phone system.

But look at it. Isn’t it sumptuous?

Deana looking at the other side of the room. The curved walls are made of sycamore.

Stephen’s bedroom is next door, behind a hidden door.

Bath, anyone?

The taps were covered in gold.

I just love the colours.

She embroidered the chairs herself. I like that.

Stephen’s room next door was smaller and a lot more restrained. He was the complete opposite in temperament to his wife, being very quiet and private.

Sometimes at the dinner parties he’d eat without saying a word, then leave the room immediately after. He soundproofed the room by stuffing the walls with wool behind the veneer.

The blue is his ensuite.
Every bedroom had its own bathroom, which was a huge luxury back then.

Here’s the stuff! The medieval Great Hall that they restored.

imagine using a space with this roof as a barn? I mean, it’s practical, but still.

This shot was taken from the minstrel’s gallery, looking down. The Courtaulds used to put the bands up here when they threw parties.

The skin of the building and roof we’re pretty much as they were in the 1400s, so they would’ve been very familiar to the young Prince Henry.

The stained glass windows, however, are new.

The pink curtains are in place of the tapestries that would originally have been there.

It was a huge space. It was used as a summer palace and the hall was an impressive space to entertain foreign visitors and other dignitaries who were visiting the king.

A person here for scale.

Here’s the round window on the stars. If you look through, you can see the London skyline.

The library, where Stephen would go, probably to escape some of the guests.

He’d plan his polar expeditions from here. The audio guide told the story of how he decided to give a send-off party to one group of explorers, only to have the expedition delayed by 3 months because Mah Jongg bit the radio operator on the wrist, severing an artery.

Look at the detail on the plaster by the window. Just wonderful.

Next door, here is Virginia’s private withdrawing room.

It was a very inviting space.

I loved how her books were so close to the couch.

The Italian drawing room. This is the place where, after dinner, they’d show home movies of their trips around the world.

Underfloor heating, OF COURSE, and also central vacuum cleaner flaps in the skirting.

The paintings in this room are all Italian masters.

Next door is the dining room. The chairs are upholstered in the best shade of pink to show off the ladies gowns.

The ceiling is polished aluminium. It was spectacular.

The audio guide read out excerpts from a diary written by one of the guests. They were all extremely well looked-after, though sometimes they were asked to help with the gardening.

Flowers and gardens were very important to them. The house is surrounded by several acres of landscaped gardens. We ran out of time to see them, but from the little I saw between the house and the cafe, it’d be well worth walking through.

The detail about Virginia and her notebook is funny.

Back across the footbridge we went to find Kathleen, then home we went.

Deana has two golden retrievers, so I got my doggie fix as soon as I walked through the door!
We stayed up late, chatting and catching up with everything that’s happened in our lives over the last 8 years, then it was off to bed.

Eltham Palace is an amazing place to visit. I haven’t shown you the half of it!

Oof. Sunday was a funny sort of day. By now, London had sweltered through a full week of over 30C temperatures and everyone was over it. 

Corinna, her flat ate Michelle and I listlessly dragged ourselves around the apartment, before finally deciding that Corinna and I would go to

Wait rose, the supermarket around the corner, and buy some readymade meals for lunch and dinner. 

On our return, we ate and then decided we’d go to the Natural History Museum.

This was a mistake.

If you have children, then this would probably be a great place to entertain them for a while. There was certainly enough of them around the place.

We had two things we wanted to see. Corinna was keen to see a collection of photos that the photographer had taken of places in the arctic circle that had links to oil / petrol / other evil stuff.

She enjoyed it. Me? Not so much. I got bored with looking at buildings surrounded by snow. I’m the silly sort of person who wants to see real dinosaur bones in a natural history museum.

There was a dodo!

And another one!

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This is the famous Blue Whale skeleton, suspended high above us all in the central hall.

Corinna and some giraffes. See how droopy she looks? The cool change hadn’t arrived then.

This was the only interesting thing in the dinosaur exhibit. This little dinosaur had eaten a crocodile and then was frozen in time.

The bones of the crocodile can still be seen in its stomach.

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Zero in on the pterodactyl above the window.

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Oof. Sunday was a funny sort of day. By now, London had sweltered through a full week of over 30C temperatures and everyone was over it. 

Corinna, her flat ate Michelle and I listlessly dragged ourselves around the apartment, before finally deciding that Corinna and I would go to

Wait rose, the supermarket around the corner, and buy some readymade meals for lunch and dinner. 

On our return, we ate and then decided we’d go to the Natural History Museum.

This was a mistake.

If you have children, then this would probably be a great place to entertain them for a while. There was certainly enough of them around the place.

We had two things we wanted to see. Corinna was keen to see a collection of photos that the photographer had taken of places in the arctic circle that had links to oil / petrol / other evil stuff.

She enjoyed it. Me? Not so much. I got bored with looking at buildings surrounded by snow. I’m the silly sort of person who wants to see real dinosaur bones in a natural history museum.

There was a dodo!

And another one! This one looks very unimpressed at being extinct.

I noticed a lot of fossils had this woman’s name attached to them. It’s worth reading the information tag about her, especially the third paragraph. Like, really???

Here’s one of the fossils she discovered. There was heaps of them.

This is the famous Blue Whale skeleton, suspended high above us all in the central hall.

Corinna and some giraffes. See how droopy she looks? The cool change hadn’t arrived then.

This was the only interesting thing in the dinosaur exhibit. This little dinosaur had eaten a crocodile and then was frozen in time.

The bones of the crocodile can still be seen in its stomach.

We went to the dinosaur section. Corinna weighed up the situation much quicker than I did and she was out of there, messaging me that she was going to the cafe to buy some water.

As I emerged from the  hellscape that is the dinosaur section, I messaged Corinna. While I’d been knee-deep in screaming kids, she’d been having a lovely time wandering around and looking at the building.

She remembered it from a school trip in childhood and was really pleased to see it again.

Once she started pointing things out to me, I saw it. This building is beautifully designed. 

The brickwork and gargoyles alone are amazing. Such attention to detail!

Suddenly the trip was all worthwhile.

When we emerged, the cool change had finally hit. I didn’t realise quite how much Corinna had been affected by the heat. She revived in front of my eyes!

We looked at a modern art gallery, which neither of us liked, then we grabbed a coffee and sat outside and talked about all sorts of things.

(Zero in on the pterodactyl above the window.)

One of the best things about staying here with Corinna was our conversations. She’s a very deep thinker and our talks ranged all over the place. It was lovely to spend so much time together.

After our coffee it was time to go and see ‘ The Gunpowder Plot’, which coincidentally was situated right next to our tube station of Tower Hill. 

This play was an immersive experience. I’d never done one of these before and it was fun. With a mix of live actors, VR helmets and a maze of sets that we were guided around, we became part of the gunpowder plotters.

The part where we were put in a priest hole and they “searched” for us was actually quite good. It gave a slight flavour of what it would have been like to be hiding in one. This will become relevant later on.

Two funny things:

Corinna knew one of the actors. They went to university together.

The character of the priest had my real life name. 

We walked back home along the docks, ate our Waitrose dinners, worked out how much I owed Corinna for tickets she’d bought along the way, then I fell into bed. I mean… my couch.

Tomorrow I leave Corinna and Tower Hill and I’ll be travelling to the suburbs to meet my friend Deana. 

Onward!

Corinna has the weekend free so last night we worked out what we wanted to do today.

First up, after a very leisurely start to the day, which I much appreciated, we went for a walk along the canals in Wapping to go to a small local market.

Along the way, she entertained me with tales of Wapping during lockdowns, when Whatapp groups would form and sometimes big drama would unfold. People would be messaging each other, “ Have you seen what’s going down on the Wapping tennis group??”

Here’s the view from over our shoulders. The Shard seems to pop up everywhere.

Corinna loves living here, and I don’t blame her.

The day was already getting very hot. We got to the market, which is a tiny little local one, tucked away in the midday of the suburb by the canals. We looked at watercolours, and I successfully avoided buying one because I spent so much money on my picture the day before.
Corinna bought an iced latte or something and we sat on the water’s edge in the shade, people watching.

“They play a type of water polo here, with men in canoes,” said Corinna. “It’s bizarre, seeing these burly men all trying to tip each other’s boats over and hitting the ball with their oars.”
She also said that there are a few deaths every year in the canals, probably drunk people light-heartedly jumping in and then getting snagged.

We then took a different walk home, along the river. Here’s our old friend the Shard again.

Look at this! In a couple of days time I’d be riding over Tower bridge in a double-decker bus. How lucky can one woman be?

We took a snap to send to the Antarctica group. It’s amazing how often we’ve seen each other since then.

A little place called the Tower of London was along our route home. God, how I loved the tower when I was here last time in 2015. I think I dragged Scott to see every last brick of the place. And then I saw this:

The Traitors Gate from the outside! I was so thrilled.

This weekend was boiling, with temperatures in the low thirties. Even I was starting to feel it, but poor Corinna was dying. We decided that chasing aircon was going to be the theme of the weekend.
so off we went to Somerset House, to the Courtold Gallery, to see some art.

I loved this one. It’s’Cupid and Psyche’ by Reynolds, where Psyche first catches a glimpse of the young man who’s been visiting her at night.

I felt sorry for this girl. Here’s what the information card said:

George Romney (1734-1802)

Portrait of Georgiana, Lady Greville

Around 1771-72

George Romney painted this portrait around the time Georgiana Peachey married the politician Lord Greville. It was the artist’s first aristocratic commission. The sitter wears fine outdoor clothing and a fashionable headdress that express her wealth and high social status. She looks away modestly, as was thought appropriate for a young noble woman. Georgiana died on her first wedding anniversary, aged 19, a few days after giving birth.

The gallery currently has an exhibition of fakes and frauds. It’s worth reading the explanation for this one.

It’s a thrill when you see the actual originals of images that you’ve seen your whole life. This is Renoir’s ‘La Lage’ ( the theatre box).

Both people are wearing black and white, but look at how the woman stands out so much more than the man.

I love a Rodin sculpture.

Ah, the ballerina paintings! The info card reads:

Edgar Degas (1834-1917)

Two Dancers on a Stage

1874

Edgar Degas was fascinated by ballet, producing over a thousand works on the subject. While this work appears to depict a performance, the presence of a third ballerina at rest indicates it may in fact be a dress rehearsal, to which Degas was often granted access.

The painting’s side view is unconventional. It is as if we are observing from a box at the edge of the stage. The lines on the floor, which may represent tracks for sliding scenery, emphasise Degas’s dynamic composition while evoking the staging of ballet.

I loved the feel of this one.

Of course, everyone knows who this is. The bandage over the cut-off ear is a dead giveaway.

There were other paintings that I loved, but Deana and I are heading out soon so I’ll cut it short.

Once we came out of the gallery we headed out into the quadrangle of Somerset House. This place is HUGE.

The quadrangle has a water feature of many jets of water shooting upwards. The place was alive with children, all having a wonderful time getting wet. The place was alive with the squeals and laughter of happy kids.
Corinna and I grabbed a table in the shade and sat here for ages, just watching the kids and chatting. It was lovely.

We were off to the theatre, but first we had a delicious meal from Nomad’s pre-theatre menu. We loved the aircon here! It felt absolutely freezing when we walked in, but it’s amazing how quickly the body gets used to things. Within a couple of minutes we felt utterly comfortable.

Yum.
Then it was off to the theatre!

When ‘Six’ was in Melbourne, Jenna urged me to go and see it, saying that I’d love it.

Of course, a musical about Henry VIII’s wives certainly hits all my buttons. It was terrific.
What I really enjoyed was that they didn’t muck around with the actual history of the wives. All of the information was accurate. I could relax and enjoy the show without being pulled out of the show by jarring lyrics.

Definitely going to be adding these songs to my Spotify when I get home!

I woke up bright and early and scampered downstairs for the first hotel breakfast of the holiday. Scrambled eggs, bacon, yoghurt, half, a bagel with jam, washed down with a black coffee. 

Do I ever make cooked breakfasts at home? Never! But on holidays, they’re irresistible.

I’d prebooked my tickets for today a couple of weeks in advance, which I was thankful for when I heard people being turned away from the palace tour because they were all booked out.

The plan for today was as follows: 

1. Get to the Victoria monument outside Buckingham Palace by 10:30 to secure a spot right in the middle. Stand at the front at all costs.
2. After the changing of the guard finishes, go to Green Park and eat.
3. At 12:45, the first tour starts.
4. At 2, the second tour starts. Set an alarm on the phone.
5. At 3:15, the final tour starts. Again – alarm.

It was an itinerary worthy of the master of itineraries himself, which is of course my friend Scott.

It’s a short walk from Victoria station to the palace, which I discovered on the way back. On this walk, Citymapper inexplicably led me down all sorts of streets, so in the end I followed the crowds and all was good. 

I walked across the square to the Victoria monument, walked through the barricade gate and parked myself directly next to it at the front. Fortunate Frogdancer struck again, as they closed that gate about a minute after I passed through. Phew!!!

a few minutes later, a policeman was walking past and I asked him if I was in a good spot to see things. He smiled and said, “I’d say you’re in a very good spot, madam!”

It was a long wait in the sun. I was standing next to a very tall man from Massachusetts, and I discreetly used him for shade. 

Then we saw these guys sneaking out from the back. The police started to urgently request that people stay off the road… we all knew that it was about to happen.

Then from far away, we heard music. Rousing marching music, heavy on the drum beats. Then, to my left, soldiers marching! Bright red coats! Straight into the left hand side gates and out of sight.

Well damn…

But I had faith in what the policeman said. After all, he called me “madam.” I’ve never been called that before in my life. It sounds so proper and… well…posh.

The band that led the soldiers in then gave a concert. They were behind the fence of the Palace, but we could see them. A couple of the songs they played were ‘Eleanor Rigby’ and ‘ Sweet Child of Mine.’ They were really good.

Then this happened:

And then this:

Yes, I know the horses are very close, but they were that close.

After the fun of the changing of the guard was done, I walked to Green Park to have lunch. Lunch actually consisted of two crushed snack bars that I’d brought from Australia and really needed to either eat or throw out.

Green Park is right beside Buckingham Palace. I sat on the grass under a tree, licking the crumbled mess from the packets of what remained of a couple of Carmen’s cranberry and oat bars after they’d been halfway around the world in a bag where a lot was crammed into.

It wasn’t the greatest lunch. In fact, it was pretty awful. But it was MY lunch, and here I was sitting in Green Park watching a couple of ponies walk around. This never happens at home. I was the happiest woman in the world.

The first tour- Georgian fashion.

I spent my teenage years reading the novels of Georgette Heyer. She wrote across a few different genres but she’s mostly known for her Regency romances. She’s a FAR better writer than the Bridgerton woman (ugh), and so I’ve always had a fondness for the Georgian era. This exhibition was ticking all the boxes.

Princess Sophia was like me – born as blind as a bat.

Unlike me, she didn’t have access to laser eye surgery, so she wore these very attractive glasses. She would have been described in Georgette Heyer novels as “ a good looking young woman, but with a squint.”

Queen Charlotte… yes, THE Queen Charlotte from the Netflix series!

This is from the description card:

Exceptionally time-consuming to make, fine lace lappets could be one of the most expensive elements of an outfit. The bobbin lace technique required the skilful management of multiple bobbins (sometimes up to 800 at a time) of bone or wood wrapped with linen thread. One full-time lacemaker working from 5am to 8pm might produce approximately half a metre per year. Sets of lace made by the same hand were most highly prized due to their uniformity. Lappets had passed out of fashion by the middle of the eighteenth century, but remained an obligatory component of court dress for many decades after.

You could fit a wide screen tv under that dress!

Here’s what Bonnie Prince Charlie looked like. It’s sad, seeing some of these portraits and knowing how their lives ended up. Speaking of which…

Marie Antoinette.

Then it was time for my tour of the Royal Mews.

I arrived just in time for the guided tour. I much prefer these to the Audio tours as you hear all of the stuff plus a little goss as well.

Apparently the word “mews” is originally associated with falcons. The Mews was where they were taken when they were moulting, or “mewling.”  Overall er time, the royal horses were moved across to join them and ever since, the word “mews” has been associated with stabling horses.

We only saw 2 horses – the rest are out in the country having a break from work – but we were taken to see the carriages. I didn’t know that all of the royal vehicles are the same colour; even the helicopters. It’s a practical, serviceable colour. Not what I’d have chosen but then, I’m not qualified to choose.

The highlight was of course seeing the huge golden coach. It was massive! And when I say GOLD, I mean GOLD.  Real gold.

It weighs 4 tons and it takes 8 horses to drive it. 

Here’s a picture of the brakes. 

It’s too big to get out of the doors, so when it’s needed for a coronation they dismantle one of the walls to manoeuvre it out. 

When the queen was asked about her ride in it, she said that she felt seasick because it rocked all over the place like a ship in a rough sea.

The final tour was of the palace staterooms. No photos were allowed, and also no climbing, apparently.

This tour was full of art, impressive rooms and many pictures of Charles and Camilla.
I saw her coronation dress. I glanced down at the hem, then looked again. Was… was that a dog’s head stitched in gold? Turns out she had her two dogs, plus the names of her children and grandchildren embroidered on the gown.

After the tour, I thought It’d try my luck again with the DevonshireTea thing. Ahhh, that’s the stuff! I knew my monarch wouldn’t let me down!

After a quick swing by the gift shop, where I bought a tin of shortbread which is too heavy to bring home (but not if the tin is empty) I began the long walk back to the city outside through the park at the back.

I was forging ahead, when I thought, ‘ What’s the hurry? When are you ever going to be here again?’ So at the next empty bench, I sat and gazed at the view in front of me.

it was a green lawn, ringed by trees. I sat, thinking over the day I’d had, when suddenly I saw a movement.

it was a squirrel! My first this trip. I watched, entranced, as it raced up a tree, so quickly, zigzagging it’s way to the top.

Then another! And another!

As oblivious weary tourists trudged their way toward the gate, I watched.
The place was alive with them.

What a nice way to end the day.

Tomorrow- Greenwich!