The Cycle of Life

Kensington Palace

Kensington Palace Gardens

Miniatures of the children painted by Queen Victoria

Tributes to Diana for her 55th birthday on 1st July

Australian War Memorial

Bomber Command

Amazing to be in Westminster Abbey
 for a service rather than the
tourist trap it is in the day

Sun is shining

Waiting, waiting, for bus to get in
right position for photo 

In 1954 when Aunty Betty went on her big trip one stop on her itinerary was Peak Freans as this is where she (and Mum) worked. We have a great photo of the factory with all the old cars. The factory has been here for 126 years and was a local institution, the smell of the biscuits baking all day gave Bermondsey the nickname, Biscuit Town. Today it is used as a hub for creative businesses.

Peak Freans invented the Garibaldi (1861), Marie (1875), Chocolate Table (the first chocolate coated biscuit in 1899) and the Bourbon (1910). In the 30’s Cheeselets and Twiglets. I talked to a guy who used went to school across the road and every day they would guess what was cooking.

The rest of the day had plenty of variety:

• visit to Kensington Palace, including the bedroom Queen Victoria was born in (last year we went in the room she passed away in)
• saw tributes for Diana at Kensington Gate
• checked out the extra head for Scott on the Frieze of Paranassus on the Albert Memorial, he was the architect and left himself off  but was added in later
• Australian War Memorial and found our suburb
• Bomber Command memorial (impressive)
• an amazing evensong at Westminster Abbey 

Now back home to tell Jane all about it and enjoy a yummy fish dinner.

Heights and fun

Building in the middle is the Walkie Talkie,
can you tell by the shape? 

Skygarden, the highest garden in the UK
at the top of the Walkie Talkie

Skygarden

Skygarden, 36 floors up,
great views of Thames and all of London

Tower Bridge was our next stop,
we walked along the top

Glass walkway at the top

Obligatory selfie

How daring

Back with the happy Smith family

Sitting in bed, booking tickets for the day. The Walkie Talkie only has 3 spots left all day, quick, click, click, quick. Done. Tickets are secured. Phew.  So now its time to decide which t-shirt to wear and get going. 

A quick ride in direct to Cannon St station and we are at the feet of the Walkie Talkie. The line to get in is very long. How can this place be so popular on a Monday morning. Waiting. Waiting. Advance. Waiting. Finally we can have our turn to get through security and we are whisked away to the top floor and Skygarden. Lets head straight out to the veranda, right in front of the Shard. There is the Thames. We can see right down to Canary Wharf. Which way do we look first? Much photo snapping and exploring all over. Its so nice up here in the light filled atrium we have lunch.

Now onto Tower Bridge, not too long of a line and we are in. Boring video about building the bridge, moving on I want to get to the walkway. So do all the other kids in the place. Jane is not so sure. Where is the walkway. Its right in the middle, covered with happy tourists doing their photos. Thankfully there is a strip of normal path at the side for the grandmothers to tippy toe around. The glass is pretty dirty but I still manage to find a spot without kids for my smiling portrait. Now photos of shoes. Its all good fun!

Back with the crazy, happy Smith family. Watching Wimbledon on TV for Nick Kyrgios v’s Andy Murray match whilst eating strawberries and cream. How British.

Cake carnage at Claridges

Should I buy this Burberry coat? 

Its Sunday the sun is shining and its time to put on our party frocks as we are off to Claridges. We’ve done the Ritz. Done the Savoy. How will Claridges rate on the Catherine/Jane scale of afternoon tea excellence?

Its nice waking through all these fancy shops, I can see the distinctive red brick we are here. First a quick pit stop in the side entrance to the ‘ladies room’ to touch up the makeup. Now back out the front for photo snapping. Welcome to Claridges ladies, will you be joining us for afternoon tea? 

Yes, but first the concierge obliges with an impromptu photo shoot using the stairs, the lobby, the flowers. Could we do that again the feet are cut off. Yes, madam. Well done - this guy could be our personal photographer. Now we are whisked to our table and seated. Time to calm down and take in the glory of it all. Will you be enjoying a glass of champagne today ladies? YES, please. 

Much eating now, sandwiches, sorbet paddle pops to cleanse the pallet, scones, cakes. The cream is divine - can we have a another pot? Nothing is too much trouble at Claridges. Staff are amazing. The pianist and violinist are playing music from Phantom of the Opera. This really is a break from reality.

Dont wake him up

Chelsea

Chelsea

In front of artist Gabrielle Rossetti's house
where he kept wombats, kangaroos
and all kinds of exotic animals

On Kings Road, tennis anyone?

In the backyard of Thomas Carlyle's house,
a national trust Victorian home we explored

New friend

Old friend

Figure Court at Royal Hospital Chelsea

Great Hall at Royal Hospital Chelsea

Dinner at Zedels

Amazing art deco at Zedel's

 Its Saturday, Jane is back on the tourist trail!

We are off Chelsea home of the posh, pensioners and puppies. As usual I have a plan with printed map and Jane is ready to wander aimlessly - how do two people who have such a different approach to life get on so well?

Down King’s Road we go. Which is all very fashionable now, even a Mary Quant shop. Originally this was a private road for Charles II to travel to Kew. Time to turn off and search for blue plaques. The first one we are after is for Maud McCarthy she was the British Army matron in chief during World War 1. Nursed with Florence Nightingale and is Australian.

Now its onto Tite St, a hot bed of writers and artists including Oscar Wilde. Finally we are where I have been waiting to go for ages, Chelsea Physic Garden and it is shut. Moving on. Cheyne Walk has fascinated me ages, beautiful houses that I first saw on that famous Day 1 drive from Heathrow to Ladywell Lodge. 

Home to artists, rock stars and now only the very wealthy. Two major sites are in my targets. First is Gabrielle Rossetti's house where where he kept wombats and kangaroos and then Turner’s house where he worked. There was lots more in-between.

Snap a photo here, snap 10 photos there, a schnauzer, lots of other dogs, bike riders, finally we are at Battersea Bridge and the end of this walk. Time to head back on the bus as we are too tired to walk another step and here we are at Royal Hospital Chelsea, home of the Chelsea Pensioner's.

We approach the gate, oh there is a pensioner is his full brilliant red uniform. Sound asleep on a bench. Shh, Jane we want to get a photo you will wake him up. Over we go. Opps, its a statue! Much photo snapping ensures. Designed by Christopher Wren it is a feast for the eyes and a wonderful place for retired Army personnel to live. 

Back on the bus into Leicester Square, I love being up the top on a double decker and enjoying the spectacle that is London. We arrive at our final destination, Zedel’s a magnificent art deco restaurant. 

Station X

Euston Station: Ghost soldiers in WW1 kit to remember
 the beginning of the Battle of the Somme

The Mansion at Bletchley Park, the first place you
went when you arrived to sign the Offical Secrets Act

Inside the Mansion

Everything was removed from Bletchley Park
at the end of WW2, years later during restoration
a few scraps of codes where found in the walls
(to block out cold and wind)

Waiting for the tour to start and thought I might
get some inspiration for my daily puzzle.
Alas I did not!

One of the restored huts used for the codebreaking

Little side exhibition about pigeons
 saving lives and getting vital messages through, fascinating 

Some of the newer huts by the lake

Our election gets a small side column
 on Page 26 of the Evening Standard

Up out of bed, better get moving. A song from Love Actually is playing on the radio and I am bopping along in the kitchen. Oh oh the BBC news is on - Boris, has done this, Jeremy has done that. When will it ever end. Can we please go back to the music. Yes, now they are playing I’m too sexy for my cat. Gotta love BBC2.

Bletchley Park, home of the codebreakers is the chosen destination for today. A quick journey out of London on the train. What is those weird long coloured boxes in the fields. There is people on them. I get it, its a canal and they are boats.

At Bletchley Park during day and night all through WW2 a melting pot of mathematic geniuses like Alan Turing and many other Oxbridge dons, debutantes with language skills, fast typists and military personnel worked hard to decode German communications. It is said that they shortened the war by 2 years and saved millions of lives. All of this was kept secret until 1974.

Bletchley Park was a big house set in acres of land, during the war they quickly out grew the mansion and huts where built to for all stages of the codebreaking. After the war everything was removed but in recent years the trust has restored the huts and created an amazing museum. As you walk around exploring there are sounds of what it was like with motorbikes zooming by to deliver dispatches.

Its pretty cool to be exploring where the bombe (to crack the enigma machine used by the germans) and colossus, the first semi programmable computer where developed. This really is the birthplace of the computer age. Necessity is the mother of innovation.

What I can’t get over is the lengths the British went to with having all parts of the process in different huts. Secrecy was so serious that a husband and wife who met after the war where both invited to the first ever reunion (about 50 years later). Neither of them had told the other about their war time service at Bletchley Park but all was revealed when the reunion invitations turned up in the mail!

I could go on and on about the stories, oddballs and achievements. But it is much easier to watch the 2 minute trailer for The Imitation Game.

Back at Ladywell lodge, to finish the day with a perfect fish and veggies dinner. There is strange stuff on the TV, Mary Poppins then kids making commentary. It is SOOOO funny. Googlesprogs is my new fav TV show. Now Googlebox is on, in pommie accents this is SOOOO funny. Great way to spend a Friday night.

The boy that sketched

One of my fav platforms - Tottenham Court Road

New London Model, at the building design centre.
Whenever a new building is approved in London,
they make on a 3D printer and add it in

Along the way today

Sutton Hoo iron helmet, one of my favs

BM, notice the sunshine!

Queue for Sir John Sloane's museum, no photos allowed
inside (as you can barely swing a cat)

Covent Garden - the happiest place on earth?

Its now a week since the vote and Brexit is still going off, nice post from the Londoist summarising the after effects http://londonist.com/2016/06/londonist-post-brexit

Today’s main event is the font of all knowledge the British Museum for the Japan tour. Waiting, waiting with a gaggle of others. Security walkie talkies going off, something is afoot. What the Japan guide has not turned up for work and the tour is cancelled! Serious first world problem. I console myself with one of my fav bits the Sutton Ho collection and then find a new bit the Wadderson Bequest, all gold, delicate and detailed. This is nice. Equilibrium restored.

A house museum Amanda B told me about before my first trip is only about 10 minutes away. Lets go see what thats like. I arrive just in time for the daily tour. This is the home, workplace and museum of Sir John Soane a British architect. It is filled from floor to ceiling with artefacts, paintings, models and drawings. All piled together is curious collections. The painting room even has panels that move to display more paintings, including 8 paintings from Rake's Progress. Its quite mind blowing how much he could fit this all into 3 houses built together. The tour route we follow is the same one used 200 years ago when the museum opened. A wonderful visit that took up way more hours than expected!

Now a slow explore from Holborn back to Charring Cross with about 10 stops along the way, some very good finds for the inside outside postcard collection. Plus the house where the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood was formed. 

To finish off the day I could try out London’s newest tourist attraction. But I won't. Its the longest slippery dip in Europe.