There is so much to see and do in London that a week of
non-stop, exhausting sightseeing barely scratches the surface. London is expensive but museums are free and
just walking the streets is great eye candy that holds a history lesson in
every block. We were constantly walking
along exclaiming ‘Look that is where XX book/movie/TV show was set’ or ‘Look
that is where so and so lived’! So much
of our cultural history comes from this massive, beautiful city.
Pam lives in a small flat on the edge of leafy
Wimbledon. The area reminds us so much
of the leafy suburbs of Northern Sydney.
We could be in St Ives or Turramurra, except that the houses are a bit
closer together and oozing history.
Wimbledon Village is packed with upmarket shops and cafes where you can
watch the horses walk through the streets on the way to the commons for a bit
of a canter.
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| Wimbledon Village |
The public transport in London is terrific. Buses and trains run every 5-10 minutes to
everywhere in the city. They are clean and modern and announce every stop. With Google maps and the pre-paid Oyster
card, it is simple to get within a few minutes’ walk of your destination.
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| The Oyster Card for public transport in London |
We took a water taxi from Putney to Embankment. As we sped down this muddy, fast flowing
tidal Thames River, one could almost see the Artful Dodger skulking along the
banks, or imagine The Bill finding a body in the muddy shore at low tide.
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| The old and new city from the Thames |
We spent the day oohing and aahing at all the iconic sights
of London – Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham
Palace where we fortuitously happened upon the changing of the guard.
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| Houses of Parliament and Big Ben |
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| Changing of the guard |
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| Westminster Abbey - will cost 20 quid to get in |
The next day we went to Hampton Court, home of Henry VIII,
with its magnificent kitchens and gardens.
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| Hampton Court |
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| Garden at Hampton Court |
We went to the Imperial War Museum which was a place Bob had
wanted to go to for years. It was packed
on the rainy, cold day we went (Where is summer in this country?) and we felt
the exhibits were not as well done as the AWM but it was still a good place to
visit.
Insert photo
On a cool Saturday we did more walking around the city with
Pam. Kensington Gardens was lovely and
we had a great time people watching and seeing the palace and gardens. We also checked out the fictitious home of
Sherlock Holmes, 221b Baker Street, which went from little more than a plaque
on a wall on my last visit in 2006 to now a museum and shop with a queue of
people half a block long awaiting entry.
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| Kensington Palace |
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| Near Peter Pan Statue in Kensington Gardens |
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| Sherlock Holmes Museum |
A similar blurring of fiction and reality can be seen at
Kings Cross Station where a Platform 9 ¾ has been made for people to take their
photos pretending to be on their way to Hogworts School for Witchcraft and
Wizardry.
Though amazingly where
everything costs in London, this site does not have an entry fee and one can
line up to take their photos for free.
There is a professional photographer on hand and staff managing the huge
queue but no actual charge to stand in line and take your own photo.
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| Harry Potter where are you? |
The last day of
sightseeing in London turned out to be the most thrilling for me but sadly I
was unable to get any photo record. On
Sunday we went to the British Library. I
expected an old venerable building but the library is in a huge modern complex.
One must register to get into any of the reading rooms but that disappointment
was more than made up for by their Treasures of the Library exhibit. On display were original handwritten scores by
Beethoven, Bach, Handle and Debussy, handwritten lyrics by the Beatles,
Antarctic diaries of Scott, lab notes of Alexander Fleming, letters by Karl
Marx, Henry VII and Nelson. I was
totally overwhelmed and awed at these precious artefacts. It was a thrill and privilege to see them.
