London

Saturday 14 September

We had a lovely sleep in this morning and after breakfast with John and Mary we packed, loaded the car and Mary drove us to Richmond Station. There we caught the train to Waterloo Station where we were collected by David and Carlos in their ZipCar and driven to their home at Elephant and Castle. Such a lovely street of terraced houses.

We had lunch together, booked our train trip to Oxford for Monday then went for a walk. Although it was a simple walk we saw all sorts of things so typically London - Tower Bridge then along the river to Borough Markets (with a huge turkish delight stand), Harry Potter places, the Globe Theatre, various bridges, Southwalk Cathedral then headed back to Elephant and Castle from Blackfriars Bridge.



 

 

 

Back at home we enjoyed dinner together and settled in for the evening with David and Carlos moving into a friends place two doors up to allow us to have a bedroom each.

Sunday 15 September

Up late today for me - 7:30am. We did two loads of washing before setting off on our Greenwich trip. This involved a bus to London Bridge then a ferry down the Thames to Greenwich. We looked at the Cutty Sark but did not go into the displays around its hull. You could not get on board anyway.

We then decided that while the rain held off we'd walk up to the Royal Observatory. We looked at a few of the buildings and displays buying lunch and racing back around to the other side of the observatory to see the Greenwich Meantime ball drop to signal 1pm. In walking around we also crossed the Zero meridian line a few times.

 

Back down the hill to the National Maritime Museum. This was mostly free but all the closed fire doors meant we had to really read the signs to know where to go. The displays were easy to follow once you got in. Probably the displays that evoked a feeling of the awful conditions were those about arctic exploration. It must have been so cold.

On then to Discover Greenwich Visitor Centre which had some more displays of Greenwich through history.

As we were waiting for the ferry to come home the rain really started as predicted so it was lucky that we did not have to wait long and that the ferry was a closed-in catamaran. A bus down to Larcom St waw us safe and warm to settle in for the evening.



David and Carlos are both out till late so have given us instructions for getting our own dinner. We stayed up watching TV for a while after dinner then fell asleep fairly quickly.

 



Monday 16 September

We left at about 8am this morning to go by train to Paddington Station where we had coffee and topped up our Oyster and phone cards. We then caught our train for our  day in Oxford. We were there by 11am so wandered around part of the university area on our way to find the Eagle and Child pub which was where we were to meet Ned and Terri.

 

A quaint old building in Oxford

 

 

When they arrived we enjoyed a lunch together catching up on news of their recent cruise. It was great to see them again. 

 

We all then wandered through Oxford dodging one very blustery cold downpour that ended within minutes after wetting us all through. We were able to see parts of Balliol College (the oldest) and Exeter College (where Morse was filmed) then walked through the old part of town. We visited the covered market where Ned found a model shop, had a cuppa then said our goodbyes as Ned and Terri had to leave.

 

 

 

On the way back to the station Elaine and I chanced upon Oxford Castle but unfortunately did not have time to explore it. The outside was quite impressive, especially the mound of what I guess was the original castle.

 

Back on the train again and home by about 6pm. David had dinner well underway so when Carlos arrived home we had dinner together chatting and working out plans for the few days we have left in London.

Tuesday 17 September

We eventually left home at about 9am this morning walking to Elephant and Castle to catch a 360 bus that took us via a circuitous route all the way to the Victoria and Albert museum. From there we walked straight to Harrods.

The ladies room at Harrods.

 If you think David Jones is upmarket it has nothing on Harrods. We walked a few floors then had a latte at great expense before continuing our exploration of this museum dedicated to modern commercialism. 

 

The pet department only had Cocker Spaniels and hampsters but wow! there was everything for the extremely expensive pampered pet.

The food halls were magnificent and completely over the top!

 

The clothing was way overpriced but certainly quite beautiful. The egyptian stair well was quite ornate. I have run out of words to describe it all.

Once out of Harrods we walked back to the Victoria and Albert Museum buying some sandwiches on the way for our lunch. The V and A is quite large and has a collection of design artefacts from many countries and from about 200AD (that I saw anyway). I loved the street scape that was covered and used to display some huge doors and stair cases. I was also astounded to find a quilt from 1360.

 

 

We sat in the rain in the garden to finish our lunch and Elaine had a coffee. Back into the shop where I bought two more buttons for my england quilt.

 

By the time we finished we could have done something more but decided to catch the bus home and avoid rush hour. Home to find David cooking dinner and soon Carlos arrived. We played a few rounds of online Scrabble then after dinner I spent time updating the blog.