Paddington (where we are staying), Mayfair (rich people and their fancy expensive cars) Charing Cross, Regent’s Park, Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Charing Cross, Waterloo, Marleybone, Oxford Circuit, the list goes on and on. The Monopoly Board has come to life.

For the first two days our accommodation was a squeezy shoe box sized room with a bathroom so small that we had to sit sideways on the loo as our knees touched the opposite wall!!! Only one of us could move around the room at a time, the other having to sit on the bed and wait our turn. I had a look at the booking form, and having seen that the description said “deluxe room” I complained to the manager. He very quickly gave us an upgrade to a more spacious room, the only downside being that to get to it we have to climb even more stairs. Pete says there are 53 steep and narrow steps to our room at the top of the building

No room to sit and contemplate

These are some of the places we have been and seen, not in any particular order. We’ve done heaps in 4 days and have without any doubt exceeded the proscribed 10,000 steps per day!

The Horse-guards Parade, interesting to see. We were standing next to a man whose daughter was in the parade, aged only 21. He was bursting with pride.

Admiralty Arch (half shrouded in scaffolding) and Marble Arch, both smaller than we expected. We walked down the middle of The Mall towards Buckingham Palace and the statue of Queen Victoria. The crowd was enormous in front of the palace as there was a band concert in the forecourt of the palace, but we couldn’t get within a bull’s roar of it, only heard it. We walked past St James’ Palace and Clarence House (former residence of the Queen Mum) and on past Downing Street (with a tall locked gate), not surprisingly that whole area has a very heavily armed police presence. Didn’t see Bobbies on bicycles two by two, they now have large motorbikes.

St James’ Park is beautifully kept and the grass is manicured, being that the Queen can see it from her windows. On to Westminster Cathedral where again the queues were horrendous. We didn’t wait.

The Tower of London was fascinating with loads to see. We spent 3 hours there. Had to queue (surprise, surprise) to see the Crown Jewels which were displayed in a vault with 1 meter thick walls! All kinds of sparkling things, gold, silver, countless diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, you name it, it was there. Most impressive was a diamond the size of a hen’s egg in the coronation crown, and a square cut sapphire the size of a child’s fist in the crown especially made for the Queen Mum to wear to her husband’s coronation.

We walked past the London Eye (massive queues) which takes 30 minutes to complete a circuit, and affords excellent views of the city from the top. The best time to go is at dusk, and booking well ahead is necessary. We didn’t wait, and walked across Tower Bridge. Unfortunately there were no tall ships wanting to get up the Thames so we weren’t as fortunate as the Dodds as they got to see the bridge open last year.

Had a brief look in Harrods department store. Everything hugely expensive, a roast chook cost £18 ($26) and it wasn’t even hot!

Houses of Parliament and Big Ben were under scaffolding, the clock is being overhauled the job expected to take 3 years to complete. One face of the clock is still visible and tells the correct time, but it doesn’t strike the hours as the bell has been removed for repair.

The British Museum was also fascinating, and very crowded. A vast collection boasting Egyptian, Etruscan, Oriental and Roman artifacts.

There is also a wonderful clock and watch display, with clocks and pocket watches (the size of saucers!) dating back to the 1500’s. The Museum’s collection was started in 1749 by a royal physician.

The Museum is a repository for stolen booty, such as the Parthenon Marbles, among other treasures. Every so often one country or another will demand the return of their property, but consecutive British Governments steadfastly refuse to hand back the priceless works.

An especially wonderful and completely unexpected interlude occurred in the middle of the city, at the side of Trafalgar Square, which was cordoned off so no-one could get in. That area is the location of a wonderful church by the name of St Martin in the Fields. It certainly doesn’t have any fields surrounding it any longer. It’s not very old in the scheme of things, 18^th century, but has celebrated excellent acoustics and is the venue for classical concerts, and Evensong every evening. We went inside to discover that the choir was practicing for that evening’s Evensong. An hour of absolute bliss to listen to them!!

Choir practice at St Martins in the Fields

The Underground rail system is pure chaos. Once you walk down those steps you are in a mole’s world of dozens tunnels leading this way and that, stairs and escalators going up and down, and all as hot as the kitchens of hell! Trains come screaming out of black tunnels pushing a wall of air before them, screech to a stop, passengers stumble off and on, and away they go again, screaming back into black tunnels like giant metal worms. I’ll be very pleased to leave it to the Londoners, and will never complain about Melbourne’s public transport system again!!

Unfortunately we didn’t get to have a ride in a double decker bus. Never mind, can’t do everything.

Our stay in London is over. Tomorrow we collect our rental car and head for Cambridge.

Ilze