September 14, 2012 - Our Last Day With Jonathan

Cheers All,

Sadly this was our last day with our son as he had to return to reality the next day.  We headed out rather handily in the morning via the tube to St Paul's Cathedral with tickets Jonathan had for him and his friends.  We took the tube as I had hoped to climb the 528 stairs to get to the galleries in the dome of St Paul's, and wanted to save my knees as walking with my son and Fred had proven to be challenging at times.

The present day St Paul's church dates back to the late 17th century and was designed by Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of London (1666) destroyed the existing church.  The church went through 5 different stages of design before the final design was given approval by the king and building began.  On December 2, 1697 the first service was held in St Paul's.  St Paul's in terms of area is the second largest church in the UK, the first being Liverpool Cathedral.  Once inside the cathedral, photography was not allowed and prayers take place on a hourly basis along with daily services.  We took in the magnificence of the main floor, the dome and statues before walking up to the Whispering Gallery, 215 steps that wound gently up and were not steep but they did leave me a bit winded.  The Gallery is 90 feet above the floor and you really can hear when someone is across from you and whispers a message.  Jonathan and Fred took on the other two galleries, the Stone and Golden, while I sat and admired the Whispering Gallery before heading down.  One of the stewards chatted with me and did advise me that the steps up to the remaining galleries are narrow and steep.  She also told me of a place to go where we could get good photos of St.Paul's from a sixth floor terrace in a nearby shopping centre.  I returned to the main floor and listened to the history behind the artifacts and areas in the church on an audio guide until the boys returned from the Stone and Golden Galleries.  Fred felt that I could have made it to the Stone Gallery but not to the Golden Gallery as the steps were very narrow and steep.  Next we headed down to the Crypt which holds over 200 memorials.  Sir Christopher Wren was the first to be interred in 1723.  A few of the more notable people interred are Lord Nelson, Winston Churchill, Florence Nightingale and the Duke of Wellington.  I did purchase postcards that show the interior of the cathedral so we can scan them to have a record and to share its beauty.

After leaving St Paul's, we located the shopping centre and got our photos of St Paul's from the terrace we walked along the embankment to Borough Market.  The market is open on Friday's and Saturdays and is usually very busy.  As it was the afternoon it was very crowded.  Jonathan was able to take in all the sites, the different foods available for purchase and the eateries.  We purchased lunch and walked around.  The picture on the left is of small cucumbers.  They are about 8 inches long so I would not really call them small at all.  We also found gluten free sausages, unfortunately a bit late for Jonathan this time.

Our last stop of the day was a visit to Harrods.  Jonathan needed to purchase something for Amy and as she is a tea drinker I suggested we go there and check out the teas.  Something I used to get for my Mom when we visited the UK before our move here.  As well as the tea, he also purchased a lovely cast iron teapot for her.  While in Harrods we also checked out the electronics section and Jonathan shows us a TV he would like, it only cost 66,000 pounds.

Harrods already had a floor ready with Christmas items.  The picture on the right is a man made out of Lego outside the toy department.  From Harrods we walked back to the flat with a stop at the Grenadier Pub for the cider festival that they were supposed to be holding.  Some festival, they did not have one cider on tap as advertised.  Just before we left I took the glasses back inside as we sat outside.  A man stopped me to ask if he could help me.  I laughed and said no I needed to use the facilities so I might as well take the glasses in.  He and his friend made a comment to Jonathan and Fred about allowing a young lady to wait on them and Jonathan commented this young lady is not mine she is my mom.  While inside, I heard a question about cooking and cleaning and upon my return I let these gentlemen know that both of my men are good cooks and they clean up as well.  The men laughed and responded that it was good to see you trained them well.  We continued our walk back to the flat with Jonathan taking some last minute photos.  We had a quiet night with Jonathan packing for his return home the next day.  We had a fairly early night as we had to drop him off at Heathrow at 10:00 a.m. for his flight.

We hope you have enjoyed this portion of our blog,

Sandy & Fred

September 13, 2012 - Greenwich

Hi All,

We were up and out early again, as thanks to Jonathan, we had tickets for the hop on hop off bus and a river cruise.  We got the tickets because one of his mates missed his train from Paris last week and his other buddy Adam who was in town felt they would see and accomplish more by walking rather than using their bus tickets.  We collected our tickets just outside Victoria Station and headed down to the pier by the London Eye to get the boat tour down to Greenwich.

The boat operators were not tour guides, however, they did give a good commentary of life on the river and pointed out various sites we passed on our way to Greenwich.  The picture on the right, taken from the boat as we pulled into the dock at Greenwich, is of the Cutty Sark, a clipper ship that has been restored as it was partially destroyed by fire in May 2007.  The trip down the river Thames took about a hour with a brief stop at Tower Bridge to let customers on and off.   We stopped outside the Old Royal Naval College and enjoyed our picnic lunch before starting our exploring.

Fred and I visited Greenwich in 2006 during one of our visits to the UK so we kind of know the lay of the land.  Our first stop was The Royal Naval Hospital.  This site was originally The Palace of Placentia in the 15th century and was the birth place of many a Tudor, including Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.  The palace fell into disrepair during the English Civil War and was rebuilt into the Naval Hospital by Christopher Wren.  These buildings became the Royal Naval College in 1873 and remained as such until 1998 when they passed over to the Greenwich Foundation.  The picture on the left is of the ceiling in the Painted Hall of the Naval College.  A spectacular piece of artwork that encompasses the whole hall right from the entrance to the end of this huge hall.  There were a couple of rooms open that were not open on our previous visit.  When we entered one such room I took a picture of a statue of Nelson.  Fred and Jonathan gave me dirty looks and pointed to a sign.  Oops no pictures allowed; I did not see it when I entered as a man was standing in front of it.  I am very careful to respect requests about no photography and I always ask, particularly, when we enter churches if photography is allowed.  We headed down to the crypt area, another area that was not opened on our previous visit and explored a tunnel that took us into the Royal Naval Chapel.  Again the architecture is a sight to behold.

From here we headed out and to The National Maritime Museum.  The museum was created by The National Maritime Act 1943 and was officially opened by King George VI on April 27, 1937.  The museum has the worlds largest maritime historical reference library with books dating back to the 15th century.  The museum covers the history of all aspects of naval travel and war as well as artifacts related to the sea, time and travel.  We spent a good hour exploring and Jonathan completed a virtual navigation of a vessel and received a 100 out of 100 score.

We then set off to the Royal Observatory of Greenwich.  The trek up to the observatory was rather a challenge as they were dismantling the Olympic Equestrian Area and a lot of the park was fenced off.  We finally got to the observatory after hiking up and down hills and behind fences.  I certainly got my exercise in this day.  Much has changed since our last visit.  Now there is a fee to enter the observatory.  We had a slight debate about whether or not to pay and I told Fred we had not hiked our asses all the way up here to have Jonathan miss this opportunity to see the the museum.  Once our exploration was done I asked the lady outside the museum if there was an easy way down.  She advised there was not.  We found the path to go down the hill into Greenwich, and it was an easy walk and it was the path we should have taken to go up.  We had enough time to enjoy a pint of cider and beer in a pub, The Greenwich Arms before boarding our boat back to Westminster Dock.  We walked back to the flat, relaxed and had dinner after our full day of exploration.

Cheers,
Sandy & Fred

September 12, 2012 - Hampton Court

Greetings All,

After a day of rest for all of us, then a day of separate exploration with Jonathan visiting more museums and Fred and I walking for exercise, we all headed off to Hampton Court Palace.  To get to Hampton Court Palace we took the train.  Fred and I had visited Hampton Court once before, but gladly accompanied our son for a second visit.  We left early and arrived at the Palace shortly after opening time.  What a difference time makes, we were able to get photo's without having to dodge people or have shots ruined by people getting in the way.  I am not going too say much about the history of Hampton Court as I have posted a blog on the Palace on September 15, 2010 if you are interested.  However, I will say that the estate house was taken over in 1514 by Thomas Wolsey, The Archbishop of York and he spent the next seven years spending lavishly to build the finest palace in England.  In 1528 seeing his up and coming downfall Wolsey made the palace a gift to King Henry VIII.  Within six months of ownership Henry started his own expansion.  Hampton Court was the main residence for Henry VIII and is one of only two surviving palaces out of the many that were owned by Henry.  The other is St. James's Palace. 

The picture on the left is the ceiling in The Great Room.  The craftsmanship is truly amazing when you think of the time and tools that were available.  We spent a good three hours exploring before it started to get really busy with rug rats on school trips and other tourists.  We headed back into London to find a pub for a late lunch and once again our timing was perfect as the train was there when we arrived at the station.

We decided to eat at The White Swan, a pub across the street from the flat as Jonathan wanted fish and chips as a way to re-introduce some gluten into his diet in preparation for tests on his return home.  We had decided that it was best to be close to the flat depending on his reaction.  Jonathan and Fred had fish and chips and I had scampi.

After lunch we headed back to the flat to relax, down load our photo's and enjoy some cider, beer and wine.

Cheers,

Sandy & Fred

September 9, 2012 - RAF Museum & Stonehenge

Greetings All,

Today we headed out early to visit the RAF museum which is about a half hour drive from the flat.  The museum is located on the former Hendon Aerodrome and is a relatively new one when compared to the other museums dedicated to military history in London.  It was opened on November 15, 1972 by the Queen and is dedicated to the history of aviation and the British Royal Airforce. Upon opening the museum hangers just had 36 aircraft.  Today, it is home to over 100 aircraft and has five different exhibits.  Jonathan was like a kid in a candy store.  We all took a ton of pictures and Fred and Jonathan stay together discussing the various aircraft while I wandered off on my own to explore.  We spent a good three hours exploring and completed about 3/4 of the site.  We had our picnic lunch at the museum before heading off to Stonehenge.  Additional pictures can be seen on my facebook wall or our Flickr site once Fred gets them posted.

The traffic to Stonehenge was very heavy.  We think it was because it was a very beautiful day so the drive took a bit longer than we had anticipated.  The picture on the right was taken by Jonathan lying on the ground and focusing on the stones from the grass.  The result being Stonehenge looks small from that perspective.  Jonathan and I went into Stonehenge and the queue (line up) was huge.  As we arrived at the end of the line, a lady came along and asked if there were any National Trust or English Heritage Members.  As we are National Trust members, we were then escorted into the grounds.  Jonathan had Fred's card, as Fred did not want to walk around the stones again.  With photo opportunities completed we headed back to London.  Back at the flat, we ordered in a curry dinner from Pimlico Spice, an Indian Restaurant in Pimlico which Jonathan had googled and it had a very good rating.  The food was excellent and even better, I didn't have to prepare a meal.

Cheers,

Sandy & Fred

September 8, 2012 - Proms in the Park

Greetings All,

Today Jonathan went off on his own to visit some more museums while I prepared our picnic supper for tonight's BBC Proms in the Park which is held in Hyde Park.  Fred and I headed off to get the food from Sainsbury's.  I decided to roast a whole chicken and to have potato salad, carrot and celery sticks, humus for a dip, crisps, doritos, cherry tomatoes, a mixed green salad, chocolate, wine, cider, Irn Bru and water.


The Proms were founded in 1895 and seasonally consist of over 70 concerts in the Royal Albert Hall, a series of chamber concerts in Cadogan Hall as well as on the final night, a series of concerts in parks around the UK.  We were attending the final night of the Proms in Hyde Park.  The music played covers a large range of genres.  Contemporary, pop, classical, as well a choirs from schools and churches.  The evening ends with a fireworks display which are quite spectacular.

We headed off to the park separately as Jonathan had an upset stomach as he could not find gluten free sandwiches for his lunch while he was out and ate salmon sandwiches.  Fred and I took the bus to the park and Fred was a very happy camper as he got to use his Merseytravel National Travel Pass.  The travel pass is valid for bus travel on any local bus service in England.  When Fred and I arrived the crowds were massive and I wondered how the hell Jonathan would ever find us even with the programme he and Fred have on their iPhones.  It took us approximately 30 minutes to get into the park and we found that the grounds had changed since the last time we were at the Proms.  The lovely grass has been replaced with wood chips so it will be rather uncomfortable to sit on even with a blanket.  We only had 2 chairs so we kind of shared them between us once Jonathan arrived.  He found us quite easily and basically walked in with out the queues (line ups) that we endured.  It was announced that the attendance this year was a record, 45000 people in the park.  Jonathan decided to wander around the park taking in all the sights before we had our picnic supper.  People had come dressed in all sorts of costumes as well as tuxedos and gowns.  The sunset was beautiful but it soon turned rather cool and damp.  The previous night was very pleasant and balmy,

so the coolness tonight took us a little by surprise particularly as it was very hot day today.  The highlight of the evening for me was the performance by Il Divo.  I had taken a stroll around the grounds to take pictures of the stage all lit up when they came on so I managed to get a video.  When I returned to the boys we enjoyed more of the concert together and the munchies and drinks.  Fred and I then strolled around while Jonathan watched our stuff.  Upon our return Jonathan had decided to call it a night as his stomach is really acting up again which was unfortunate as he will miss the finale and the fireworks.  We stayed for about another 1/2  hour and as it was turning very cool we decided to call it a night as we had not dressed for it.  We took the tube back to the flat as it is quicker even though we have to change lines.  Once back at the flat we can hear the booming of the fireworks.  Too bad Jonathan had to miss them.

Cheerio for now,

Sandy & Fred

September 7, 2012 - Buckingham & Kensington Palaces

Cheers All,

We were up and at it fairly early as we headed out to tour Buckingham Palace.  This is something I have wanted to do for a while and with Jonathan here it was the perfect opportunity.  I had purchased tickets from the Visit London site much to Fred's horror.  If I had used the Royal Collection website (the Palace's official website) we would have been able to extend our tickets to provide for unlimited access for a year.  Needless to say I have been banned from buying tickets in the future.  Access to the palace is by booked timed entry and they were very strict about it.  Photography is not permitted in the Palace so I purchased a set of postcards that shows the staterooms which we will scan upon our return to Liverpool.  I wandered around the store while Fred and Jonathan went off to explore a bit of St James's Park as we had forty minutes to kill before our entrance time.  Fred had his camera over his shoulder and was given a big ass plastic bag marked video/photographic equipment to put his camera into while we toured the state rooms.  The tour itself took about one and a half hours and you have an audio guide that explains the various rooms and their functions.  As you can imagine it was extremely busy but we didn't find it overly crowded until we came to the Diamonds: A Jubilee Celebration exhibit.  This is a special exhibition showing the many ways in which diamonds have been used by British monarchs over the last 200 years.  We did a perimeter walk around the display cases which allowed us a good view of the diamond jewellery, diamond encrusted swords and crowns.  To get close to the displays as many tourists seemed to want to do, we would have been there quite some time, as tourists get in front of a display case and don't move.  The Tower of London has the right idea for the Crown Jewels display, you get on a people mover that takes you past the display cabinets. No stopping to gawk at the Crown Jewels.  The picture in the upper left hand corner is Buckingham Palace from the gardens.  Pictures were allowed in the gardens but to be honest it was more of a parkland area than a garden.  Grass, trees and ponds are not really a garden to my way of thinking. The exit brought us out onto Grosvenor Place, a relatively short walk to Hyde Park.  We walked along Knightsbridge to purchase lunch as Jonathan did not want sandwiches.  A picnic lunch would have been a better choice as we seemed to be walking forever before locating a place from which to buy.  Jonathan had sushi and Fred and I had sandwiches.  We then headed off to find a bench in Hyde Park and eat lunch before walking to Kensington Palace. 

Hyde Park eventually becomes Kensington Park and the picture on the right is a memorial to Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband.  This was the first time we had seen it in the daylight and it is quite magnificent.  Our previous views have all been at night from Royal Albert Hall when we have attended the Christmas Eve Carol Concert with family.

On arriving at Kensington Palace, Jonathan used his pass to the Historic Royal Palaces, while Fred purchases two concession tickets (seniors discount) for us.  The cashier asked us for identification as he didn't think were old enough (60 years) for the concession price.  Kensington Place has been a residence of the British Royal Family since the 17th century.  With its many apartments, it is still home to many of the royal family and is used by Prince Harry and Zara Philips (Princess Anne's daughter) on occasions.  It was also the home of Princess Diana after her divorce from Charles up until her death.  In the 17th century it was referred to as Kensington House rather than "Palace" as it was a private royal retreat.  Some of the rooms were very dark, hot and rather sparse.  While others had very little furniture in the room they were quite opulent.

The picture on the left is of the ceiling in The Kings Gallery.  It has very detailed artwork along the whole hall.  We only get to tour a small portion of the palace itself as it is still home to a number of the extended royal family and is to be the future residence of Prince Henry but as palaces go we were unimpressed.

From here we went our separate ways as Jonathan wanted to visit another museum and I was slowing him down as I can't walk as fast as him or his Dad for that matter.  He has so little time in which to get in all that he wants to see.  It was a very hot day so we meandered our way back through Hyde Park along old stomping grounds and stopped at the Cask for a much needed bit of refreshment before heading back to the flat to prepare supper which a beef, tomato, macaroni and cheese dish.

After supper Fred and I decided to head to Tower Bridge as I wanted to get pictures of the Paralympic Sign lit up as I had missed the Olympic rings.  We took the tube as the days walking had tired me out and thought that maybe we would walk back.  We were to be disappointed, the Bridge itself was lit up but the sign was not. Kind of made one feel that the Paralympics did not hold the same importance for the city that the Olympics did.  It was an absolutely gorgeous night and we walked along the Queens Walkway stopping along the way to take more photos of sites that are lit up.  We did take the tube back to the flat from London Bridge as it had been a full day.  Tomorrow is the BBC's Proms in the Park and I will need to prepare our picnic supper in the morning.

Cheerio for now,

Sandy & Fred

September 6, 2012 - Jonathan Returns - Imperial War Museum

Greetings All,

Jonathan returned from Paris today and was due in around 1:00 p.m. However, the train was delayed because some nob had left their luggage on the platform and they had to evacuate for safety reasons.  Better safe than sorry but still flustering for him all the same.  After he'd arrived and we'd had lunch we all headed off to the Imperial War Museum which is a nice little walk from the flat.

The IWM is a British National Museum with five locations through out England, three of which are in London.  Founded in 1914 it was intended to record the civil and military war effort and sacrifice by Britain and its Empire during the first world war.  It has since expanded to cover all conflicts right up to the current conflict in Afghanistan.  The museum's collection includes personal memoirs, official documents, photographs, film and video materials, recordings of soldiers personal experiences, a library and art collection and finally examples of military vehicles and aircraft, equipment and other artefacts.  The picture on the
right is of a section of an Avro Lancaster I - Old Fred 1943-1944.  We explored the
museum for a couple of hours and for Fred and I we noticed that some major changes had taken place since our last visit a couple of years ago.

They have taken away the displays that kids could climb all over which I personally think is a good thing.  Respect for the tragedy that accompanies war and the sacrifices of the men and women should be shown rather than having a play area for kids. The museum itself is free and is funded by government grants, charitable donations and the sale of books and other commercial items on site.

We headed back to the flat for supper and a somewhat early night for all.

Cheerio,

Sandy & Fred