Day14. Last day in London

Today Tuesday 25th, on our last day in London, we go to the British museum in the morning walking as usual.
I have completely avoided the tube this time as I have not had the need plus there are always lots of stairs.  And I really do prefer to trudge, I mean walk for miles ( not km, but miles in the UK)

Paul did the tube trip to Lords yesterday all by himself which is more than I could have done, and I don't just mean the stairs.
Anyway so we walk to the museum and then walk around it. It is fascinating and huge, with lots of rooms and amazing stuff. Walking, walking, walking.

 I was a bit fascinated by the old jewelry which does not look that different to jewelry now. I took a few photos plus of course the Rosetta Stone.  Could not touch it as was behind glass but very interesting.

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 They look like displays we see in shops now.

 This is a clock and when the alarm 

goes off, the canons fire. 

 Roman noses. 

 Me with mummies and roman nose.

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Rosetta Stone. 

 More mummies 

Then we finally had lunch at a Jamie Oliver trattoria in Piccadilly which was very good but perhaps not quite as good as the meal I had at his restaurant in parramatta. I did not see him at Piccadilly and
in fact the Italian waiter told us an authentic Sicilian chef was cooking our meals that day.  Hmm I suppose Jamie just Organises menus and recipes though apparently one of our dishes was an authentic siclian recipe.  Anyway, his name was on the restaurant and so was good enough for me.
All this walking is very tiring and I am feeling paranoid about my ankle and whether I will make it another day.

 Interesting penny 

farthing shop 

 A bubba gump  outlet for all you forest gump fans.

 This is a department where I would like to work.

 Dessert at Jamie"s restaurant.

 Me out the front of 

the restaurant.

On our last night in London, we go to see the lion king at the Lyceum theatre which is not close, more walking.
Of course we do this after  partaking in the free social wine and cheese thingy at our hotel.  We are trying to avoid the cheese at these things for our health but I muse whether it is perhaps the alcohol we should be avoiding. Apparently not.

 Inside the Lyceum theatre. 

The lion king is good but not great and we wonder why we chose it rather than one of the 20 other musicals on in London. Oh well no point wondering or rueing or regretting as on our last night, we just want to enjoy the atmosphere including rain on our long trek,  I mean walk, back to the hotel.
We go past Trafalgar Square, our square one last time.

We are up at 5 on the morning of the 26th for our taxi at 6 even though the tube strike did not go ahead and we really don't need to get there this early. No worries and to the airport we go.

London has been great as has all our stay, though brief in England.  And the time in Sweden, and Norway for me and also Finland for Paul.

The blog has been both a pleasure and a pain due to technical difficulties. ($&@&$) iPad, never again.  In fact the whole thing has been made more difficult this trip due to my ever diminishing memory and I have relied on Paul to remember each day and what we did. His memory is great he Tells me........

I am thinking I might do a blog on aging and dementia and what it feels like to lose your ability to remember things. Could someone please remind me when I get back as I am likely to forget.

The end

Day 13. Lords alone

on Monday 24th,  Paul decides to go to lords which has something to do with cricket, ugh.   I decline and decide to have a quiet morning washing and packing.

It is raining in London  and has been on and off  for a couple of days. Part of me thinks, great we get to experience traditional English weather. All that sunshine cannot be good for you. Actually vitamin D is very good for you.

Anyway, you would think that London would be used to rain and the people seem to be with everyone wearing sensible rain jackets and umbrellas everywhere. Our wonderful hotel also has umbrellas which you can have as required.  A bit like the wine and cheese.


However the roads and streets become rivers after a bit of rain.  Not just puddles but torrents of water gushing down the middle of the footpath.  So rain is not that great after all.  But it does not seem to last just huge amounts for a short period and then just cloudy, dreary and then more showers. At least, No sunburn today, nor sun.



Reminds me of the other day when it was sunny and we did the long march to St Paul's cathedral.   I was attacked twice.  Once by a rude tourist who bumped me with her elbow and almost knocked me over.  And then, a rude tourist stepped on my sandal nearly yanking it off my foot so that I nearly fell.  So what ! you say?  If you have read the previous trip blogs, you will know that I sprain an ankle on
every overseas trip so we are on ankle watch.  My ankle survives this time.

On Paul's return from Lourdes,  we meet in piccadilly and walk to Covent garden and the markets and beautiful old buildings. And there was a Jamie Oliver restaurant that was full so we could not eat there.

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Punch and Judy show 

Tea shop 

Lunch at this pub which is all about Mozart. 

That night we panic about the trains as there is to be a tube strike on the day we are to get the train to the airport so that even ta is will be overrun. That night at our usual wine and cheese, for free, we run into an Australian couple from Brisbane who advise us to book a taxi now! Something about this urgency appeals to one of us. So we do.

Makes me think of the interesting people we had metat these red wine and cheese socials. We are the old couple there every night and as we are staying longer than most people, we are well known to staff. 

One night we spoke to a couple called Paul and Tracey. Yes we all had a good laugh about that.

Day 12 . Changing the queen, I mean guard, at buck palace.

It is Sunday 23/8 and we decide to go to the palace to see our queen. Of course she does not live in Buck Palace, as the locals  call it. It is more her office. She lives at Windsor Palace and anywhere else she likes really. She is the queen, not ours but just the.

After breakfast at Garfunkels cafe, we head to the palace.  Garfunkels sounds like a great name and kind of funky, yes I said that, but turns out to be another chain of cafes. $&@&$ coffee and no atmosphere.

The changing of the guard is at 1130am so we leave the hotel about 9 as we do and get there by about 10ish after breakfast.
Our hotel, Z, is in a great spot, close to everything and within walking distance pretty much if you like walking for hours, or seems like hours. Paul tells me it is not hours, in fact a brisker walk would get us there sooner, blah, blah,blah.

When we arrive at the palace, no fanfare whatsoever which is a bit surprising, there are not that many people but you can see them all streaming in. The guard changing thing only happens every second day and is not on when it rains. So it is Sunday, not raining and there are thousands here.

We wait and feel lucky to find a spot to sit on the steps of a nearby statue. Finally stairs are a good thing.

It is really hard to take photos as after 2  hours and nearing 1130, there are thousands of tourists, subjects, fans, police, horses etc trying to take photos. Many people have special selfie sticks that can be put high above the crowd for good photos. We don't have one.
Another good idea is to have a small child on your shoulders but old enough to take a good photo. We don't have one.
So my photos are not good. Paul's are better as he is taller.

 The palace when 

we first arrive.

 Me at the front 

of the statue thing.

 A photo  taken inside the gate 

 

  

They came and went which reminds me of that quote from Menzies . Something like, I did but see her passing by and yet I will love her till I die. I feel a bit like that about the guards.

That night we found Chinatown again within really easy walking distance and had Chinese. I think it was in soho so now we have been there too. 

And of course we had the free wine and cheese before dinner and in fact it was still on when we got back. We love this hotel.