The eagles have landed

Our grand voyage was off to an early and smooth start on the morning of Sunday 29th August. Out of bed at 6, a taxi at 8, a train from Wentworth Falls just after coffee and a croissant on the station, a pick up by Claire at Blacktown due to track works and a take off at 3:30. 11 pm saw us walking around Changi Airport in Singapore before we reboarded and headed for London. We arrived at 5:30 am, caught the tube from Heathrow and headed into the city. Off at Gloucester Road Station: then a walk to the Kensington Forum and it was still only 7:30. The hotel offered an early bird check in and it was great to have a shower, get fresh clothes, have a hot coffee and hit the streets.

Day 1 in London saw us make full use of our train ticket and our feet. First target for this trip was the Monument area to search for the church where the grandparents x3 were married and where they lived prior to their migration to Australia in 1848. By the time of the wedding they had a great string of children born “au natural” in Calais but they were not allowed to travel to Australia while unwed. We located 2 Cheap Street where they lived at the time of the wedding according to the marriage certificate. I was really excited – it was on the corner at Pudding Lane! Wow!!!!!!! Then off to the church of St Dunstan’s in the East which survived the Great Fire but not Hitler’s bombs and now is in ruins. It is strange to walk in the past of long dead ancestors and to stand where they took their vows. St Dunstan’s has been converted into a garden, basically located between the east and west walls of the church. I took lots of photos so hopefully one of them will be OK.

Then we hopped on the Docklands Light Rail and headed off to Greenwich – a great market and an excellent lunch. As we rode along we spotted the Docklands Museum so decided a visit would be in order. It was wonderful – all sorts of very old history including Romans, Saxons and Vikings (even a Viking axe) and a history of the maritime and military significance of the area. Old barges in the dock, a floating church, and lots of restaurants made it a very pleasant place to wander around. After we came back to the hotel and had a coffee we headed off to St Pancras International to collect our tickets for Nottingham and wear ourselves out totally.

There are dozens of restaurants around Kensington and we went for a wander to suss them out, checked out the Waitrose and Tesco supermarkets and had dinner at a pizza/pasta/etc spot not far from the hotel.

By the time we returned to our hotel we were exhausted and I think we were asleep by the time our heads hit the pillows.

And so we were into the spirit of the holiday. We have now completed an active day 2 on foot which involved
• the Natural History Museum – what a building!!!!! – and what treasures it contains.
• The Victoria and Albert (where amongst a million treasures they had Tudor swaddling clothes – I had never seen such a thing – oh, it is a wonderful place indeed). We also explored the new Ceramics Display which has only been open for a year. The place has had much money spent on it and it is bright and fresh in so many areas – we will need another trip to explore the things we have not seen after 2 visits!!!
• A visit to a geomorphology exhibition at the Royal Geographic Society
• a photography exhibition in the gallery in Kensington Gardens (I did not like the works at all except for the most amazing photo of the USA/Mexican border)
• swan (we saw goslings which still had their juvenile colouring but were almost as big as the parents) and duck observation in the Serpentine, a long walk around Kensington Gardens (the Albert memorial, squirrels, Peter Pan, the elf tree and a wonderful carousel)
• the most amazing renovations beside the gardens with crazy giant pencils and trompe d’oeille
• then a shopping expedition to buy food for dinner in our room. Waitrose have good food – we had lemon flavoured BBQ chicken and salad (not an English premade but a Barbara masterpiece) served on bits of paper and eaten with fingers and plastic utensils. Lettuce roll ups make for easy eating. Heaps cheaper than restaurants!!!!!

I like our hotel – we have a view (not the best I have ever seen but I can sit at the desk and see trees, spires, rooftops and way in the distance something that resembles the Eiffel Tower…mmmmmmm…..) and the windows open. That is special. It is very quiet and we are on the end of the wing so we have easy access to the fire hose and the fire escape. TV reception is good – we have no internet access unless we pay (and we won’t at the hotel) and the breakfast coffee is hot and has good flavour. We have bought our Sim cards for the phones and are set for the next 2 days. There is not much traffic in the mornings and we are not wakened by the sound of thousands of cars heading for the work place.

It is an easy walk up to Kensington Gardens and the bus stop for Windsor and that was our next destination. Wandering along we found someone had laid claim to being the spot where Diana bought her pizzas.

Windsor Castle was wonderful and we did the extra tour of The Great Kitchen. Not a bad facility for preparing a banquet. The renovations after the devastating fire have opened up several areas and now reveal the original structure that had been hidden behind modifications. They also mean that all is clean, bright and sparkly. “The firm” certainly has a great many treasures. I loved Queen Mary’s Doll House and France and Mariett - the dolls given to Elizabeth and Margaret by the children of France in 1938.

The Hall of the Garter was something I had never imagined seeing. Even more so, I was awed to see inside St George’s Chapel. Many Royals are buried here including Queen Mary and George V, George VI. and Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. I found her absolutely simple tombstone to be very moving. The streets of Windsor are full of shops, bars, restaurants and cafes – a good place for a wander.