Chapter 16 - London Part I

Chapter 16 – London Part I

Sunday, October 23, 2022

We ate breakfast in the apartment in Edinburgh, finished packing, and straightened up the place we’ve called home for the past three weeks. Our taxi picked us up promptly at 10:30 am. Despite roadwork and a 10K race, the taxi driver got us to Waverly Station in plenty of time for our 11:30 am LNER train. If you have a few minutes in Waverly Station and look up, you will see the beautiful glass and wood ceiling (Photo 16 – 1). The train trip to London Kings Cross Station took about four and a half hours.

We arrived to a mild, mostly sunny afternoon in London and waited in queue for a taxi to our hotel, The Conrad London St. James. Our taxi driver was a very friendly woman who made lots of recommendations for what

to see and do in London. We commented on the lovely weather, and she told us there had been thunderstorms the night before. And, that more were expected tonight.

Just before we pulled up to the hotel, her prediction proved true. The sky turned dark, and the rain started. We had an early dinner in the casual restaurant, the Blue Boar, in the hotel. We sat by the window and watched the rain and listened to the thunder. It was nice to not have to go in search of dinner on such a blustery night.

We had stayed at The Conrad London St. James on our previous visit to London. It’s located less than a mile from Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, and Buckingham Palace. It just across the street from the St. James Park underground station so it’s very convenient for travel within London and a lovely hotel.

Monday, October 24, 2022

We had breakfast in the hotel. The service here is amazing – we remembered that from our previous trip and it has not changed. After breakfast, we walked across to the St. James Park underground station and bought two Oyster cards for the week. This will let us travel via the underground without buying a ticket for each trip.

Bruce got on the underground and rode the District Line to Kensington Station, switched to the Circle Line and took it to Paddington Station. We plan on visiting Bath Spa tomorrow and will take the train from Paddington. He checked that out and rode the Circle line back to St. James Park Station. From there, he walked to Parliament Square and got a great picture of the newly refurbished Big Ben (Photo 16 – 2). There were demonstrations going on and several people wanted to take their pictures with the “bobbies” or policemen. We are here at another historic time as England is choosing a Prime Minister.

Sarah set off to walk. She walked through St. James Park and got a good view of Buckingham Palace as she came on The Mall (Photo 16 – 3). She wandered through some arcades and made her way to Bond Street and New Bond Street which are filled with high end shops. Fun to window shop. After that, she walked to Covent Garden Market. On the way, she popped in Fortnum and Mason in Piccadilly. This is the headquarters store where it was established in 1707. Founded as a grocery store, it is known for its luxury food items. It’s a beautiful store and already decorated for Christmas. She wandered in and out of the markets at Covent Garden (Photo 16 – 4) but it was very crowded due to school holidays.

She came back by the Horse Guards Parade, the ceremonial parade ground in St. James Park and the scene of the Trooping of the Color on the Queen’s official birthday in June. She walked through the grounds between the two Horse Guards standing watch (Photo 16 – 5). Looking back from St. James Park at the Parade Grounds, you could see the London Eye (the ferris wheel) in the distance (Photo 16 – 6).

All in all, she walked about 13000 steps today. We went to the Executive Lounge in the hotel for a light dinner before turning in for the night.

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

We got up early and ate breakfast in the hotel. At about 8:00 am we took the Circle Line to Paddington Station to catch our train to Bath Spa. This was about one and a half hours on a Great Western train. We walked around a bit before meeting up with our 1:00 pm scheduled walking tour of Bath on the square just outside the wooden doors into the

Bath Abbey (Photo 16 – 7). This church was founded in the 7th century, rebuilt in the 12th and 16th centuries, and underwent major restoration work in the 1860s. It is the parish church of the Church of England in Bath. The west front includes sculptures of angels climbing to heaven on two stone ladders, representing Jacob’s Ladder (Photo 16 – 8).

Bath is in the valley of the River Avon about 97 miles west of London. It was originally named Aquae Sulis around 60 A.D. when the Romans built baths and a temple at the site of the natural hot springs. Most of city is built out of the local

golden-colored Bath stone. The central style of architecture is now Georgian.

As we walked around the city and learned of its history, we saw the sunken Parade Gardens which are at the level of the original medieval city (Photo 16 – 9) and the Pulteney Bridge over the River Avon (Photo 16 – 10). The Pulteney Bridge was completed in 1774 in a Palladian Style with shops built on both sides across the span of the bridge. The River Avon was beautiful (Photo 16 – 11).

Many of the streets and squares were laid out by the architect, John Wood and later his son, John Wood Jr. The Circus is one such area. It’s a ring of large townhouses

forming a circle with three entrances. His design has many references to Stonehenge and Masonic symbols. Another is the Royal Crescent, a row of 30 terraced houses laid out in a crescent shape (Photo 16 – 12). Ten are still full-sized townhouses; 18 have been split into flats or apartments. One is the Royal Crescent Museum and the large central house at number 16 is The Royal Crescent Hotel and Spa.

After the tour, we went into the old Roman Baths (Photo 16 – 13). It was an excellent museum depicting the early structures.

A couple of other noteworthy comments about Bath. It was the home of Jane Austen in the early 19th Century for a short while. Bath was also bombed during the blitz in World War II. Amazingly, no damage was done to the Abbey

We had a late lunch at Graze near the train station. Bruce had a Waldorf salad, and Sarah had a small serving of fish and chips. Bruce found a place to wait til time for our bus while Sarah continued to walk the streets exploring Bath. Here’s a picture of the “repurposed” iconic red telephone booth in Bath (Photo 16 – 14). We caught the 4:14 pm train back to Paddington Station arriving about 5:45 pm. The Circle line took us to St. James Park Station, and we were in for the night.

Wednesday, October 26, 2022

We had breakfast in the hotel before heading to Trafalgar Square via the underground to go to the National Portrait Gallery. Unfortunately, we found the National Portrait Gallery was closed for renovations until 2023. However, we went into the National Gallery in the same area for the

Winslow Homer exhibit and then into the permanent exhibits. It’s a beautiful building and the amazing collection would take you days to see.

We walked from the National Gallery to a Greek restaurant, Milos, that had been recommended by the hotel. We had a late lunch there. Bruce had a Greek salad and potato salad. Sarah had a small Greek Salad, salmon, and baklava for dessert.

We began looking for blue plaques on buildings throughout London that would tell you where someone of note had lived. Here’s one for Rudyard Kipling (Photo 16 – 15). We also saw one for Benedict Arnold. He lived his final five years in London and died in 1801.

We made our way to Piccadilly Station and caught the underground, the Bakerloo line, to the Embankment station where we switched to the District line back to St. James Park. The weather today has been beautiful – mostly sunny, a little windy, and in the mid-60s.

Sarah walked some more in the afternoon around

Parliament Square, Buckingham Palace, St. James Park, and the Mall. She saw Clarence House where Charles and Camilla lived as Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall. It looked like the royal standard was flying over the building indicating the King and Queen Consort were in residence.

We just had some snacks in the Executive Lounge for dinner.

Thursday, October 27, 2022

We had breakfast in the hotel. Because it was looking like a rainy, cloudy day we decided to take a Big Bus Tour (www.bigbustours.com). We chose the red route which turned out to be about three hours mainly because of the traffic! We caught the bus just outside our hotel. The rain held off, so we sat outside on the upper deck. During the tour we crossed the Thames five times on different bridges including the iconic Tower Bridge (Photo 16 - 16). We passed the Tower of London where the crown jewels are kept, New Scotland Yard, the Shard, a very iconic modern building, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and lots of monuments and gardens. We went through the City of London which is one square

mile and includes the financial district. We caught a glimpse of The Monument, a memorial to the Great Fire of 1666. Seventy-five percent of London was destroyed during that fire.

We got off the bus at Westminster Station and walked back to the hotel. We explored a side street near the hotel with the Slovenian Embassy and Queen Anne’s Gate. Queen Anne’s Gate has beautiful town homes and gardens near St. James Park.

We noticed that many streets had their Christmas decorations up and decided to hop on the bus again in the evening to see the city at night and see if these were lighted. We took the underground to Green Park Station and caught the 5:45 pm Big Bus. Unfortunately, the Christmas lights were not on – it’s got to be beautiful during the season. But it was nice to see the city at night. We got a great view of the London Eye lit for the evening (Photo 16 - 17). We also got pictures of the statue in Trafalgar Square (Photo 16 – 18), the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral (Photo 16 – 19), and the Tower of London (16 – 20).

We got off the bus at Temple Station. This is the station in the old Rumpole of the Bailey series where Rumpole got off the underground each morning. Probably no one but the two of us will understand that reference. We took the Temple Station back to St. James Park Station and had dinner in the Blue Boar restaurant in the hotel.