Day 4(Fri) Kensington

The next day I took a double decker bus to Kensington Gardens.  I was the only passenger at my stop, so I was able to sit right in the front a the top!  Here is a shot of what I could see.

As you can see, terrace houses are the norm in London, or at least the parts that I saw.

Once I got to the gardens I visited Kensington Palace.  I wasn't allowed to take photos inside the palace.  When I was there, the palace had a kind of themed "art installation" thing happening, based around the various princesses that had lived there.  Some of it was pretty cool, but unfortunately a lot of the rooms had very low light levels as a result of the "art installation" stuff, with made it hard to see the architecture of the rooms themselves.  Some of the painted ceilings were amazing.

Near to the palace is an old carved tree:

There is a similar one in the Fizroy Gardens in Melbourne, but the one in the UK is probably the original.

Here are some general shots of the gardens:

They are very green and very lovely.

At the south end of the gardens is the Albert Memorial, which Queen Victoria had built in honor of her late husband Albert.  It is very.... flashy.

Over the road from the Albert Memorial is the Albert Hall.  I took a photo, but I didn't go in.

After the Albert Memorial, I walked along the Flower walk section of the Kensington Gardens, where I saw squirrels.

The Squirrels were smaller than I expected, and moved very very fast.

I stopped into a small gallery in the gardens, with a small photographic display.  It was interesting, but not really my kind of art.

I headed up to the north east corner of the gardens, where the Italianate section is and got some lunch from a coffee cart there.

Then I walked along the northern edge of Hyde Park to Marble Arch.

Apparently there is a single room flat in the top of Marble Arch.  I don't think I'd like living there!

I then took the train to Covent Garden, where I was meeting E and A to go to the theater.

Day 3 (Thurs) The British Museum

On Thursday I went to the British Museum. In the tube station on the way there, I heard a somewhat garbled announcement.  Something to do with planes at Heathrow being delayed by volcanic activity.  I assumed that I had heard wrong, and resolved to check the internet when I got back to A and E's place that night.

Now to the British Museum.  The building itself is magnificent, both inside and out.  The reading room in the centre is supposed to be well worth seeing, but unfortunately it is only open as part of special exhibitions these days.

The first thing I saw once I entered the exhibition spaces was the Rosetta Stone.  It was in a large glass case, which made it hard to photograph, but I could clearly see the different blocks of text in different languages, including the section in hieroglyphs.  My reaction can basically be summed up as:  Wow!

The next port of call in the museum was the Elgin Marbles.  These are carved marble plaques taken from the Parthenon in Greece. There is a bit of controversy about them now, as the Greeks want them back, but at the time Lord Elgin removed them it seems clear that they were subject to a fair bit of vandalism.  The photos here are a very small sample of what is on display at the museum.

As well as the plaques, there were some pieces of statues from the Parthenon.  Most of the statues had notes under them saying things like: , or similar.

After having a good look at the Elgin marbles, I wandered around the Egyptian section of the museum.  Lots and lots of stuff!

Then came the Assyrian section, with lots of statues and carvings taken from tombs.

There was far too much to see properly in one day, or even in one month, but I did a very quick walk through of the remainder of the museum.  Another standout item was the Easter Island Statue.

I staggered out of the Museum near closing time, feeling utterly exhausted, but still amazed by the things I had seen.  I headed back to E and A's place, and checked the internet, where I discovered that the garbled announcement about planes and volcanic activity was due to a volcano in Iceland sending up vast clouds of ash, which had caused a shut down of British airspace (and a fair bit of European airspace!).  Apparently I had arrived in England just in time!

That evening E and A took me to a local wine bar.  Very nice, and very civilized.  An excellent end to another great day.

Day 2 (Wed) Detail - The Tower

On the wedneday, I went to see the Tower of London. I took the underground to Tower Hill station, where there is a surviving section of the old Roman wall that used to surround London.

I had a look at that, then climbed up the hill over the top of the station entrance, where there is a very nice view of the Tower of London. The Tower of London is a large complex of buildings, rather than a single tower.


When I first entered the Tower, I joined a tour by one of the Warders, (aka beefeaters). It gave a good general background of the tower's history.

This is a view of a section between the inner and outer walls.


These Tudor buildings were originally built for Anne Bolyn, before she got into trouble and had her head chopped off. They are not currently open to the public.


Most prisoners were dragged up to Tower Hill to be executed, in front of screaming crowds. However certain very favoured prisoners were executed in private, within the walls of the tower. This memorial statue marks the approximate spot where gallows were built for people who were executed inside the tower.


This building now contains the Crown Jewels, or, as the warder who originally pointed out the building to me and the rest of the crowd referred to them: Lizzie's Bling. I queued up to see them, and they really are quite spectacular. One of the crowns has the Koh-i-noor diamond on the front. I was suprised to see that this was significantly smaller than several other diamonds, including the Cullinor 1 diamond, which is on top of the royal sceptre.


The oldest part of the Tower of London is the White Tower, built by William the Conquerer. At the time I was there it had scaffolding over a large section of it, as part of maintenance works.


Inside the white tower, there was an exhibition of many suits of armour worn by English Royalty and nobility over the years. This suit of armour was worn by Henry VIII in his younger days.


This suit of ceremonial armour includes armour for the horse.



Past the exhibiton area there are a number of rooms in the White Tower open to the public. This is a section of the original Norman chapel.


This shot of London bridge is taken from the Tower walls, and shows the outer wall, then the bridge nearby.

This shot of the walls of the tower from the inside, shows the strange juxtaposition of old and new in London, with very modern looking buildings on the skyline.


After leaving the tower, I walked along the Themes a little, until I could get a good view of Tower Bridge.



I then headed back to E and A's flat. E and A then took me out to dinner at an old pub next to the river, called The Dove. It was a lovely evening.

Day 1 (Tues) Detail

Now that I am back home, I have time to revist the whole trip in more detail. So, here goes...

I had dinner at my parents place on the Monday night, then took the skybus to the airport. Once there, I had a few hours to kill before catching the plane, which left at 2AM Tues.

The first leg of the trip was to Kuala Lumpa, in Malaysia, where the plane stopped to refuel. We all got to get off the plane for about an hour, which was a much appreciated chance to stretch my legs.

The next leg of the trip ended in Dubai, where I spent a few hours wandering around the airport. The airport is very modern and fancy, with a section of indoor garden and rock pools.

The final leg of the trip was to London, and I arrived in Heathrow at about 8 pm on Tuesday evening. Thanks to time zone differences, it was officially the evening of the same day I had left, despite the fact that I had been travelling for about 26 hours since leaving Melbourne.

My friends Eve and Alex were kind enough to meet me at the airport, and we took the underground train back to their flat, where I was staying for a few days. Needless to say, I had a quick shower, then crawled straight into bed and slept!

Day 19: Trafalgar square. St Martin in the fields. Lunch in Crypt cafe and brass rubbing. National Gallery - Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Constable, Rembrandt, Ruebins, Gainsborough, Reynolds.... the list just goes on and on!
Day 20: Natural History Museum
Day 21: Hampton Court Palace.
Day 22: Westminster Abbey, Harrods, Victoria and Albert Museum. Flight back home.

Update

Day 18: (Fri) London Eye. River boat to Greenwich. Royal Observatory - Prime meridian, star charts and really cool clocks! Return via Docklands Light Railway (no driver!)
Day 19: (Sat) Trafalgar Square. St Martin in the Fields. Lunch at Cafe in the crypt of St Martin in the fields. Brass rubbing. National Gallery - Lots of famous painters and paintings.