Monday, February 18, 2013
Hello!
SO hard to believe that this is really our last night in
London! WHERE did the time go? We have really grown to enjoy our flat. It is small, but incredibly convenient for
getting around on buses, or, when one must use the tube, very easy to get there
via bus! The bed is truly comfortable;
hope that we are as lucky as we proceed on our trip – always conducive to
having a great night’s sleep! And, although
we are in Chelsea, in the heart of everything, down Oakley Street, it is really
nice and quiet, especially at night. We
definitely chose wisely on this rental!
 |
| Breakfast at Gail's |
 |
| Royal Naval College |
 |
| Maritime Museum |
 |
| Cutty Sark |
So…up about 7 a.m., which has quickly become the norm. Out and about at 9 and down to Gail’s for
another WONDERFUL cupcake and cup of hot chocolate. Robert did without his croissant this morning;
he obviously has more restraint than me!
Then, as our transport passes were “off-peak” (meaning we can’t use them
until 9:30 a.m. during the week) we hopped on a bus right on time, taking it
several stops toward Fulham and the Post Office. Very nice arrangement! All the products are available for people to
pick up, so we selected a medium size box, put everything we’d accumulated into
it, and sealed it up. Presto – and it’s
on its way home! (We do love mailing
home books and other reading material, as it does tend to accumulate quickly
for some reason, and always weighs a lot!)
 |
| Cutty Sark |
 |
| Royal Naval College |
 |
| Painted Hall |
 |
| Painted Hall |
Once everything was gone, we decided to head out to
Greenwich to see what we could see. We
have been to the Royal Observatory several times, and wondered what else might
be up that way. (We had thought of
seeing Olympic venues from last summer’s games, but for the most part, the main
area near Bow is being converted into a huge park, and isn’t open yet; next
visit!) So, on to a bus which wound out
of town and around and around seemingly like it was lost! Finally off that bus to another, which then
shot straight into Greenwich and let us off right at the Cutty Sark (which we have also toured several times). I think because we were now so close to the
water, it really felt much colder out; I was bundled up in my scarf, coat and
gloves! This time we headed into the
Royal Naval College, to see both the Painted
Hall (which we’ve seen pictures of) and the Royal Chapel. Both places
were absolutely beautiful! I especially
liked the ceiling of the chapel – Wedgewood blue and gold, a terrific
combination!
 |
| Royal Chapel |
 |
| Ceiling - Royal Chapel |
From there, we found the National
Maritime Museum. As we’d never
visited before, we headed inside. An
interesting place to visit – very geared to families and children, of which
there were many! It was interesting to
walk through the exhibits that (naturally enough) emphasized the various
British explorers and the routes they had taken over the years. They had a particularly poignant display
concerning Lord Franklin’s ill-fated trip to find a passage through the north
pole and out the other side; 169 men left on the expedition; no survivors. They
also had several interesting exhibits on the Titanic.
 |
| Smoked Chicken Salad |
 |
| Smoked Salmon Salad |
By now it was lunchtime, and, once again, we were able to
avail ourselves of their lovely restaurant!
This time we each ordered salads – mine was smoked chicken, and Robert’s
was smoked salmon; both were excellent!
These were washed down with a lovely glass of Argentinian Malbec. Dessert – yes, we couldn’t resist! We shared an apple and rhubarb crumble with
vanilla ice cream – yummy!
By now it was after 2, so we thought we would head back to
the flat. We did, however, go UNDER the
Thames on the foot tunnel back to the Docklands area, where we caught the
Docklands Light Rail back to Westminster.
Settled in for nice afternoon naps about 3:30!
 |
| Apple & Rhubarb Crumble |
Up again about 5:30 (we are getting SO lazy, but this is,
after all, our holiday!). As we were
both still rather full from lunch, we decided to go back to the really nice
Waitrose grocery store for something light, as well as stop at the Waterstone’s
book store for a new U.K. motoring atlas.
(I have to admit that I forgot to pack our “old” one, but, as Robert
pointed out, it was at least 4-5 years old…so…a new one was called for anyway!) Very crowded in the grocery store, but hardly
surprising, as it was getting on for dinner time. We got a container of really excellent dried
tomatoes, some Greek olives (for Robert!) and we both got small tartlets –
cheddar and leek, which were surprisingly good!!
 |
| Ship's Figureheads - Maritime Museum |
Back to the flat for a ManU (Manchester United) football
(soccer) game for the FA (Football Association) cup. Hugo will be coming at 10 a.m. to check us
out of the flat, and we do need to get packed and organized for the schlep to
the country! We will take a cab to St.
Pancras International station to catch the train to Luton Airport and pick up
the car. We’ll return the car next week
at this time, and catch our Easy Jet flight to Berlin! In the meantime, we will be spending the week
in our favorite Cotswold town, Bibury.
We’ve rented what looks to be a lovely cottage, and are very much
looking forward to seeing some of the sights in that neck of the woods –
Bletchley Park, Duxford Air Museum, Ashmolean Museum (Oxford), Bosworth Field
and possibly Blenheim Palace. Lots to
do!
 |
| Cutty Sark & Entrance to Foot Tunnel (dome) |
 |
| Thames Foot Tunnel |
More later!
m
xxx
No comments:
Post a Comment