Hello London

I have already shared with you the joy and comfort of Rosa Norte's and my accommodation at Mon's place in Kew Gardens.  I had no plan for London except that I wanted to walk part of the Thames Path.  Rosa also had no plan beyond pleasure, so we took the easy way out and went local, ie Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.

I have been to Kew Gardens twice before.  The first time I was on my own and all I seemed to see were red salvias.  The second time I was with Mum and my cousins Cynthia and John.  That time we looked at a lot of rhododendrons and azaleas.  Third time lucky, and lazy.  We caught the Kew Explorer land train.  Well!  Kew Gardens is huge!  A daisy meadow!

Photographer Norte was captivated by a heron we originally thought was a bronze statue

then she saw the ducklings

and she really wanted to see the Chinese Pavilion.

After a lot of looking we both got interested in food but decided we are too high, mighty and exotic for the caff

so we settled comfortably in the Brasserie.  It was a hot summer day and wan poms clamored to sit outside.  We of warmer climes enjoyed the rarified atmosphere of Charles Darwin's dining room, sitting among display cases, rare books and mahogany cabinets.  Refinement and a most attentive waiter.  We paid for it!  But what's money for?

free entertainment on the walk home

Not sure if it was that night or the next that Mon took us to her local for dinner,

during which I noticed that Rosa Norte was a walking piece of art.

The next day I decided that I really needed to see Carnaby Street, so off we tubed.

I was shocked that it was so nothing - but tourists.  Rosa, who grooved there in the 60s and 70s was incredulous that it had become so sanitised and just another mall,

even with its own sad mural.  I did see one inspiring window display,

hardly nouveau or Vivienne Westwood, but looks I'd happily sport.

The plucky Norte led us on to Piccadilly Circus and Eros.

I have to admit I got totally lost from there.  It was all so wonderfully London.

Liberty's

Possibly inside Liberty's

Fortnum & Mason?  If so, we indulged in decadent Afternoon Tea.

After such decadence we decided to escape to greenery, Green Park actually.  We resisted the deck chairs and strolled on, finally emerging, to our mutual astonishment, at Buckingham Palace.  After loitering with hundreds of others and, rudely, not being invited in, we found a seat and plonked ourselves down.  For quite a while.

Fortunately, a family group arrived  - children dressed in summer shorts, women soooo Liberty, and men in sharp suits with bowler hats and umbrellas.

The children pestered the men for the brollies and bowlers and proceeded to march around singing The British Grenadiers.  All rather astonishing but good entertainment as we willed our legs back into walk mode.

Then came Monday, and it was just about all over.  A walk along the Thames:

glimpsing  Kew Palace once home to George III and Queen Charlotte

a London full of possibilities

but almost rural

start of the Grand Union Canal

I was born in Queen Charlotte's Hospital in Hammersmith and my first home was in Hayes (CHT) - a 30 minute walk to Grand Union Canal.  Perhaps Mum and Dad pushed me in my pram??  I am intrigued by how my life may have been had we stayed in England.

But now it's off to Heathrow by tube: Terminal 5 for Rosa, Terminal 3 for me.

fueling for the flight

leaving a rainy London

Then the long flight home - easy in and out of Singapore, dastardly difficult to get back into Australia.  Borderforce is a force bordering on insanity in my opinion.  Of course our contretemps is almost forgiven, never forgotten.  But all the other memories will delight me forever.