Portugal via London - 1

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Our little 'taste' of London.

The collective ‘episodes’ (this being the first) describe our journey from our departure from Oz, our arrival in London from the 3rd week of May and onto to Portugal for a journey into the Portuguese culture and landscape. In the few weeks available to us, we cannot experience 'everything'. Even so, we'll do our best to enjoy all that is available.



This 'episode' describes our London 'experience.



We attach a few pics to give a flavour of our journey, and some may 'flow over' past the dialogue. If we do this, you may need to manually go to the 'spillover' page to see them.



As always, if you want to 'see' more detail in an accompanying picture, click it to enlarge.



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Monday 22nd May 2017.

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Departing Gold Coast for anywhere (this time Kuala Lumpur) is frustrating. Coolangatta airport s such a bad airport for passengers; few passenger facilities, noisy, cramped and rude staff (especially the Border Farce). But, at least we don't have to go far from home to depart Oz. By contrast, both airports at Kuala Lumpur are a passenger's delight.



For us, KL is always enjoyable. We stayed at KL Sentral (reached by a direct train) and once settled took the Monorail to Bukit Bintang for dinner.

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Tuesday 23rd May 2017.

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A 10am departure for London in a Malaysian A380. The leg room was huge - much more than premium economy on Air New Zealand! Pity the food wasn't as good. The flight was entirely a day trip (14 hours daylight!!!) and we arrived at Heathrow at 4:30pm local time. Insterad of the 'cold' as we'd read was to occur, we were met by mid 20's and sunshine. A journey on the underground had us at Shepherd's Bush in less than an hour - time to settle, do some shopping and start our holiday with a beer or 3).

Wednesday 24th May 2017.

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After a long, long sleep to recover the previous missed hours, we felt like a need for green. We took a bus to Ravenscourt Park (about 3 km away). We can't put our finger on it precisely, but Londerners 'do' parks far better than Australians. Yes, there are grassed areas, but far less spacious. There are more shady trees, and in contrast to Australian parks; lots of planted areas. The latter are not labour intensive, rather, areas planted out with under-storey plants to give perspective and 'divide' the various spaces.



Being an upper class area, we discovered that on this wonderfully sunny day Ravenscourt Park was full of Nanny's taking their charges for a stroll. Not alone, rather, it was as if the Nanny's had organised to meet there and chinwag as they pushed prams / pushers/etc. We sat on a bench and eavesdropped on their conversation. As well as the typical consumption oriented focus, there were also snippets of how the household was 'operating'. We felt like voyeurs!



From the park we made our way to the Thames (a short walk via a couple of streets) and stopped at a plant nursery along the way. We reminisced over the Temperate climate plants - most in flower - many of which brought memories of our time living in Melbourne. Must say the prices were hard to digest; about 4 or 5 times those we'd expect in Australia. The 'other' aspect is that the flower blossom generated hay-fever in Bruce; something he'd left behind in Melbourne! The Thames River has a riverside walk from the mouth to the Cotswold's. Here, it was well constructed and well used. We ambled along in the warm sun and stumbled across a delightful looking restaurant in a garden setting. Asked about lunch and they said "we've just had a cancellation, you're in luck". What a wonderful way to spend a sunny afternoon - relaxing in a garden aside the Thames River in warm sunshine. Later we learned the restaurant has been awarded a Michelin star! The food was truly YUM!



Catching another bus, we returned to our apartment and did some 'retail therapy' at the nearby Westfield.

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Thursday 25th May 2017.

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With another warm sunny day, we decided to visit Portobello Road. Much has been written about the markets here, but we'd never visited. Upon arriving around 9am, we discovered the 'market' is largely an afternoon venue and more so over the weekend. What we did see didn't entice us to want to revisit; there are junk stalls all over the world, this being just another though with more flair. We did enjoy the scenery in the shops and the in-bloom aroma of the flowering Jasmine.



We headed into the city and did some family research before heading to Oxford Square to source some sandals. Another enjoyable day.

Friday 26th May 2017.

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Being members of the National Trust, we decided to visit a Trust venue at Osterley Park (and Manor House). We used an app to get the best public transport option and decided on a bus plus a short walk. The bus trip was an eye opener on its own; though urban and constructed over the past many decades, each 'village' we went through had its own flavour. We had to alight at a hospital and walk. Our smartphone showed a substantial walk from the stop, so decided to stay onboard till the next stop. Unknown to us was that the next stop was a long way along the road (some 2km). We alighted and made our way through village parks to our planned destination.



Sometimes fate takes us in directions we'd not planned; this was another example. Each park was quite different. the first formal, the second a large reserve (ex Council nursery) recently developed and oriented to kids. We discovered a really long flying fox and had some fun. Oh, to be a kid again! We continued along through another park that was more a riverine wildlife park than a 'park'. Winding our way between shrubs and grasses while being 'watched' by various birds was enjoyable.

Eventually we met a canal. Finding our way to the road, we discovered an engineering feat built some 150 years ago. A rail line passes under the canal (it flows in a a steel bath across) while a road bridge travels over the top. Three different forms of transport meeting in the one location. Amazing!



Continuing on, we entered a wooded Oak and Elm grove, complete with very large trees and much shade. On the other side, we arrived at our destination; albeit at the back end. Another kilometre in open fields to add to the 5+ we'd already walked merely made for another scenery change.



Osterley Park Manor House was interesting, but it was the gardens that took our attention. large sweeping lawns dotted with magnificent trees. Diverse gardens overflowing with flowerbeds comprising spectacular displays and endless walks through hidden spaces was a sheer delight (for us). At one point, the Trust had put out several deck chairs, and in the shade of a large Linden tree, we rested our weary calves. The song of blackbird and Magpie (unlike Australia) and Squirrels darting up and down trees made the rest truly memorable.



We departed the park by continuing south in the same direction and soon found ourselves walking through a field of Oats. We love that farmers are quite OK to have public walkways through their fields. In a short while we arrived at the Osterley station and made our way home via a Craft beer pub. Oh, what a lovely day!



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Saturday 27th May 2017.

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We had to visit Oxford Square again and decided to walk to the Central Line station via Holland Park. The day started sunny, but soon clouds appeared. We'd read an afternoon shower was possible. Walking through a park seemed a good way to enjoy the beautiful weather. We'd not been to this park before and had no idea what to expect. Upon entering, we quickly noted it was something different to what we'd seen. yes, there were the sports areas, lawns and gardens, but there was more. As we travelled through the park, we could see the designer(s) had developed micro-areas to be in contrast. a formal pathed and flowered area was juxtaposed to a wild (fenced) natural area. A courtyard was hidden from view by tall hedged trees and bushes, A long maze of box had been developed at a lower level than the surrounds allowing parents to send their kids to explore all-the-while on view. A gift from Japan, the Nagasaki and Kyoto garden was also enclosed from the rest of the park, but within still quite open. While there, we were visited by a very friendly Squirrel; obviously open to a quick morsel from a human. We could go on, but nevertheless we were stunned by the multiple landscapes in the design of the park area.



After a quick tube ride we were at Oxford Circus. Not far from the station (and close to our destination) we came across a 13 year old busker getting into current covers. Her skill and vocal accomplishment had a huge audience - so much so that she had to keep reminding the audience to ensure a clear way for pedestrians so as to avoid them walking in front of traffic. Such a powerful and angelic voice in one so young.



We completed our chores and headed over the Thames to the southside at London Bridge (Southwark) as we'd been told about a 'Golden' Mile. This consisted of several small breweries all located in close proximity who have all decided to offer their wares on a Saturday. Talk about a pub-crawl with a difference. Not only were the warehouse type facilities made comfortable for patrons, but by 'coincidence' there were also a host of pop-up eateries from which patrons could sate their hunger. It was two rather inebriated but completely satisfied Antipodeans who returned to Shepherd's Bush this evening!

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Sunday 28th May 2017.

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With predicted rain, we were delighted to awaken to (another) sunny morn. The bedroom window of the apartment backed onto a small green and the dawn chorus of blackbirds, doves and magpies (plus others we didn't know) was a great sign of things to come for the day.



Being our 'last' day in London, we decided to again visit a National Trust facility; this time toward the mouth of the Thames a little beyond Barking and Dagenham at Rainham Hall.



What we read from the Trust description appealed. The journey to parts we'd not before visited also helped in our decision-making. Upon arrival, we were met by wonderful scented gardens and a distinct English village atmosphere; being Sunday, traffic was minimal (so helping the ambience).



The dwelling has an obscure history and rather thasn focus on what might have been, the Trust has a (permanent?) display of an historical event; the dwelling was used as a daytime creche for bubs during the 2nd World War (1943-1954) to assist mothers contribute to wartime employment. The display focussed on raising and caring for children during this period at the hall. Many of the artifacts on display were the same as we had grown up with; bottles, nappies, pinnies; rocking horses, metal pedal cars and the like. The exhibition evoked many memories in us both.



After a wonderful sojourn, we left the village and returned to the London Bridge area as we'd heard of a pub offering a variety of craft beers. Known as the Spit and Sawdust, the pub was offering 30 different beer options. After the previous day, we felt they had yet to develop a marketing style as no-one seemed to know what each beer tasted like. After a few samples, we made our way back to Shepherd's Bush as we had to depart London the next day.

Reflections.

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Being children of an era in Australia where British values ruled, after the crass arrogance that has crept into (especially SE Qld) culture we feel like we 'home' when in London.



Residing in an (upper) middle class suburb while we enjoy holidays is (for us) a little bit special; we normally seek the more 'colourful' areas. This time, though, we felt the Islamist threats warranted our 'flight to safety'. That said, we still travelled into the 'colourful' areas on some days. After the Manchester attack, and the upgrading to Red Alert, the Police presence was greater than we'd previously experienced. In typical British style, on stations and on most public transport every 5 minutes or so there was an announcement regarding what to be mindful of during the alert.



When here, we wondered whether it might be the last time. We hope not.



Till next time.



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