London Stopover, Hampton Court, Royal Parks

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Right at the end of our trip, a couple of days in London before we fly home to Australia via Hong Kong. The brochure did tell us that we would have a tour of London on the first day, this usually means that on the way from the boat to the hotel the driver will point out a few things. We had breakfast at 6:00 a.m. because we had to pack and vacate the cabin by 8:00 a.m. even though we were not due to disembark until 11:15 a.m. and the new passengers would not arrive until after 3:00 p.m.




We arrived here at about 1:30 p.m. our coach driver telling us that at 2:00 p.m. we would be meeting a blue badge guide for a tour of London. Being a bit over seven hours since breakfast I asked if any provision had been made for lunch, turns out our next meal was not due until 6:30 p.m. Made me wonder how the Discovery people had managed to get a small cruiser around the world in one piece, anyway the driver knew where we could get a quick snack and we were soon tucking into to some rather expensive but very nice sandwiches with a pot of tea. Chatting to the natives, we were told that British Airways has a large interest in the above London Eye and they’ve made more money from it than from the European (former BEA), operations.








Before getting back to the charabanc for our tour, we were able to have a look at familiar things on the River Thames. Worked not far from here almost 40 years ago.







There wasn’t anything quite like this when I was last here but it was interesting to look at and all for free.







I think this is the barracks for the Guards and any other visiting armies that take up duty in London mainly at the Royal Palaces.








I think this is called the gherkin and recently changed hands for more than the annual budget of some smaller countries.







That’s our mob (Australia House). A few years ago, it was a meeting place for Australian visitors to London, mail could be collected and people could just meet. Like many other things, the present security arrangements have ended it.










A few more familiar things, even when I lived and worked in London I never got bored with things like this, almost every weekend I played the tourist.







Don’t remember anything like this, looks to us as if it is slipping to one size like a pile of plates that are about to topple over. According to our coach driver a large international firm of consultants was paid £700,000 to come up with a suitable name for it, a year later they christened it “City Hall”.







Here’s part of the original London Wall, not much of it left, hope they can preserve the remaining bits if only for tourists to gawp at.








I’m sure that you could drive around and through this not that long ago.





After a night’s sleep in a hotel room that was not bobbing around on the ocean, we had a couple of days to explore London on our own. Incidentally can thoroughly recommend the Hilton London Metropole, lovely hotel, with a good efficient and very friendly staff and situated close to everything.




I’d been around Hampton Court Palace many times when living here but couldn’t resist another visit. So much history starting with Cardinal Wolsey who moved out to make way for Henry VIII.





We caught a train to Hampton Court Station, very impressed with the service and then we were greeted with this lovely view of the River Thames out near Kingston.








It’s always worth a visit and nowadays they seem to have improved on the conducted tours with actors taking the part of historical characters. A tip; travel by train, pick up a brochure when you buy a return ticket, there is a voucher in the brochure that you complete, hand this in at Hampton Court, show your train ticket and they let two in for the price of one. Think this applies to most of the Royal Palaces.







The main entrance, the ticket office is on the left just before here.








The clock, tells you the tides, phases of the moon, sunset, sunrise and even the time. By the time that you have figured out how to read it the sun will have set.







A couple of guides dressed as characters from Henry VIII’s time. They were very good re-enacting and discussing the intrigues of the time.







Lovely ceiling, that could be a Lancashire Rose in the centre.













Scenes from the kitchens down below.








Comparatively recent addition to the premises.








This is really the back door with a large driveway down to the Thames. These trees have been trimmed in the Victorian style.







This style of topiary was used prior to Victorian times.















They’ve spent about the last twelve years working like mad restoring this area ready for our visit. It is part of the original gardens but had been turned into lawns at some time to give a better view of the Thames.








This is not the original. It was manufactured a few years ago using original tools. There was a TV documentary from the BBC about it.







This was built at the request of one of the Queens, might have been Adelaide.











There are many smaller gardens, here’s just a few of them.








They even put a lot of work into the chimney stacks, the word might have been chimley in those days.







This glass house holds the famous vine






Here it is. They do sell the grapes from it, I tried some many years ago but didn’t go back for seconds.







Another view of the Thames, this time from Hampton Court. I’ve never been the other side of that bridge but I think there is a lock of some kind. At one time, there were very slow boats to Oxford; they took a few days.







Not sure if the growth on this tree is a parasite or epiphyte, probably the latter or they would have done something about them.






Here’s a close up of whatever it is.








These were some of the grace and favour houses until the reign of one M Thatcher. This is now an admin block, probably full of accountants because then Royal Palaces that are open to the public have to be at least self supporting but try to return a profit.







More chimleys.







The Great Hall from afar.







We managed to get a sneaky look in the greenhouses, normally closed to the public but we were on a guided tour. They try to limit the number of visitors because it can cause stress and introduce infections to the plants.






Back at our hotel in the evening, we recognised this as the sun was going down.







Up early next morning to take a sunrise picture of it.







Another pleasant place to visit, the café on the opposite side of The Serpentine.







An unusual WW2 memorial.








A closer snap explains it.







The solar powered boat carries passengers up and down The Serpentine.







Part of the Princess Diana memorial Fountain.







A last look at The Serpentine before we return to our hotel to get ready for the aeroplane ride back to Australia. The lake in Botanic Gardens in Southport is supposed to be a smaller copy of this one.







Incidentally they have a really good inexpensive cafeteria in the Tilt Yard at Hampton Court Palace.

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