sleepy tiger

We planned to visit Padstow by bus on 21st September. The hotelier also said good things about the bus. Mark had checked the bus timetable and we were to take the bus from near our hotel. I had written postcards for two people in Japan; we went to the post office before catching the bus. I was a little surprised that postage fees have been risen quite a lot. We took the 10:39 open Decker bus for Padstow. The friendly bus driver did complimentary guide for passengers through the journey, although he had to drive through narrow, winding paths from time to time. The bus went through Porth Beach, Watergate Bay & Beach and Porthcothen Bay. We popped in the tourist information centre after getting off the bus. I found the leaflet of ‘historic trail’ in ... read more

I was going to do the walk in the city on 9th June. However, Central line had severe delays on both directions; I decided to do the walk around Piccadilly, St James and Mayfair. I was instructed to use the South Exit 3 to go to Piccadilly. A lot of shops had Jubilee window displays, very patriotic. I was particularly fond of one of the gentlemen’s clothes shops’ display – contained several puppies/dogs’ display with gent’s mannequins, with lines of ‘Happy and Glorious’ – this was very much British lifestyle! I went to Sotheran’s On Sackville Street – it had rare books and prints and posters. I don’t remember how much each of them was priced. I bought a nice card for my husband who will have birthday soon. I crossed over Piccadilly and popped in ... read more

We did a part of Royal Parks Walks on 2 May – starting from Camden Town station, we went through Regent Park, Regent Canal via Little Venice and Kensington Gardens. On 3 June, we started from Lancaster Gate and walked through Kensington Gardens and strolled through Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Walk. There were a lot of colourful, scented roses and flowers blooming on the beds, arches and obelisks and canes - they looked very beautiful and offered therapeutic atmosphere with lovely garden ornaments. Afterwards, we crossed over the busy roads and passed through Duke of Wellington Memorial Arch and entered Green Park. As expected, a part of green Park was closed; we had to take an alternate route to reach Westminster. Mark had brought a little A-Z guide. After leaving Green Park, we walked down ... read more

As directed by ‘Walking in London’ by Peter Aylmer, we began the walk from Camden Town station. Following signposts, we walked through bustling high street with a number of independent shops selling interesting looking items. We entered Regent Park from northeast gate and passed chestnut lined Broad walk and head for Queen Mary’s gardens. Roses were not out yet, but there were lot of flowers blooming on the beds and water rock gardens. Though he seemed to be a little confused with directions, Mark managed to find ways to find the bridge to join the towpath of Regent’s canal. I remembered walking along Regent’s Cana in 2000 before we married. Nothing was changed from that time – we saw a number of grand mansions with valley gardens along the towpath. We were then directed go up ... read more

As instructed by London Literary Walking guide, I started the course from Embankment station. I walked through small alleyways, gone past Embankment Gardens, the building where Samuel Pepsy used to live and the building has been used for Royal Society of Arts before reaching main street, Strand. As expected, Union Jack flags were hanged between buildings on Strand. I found a very interesting shop, i.e. Stanley Gibson, the specialist stamp & coin shop and popped in. There were huge variety types of stamps with Royal family members, Commonwealth countries stamps and stamp albums and valuable coins. All the staff were wearing formal dress code, blazers and formal trousers and ties. I used to have someone who was very fond of Royal family and could have bought some for her, but she’s not here anymore. I bought ... read more