London First Visit

---

London first Visit
Day1
We decided to try a homestay for the first days in London. After the Mega Run from Bath to Oxford, then London, we thought it would be sa good time to have as lazy day. After a bit of a sleep in, Kath remembered a tourist attraction that she had read about that was near Christina’s house (our homestay host). The attraction was a series of caves that have been around since the Saxon and Roman times. We went there for a visit, and found them very interesting. It was Chiselhurst Caves/
The caves were totally man made, as they were the sight of a large chalk and flint mine that dated back thousands of years. The Saxons mined the chalk from the early ages and when they were overrun by the Romans, they continued on with the mining. The tunnels were large enough to fit 15,000 people in to live, during the Second World War, and some of the mined areas included a hospital, a school, and shop area a stage where the very famous bands have played before they became famous ie rolling stones. Flint was also mined, to set off the old flintlock guns in the 1700’s. It was an amazing piece of history. The tunnels were freezing cold (about 10 deg c), but when there were all those people living in them, the temperature rose to 27 deg c.
It was decided to try out the London railway system, on a day where we had no definite plans. A trip to Greenwich was in order, as that seemed a quite interesting place to spend the afternoon.
The rail system is very well organized, and the trains fast and frequent. Greenwich was interesting with many varied exhibits, from the centre of GMT, to a planetarium, and to the currently closed Cutty Sark exhibit. The Cutty Sark, probably the most famous ship ever, burnt to the ground a couple of years ago, and they are still about 12 months away from finishing the rebuild. The history around here is so different from anything we have in Australia and just blows your mind.
It was too early to go home after the Greenwich visit, so we went to the London Eye. This is a huge ferris wheel, across the river from Big Ben and the Tower of London. It costs 18 pounds, but it is well worth it. I recommend pre booking on the internet, as the cues to purchase tickets could be a pain. We were quite lucky we didn’t have to cue for long at either the ticket line or getting on eye. The ride, however was very good, and gave one a great insight of the layout of the town and how close the historical locations are to each other.
We had dinner in a London pub, where I had a steak and guinness pie, and Kaths steak turned out to be Babe’s Bum. If you don’t fancy pork, don’t order a Gammon steak.
Day2
Day 2 had been planned for a long time.
The plan was to go to the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, then on to High Tea at the Ritz hotel, and finally a visit to the Chelsea flower show. We went in the Tube to Buck Palace, and because of the crowds arrived at about 10:45. For us the best available vantage point was to be on the top of the steps directly across from the main gate of the palace. We stood there for ¾ of an hour until finally the parade started. It all went pretty well. I thought it was worth seeing, but was amused by the antics of one of the coppers who was assigned a place directly in front of us. It would be frustrating being a senior policeman, and assigned a job of crowd control in front of the palace. This fella just shouldn’t have been there. His manner was quite rude and showed no compassion for the people that he was dealing with. His behavior would have cast a bad light on the London Police.
We had some time after the changing of the guards before we needed to go to the Ritz for high tea, so we went to the wellington arch, then the wellington museum. I was really impressed by the calibre of paintings on the walls. Paintings of this stature would go to Australia as a major exhibit at one of the national Art Gallaries. Here they were on the wall in a gallery that we could easily access.
High Tea at the Ritz was really great, and although it was expensive, it is something that you have to do if you can while in London. The sandwiches and cakes were delicious as was the tea and coffee. If you left there feeling hungry there would have to be something wrong. Very flash. Just remember to bring a tie. The Jacket hire is free, but they charge 10 pounds to hire a tie.
We went from there to the Chelsea Flower show. Although flowers aren’t really my thing, the show is the best of its type anywhere. A group of aussies won their division in the show, and that was worth seeing. The show was huge, and the displays impressive, even to me. I took lots of pictures.
Caught up with some of Katrh’s rellies after the flower show, They had a unit in Chelsea, just near the flower show, as their son was exhibiting in the show. He had helped with an Australian exhibit, that had won a gold medal in it’s class. An excellent result. Again we made it back to Christina’s late, but it was better to be out and about rather than sitting at home. G

---

Photos

Aussie Entry at Chelsea
Gold medal winning entry from Australia