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Published: June 17th 2010
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Wellington Arch
Just one of the examples of teh magnificent arches dotted around London. Morning was bright and clear for the drive into Londinium (Roman name for London) and we left our comfortable room in the Hunters Rest to continue the journey. We have had good accommodation all through the trip and this was no exception. We get an opportunity to write an appraisal of the service provided and we have had no cause for complaint from any of the hotels that we have frequented. They will all be getting positive feedback from us to assist them in gaining further custom for themselves and their business.
We took the opportunity to have our last drive and look at the rolling English countryside before we got onto the M4 and headed for Heathrow to drop off our hire car. Good little vehicle that suited our purpose and was reliable and economical. Nearly everyone drives a little car over here due to fuel costs, £1.15 a litre or higher for unleaded and about the same for diesel. That’s about $2.00 a litre at home folks, so don’t complain. Then again, the poms don’t have the distance to travel that we do just to get from one place to another. We got a shuttle bus from the drop
Duke of Wellington
They know how to recognise their heroes over here. off point to the Heathrow terminal 3 and the train into Paddington where we found our next hotel, which is quite nice, even though the room is small, it is comfortable. Quiet night tonight before we head off tomorrow to walk the town and complete any shopping that is required of good parents and grand-parents!!! We will probably try to get a bit of sight-seeing in as well, but having done London before, in a metaphorical sense of course, there are still a few things to do.
Wednesday was a nice day in London with the sun shining through a bit of cloud cover and a cool breeze present. Walked from our hotel through Hyde Park, across the Serpentine River and into Knightsbridge and then to Harrods for a look see through an expensive department store. I can see why the prices are so high as there was staff standing around doing nothing while the tourists, us included wandered through. We had a mission as requests had been made for various items and after these were purchased, we left the building. As is the case in European buildings, the heating was turned up and it was warm inside and reality
National History Museum
This is a magnificent building well worth a look at itself. Beautiful architecture and design. hit when we went out the doors. Walked along the road until we got to Hyde Park corner where there is a monument to the Duke of Wellington (Waterloo) and then along Piccadilly road to Leicester Square. Found a souvenir shop to complete any and all shopping remaining to ensure that we are still in good books on return home. Grabbed some lunch and then walked to the West End to check if any show tickets were available at a cheap price. No success there as it is now summer, the tourists are in town and the price won’t drop too low as demand exceeds supply. Spoke to an Aussie girl in the ticket office (she is working for cash in hand as her visa has expired) and Lee gave her some advice about sourcing work over the internet. Walked through the sleazy part of London (Soho) where there were strip and nude shows available (I wanted to stop but Lee not into that) and onto Oxford St. Still a fair distance from digs but after walking for about 1.5 hours we got to our hotel. Have covered a small amount of London on the tourist map but I estimated
Interior view
Taken from a statue of Charles Darwin. This is what he 'looks' at every day. Just magnificent. our little jaunt at about 10-12 miles (16-20Km). The legs and bodies on the grand-parents needed a rest so a small lie down was in order before we head out for a recuperative drink and dinner. London museum beckons on Thursday.
Thursday morning dawned bright and sunny (yes you read it right) and we left our hotel in short sleeves and me in shorts for a day wandering and touring London. We headed to the tube station to buy tickets and while in the line were accosted by 3 rude and belligerent Australian tourists, who just happened to be friends of ours who were in the fifth week of a ten week world tour. We were heading in the same direction but they got off prior to our destination as they were headed north to Leeds to visit their son and his girl-friend and her parents. We wished them well and invited them to visit us in the Mount on their return from their trip. They have both retired now so time is no problem, just the inclination.
London Museum has a display dating from 450,000BC to present day and there is so much information it is impossible to absorb
T Rex
The animated display of T Rex in the museum it all in one day. We just read highlights and continued through the exhibition until we had completed as much as we could possibly do. Quick bite for lunch and then back on the tube to visit the National History Museum. We were looking for the British Museum as we had seen a program at home which highlighted the British Museum and the exhibits there. The National History Museum is not the place that we were looking for, but it had an exhibition of prehistoric, marine and land animals on display that was very interesting. The dinosaur exhibition was the best I have seen with displays of skeletal remains and explanations of how the dinosaurs survived and then perished through the ages. Everyone’s favourite, T Rex was on display with a simulated display and animated model.
The National History Museum is a magnificent building situated in Kensington and the building is an architectural masterpiece in itself, without the displays that it houses. It has magnificent carvings both inside and out and is worth the time just to look at the building itself. We caught the tube back to Paddington station and purchased our Heathrow connect tickets for the train trip to the airport for Friday morning as this is the last night of our holidays and we are about to return to reality and winter weather in our home town. We have had another good meal and a final few drinks in London and the end of nearly five weeks of holidays approaches.
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