The State Rooms at Buckingham Palace

While travelling home from London on our last visit we noticed an advertisement for an exhibition at Buckingham Palace about the work that Queen Victoria had done there to make it into the modern home and workplace that it is today. We filed it at the back of our minds until our son mentioned that he would be away on business for a couple of days and that we might like to borrow his home again, so a quick look online for tickets on one of those days, followed by a search of the LNER website for cheap Advance First tickets to get there and we were off once more to the capital.

Complimentary refreshments in LNER First
Class on a short trip: wine, fruit and
sandwich. Other options were available.

It so happens that just a few times a day a fast train to London stops at Peterborough at 30 minutes past the hour, connecting beautifully with our train from Stamford, and that these trains are seldom busy and so have both space and plenty of cheap tickets. So we found our selves on the 14:30 to London and the journey was perfect: plenty of space in our seats; power sockets that worked; complimentary food trolley came round even before the train had left the station, closely followed by hot and cold drinks; friendly and efficient staff who looked after us well. We did leave Peterborough a couple of minutes late but we were in no hurry and I did not notice whether we were late on arrival.

This was a short trip in summer and we combined our luggage in one small wheeled case, so there was little need for step-free routes and I was able to carry everything straight down to the Hammersmith & City Line Underground platforms at Kings Cross, and sitting near the correct end of the train we were down the stairs at our destination in no time and soon letting ourselves into our temporary home. Having had lunch at home before we left for the station, we had not needed all of the food provided for us on the train, so this did well for a light supper.

The following morning we were up bright and (reasonably) early and after breakfast walked to a stop to get a bus to Buckingham Palace, allowing plenty of time for things to go wrong and for traffic hold-ups on the way. The bus is nothing like as quick as Underground train, even if there are changes of train, but it is generally a more pleasant ride and we do get to see something of London. I don't think there was anything on this route, the 148, that we had never seen before, but it was nonetheless a great ride, going through some of London's loveliest residential streets and past Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park and the grand hotels of Park Lane. Further, the ride was quite swift and simple and we were well ahead of schedule, so we stayed on past our expected stop as far as Victoria Street, opposite Westminster Cathedral, and went for a walk along Broadway, through the modernist extravagance of St James's Park station to and around the park itself, including a walk along Horse Guards Parade - the only guard we saw was the armed police office at the rear of 10 Downing Street. The flower borders in St James's Park for spectacularly beautiful and we seemed to be seeing them at the very best time, with almost everything in full bloom.

In the distance we could hear the sound of a military band, and as we neared The Mall we saw a contingent of marching troops in ceremonial uniform entering from a side street. Meanwhile large crowds, including many escorted parties, were beginning to gather. The Changing the Guard ceremony was taking place at the palace, and our 11:30 timed-entry ticket meant that we would be passing the front of the palace on our way to the side gate in the midst of this crowd-drawing spectacle. Visitors to London from all over the world will have come to these few street just to watch this hour-long piece of traditional pageantry. We managed to get past the crowds and to cross the road without inconveniencing any marching bands, and although we did not know this end of the palace grounds at all well it was fairly obvious where the entrance to the State Rooms was and we soon joined the small crowd of people entering for the 11:30 start. The Queen Victoria exhibition is simply woven into this year's opening of the State Rooms, so an ordinary ticket to visit those rooms is all that is required, and then as you go round there is extra information and additional artefacts relating to the life and work of Queen Victoria.

Photographs are not allowed, so I cannot show you any here, but I will say that these rooms are well worth seeing. You do not have to be an ardent monarchist or historian, but an interest in British culture or in architecture and design will be well satisfied here. There are many rooms open, and personal headsets are available free of charge to give a commentary and further information as you round at your own pace. If you want to study all the paintings in the Royal Collection, you can take all the time you want, but in the unlikely event that you are bored by these you can just walk through and enjoy the spectacle of the building. The profits from these public openings go to maintain this art collection, and part of the purpose of opening this rooms is to allow the public to see the works of art.

Exit was through the famous Buckingham Palace garden where we had been several years ago at one of Her Majesty's summer Garden Parties, but now the terrace along the back of the palace was host to a café where we enjoyed an excellent lunch, and where the tea tent had been for the Garden Party there was a large souvenir shop, where we bought little gifts for the two grandchildren whose parents had kindly lent us their home for this trip. On the way out we also took time to visit an ice-cream stall by the lake (did I mention that we'd also had a Bertotti's ice-cream the previous evening? No? Well, we did: this ice-cream lark is becoming a habit so ingrained I do not always remember it ...). Back out on the street we took the bus back "home" via a brief shopping trip, mostly to get something to cook for dinner, and our amazing day out was over. Our tickets are valid for 365 days, so if we can return to London on a day the State Rooms are open any time in the coming 364 days we can ring for a time slot and repeat the visit if we wish.

On Saturday I had a small task to do, involving a walk to the Royal Mail office a short distance away, and then I went for a longer walk with no destination in mind, with the intention of returning with something interesting for lunch ... I finished up at the whole foods market in Kensington High Street, on the ground floor of the former Barkers department store. On the way I passed Olympia where people were queuing for the current event, Drag World. Looking at the queue it was clear that this was nothing to do with drag racing but with dressing-up, and while the majority of attendees seemed to be dressed normally (although you could not always tell whether they were dressed in the usual clothes for their sex, of course), quite a lot were very flamboyantly dressed and made a colourful spectacle. I could not help wondering just what might be on display at Drag World, being well outside my life experience, but it was clearly a very large niche and seemed very popular with all sorts of people, including families.

After my lunch-buying trip I caught a bus back to my temporary home and after lunch we packed, locked up, left gifts for our absent hosts and made our to the Underground for the trip home. Our LNER train left Kings Cross bang on time and got us to Peterborough where we had time to buy a few necessities from Waitrose before taking the connecting train to Stamford. On the platform were several Ipswich Town football supporters fresh from their 2-2 draw with Peterborough United and waiting for their train which was due to leave two minutes before ours. There was a heavy police presence for crowd control and although all the fans I saw were very well-behaved their mere presence might have been alarming for some. By the time our train left it was clear that things were not going well: on the opposite platform the train to Ipswich, just three coaches like ours, was not going to cope with all the intending passengers; this was not a special and there were many other folk aboard including children, all squashed into their places and the lobbies overcrowded while some football supporters were still on the platform. The police were having heated discussions with one group as our train pulled out so I do not know what became of those who would not be able to get on this train. It is only an hourly service and some of the trains are even shorter than that one; it is not a service designed for heavy flows of football fans on match days, and yet such capacity problems were easy to predict. Our own train came into Peterborough heavily laden with Newcastle supporters who were changing trains at Peterborough on their way home - a large crowd leaving the platform as the large crowd of Ipswich fans arrived - all good-natured but simply too many people for the trains and platform to cope with. Most Newcastle fans, knowing they had some time to wait, simply stood around until things eased off with the departure of the trains at the platform.

And so home, unpacking once more and preparing for our next trip! Watch this space ...

Another Royal Visit

Apart from our holidays and a few work trips (and these latter have been very few this year), all our occasional travel seems to have been to London lately, largely because of our desire to visit our family there, and also because, frankly, London is well worth visiting! I do not know how overseas visitors fit in all that London has to offer: I have been going there for over fifty years now and still find it fascinating. The current habit is to do just one thing, occasionally two, then go on to our family visit and then home. On a recent trip to London the "one thing" was to see the "Diana: Her Fashion Story" exhibition at Kensington Palace. We had been to Kensington Palace once before but things change and with this exhibition to see as well, there was plenty to occupy us until meeting our granddaughter from nursery at tea time.

It was essential to book tickets in advance for the exhibition (there is no charge other than admission to the Palace) in order to be sure that we could go on the day we had arranged to visit, so these tickets were booked and the train tickets bought well in advance so that we could secure inexpensive First Class tickets for the East Coast Main Line leg of the trip: this time we planned to return as late as we could, the 21:00 train from Kings Cross which connects neatly at Peterborough with the last train to Stamford at 21:59.

The day dawned wet in London, in accordance with the weather forecast. It was dry enough in Stamford as we made our way to the station and we had an easy ride to Peterborough and then First Class to London, with some breakfast goodies still on offer: croissant, yogurt, orange juice and coffee. There was a number of options for completing the journey to Kensington Palace, the entrance to which is well inside Kensington Gardens and not especially near any bus stop or Underground station, but the easiest way, we decided, was Circle Line via a change of train at Edgware Road: you need to watch this a bit as the next train southbound from Edgware Road needs to be determined from the information displays over the platform - either District or Circle Line will do for Bayswater which was where we were heading. From Bayswater station it is an easy walk along  and across into Kensington Gardens, with our hoods up against the steady rain - passing Queensway Central Line station on the way!

There was no queue to enter the Palace, just a bag search and, as advance ticket purchasers we were waved through to show our print-at-home tickets. Once inside this was just a visit to the Palace with entry to the exhibition included, and it was clear that they were catering for long queues to enter the exhibition. Whether it was the rain I do not know, but there was no queue at the time so we opted to "do" the Diana fashion story exhibition first and then drift around the rest of the premises. Of the exhibition I would say it is great for anyone who is interested in:

• fashion of the 80s and 90s
• Diana, Princess of Wales
• The Royal Family
• Celebrity culture
• The use of dress to make a statement

I was mildly interested in the way the princess' attire changed as her role first developed and then changed again with the break-up of her marriage. To see first-hand dresses that we had all seen in the newspapers and on TV was also quite interesting. Some effort had been made to stage this show, because on her death her clothes were auctioned for her charities, so collectors had had to be approached to loan them for display. 

The rest of the visit to Kensington Palace consisted of a tour through several parts of this great house learning about the history of the UK and its place in the world alongside stories of the Royal Family down the ages since William and Mary, our only joint monarchs, made this palace their home. Away from the public parts of the house, it is still a royal residence and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge live here with their children - as the Duke's mother, Diana Princess of Wales, had done.

We had both morning coffee and lunch in the cafeteria at the palace and after we had seen everything it was time to go to the nursery to collect our granddaughter, take her home to her parents and enjoy the evening with them. The nursery is in west Kensington, and we decided to walk, the rain having stopped now: although a bus from Kensington High Street would have done some of the route, I am not convinced it would have saved any time. Out through the south-west corner of Kensington Gardens we walked past the two defunct art deco department stores, Barkers and Derry & Toms, and the wonderful St Mary Abbots parish church and on towards Olympia then through the streets to our destinations.

Later we left for home, taking the Underground from the local station to Kings Cross where we had just a few moments in the First Class Lounge before our train began boarding and we were off home with the usual hospitality of Virgin Trains East Coast - although I have to say I did prefer having a choice of sandwiches on a plate rather than the current cardboard box of the same sandwiches every time I travel: a celebrity chef signature printed on the box does NOT make a packed meal classy! A quick change of train at Peterborough and the last walk of the day across the Meadows to our home.

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A South Coast Adventure

So often when we visit new places we say that we'll have to return to see things for which we had not allowed time, and this was so true of Chichester last summer that we reserved a room at Trents for this summer as we left, and for four nights instead of three. We soon filled the diary with things to do besides meeting our friends by the sea at East Wittering, and we bought our tickets in advance, First Class again from Peterborough through London to Chichester, with standard singles to get us to Peterborough and back. The weather forecast was very much better, too: dry, hot and sunny.

A couple of days before we were due to leave it became clear that the threatened one-day strike on London Underground was not going to be called off and so our outward travel plans were thrown into some disarray: this was becoming more of an adventure than it had first seemed! We considered all sorts of ways around the problem but eventually tried the most straightforward: when we arrived at London Kings Cross (six minutes early; thanks, Virgin Trains East Coast!) we made our way to the bus stop for Victoria, guided by the "TfL Ambassadors" on duty in the street outside. The bus was held up in traffic and terminated short in Oxford Street, so we walked to Green Park, cutting through the streets with the aid of the UK Maps app on my smartphone, and then realising we were not going to catch the booked train we gave up the walk and caught the next bus that came along. There was another train half an hour later and in the circumstances we were allowed to use our Advance tickets on this, so in the end it all turned out to work quite smoothly - we had time to buy some lunch from Boots shop at the station and arrived at the hotel just 30 minutes later than planned, which was not bad, really, for the day of a tube strike.

We checked in at our hotel, unpacked and went for a walk around the shops before meeting our friends for a pre-dinner drink. We had supper at Côte, the same restaurant that we used last time, and had an early night in preparation the next day's excitement.

Harbour tour: withdrawn warships

The deck timbers of HMS Mary Rose

Day two, Friday, and we strolled down to Chichester station and bought return tickets for Portsmouth Harbour, having booked in advance to visit the Mary Rose Museum at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. We remember seeing the operation on TV that brought this 16th century warship to the surface, and we remember visiting her when first on display, sprayed with water to keep her intact. Now the final stages of the initial conservation programme are under way and she is being dried out, surrounded by a museum which exhibits the artefacts discovered on board. In 2017 this should be complete and the drying equipment and temporary partitions will be removed and the museum will be complete. Our tickets also included a harbour tour and we took this first as there was only a short queue for the tour which was about to start. We were taken around the harbour on board a catamaran ferry and shown the modern and ancient (and recently-withdrawn) warships docked there.

One of many displays of artefacts from HMS Mary Rose

Our visit to the Mary Rose Museum itself followed after coffee and was fascinating. The ship was named by Henry VIII in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary and details of her decoration demonstrated that he was a devout Christian king, a good Catholic (this was the king given the title Defender of the Faith) - how things changed as the years of his reign rolled by. We learnt much about medieval naval warfare, religion and politics as well as life on board ship, gun construction and use and the place of Portsmouth as a naval base (since Roman times, we learnt on the harbour tour).


There is much more to see at the dockyard which will have to await a further trip: too much for one day. Further trips will be easy to arrange since travel via Birmingham and Bristol would make a simple way to get there from Stamford, through some very pleasant scenery on lines we have yet to explore. One day ... It's on the list (one day I must write the list down!).

Back at Chichester we had a quick drink with our friends at a harbourside pub and a snack in our hotel room before another early night, but during the course of the day we had made a decision! We had left our programme for the Sunday undecided, but as we left our morning train at Portsmouth Harbour and saw several fellow passengers making their way to the fast ferries for the Isle of Wight we thought that might make a Grand Day Out for Sunday, especially as we could visit Osborne House with our year's English Heritage membership. This was becoming a many-faceted adventure!

Saturday was the day to be spent at the seaside at East Wittering with our friends and it was a beautiful day. The bus stop for the Witterings was right outside our hotel and we turned up to consult the timetable just as a bus approached, so there was no waiting. The bus was soon in the heavy coast-bound traffic of a sunny summer Saturday and so the trip to the coast was a little slow, but no slower than for those driving ... and at least we did not have to park the bus! The day included a walk along the beach, swimming in the sea and building a sandcastle, with lunch in our friends' quirky holiday home based around two grounded railway carriages (see last year's blog post).


I think we caught the hotel on the hop by turning up so early for Sunday breakfast! They were supposedly open for service, but perhaps few holidaymakers get up in time for an eight o'clock breakfast on a Sunday - but we had a train to catch. With our Two Together Railcard I could buy two day return tickets to Ryde Esplanade - it is an integrated rail-ferry service with through ticketing - so for the first time in my life I found myself with a real Ticket to Ryde. The stopping train took us to Portsmouth passing Fishbourne where we went last year to visit the Roman Palace and straight to the top of the ramp to the Wight Ryder II catamaran. We arrived just as the catamaran was boarding, so the trip could not have been quicker. It was a hot, sunny day again and we sat on the "sun deck" watching the now-familiar Portsmouth waterfront recede as the ferry made its swift crossing to Ryde Pier Head.

I have been to the Isle of Wight before, but by car, and had never been to Ryde. The pier head is amazing: big enough for a small car park and complete ferry terminal and railway station. The railway is a single line along the east coast of the island, all that is left of a comprehensive rail network that once served most towns, and it uses two-coach trains made up of former London Underground tube stock. These have now been painted in the deep red they wore in service in London and it is strange to sit in one of these vehicles out at sea! We rode only the length of the pier and left the train at Ryde Esplanade, the first stop, where the bus station is immediately adjacent. So far we had taken just over one hour from Chichester to Ryde. We sought out the bus we needed for Osborne House - the route to East Cowes - and boarded asking for two tickets. The Osborne House stop is right at the gates of the property and the entire trip couldn't have been more convenient.

Visiting Osborne House and garden took all the day. It was hot and we needed drinks from time to time, and there is much to explore. We began with Pimms on the terrace then explored the interior of the house. We then walked down to the beach where Queen Victoria used to go - her bathing machine is still there, fully restored - where we enjoyed an ice-cream and views across to Portsmouth, then took the woodland walk round to the Swiss Cottage where Queen Victoria's children learnt the normal household skills that Prince Albert was determined they should have. A cup of tea there and we walked back through the extensive grounds to the house, visited the shop and made our way to the bus stop to begin the trip back to Chichester. We had walked many miles and seen and learned a lot.

Our bus came and took us to Ryde Esplanade, but we had a little time to spare before the ferry back, so we had a stroll along the seafront. It was high tide and there was a procession of huge cruise ships making its way through the Solent from the docks at Southampton, an amazing sight. We saw the hovercraft coming in from Southsea - this is an even faster way to cross to Ryde from the mainland but does not connect with any transport at the Southsea end so unless you happen to be there you lose more time than you gain by using it. Although we had tickets for the train along the pier we decided to walk out to the pier head and arrived just as the catamaran was boarding again. It was rather cooler now so we travelled "below" in the comfortable passenger saloon and were soon disembarking at Portsmouth Harbour and walking up to the railway platforms where the trains awaited: fast Southwest Trains services to London Waterloo and our stopping service towards Brighton. Being creatures of habit we simply went to Côte again for supper and were greeted like old friends - after two visits a year apart! It was a great meal. And so to bed, tired but very satisfied with a great day out.

Monday was the day of our departure, but we were not leaving until the afternoon and had set aside the morning for shopping and some sight-seeing in Chichester. This really is a very pleasant little city, with the main streets traffic-free and some charming back streets. We did our shopping and then explored the city walls and cathedral grounds then collected our luggage from Trents and made our way down the street to the station.

Our train was a fast Southern electric to Victoria and we travelled in the small First Class section at the end of the train - on this particular unit there was no door in the partition between the saloons and it was plain to see there was no difference between the seating in the two classes: you might wonder what we were paying the extra fare for, for it was only more spacious because so few us did pay it! I spent some of the time uploading photographs to my computer and began writing this blog post.

By the time it reached London our four-coach train had grown to eight, having been coupled to another en-route, at Horsham, I think. So it was quite a long walk to the Underground from the back end of it. We had plenty of time and comfortably reached Kings Cross in time for our East Coast train to Peterborough. As usual our reserved First Class seats were in coach M, and as usual the coffee was served as soon as the train started moving, followed by sandwiches, cake and wine: we felt we were home already, and by changing at Peterborough it was not long before we were crossing the meadows at Stamford and walking back to our front door.

Sent to the Tower

Regular readers may recall a trip to Newcastle upon Tyne which was organised in order to partake of a gin tasting which never happened. The "experience gift" company through which it was booked reimbursed the kind giver of the gift and in order to compensate us also gave us a free alternative experience. We decided to go for something a bit less fly-by-night than a trendy gin-tasting outfit and thought that maybe the Tower of London was something that was not likely to go bust any time soon, and that since the vouchers for it could be used any time it is open (every day!) we could go whenever the opportunity presented itself.

We decided that May Bank Holiday week was an opportune time. We would stay three nights in London, near to our son and his wife and their new baby, and as well as visiting them and doing some gardening for them we could spend time in London including our visit to the Tower. Planned well in advance we bought inexpensive First Class tickets as usual with Virgin Trains East Coast. Getting the hotel room was not quite so straightforward since location was important on this trip but we found a budget hotel in just the right place, one of many strung along the east side of Shepherds Bush Road.

We set out after a snack lunch on the Sunday afternoon,  with our luggage and a garden hoe which we needed for the work we doing for the family and would leave with them as it was surplus to our needs but would be useful to them. Have you ever travelled by public transport with a hoe? Business end was throughly wrapped in bubble-wrap to keep it safe but it was still good fun in the crowds in London, and although it easily went on the luggage racks both on our Cross Country Turbostar and our East Coast High Speed Train it would have been easy to forget it was there and arrive without it after all that trouble!

We arrived at Peterborough from Stamford for our change of train to see that all trains were reported "On time" except ours which was 8 minutes late. Gradually this became later and later and announcements reported that it had been delayed by a technical fault. The train after ours came and went (but on Advance tickets we could not use it) and by the time it arrived ours was about 20 minutes late. It was a diesel HST and the fault apparently was the total failure of one power car so it was restricted to 100 mph, slow enough to cause considerable delay and, of course, for the delay to extend as the slower journey went on. Arrival in London 34 minutes late meant that we could claim some of our ticket price back under the Delay Repay scheme, although the only inconveniences to us were (a) hanging around at Peterborough station and (b) constantly revising the e.t.a. at our our son's home.

The quickest way to the Hammersmith & City Underground line is straight out of Kings Cross main line station (and coach M in which our seats were reserved is right at the front) and down the stairs on the far side of the forecourt: the platforms for this line are only just under the highway and there is no need to take a longer way round, unless it is raining heavily, that is! According to the current Underground diagram ("Tube Map," as it is now called), both Circle and Hammersmith & City line trains all go through to Hammersmith but for the second time since we started making this journey frequently at weekends we found ourselves on a Circle line train that actually intended to continue the circle at Edgware Road rather than going on to Hammersmith as shown. I don't know what TfL is doing but it was especially confusing for foreign visitors and the subject of mystified conversation on the Edgware Road platforms as we made a surprise change of train to get to our destination.

Shepherds Bush Road, Hammersmith

We walked from Hammersmith station to our booked hotel, the Saba, around the corner and a few blocks back the way the train had come, still carrying the hoe, I am pleased to say. It had been especially good fun through the automatic turnstiles on the Underground. Come to think of it, it might have been even more interesting to have tried to bring it by car ...

Checking in at the smartly decorated Saba we were led along the street one more block, with the explanation that they have two buildings and our room was in the other. Our room was on the lower ground floor with a partial view of the Shepherds Bush Road and smelt of fresh paint. So fresh we think we were the first to use it after a repaint. The room was quite stylish and pleasant but very cramped. The supplied towels were OK but there were not enough of them and no footmat for the shower room, no bedside lamp so switching off the light at bedtime was a matter of navigating a cramped room in the dark ... I don't think I've ever been in a cleaner hotel room, though, and it was vey handy indeed for the breakfast room, also on the lower ground floor. It was fine for our purposes but if you want a room with chair or table this room is not for you! It had a fridge but nowhere to eat or drink any contents you might buy. The great thing about the location, though, is that any shortcomings of the room are, in my opinion, greatly outweighed by the sheer joy of walking out into a tree-lined street filled on the other side with cafés, bars, shops and restaurants, a short walk from Brook Green and not much more walk to Shepherds Bush and the Westfield Shopping Centre. It is just a great place to be.

That evening we had dinner with the family and started the gardening. We did not need that hoe in our little hotel room! The following morning, Bank Holiday Monday, we went to the breakfast lounge near our room. It was not full English but again was adequate for our purposes. There was a variety of cereal (but none was muesli), yogurt, orange juice, fruit cocktail from a can or two, and the option of scrambled, poached or fried egg on white toast, plus very decent coffee served to order from a machine. Like the rest of the hotel, the room was very stylish in a minimalist low-budget way, a very pleasant space with friendly staff. I don't think we were the target market (that is probably coach parties who are whisked away all day by their tour operators), and were among the very few that spoke English; we heard a lot of French being used: interesting.

We walked to the Westfield Centre, arriving well in time for the shops opening at 10:00. We walked around the whole centre, for although we had been before, that had been very much a mission to buy something in particular, whereas this time we had no real agenda, although  the ladies' section of Ugg was a required inclusion ... but as it turned out we left Ugg only with my own new shoes! I resisted the temptation to splash £8 on a raffle ticket for a Jaguar F Type, thinking the odds were probably not that good if anyone is expecting to make a profit out of the raffle. We left the centre for our scheduled family barbecue, via Waitrose to pick up some wine as our contribution.

After the barbecue lunch there was family stroll along the Thames at Hammersmith, and a pint at the local on Brook Green on the way back. We bought a snack from Sainsbury's which we took back to our hotel room and had a reasonably early night in preparation for the big outing to the Tower the following day, Tuesday.

By the time we had finished breakfast and prepared for the day, we were very much mixing with commuters as we made our way to the Tower. The trip is easy from Hammersmith, using the other Hammersmith station, on the District and Piccadilly lines we took a District line train direct to Tower Hill: we had to stand to start with but found seats after a couple of stops. Although Tower Hill station has building work in progress it was still easy to find our way out and to the entrance for the Tower of London. We exchanged our voucher for an admission ticket and were inside by 09:30 and went immediately to the Crown Jewels, since remembered dreadful queues for this display from my last visit as a child and the tourist information for the Tower warns of queues in school holidays - which this was. We walked straight in and saw all there was to see with just a little crowding here and there, but with patience it was not difficult to see it all. I say, "all," but the Imperial State Crown and a couple of maces were missing and replaced by labels saying, "in use," for this was the day before the State Opening of Parliament and Her Majesty would be using these items for that occasion.

A glimpse of the world outside!

We walked around the walls and took in all the displays about the history of the Tower as a royal palace and a barracks from the time of the Norman Conquest right up the present day. I was amazed to see it was still in military use in the twentieth century. I learned about the menagerie that had been there until was deemed too dangerous and the animals were moved to the new zoological gardens at Regent's Park. I learned a lot about guns and arms and armour and horses, and the royal family over the centuries.

And I saw the awesome queue that had developed for the display of the Crown Jewels and was so glad that we had started there! We had both coffee and lunch at the Tower, so full was the day, and we saw all that we wanted to see.

We then decided to take a stroll as far as Westminster, along the south bank, the inside of the curve of the river, so when we left the Tower we walked across Tower Bridge, which is   an experience in itself.

Tower Bridge, seen from the Tower

We walked past the Mayor of London's curvy, leaning building, had coffee at the remarkably inexpensive Cinq cafe at Hayes Galleria and crossed the road to have a look around Borough Market, which by then was closing for the day. Past the Globe Theatre we then popped briefly into the Tate Modern to buy some gifts in the gift shop and then made our way along the South Bank to Westminster Bridge which we crossed to get the train back to Hammersmith for dinner out with the family at the Best Mangal Turkish restaurant a few minutes' walk from their flat.




On Wednesday morning we packed up, checked out and then went to finish our gardening at the family's flat and then had lunch all together at the Wellcome Kitchen restaurant at the Wellcome Trust's amazing museum in Euston Road: again, easy to do; Hammersmith and City line straight to Euston Square station. We must return one day and look around all that is on show there, but for now we were on our way to the Jewish Museum in Camden.

Scripture repository at the Jewish Museum

From Euston station we caught the Northern line just two stops to Camden Town and then walked the short distance to the Museum. It was a lovely day and a pleasant walk, even with our luggage for the trip home. Security at the door was strict, and there was a free cloakroom at which we could leave our luggage, then we bought our tickets and went in. Fascinating displays told us the stories of the Jewish community throughout the country and especially in London - and a lot of the social history was actually of broader interest anyway: there was a special display about weddings and the fashions of the eras depicted were little different from anyone else's! Many of the other visitors were quite obviously Jewish and I was heartened to see a young woman in Islamic dress, too: the more we learn of each others' cultures the better. We avoided the section on the holocaust, not because it isn't important but because we have seen so much already: I visited the holocaust display at the Imperial War Museum in 2000 and do not feel I need a revision session just yet. Jewish life in London is not just about the horror (faced by all Londoners) but about joy, too. I'd recommend to anyone a visit to this fascinating place.

Looking south from Good Way: the distinctive clock tower at
St Pancras, and the yellow-brick curve of the Great Northern
Hotel at Kings Cross. Notes wine bar is on the ground floor
of the grey building to the right!

We walked back to Kings Cross along Camden High Street, stopping for a look at the amazing art deco Greater London House and then via St Pancras Old Church and the redevelopment site north of Kings Cross station, including a walk along the towpath of the Regent's Canal and sight-seeing from the viewpoint atop a pair of freight containers. A leisurely glass of wine at Notes coffee and wine bar saw us round to our train's departure time and we wandered onto the concourse at Kings Cross just in time to see the platform number on the display and took our seats in coach M as usual.

Departure was on time and the coffee served immediately, soon followed by the wine, sandwiches and cake (those travelling further also had the option of hot food, but Peterborough is too close for that. The usual short wait at Peterborough and we were soon walking home across the Meadows in Stamford.

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Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat

Snapshot after leaving: no photography allowed at party

An invitation to London to visit the Queen is not something I receive very often, but a few weeks ago a thick piece of card bearing an invitation to the first of the 2014 season of Buckingham Palace garden parties. A few days before the occasion we discovered some friends were attending the same party so we arranged to meet and go together.

With an occasion like this, once-in-a-lifetime and with extra smart clothing required, First Class travel was essential and was booked with East Coast from Peterborough to Kings Cross, with the usual connection from and to our home in Stamford by Cross Country. We could be fairly flexible about our own timing so we were able to book advance tickets at reasonable, although on this occasion not spectacularly cheap, fares.

Cheers!

It was a lovely day, sunny and warm but not hot, and given that I had to wear a suit and black shirt this was ideal. As we looked at our fellow passengers on the train it was clear we were not the only ones on board who were going to this party: the luggage racks were almost empty of anything but ladies' hats, and the "rules" for Royal Garden Parties stipulate no luggage and that ladies should wear hats!


We enjoyed the usual East Coast First Class hospitality, although I had to buy the sandwiches from the CaféBar as lunch service is not available south of Peterborough, but wine service was ... by the tumbler!

Proprietorial pose with High Speed Train!

We met our daughter, who just qualified by age to accompany us to the party, at Kings Cross and then took the Victoria line to Victoria where we met our friends for coffee before venturing to the convenient entrance at the corner of the Palace garden off Grosvenor Place, joining the queue of overdressed gentlemen and hat-wearing ladies. The queue moved quickly and we were soon showing our admission cards and strolling into the Queen's back garden. It is just like anyone else's garden only bigger, with lawn, pond, trees and flowers, with a huge tea tent (three, actually) and a couple of tents set up for the two military bans which were to play alternately through the afternoon. This was not boring military music, though: the RAF band, for example, was the Squadronnaires playing swing and jazz music which suited such an occasion so well.

Tea (or soft drink) was available from so many service points in the tea tent, with sandwiches, cakes etc., that the seven thousand or so of us did not take at all long to be served. We did not meet the Queen or any other member of her family, although we did see her at a distance and did see the Duke of Edinburgh, looking not a day over 70, chatting to someone nearby. What was amazing was how many people we met whom we did know! Including someone else from Stamford, someone whose parents live in Stamford, a a former Rector of Grantham and a former Bishop of Grantham.

At the end of a lovely afternoon we made our way out and parted company with our friends who had a couple of things to do, arranging to reconvene in the Parcel Yard bar at Kings Cross for a drink before catching our separate trains home (they do not all stop at all stations). We walked to Green Park Underground Station and took our train from there to Kings Cross. A lovely stroll to round off an afternoon in London. In good weather London really is a city hard to beat: there is just a joy about being there.

When the Parcel Yard first opened one could walk straight up to the bar, order and choose any of dozens of seats. Now it has proved a huge success and the bar is often crowded and seats hard to come by, but even with no baggage with which to "bag" seats we managed to grab a table for four and enjoyed a pleasant drink or two (welcome at this time on a warm day) and I simply had to try the "life affirming" (so it said on the pump) ale by the name of Lazarus!




Soon the time came to board the train to Peterborough (with a complimentary glass of Famous Grouse, of course) and onward connection to Stamford and so to home, where our garden really would not work for such a party ...