Hello to all
Today will be our last blog. We had a relatively early start as we went to Windsor Castle today. It is a four train journey to go Windsor but very efficient indeed. Lovely day not too hot as it has been very warm this week. Very pretty little town Windsor and we visited all the different parts of the Castle, first of all St George's Chapel, 1504 yet anor amazing place, lot of cleaning and resotration work happening, extremely interesting original Bibles and early translations, too amazing really. We then headed off to the Queen's Apartments, outstanding as well. That we can just go in and see what is there I think we are very fortunate indeed. It is a very well oiled machine the Royal Industry, I am sure the polulation of Japan was only 15 today because everyone else was at Windsor. All very orderly and you can take as much time as you wish. We then had some lunch at a lovely pub facing the Castle and made our way home on our four trains. I do not think even a seasoned Londoner could have made the journey from Windsor to Euston (where our hotel is) in such efficient time. We have had a rest, my tooth is feeling much better today so I am relieved just keep the antibiotics up until I get home. We are about to head out and have some dinner, tomorrow we will get organised to come home, go the laundromat, it is way easier to pack clean. If we are up to it we will perhaps go into town again. Anyway to all our readers, hope it has not been too boring it has been fun to do really and a very good diary of our journey, so it is goodbye from him(Sam) and goodbye from her (Sabine) All the best and look forward to seeing everyone on our return Love Sam and Sabine XXXX
Saturday, 6 August 2011
Friday, 5 August 2011
Friday 5th August,2011
Hello to all
Early start this morning. I have had a bit of a problem with a tooth the last few days (I had a temporary filling done the day before we left, it has literally just caused a problem that day) and this morning I know I could not wait until our return, spoke to the reception staff at the hotel who were very helpful,made a few phone calls and we finally found a dentist literally along the road from the hotel and they had had a cancellation so went straight down, he was a lovely chap,very kind and a very good dentist so put in anor temporary filling for me, along with antibiotics etc to get me home, how very fortunate I was to find someone to do it for me. Came back had a bit of a lie down and we set off about midday to go to Trafalgar Square, headed into the National Gallery and were given a flyer for an orchesteral concert at St Martin's in the Field Church nearby, so we bought some tickets for 7.30 this evening. We then headed off to see the National Portrait Gallery, a very good exhibition called Glamour of the Gods: Hollywood Portraits, extremely good. After this we headed toward to No 10 Downing Street, we thought we might go home and come back later for the concert but decided to get something to eat and go and sit in the grounds of Westminister Abbey and then we wandered up to the concert had a coffee in the Crypt Cafe and attended the concert at 7.30. Quite a beautiful event, amazing orchestra, very talented people and the church was only lit by candelabra and other candles, one would have thought one was in heaven, very very beautiful, one to remember. We then headed home by train only took 20 mins from centre of London to our hotel. We are hoping to go to Windsor Castle tomorrow and then get ready to head off on Monday. Hard to believe we only have 2 days left, has been amazing, we have done so much not wasted a second so we think we have been very fortunate indeed. I did forget we also went to see Household Cavalry Museum, so many things to see you could be here for 12 months. Sam is very much looking forward to coming home. Sam and Sabine (I am quite going to miss being Sabine)
Early start this morning. I have had a bit of a problem with a tooth the last few days (I had a temporary filling done the day before we left, it has literally just caused a problem that day) and this morning I know I could not wait until our return, spoke to the reception staff at the hotel who were very helpful,made a few phone calls and we finally found a dentist literally along the road from the hotel and they had had a cancellation so went straight down, he was a lovely chap,very kind and a very good dentist so put in anor temporary filling for me, along with antibiotics etc to get me home, how very fortunate I was to find someone to do it for me. Came back had a bit of a lie down and we set off about midday to go to Trafalgar Square, headed into the National Gallery and were given a flyer for an orchesteral concert at St Martin's in the Field Church nearby, so we bought some tickets for 7.30 this evening. We then headed off to see the National Portrait Gallery, a very good exhibition called Glamour of the Gods: Hollywood Portraits, extremely good. After this we headed toward to No 10 Downing Street, we thought we might go home and come back later for the concert but decided to get something to eat and go and sit in the grounds of Westminister Abbey and then we wandered up to the concert had a coffee in the Crypt Cafe and attended the concert at 7.30. Quite a beautiful event, amazing orchestra, very talented people and the church was only lit by candelabra and other candles, one would have thought one was in heaven, very very beautiful, one to remember. We then headed home by train only took 20 mins from centre of London to our hotel. We are hoping to go to Windsor Castle tomorrow and then get ready to head off on Monday. Hard to believe we only have 2 days left, has been amazing, we have done so much not wasted a second so we think we have been very fortunate indeed. I did forget we also went to see Household Cavalry Museum, so many things to see you could be here for 12 months. Sam is very much looking forward to coming home. Sam and Sabine (I am quite going to miss being Sabine)
Thursday, 4 August 2011
Thursday 4th August 2011
Hello to all
We started our day today with two train journeys to get us to see The Royal Mews, it was very wet, but we ended up at our destination in not too bad condition. We were very fortunate yet again just in time for a guided tour of The Mews. What they keep at The Mews are all Royal Carriages and the horses that are used from day to day. The Mews had an extremely interestng beginning,it was originally paddocks, the King and Queen of the time lived at St James' Palace and they built it as the stables, go forward many Kings, Queens etc. Buckingham House had been bought by a previous King but when Queen Victoria came to the throne she moved in very quickly, she finished improvements to convert it into a Palace, built all the State rooms etc, she had all this work done within 5 months. What she did was, the stables were just the stables but she said it was too difficult for the people who worked at the stables to have to be there each day by 6.00am so what she did was build anor storey on top of the stables which were apartments for the workers and their families. Today 130 people still live there, these are the families of the people who work there. We got the entire stories of all the coaches and why they were built etc. the Queens' favourite coach and the one she uses most is the coach Australia gave her in 1988 (our bi-centennial) this is a very comfortable coach, airconditioned, with hydraulic suspension etc. all very facinating. We were then taken to see where the horses used to be stabled, there is a name on each of the boxes and these are Her Majestey's horses. She has mostly Cleveland Bays, she actually rescued these from extinction, there were only 4 stallions left and she put in a program to breed them and now there are 100 stallions. When she is taken out in a carriage, only Windsor Greys are used. Because there are not occasions each day which require horse driven carriages, the Bays are used to take the mail coaches between the various palaces and this gives them the all important practice they need to have in public and on the roads etc. All the horses were on holidays today they all go for six weeks to frolic in a paddock and our guide said when they come back he can not do a thing with them. However we did see Daniel (a gray) the Queen's favourite and Mary Tudor who is 20 and she actually had a foal last year when she was 19, very beautiful she is too and then there was Flint and hamdsome he was too. At Christmas, all her horses are brought to the stables for her to wish each and every one of them a Merry Christmas and give each one a treat. What she also does is has a beautiful Christmas event for all of the children who live at the apartments, she organises Queen Victoria's sleigh to be brought into the centre of the stables where there is a Christmas Tree and all the trimmings and every child receives a gift. She really does sound like such a lovely lady.
We were going to see Buckingham Palace but there were no tickets left for today and the line with tickets was already one mile long. We decided to go and see Apsley House in Hyde Park, this was the Duke of Wellington's home, it was given to the public by the 7th Duke of Wellington in 1947 there had to be an act of Parliament passed to hand this over, the 8th Duke and his family still live there, it was very beautiful, some of the most amazing things, paintings etc. I could go on and on but I am runing out of time.
After this we did a quick visit to Harrods then on to The Imperial War Museum, an amazing place. The Holocaust Exhibition there was very comprehensive and a life changing experience, the best we had ever seen. Then we headed home, both completely exhausted. Sam said he could have said all this in six lines. Sam and Sabine
We started our day today with two train journeys to get us to see The Royal Mews, it was very wet, but we ended up at our destination in not too bad condition. We were very fortunate yet again just in time for a guided tour of The Mews. What they keep at The Mews are all Royal Carriages and the horses that are used from day to day. The Mews had an extremely interestng beginning,it was originally paddocks, the King and Queen of the time lived at St James' Palace and they built it as the stables, go forward many Kings, Queens etc. Buckingham House had been bought by a previous King but when Queen Victoria came to the throne she moved in very quickly, she finished improvements to convert it into a Palace, built all the State rooms etc, she had all this work done within 5 months. What she did was, the stables were just the stables but she said it was too difficult for the people who worked at the stables to have to be there each day by 6.00am so what she did was build anor storey on top of the stables which were apartments for the workers and their families. Today 130 people still live there, these are the families of the people who work there. We got the entire stories of all the coaches and why they were built etc. the Queens' favourite coach and the one she uses most is the coach Australia gave her in 1988 (our bi-centennial) this is a very comfortable coach, airconditioned, with hydraulic suspension etc. all very facinating. We were then taken to see where the horses used to be stabled, there is a name on each of the boxes and these are Her Majestey's horses. She has mostly Cleveland Bays, she actually rescued these from extinction, there were only 4 stallions left and she put in a program to breed them and now there are 100 stallions. When she is taken out in a carriage, only Windsor Greys are used. Because there are not occasions each day which require horse driven carriages, the Bays are used to take the mail coaches between the various palaces and this gives them the all important practice they need to have in public and on the roads etc. All the horses were on holidays today they all go for six weeks to frolic in a paddock and our guide said when they come back he can not do a thing with them. However we did see Daniel (a gray) the Queen's favourite and Mary Tudor who is 20 and she actually had a foal last year when she was 19, very beautiful she is too and then there was Flint and hamdsome he was too. At Christmas, all her horses are brought to the stables for her to wish each and every one of them a Merry Christmas and give each one a treat. What she also does is has a beautiful Christmas event for all of the children who live at the apartments, she organises Queen Victoria's sleigh to be brought into the centre of the stables where there is a Christmas Tree and all the trimmings and every child receives a gift. She really does sound like such a lovely lady.
We were going to see Buckingham Palace but there were no tickets left for today and the line with tickets was already one mile long. We decided to go and see Apsley House in Hyde Park, this was the Duke of Wellington's home, it was given to the public by the 7th Duke of Wellington in 1947 there had to be an act of Parliament passed to hand this over, the 8th Duke and his family still live there, it was very beautiful, some of the most amazing things, paintings etc. I could go on and on but I am runing out of time.
After this we did a quick visit to Harrods then on to The Imperial War Museum, an amazing place. The Holocaust Exhibition there was very comprehensive and a life changing experience, the best we had ever seen. Then we headed home, both completely exhausted. Sam said he could have said all this in six lines. Sam and Sabine
Wednesday, 3 August 2011
Wednesday 3rd August 2011
HELLO TO ALL
Just think as of next week no one will have to read this anymore.
We had brekky and set off this mornig to start our day at St Paul's Cathedral, beyond beautiful, I know I say this about them all but this was just perfect, designed by Christopher Wren, who designed most of the churches in London after the great fire, but it is almost too beautiful. When it was built they did not embelish it but he had done all the plans for its embelishment and even though it was 300 years later,in the 19th century it was embelished and the altar he designed were all done, if you do not see anything else in London you need to see St Pauls, it only took 35 years to build. A banker named Fleming paid restoration work back 100 years or so ago and his descendants have just paid for the cleaning of the stone at a cost of eleven million inside and Paul Getty paid for the cleaning of the front at cost of six million, he passed away before it was done but his widow was at the opening of the newly cleaned building and she said he would have been very delighted. These people have an enormous amount of money but it was not for them and their generosity none of these amazing places would survive. Our guide was a very passionate fellow in his 70s gave us a fabulous guided tour, we missed out on nothing.
We had a coffee and cake in the cafe in the cathedral and then headed off to see the newly constructed Globe Theatre. They have done an amazing job and it is an authentic Elizabethan rebuild, we actually saw a rehearsal in progress and got to be part of the audience, Sam really enjoyed this, probably because it was not in an Abbey/Cathedral/Church I guess. You are very exhausted after these days, so we caught the train home, I do think London is so much nicer than Paris, the women dress so much better and they are way prettier too. There is just something about the place, you know how you get a feeling for a place. We have a lot planned for tomorrow so I will sign off Sam and Sabine
Just think as of next week no one will have to read this anymore.
We had brekky and set off this mornig to start our day at St Paul's Cathedral, beyond beautiful, I know I say this about them all but this was just perfect, designed by Christopher Wren, who designed most of the churches in London after the great fire, but it is almost too beautiful. When it was built they did not embelish it but he had done all the plans for its embelishment and even though it was 300 years later,in the 19th century it was embelished and the altar he designed were all done, if you do not see anything else in London you need to see St Pauls, it only took 35 years to build. A banker named Fleming paid restoration work back 100 years or so ago and his descendants have just paid for the cleaning of the stone at a cost of eleven million inside and Paul Getty paid for the cleaning of the front at cost of six million, he passed away before it was done but his widow was at the opening of the newly cleaned building and she said he would have been very delighted. These people have an enormous amount of money but it was not for them and their generosity none of these amazing places would survive. Our guide was a very passionate fellow in his 70s gave us a fabulous guided tour, we missed out on nothing.
We had a coffee and cake in the cafe in the cathedral and then headed off to see the newly constructed Globe Theatre. They have done an amazing job and it is an authentic Elizabethan rebuild, we actually saw a rehearsal in progress and got to be part of the audience, Sam really enjoyed this, probably because it was not in an Abbey/Cathedral/Church I guess. You are very exhausted after these days, so we caught the train home, I do think London is so much nicer than Paris, the women dress so much better and they are way prettier too. There is just something about the place, you know how you get a feeling for a place. We have a lot planned for tomorrow so I will sign off Sam and Sabine
Tuesday, 2 August 2011
Tuesday, 2nd August 2011
Hello to all
I cannot believe we will be home next Tuesday evening. We are just going to miss the Census.
We started out early today. Had brekky and caught the train to the Tower of London, we were just in time for a guided tour which was very informative. We then continued on the tour on our own, we were fortunate we were early so our tour of the Crown Jewels was very leisurely as there were not many people waiting to see them when we went thru, they are magnificent really. When we came out it was a whole other story the lines were extremely long. We then did other parts of the Tower all very facinating.
After this we headed to see All Hallows Church the oldest church in the City of London, the Saxon Abbey of Barking founded the church in 675AD and an arch from the original church still remains. Beneath the arch is a Roman pavement discovered in 1926 evidence of city life on the site for the best part of two thousand years. It was severely bombed in 1940 but they soldiered on and rebuilt. They found amazing relics from the past when the bombing occurred.
After this we headed off to do a tour of Westminister Abbey, also incredible, very busy and many hours, we then headed home for a five minute rest and went down the street for some dinner. Another big day tomorrow. All the best Sam and Sabine
I cannot believe we will be home next Tuesday evening. We are just going to miss the Census.
We started out early today. Had brekky and caught the train to the Tower of London, we were just in time for a guided tour which was very informative. We then continued on the tour on our own, we were fortunate we were early so our tour of the Crown Jewels was very leisurely as there were not many people waiting to see them when we went thru, they are magnificent really. When we came out it was a whole other story the lines were extremely long. We then did other parts of the Tower all very facinating.
After this we headed to see All Hallows Church the oldest church in the City of London, the Saxon Abbey of Barking founded the church in 675AD and an arch from the original church still remains. Beneath the arch is a Roman pavement discovered in 1926 evidence of city life on the site for the best part of two thousand years. It was severely bombed in 1940 but they soldiered on and rebuilt. They found amazing relics from the past when the bombing occurred.
After this we headed off to do a tour of Westminister Abbey, also incredible, very busy and many hours, we then headed home for a five minute rest and went down the street for some dinner. Another big day tomorrow. All the best Sam and Sabine
Monday, 1 August 2011
Monday 1 August - London
Hello everyone
First day in London. Set off around 10am after a bit of a sleep in, our hotel is less than 100 metres from Euston Underground where we bought 7 day travelcards for our travel round London. We then headed towards Westminster where we caught a river cruise down river all the way to Greenwich. There we hopped off and went to see the National Maritime Museum, on the way we were near the Royal Observatory at Greenwich just in time to see the big red ball drop on the stroke of one pm which is actually 12 noon Greenwich Mean Time.
The Maritime Museum was very interesting and full of instruments and artefacts and lots of other stuff. We then went for a guided tour of the Queen's House, the beautiful royal palace built for Charles I's queen, Henrietta Maria, between 1616 and 1638 as England's first truly classical building.
We then returned to the quay and caught the river cruise back to Westminster. We went to look at the outside of Westminster Abbey, we will go in later in the week, then walked along the edge of St James' Park until we reached Buckingham Palace but Lizzie was probably a bit busy as we did not see her. We walked back to St James' Park tube station, there was a pub beside the station where we had a nice meal and drink, and we were back at our hotel just after 8pm, a bit weary. The weather was quite warm, around 28 degrees, and it promises to be warmer tomorrow.
Cheers Sabine and Sam.
First day in London. Set off around 10am after a bit of a sleep in, our hotel is less than 100 metres from Euston Underground where we bought 7 day travelcards for our travel round London. We then headed towards Westminster where we caught a river cruise down river all the way to Greenwich. There we hopped off and went to see the National Maritime Museum, on the way we were near the Royal Observatory at Greenwich just in time to see the big red ball drop on the stroke of one pm which is actually 12 noon Greenwich Mean Time.
The Maritime Museum was very interesting and full of instruments and artefacts and lots of other stuff. We then went for a guided tour of the Queen's House, the beautiful royal palace built for Charles I's queen, Henrietta Maria, between 1616 and 1638 as England's first truly classical building.
We then returned to the quay and caught the river cruise back to Westminster. We went to look at the outside of Westminster Abbey, we will go in later in the week, then walked along the edge of St James' Park until we reached Buckingham Palace but Lizzie was probably a bit busy as we did not see her. We walked back to St James' Park tube station, there was a pub beside the station where we had a nice meal and drink, and we were back at our hotel just after 8pm, a bit weary. The weather was quite warm, around 28 degrees, and it promises to be warmer tomorrow.
Cheers Sabine and Sam.
Sunday, 31 July 2011
Friday 29th July to Sunday 31st July
Hello to all
We set off this morning from Newquay a place we would not have seen but our B&B gave away our room and we had to find somewhere on short notice, a very busy place indeed, school hoilidays etc. Lovely coastline looks like it was probablay built around the 20s perhaps, a holiday place for everyone. We headed east towards our next destination of Southhampton, we stopped in a town called Salisbury very busy little town, these towns are so interesting I would like to spend much more time in all of these little places. We parked, quite a feat to find somewhere really, then we headed off to Salisbury Cathedral. What a setting, unbelievable to say the least. It has had an enormous amount of money spent on it in the last 20 or so years and is due for completion (restoration that is) in 2015. The Cathedral was bugun in 1220 and unlike most English Cathedrals was completed without a break to its original design. It has the tallest spire in all of England and the second highest in all of Europe. It has an original clock which of course has no hands but strikes the hour. There is also the Magna Carter Chapter all just amazing one could spend full days in all of these places. It has one of the four surviving copies of the Magna Carter, you know you remember so well learning about these amazing things in history then to see them, it is beyond what you can ever imagine. Our parking time was running out so we had to move on, still quite a way to Southhmapton.
We left Southhampton to continue eastward towards Ashford, we called in to see Brighton found a parking space very easily and walked along the promenade and then the pier then continued on to Hastings another lovely seaside town, very busy and then on to see the white cliffs of Dover and then on to Ashford (quite a task to find our hotel but we did) there was a wedding at the hotel so we went across to the hotel and had some dinner and just collapsed when we got back.
This morning we headed towards London very easy journey, our sat nav found our hotel for us we settled in and then Sam took the car back to Sanstead and I stayed at the hotel, it took the poor chap about five hours in all so he was pretty tired when he returned, a bit of a rest some dinner and we are just doing our emails etc, have had dramas with our email and blog but seems OK tonight.
We will start our London journey tomorrow, we have a six day London Pass and then we leave here on Monday 8th August to head home. All the best Sam and Sabine
We set off this morning from Newquay a place we would not have seen but our B&B gave away our room and we had to find somewhere on short notice, a very busy place indeed, school hoilidays etc. Lovely coastline looks like it was probablay built around the 20s perhaps, a holiday place for everyone. We headed east towards our next destination of Southhampton, we stopped in a town called Salisbury very busy little town, these towns are so interesting I would like to spend much more time in all of these little places. We parked, quite a feat to find somewhere really, then we headed off to Salisbury Cathedral. What a setting, unbelievable to say the least. It has had an enormous amount of money spent on it in the last 20 or so years and is due for completion (restoration that is) in 2015. The Cathedral was bugun in 1220 and unlike most English Cathedrals was completed without a break to its original design. It has the tallest spire in all of England and the second highest in all of Europe. It has an original clock which of course has no hands but strikes the hour. There is also the Magna Carter Chapter all just amazing one could spend full days in all of these places. It has one of the four surviving copies of the Magna Carter, you know you remember so well learning about these amazing things in history then to see them, it is beyond what you can ever imagine. Our parking time was running out so we had to move on, still quite a way to Southhmapton.
We left Southhampton to continue eastward towards Ashford, we called in to see Brighton found a parking space very easily and walked along the promenade and then the pier then continued on to Hastings another lovely seaside town, very busy and then on to see the white cliffs of Dover and then on to Ashford (quite a task to find our hotel but we did) there was a wedding at the hotel so we went across to the hotel and had some dinner and just collapsed when we got back.
This morning we headed towards London very easy journey, our sat nav found our hotel for us we settled in and then Sam took the car back to Sanstead and I stayed at the hotel, it took the poor chap about five hours in all so he was pretty tired when he returned, a bit of a rest some dinner and we are just doing our emails etc, have had dramas with our email and blog but seems OK tonight.
We will start our London journey tomorrow, we have a six day London Pass and then we leave here on Monday 8th August to head home. All the best Sam and Sabine
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