Monthly Archives: June 2024

A Travel Adventure with Our Children – Buckingham Palace, Paternoster Square and Covent Garden

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The weather has not changed. Every day we dress in summer clothes but take along jerseys and jackets. When the sun comes out it is quite warm but mostly the skies are overcast. Today it did not rain.

When one is used to driving everywhere, taking buses, trains and underground tubes can be exciting but also a little scary. The Earl was with us today and was a tad nervous about the whole procedure. Of course, he wanted to know how it all worked too. Tapping his card to get in and out of the underground was completely confusing. How does it know where I’ve been and how much money to take off? I have no idea but I told him to trust the system and soon he was happily tapping like the rest of us. All the walking was a challenge too. He seldom walks anywhere! Well, today he clocked up over 14000 steps!

We walked to Clapham Junction, took the train to Vauxhall, changed to the underground then used the tubes to get us to Green Park and then St Paul’s where we met Lollz’s cousin, Kevin for lunch. After lunch, we took a bus to Covent Gardens and then took the tube and train back to Clapham Junction.

Green Park and Buckingham Palace

Click on the first photo, then use the arrows to watch the slide show.

The Goddess Diana is seen as you come out of the Green Park Tube Station
Green Park is – well – Green
Queen Victoria Memorial Statue
The Victoria Memorial Statue
The sculpture represents their relationship of mutual trust and harmonious coexistence.
The torch held by the man symbolizes progress, youth, and the dawn of a new era.
One of the King’s Guard.
After a spell of standing dead still they get to march up and down a little
Pall Mall
Lollz and The Earl taking a break

I find the King’s Guards fascinating. Imagine being clad in those red tunics and strange bearskin hats and standing to attention, not moving for ages. At first glance, they look like statues. The two we saw had a break from stillness and marched up and down a few times. Phew -that must have been a relief.

St Paul’s, Paternoster Square, and The Millennium Bridge

After disembarking at St Paul’s Station we found ourselves in Paternoster Square where we were to meet my nephew, Kevin. Having only heard the word Paternoster associated with a small West Coast Town I wondered what it might mean. Google is such a help – The Lord’s Prayer. That made sense as it was in the shadow of St Paul’s Cathedral! We ate lunch at the Paternoster Pub. Kevin and Lollz ordered sandwiches – Kevin had a BLT which was fine but Lollz’s cheese sandwich was inedible. I shared my Caesar salad with her instead. The Earl had pork bangers and mash which was excellent. They did not charge us for the cheese sandwich!

We found Paternoster Square quite fun. They had some wildlife sculptures on display. These sculptures are done by a husband and wife team who are very much into wildlife conservation. You can find out more here A Wild Life for Wildlife – Gillie and Marc®↗

The Dome of St Paul’s peeping through
Patternoster Pub
Lollz with Cousin Kev
The Earl and me
Information on Gillie and Marc
Baby hippo and elephant sculptures
The Earl with the biggest Gorilla sculpture ever
Walking in the streets of London!
St Paul’s
The Millennium Bridge

Covent Garden

I wanted to go to Covent Garden to see street performers like mimes, acrobats, magicians, etc. I was disappointed that not much was happening. We only saw a magic act and an artist painting a portrait of Amy Winehouse while playing a recording of her singing.

My brother Nicholas worked at this perfume house when he first came to England.
Covent Garden
Stunning shops
The Magician was quite good
Clever and messy artist

Some photos Lollz took with her phone.

On the Tube Train
Buckingham Palace
St Paul’s
Millennium Bridge
Covent Garden
Covent Garden – Need to make a call?

A Travel Adventure with Our Children – Greenwich

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Tuesday, 4 June 2024

After a very busy weekend, I felt rather tired last night and slept late this morning. Lollz, Earl, and I only surfaced after 9 o’clock, made breakfast, and then headed to Plantation Warf to catch the Thames Uber. This was another exciting adventure as we do not have anything like this in the deep south of Africa.

My brother, Nicholas, was going to accompany us to Greenwich but work commitments prevented this so we went on our own. The trip took over an hour but it was lovely to see London from the river. The Earl loves anything nautical so this was just up his street – or should I say river?

Click on the first photograph to enlarge and then use arrows to view the slide show.

Thames Uber Clipper
At the jetty
Tying up
Inside seating
The Earl loved it
Altura Towers where we are staying
Westminster
Passing The London Eye

This eagle symbolizes the bravery and sacrifice of RAF personnel throughout history.
Cutty Sark is a restored historic clipper ship. Built in 1869, it is the world’s only surviving tea clipper and was designed to be the fastest on the China tea run. 

We visited The Maritime Museum which was very interesting. The sea has definitely played a huge role in the history of the world. Seeing all the exhibits made us realise that we all have different emotional connections to the sea. All my life, I have lived near the sea, and cannot imagine being away from it for too long. I found the polar exploration the most interesting in this museum but all of it was excellent. There are several interactive devices which makes it all the more interesting.

Entrance to the Maritime Museum

Click on the first photograph to enlarge then use the arrows to watch the slide show.

The sea has played and important role in the lives of men throughout the ages
St George
Ship Badges
This is the badge of HMS Bulawayo launched in 1947
Polar Expeditions

On the return River Uber we took some more photographs. Then we walked to the Waterfront Pub for dinner. It was quite cold by this time but there were some interesting birds in the shallows of the river.

A Black-headed Gull
Modern London
Tower Bridge
Grey Heron
Great Crested Grbe

The Grebe shown in the photographs is a Great Crested Grebe which is the same species as we see in South Africa. The subspecies P. c. cristatus is found across Europe, including England. It breeds in vegetated areas of freshwater lakes and winters on freshwater lakes, reservoirs, or the coast.

The African subspecies, P. c. infuscatus, occurs in South Africa. It is mainly sedentary, meaning it doesn’t migrate extensively.

Although they belong to the same species their subspecies adaptations and behaviours differ slightly.

The Grey Heron is the same one that we find in South Africa as they occur in temperate Europe and Asia, as well as parts of Africa.

It resides in much of its range but some populations from northern regions migrate southwards during autumn.

A Travel Adventure with Our Children – Life-long Friends

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Friday, 31 May 2024 to Monday 3 June

A Train Adventure

WIth our overnight bag packed Earl and I set off to get the train from Clapham Junction. Our darling daughter, afraid we would not cope alone, walked to the station with us. We booked our tickets on Trainline, a wonderful app that gives you all the information needed. On this App we had our tickets with bar codes. I tried to tap in the same way I do with a credit card but this did not work. Fortunately, their was an attendant at the barrier. He showed us where to tap and we were in. Only ticket holders may pass through the barrier. Once on the other side we stood still and confused wondering which platform we had to find. Clapham Junction is huge! I am sure we would have got it right but Lollz asked the attendant if she could please assist her aged parents to find the right place, He very kindly agreed! It really was lovely to have her guide us to Platform 16 and see us safely onto the train.

Looking across to Platform 17 – On the trains you are always warned to MIND THE GAP
We do not do trains in South Africa!

Trainline is quite new to me. I had not investigated all its functions but once on the train I perused it and found that it tells you which platform to leave from, tracks your journey, informs you which station comes next, whether there is a delay, and what your ETA is. It would take just over an hour to get to Tring, but we would have to change at Watford Junction. We would have eight minutes to get from Platform 8 to Platform 10. But then the app informed me there was a slight delay and we would only have five minutes! Would our ancient legs move fast enough as we also had to drag a bag along with us! And being the train novices that we are we had no idea how far away this platform would be. Fortunately, the steps were not too difficult to negotiate and we made it down and then up with a minute to spare! What an adventure!

My BFF met us at Tring station. We have been friends since we were seven years and although we have only had brief spells of living in the same city or country we are still soul mates!

What a joyful reunion it was! The weekend was full of lovely activities including country walks, a visit to a quintessential English village, and an excursion to Bletchley Park.

Click on the first photograph then use arrows to see the slide show.

Off for a country walk
An old Norman Church
Graveyard a little neglected but how sad that these parents lost two children
Cute garden decor
We need the bees!

After having a lovely lunch at an Italian restaurant on Saturday we visited Aldbury.

The quintessential English village of Aldbury
Imagine having a post office and a post box again!
Red hot pokers and pink roses growing in an allotment garden
Common Wood Pigeons
Blackbird – female

On Sunday we visited Bletchley Park which was an incredible experience. Bletchley Park was kept a secret for many years and those who worked there signed the Secrets Act and it would have been treason to tell anybody where they worked or what they did. It was here where all the code-breaking efforts took place during World War 2. The most brilliant person at that time was Alan Turing who worked tirelessly to decrypt the Axis powers’ communications, significantly contributing to the Allied victory. The Victorian Gothic mansion and picturesque grounds were chosen as it was far enough from the city to be safe from bombing. Critical wartime intelligence work took place there and nobody was aware of it. This museum is well worth a visit. You could spend hours there and still not take it all in.

Before leaving we had lunch at the Bletchley’s restaurant and I was amused to see some posters from the war days.

All the guides and stewards wear color and tie
The Mansion
This is where Alan Turng worked
Deniston’s Office
The LIbrary
I wonder if this was obeyed!
Only housewives?

The sun goes down very late at this time of year. At about 7 pm we set off for a walk along the canal to see the narrow boats and water birds and ended with a drink at a pub.

Canada Goose
Narrow Boat coming through a lock
A juvenile Eurasian Blue Tit
Greylag Goose
Swans and cygnets
Robin Redbreast

On Monday my brother who lives just half an hour from Jen came for a short visit and then gave us a lift back to London. Lollz joined us for lunch and then we took a Black Taxi back to Battersea.

Best Friends Forever – We even cross our legs the same way!
Lunch with Nicholas