28 December 2011

A little trip to London with Anna...

Sequence for the day:

09:10 Leave Frimley
09:20 Panic ticket buying at Farnborough
09:25 Rush over the bridge to join the
09:30 to London Waterloo
10:05 Waterloo via Green Park to Knightsbridge (A decides that shopping is more attractive than museums)
Then - Harrods (food hall, expensive watches and "pink floor"),
Anna selects Science Museum out of available list,
Walk to South Ken, sandwich (Ham and Cheese) handmade to order by a nice man at South Ken station.
Eaten while watching the skating at Natural History museum.
Uncle David is wearing his Hi-vis jacket - so gets asked twice for twice for directions.
Short locomotive heavy visit to museum and then the attraction of "Hamleys" becomes too much
So it is "follow the dark blue to Picadilly" and "its four stops...".
Hamleys very busy - we patronize "build-a-bear" and then David needs a Latte.
Post Costa we went to look at the posters for "Priscilla Queen of the Desert" - no Jason this year and then down to...
Trafalgar Square, Whitehall, Horse Guards Parade, Parliament Square, Westminster Bridge, once more asked for directions (London Eye)
Waterloo Station (30p to spend a penny - what a rip off!) and then M&S for Tuna and Sweetcorn sandwiches and then home to Frimley.


The last time I took a train in this direction from Waterloo would have been about 1969 - but I still had a moment of spooky Deja-Vu

Gen. Kitchener was all alone - and no one paying respects - so we dodged the H&K toting police and had a little talk about Kitchener only to learn later that A is off to Gordon's School next year and not General K's

"Beware these horses may bite or kick" - all Anna got was a good sniffing over

Houses of Parliament looking stunning

"...your valor will not be forgotten by a grateful country" - unfortunately - it has - see Wikipedia entry for H Havelock

A chilly Trafalgar Square

There is a SAAB in the Science Museum! Sadly all SAABs will be museum pieces soon (bankruptcy a few days before Xmas)

Strange building in South Ken - it is the Ismaili centre?

£199 - we decided that this was sadly... out of our price range

Yes - really - its Wills and Kate Wedding Dolls - groovy smiles!

First stop - Harrods - Food Hall and then the "pink section" of floor 4 - little girls toys

Jubilee Line - Wall cladding like something out of Blake's 7 crossed with Dr Who

Heading for Green Park

On the train from Farnborough to Waterlook (after stressful experience with the automatic ticket machine - too many options - too little time)
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1 comment:

Jess said...

"Uncle David is wearing his Hi-vis jacket - so gets asked twice for twice for directions."

This reminds me of an incident with a policeman in Leicester Square. I was in London with a few friends for my birthday and we wanted a picture of the three of us with the Charlie Chaplin statue. Unfortunately, the only people who looked friendly enough to ask were two policeman, and as soon as he'd taken the picture for us, two other people came up to him to ask him to take their picture. I don't think he was very amused. For all I know, he's still standing there trying to get through the massive queue of tourists who all want their picture taken with Charlie Chaplin.

But anyway, it sounds like you had a lovely time in London, minus the 30p that they charge you to use the loos. (I resent that too) It's been too long since I was in London. The last time would have been last December I think, I booked into London serviced apartments with my mum and we had a weekend in Covent Garden. (A lot of mulled wine, chestnuts and out-of-tune Christmas Carols were involved)