London Pride

Our son, Tim, arrived at Heathrow looking well considering he had just endured such a long flight.  It was wonderful to see him again and Michael and I are thrilled to be able to show him the sights.

 

Tim and I spent the next three days walking around London, and I do mean walking.  We covered over 71 kilometres in that time!  I know this because Michael loaded an app onto my phone, which counts the number of steps taken each day as well as measure the distance walked.  Even though we walked around so much we have really only scratched the surface with plenty more sights to see.

One of the more unusual places we discovered was a coffee shop, called Attendant. The café is housed in a former Victorian toilet, which was built around 1890 and had been abandoned since the 1960’s.  The building has been restored and the old attendant’s office has been turned into a small kitchen while the original porcelain urinals are still there and have been turned into a coffee bench.  I can honestly say that I have never had a coffee in a toilet before however, it was without a doubt, the best coffee I have had in London.

We walked past Lord’s Cricket Ground and were saddened to see the flowers that had been placed there in honour of Phil Hughes.  There was also a television crew filming an interview with people at the entrance gate.  Phil’s tragic death was very much in the news here, receiving wide coverage on both television and in the newspapers.  We also walked past Australia House and saw the flag flying at half-mast in his honour.  Very sad.

 

Saturday was a glorious day with the sun shining so Tim and I took full advantage.  Unfortunately, Michael had to work, so Tim and I started our day with a coffee at Trafalgar Square before heading to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard.  I think Tim enjoyed watching the pomp and ceremony taking place.  We then took a long walk along the Thames past Cleopatra’s Needle, across the Wibbly Wobbly Bridge and then past the Tate Modern where another Christmas market has sprung up along the forecourt there.  We then strolled past the Golden Hind and the Clink before lunching at the Borough Market.  The market was absolutely packed with people, as it seemed that the whole of London was taking advantage of the sunshine.  More walking took us to the Tower Bridge (after a quick look at the Shard – it is starting to grow on me) and then over to the Tower of London.  The poppies have now entirely gone and the moat now looks so bare without them. 

 

On Sunday we took Tim to Euston station where he boarded the train to Birmingham where he will attend a course for the week as part of his uni studies.  Michael and I then headed to the British Museum to view the exhibition Terror and Wonder: The Gothic Imagination.  This wonderful exhibition traces 250 years of Gothic tradition.  There are many literary works featured from The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole through to Dracula, Frankenstein, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde right up to modern day authors such as Stephen King, Clive Barker and Val McDermid.  There was much to see with excerpts of movies showing along with various props.  There was also a clip from the film Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, which was hilarious.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and the exhibition has once again renewed my interest in travelling to Transylvania. 

I took myself off to the V&A Museum to have a look at the exhibition Disobedient Objects.  I had already had a quick look at it with Tim but decided to return to investigate it in more detail.  The exhibition focuses on the period from the late 1970’s to the present day examining the role that of objects in political movements for social change.  There were banners and badges, placards and slogans.  It was an interesting exhibition, which highlighted various struggles that have taken place around the world. 

 

The weather is turning colder now with most days struggling to reach 8 degrees.  It is still positively balmy when compared to winter in Canada so I am not complaining.  Tonight we will rug up nice and warm and see the lights being lit on the Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square.  It should be fun.