We have written seven blogs from our most recent stay in London, all about our time with visiting friends and family. This final blog is focusing on our time alone.
This is our fourth three month stay in the UK since 2018, with all but one month of that time spent in London. We have lived in West Kensington, Earl’s Court and Westminster, all which are areas of central London. We have been to Richmond and Kew Gardens many times and have come to love that area even though it is about thirty minutes out of central London. We found a lovely apartment in Kew for this stay. It is a five minute walk to the underground and overground station of Kew Gardens and in the other direction five minutes to a large M & S grocery store and the Thames walk along the river.
Arrived London 12 hours late on Tuesday morning rather than Monday night as our first plane was taken out of service and we had to completely rebook. Our luggage did not make our flight though as we had a very tight connection in JFK.Living room.Kitchen.Guest bedroom.Master bedroom.Dining room, work space and puzzle table.Back yard.We have seen these non-indigenous green parakeets in Tel Aviv, Amsterdam and Kensington Park London. Now we have them in our back yard.Our first week we had supper with Sigi, Paul and Sigi’s aunt Gertrud at their home in Richmond. We spent a lot of time with Gertrud in Munich as she lived very close to us when we were there last summer. This is a picture of us the next day at Sigi and Paul’s favorite Ethiopian restaurant. We are still in our travel clothes as our luggage took four days to catch up with us. On our third day we went to the theatre with the same group. We got off the underground at Tower Hill. Lovely picture of the Tower of London.View of London from the Tower Bridge. Sandy took a similar picture on her phone just before it was pick-pocketed from her coat.Scene of the crime.Guys and Dolls held in a theatre in the round with part of the audience standing on the floor. We have been to this theatre in the past when it was set up as a normal theatre with a stage in front.
A short video of Guys and Dolls.We had planned on going to another show involving friends of Sigi and Paul but instead went to the Apple Store in Covent Garden to purchase another phone for Sandy.We both became “Friends of Kew Garden” which allowed us unlimited entrance with one guest each. We went there innumerable times.Contemporary artist Marc Quinn designed numerous sculptures from stainless steel. This one is a Madagascar Palm tree which is featured in The Palm House..Kew’s centerpiece is The Palm House.Inside the Palm House.Lovely white hydrangeas on the road to Kew Gardens.We lived just down the street from The National Archives of the UK.The National Archives had a special exhibit on great escapes of the Second World War.We had dinner parties at home at least five times, not all were outdoors as it was too cold at times.More Kew Gardens. That is giant rhubarb.Another view of the palm house.The hive, we sent everyone here or took them.Giant water Lillies in the Princess of Wales Conservatory.A special exhibition of Marc Quinn’s art. Reflections on stainless steel.More art of Marc Quinn.Roman Arch Gate in Kew GardensThe Pagoda at Kew.Another Marc Quinn sculpture, an eery reflection of Sandy, as she is only half there.The temperate house.We loved the Bonsai displays many of which are over forty years old.This is another Marc Quinn sculpture of a Bonsai tree done in bronze.We even walked Kew Gardens in the rain.We walked to Barnes one day to try Rick Stein’s for lunch. Rick Stein’s is a nearly fifty year old restaurant chain which specializes in seafood. We were not impressed and would not recommend it.One of the pubs in Kew. We walked by this place many times but never tried it. This day was the beginning of one of our walks.We walked by this Banksy painting on the Kew Bridge the day it was discovered. This began a series of eight stenciled animals which popped up all over London over the next week.This one is in Chelsea near where we used to live in Earl’s Court. The elephant on the left had already been vandalized.This one was about 45 minutes from our home in Kew.This pub, The Bell & Crown in Chiswick looked very good but when we returned for dinner one evening it was very disappointing.St. Paul’s Church in Chiswick.We really liked this place because they had drinking water and a big puzzle selection which had been donated and we could buy them for 5£. We bought three during our stay here.This is the Barnes Bridge which is train and pedestrian only. We walked over it many times.Sandy took numerous pictures of the colorful pubs.We lived quite close to this large cemetery which we liked to take walks in.Sandy took oodles of pictures here but these are the only two you will see.Interesting trivia about Richmond upon the Thames.We met our Olympics friend Patricia at the MOCO Museum which just opened in London. We have been to the MOCO in Amsterdam, there is also one in Barcelona.We saw this same picture at The Straat Museum in Amsterdam.
A video of Jim enjoying the art.Lunar Garden.This is a small but very interesting museum. We toured it in under an hour which is normally our museum limit.After the museum we had lunch around the corner. One of Patricia’s friends joined us, Claire Hewitt. There will be more about her later.Another of our walks over Kew Bridge to Brentford, Isleworth, Richmond and home.Syon House, just looked at it this day but we came back for a tour.Another outing: to Battersea Power Station. We have been coming here for six years and have watched its transformation. Battersea is an old power station that has been converted into an upscale mall, tourist destination, high end apartments and condominiums, restaurants and retail stores.While in the mall we booked a tour up Lift 109 which is an elevator up one of the old smokestacks.Inside the smokestack waiting for the elevator.
A video of the elevator ride up the chimney.The glass enclosed elevator pops out the to a commanding view of London.Looking at two of the four smokestacks of the power station.We returned to Syon House with a scheduled tour. Syon House was the west London residence of The Duke of North Umberland built on the site of a medieval monastery, Syon Abbey.Jim keeps vowing NOT to visit any more palaces, estates or Manors, but we just keep going back. This was not a great tour.The conservatory at Syon House.This fox camped out in our backyard for about four hours enjoying the sun. He must have had the mange as he was constantly scratching. We felt sorry for him and tried to feed him but he ran off and never returned. He loved the sun.When we lived in Westminster in 2022 we were right around the corner from The Vincent Rooms at the Westminster Kingsway College’s Victoria Centre which has a long history of education in the hospitality and culinary arts industry. Founded in 1910 the School of Hospitality and Culinary Arts was the first culinary school to open in the UK. We were unable to go there as it is closed in the summer. Sigi booked us a table at The Escoffier room when it opened in September. This was such a fun experience as we were served by very inexperienced 1st and 2nd year students. The eight course meal was memorable and relatively inexpensive.After our memorable meal we wandered London. This is Somerset House.We had coffee here.Heading to Waterloo Station and our train home.Just can’t resist the panoramic views of this beautiful city.Waterloo Station and our train home.This is a club in Richmond where The Rolling Stones started their career.Another outing to Richmond Theatre to see “Here You Come Again”, a musical comedy which includes Dolly Parton’s greatest hits.We just loved this show and highly recommend it.
A brief video from the end of the show.We went to Six, the musical which is about the six wives of Henry VIII. The singing and dancing were great but we didn’t understand it completely due to the heavy British accents.One of our last nights in London we went with Sigi and Paul to their friend Desmond’s home for supper. We are walking by the Central Criminal Court.Christchurch Greyfriars, a bombed out church.The Charterhouse which is an almshouse and heritage site. It is a former Carthusian monastery which has been an almshouse for 400 years. It provides shelter for needy elders.This is the view from Desmond’s 27th floor apartment in The Barbican Towers. The Barbican Estate was built between 1965 and 1976 on a 35-acre site that had been bombed and completely decimated in WWII. Its brutalist architecture is typical of that era. It was designed and built for affluent City professionals and their families.More views.Desmond is 93 years old and has lived here for many years. The reason we wanted to meet him is that he has been an integral part in the relationship of many of our friends. He has been involved in bringing together our friends Peggy, Sigi, Paul, Judith, Anthony and others that we can’t remember.We had such a pleasant evening here and it was such a delight to finally meet Desmond.Night view from Desmond’s home.Our final puzzle finished on our last full day. We completed at least five 1,000 piece puzzles, some with the help of Philip, Phyllis and Geoffrey. This picture is the town of Whitby and the ruins of Whitby Abbey. We visited this place for two nights in 2019.Our pictures from 2019.Heading back to NEW England.From rainto sunny blue skies in Boston
A few words about our final days in London without any pictures. Remember Claire Hewitt who we met after MOCO? She invited us to her home for dinner on our next to last night. She had another guest for dinner, a 75 year old American, Sherry, who has lived in London for thirty years. She has her own company that tutors kids who want admittance to exclusive Universities. She is very well traveled and we had great conversations and a delightful time. It was so nice that we forgot about pictures. Our last night in Kew we went to a lovely French restaurant we had been to once before with Peggy and Jo. Ma Cuisine Bistrot which we highly recommend if you ever find yourself in Kew.
Dear Sandy and Jim. What a lovely final synopsis of London. In 1969 at 18 yrs old traveling Europe 14 countries in 2.5 months with siblings on $4/day…my adventures were slightly different. I loved London. Your apt was lovely. Open. Bright. Red chairs and purple wall!! Great kitchen. View. Parakeet and garden to boot. Rough loosing phone…slap ‘those hands’.
Marc Q a diverse intersting variety of art sculpture. Night laser light maze! Incredible lily pads…how large were they? Gardens, arboretums/conservatories are a must for me. Love Biltmores. I keep thinking of flower ideas for our patio. I really appreciatrd the black wrought iron with white hydrangeas giving space before cottage home. I can see why the Hive is a must see. Roman arch-old stone. Fushia GARTENMEISTER so full. Last nights freeze got mine. Pubs.Flowers.Train stations superb. Battersea Power plant incredible. I do so enjoy your eye captures. What views from Desmonds 27th floor! Delightful to do puzzels of places you have been like Whitby Abbey. Is Phillip/Phyllis’ favorite game we played with ya’ll in San Diego? Hugs and safe travels. Kathleen
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