Another week of fun in lovely London. Well – to be honest, its been more like a week and a half. A lot included again in this blog, but it covers my last adventures here in London.
First up, a London Walk dedicated to the Brunels. OK, I’m with most of you – never heard of the Brunels. But the tour as described sounded interesting, so I gave it a shot. Here are some of the things I discovered.
Several generations of men of the Brunel family were very famous successful engineers. Isambard Brunel is considered one of the most prolific civil engineers of all time (named to the top 100 most influential Brits in history). He built dockyards, the Great Western Railway, the first propeller driven iron ships, and numerous important bridges and tunnels in London. His father, Marc, was the chief engineer in charge of building the Thames Tunnel. It was the first tunnel known to have been constructed successfully underneath a navigable river. The tunnel was originally designed for, but never used by, horse-drawn carriages. It was initially used by pedestrians and for a short time had shop/kiosks throughout. It now forms part of the London Overground railway network. He also designed Paddington Station.
So our tour began on a very dreary and chilly day by boarding a Thames Clipper for a 40 minute ride up the river. As we rode along,we heard stories about the Brunels, saw some of the remnants of bridges they built, as well as hearing about other interesting trivia along the river. For example, we saw a church where Harvard attended. Harvard was a butcher in London, but after 5 members of his family died in quick succession, he decided to move to the US. He was the first to donate to the university named after him, but died before he could even see the foundation laid for the first building. We passed Drake’s Steps, where the famous sea captain returned after circumnavigating the world and where he was knighted by the Queen. Learned that all the stairways on the Thames used to have names and they were used very much like bus stops today by boat passengers. Another building we passed had a big “E” on top; it was where pirates were executed after having their last drink at the pub next door (which is still there). They were executed by being placed in a cage and dunked into the river. As the tide came up, they were covered in water. They were kept there for 3 high tides to assure they were dead – won’t tell you the rest of the story, just a bit too gruesome. We also passed the church where the pilgrims met before leaving on the Mayflower as well as the dock where the Mayflower sailed from.
We disembarked to go see where one of Brunel’s shipyards was located and where you can still see the launch pad. Our next stop was across from Greenwich. You could see the old British Royal Hospital which is now part of the university as well as what remains of Greenwich Palace where Henry VIII was born.
Next up, a ride on the London Overground Railway to see the infamous Thames Tunnel. The tunnel is considered one of the origins of the world’s subway systems. We then went to where the Brunel Museum is located to see where the tunnel was built. Interesting tour and definitely a learning experience. Afterwards, I walked over to the Mayflower Pub – yes where the ship sailed from – to have a lovely lunch out on the porch.
The next day, Friday, began our last weekend in London. Tim and I decided to do a proper weekend pub tour and visit some places we’ve never been and others that are old favorites. Friday night we started in St. James, which is a very ritzy part of town near Buckingham Palace and St. James’ Palace. Our first stop was at Dukes Bar, located in the Dukes Hotel – a very posh, elegant boutique hotel 5 minutes from Buckingham. The legendary Dukes Bar is known for its famous martinis. It was frequented by James Bond author Ian Fleming and is said to be the inspiration for his “shaken, not stirred” martini choice. The Queen Mum was also known to have enjoyed a martini or two here. It was a bit of a stuffy kind of place (maybe I should say highbrow?) and very small (cozy?). We were seated and the bartender came over to take our orders – martinis of course! He then brought over a trolley and made the drinks table-side. Interesting. Also very expensive – 18 pounds per drink (about $27). They were good, but not sure they were THAT good. I’m not a huge martini fan anyway, but Tim definitely is. He suggested I have a martini a week to acquire a taste for them. What do you think?
Next up was The American Bar, located in the Stafford Hotel which is one of the oldest hotels located near Buckingham Palace. Interesting bit of history: It was originally built as a private residence in the 17th century and owned at one time by Lord and Lady Lyttleton. She was the daughter of the Earl Spencer and was pressed in serving as nanny for Queen Victoria’s children. During WWII the wine cellars underneath were used as air raid shelters (great place to be stuck, don’t you think?) During the war, many American and Canadian officers visited the club, which may have the origin of the name. The courtyard out back is in front of converted horse stables (now rooms) where many famous horses were kept, including the Duke of Wellington’s horse. When you walk in, the first thing you notice is that the walls are crammed with a huge collection of artifacts, knickknacks and photographs of famous guests. There are helmets and hats hanging from the ceilings. You’ll see if you click the link above. Service was much friendlier here. Enjoyed a very good glass of rose. Also very expensive – 14 pounds a glass (21 dollars). So we decided we needed to move on to a more affordable part of town, Piccadilly Circus
Unfortunately, when we left it started to rain. We did not have umbrellas with us, just raincoats. Still, got pretty wet walking the 10 minutes it took to get to Piccadilly Circus. We had thought we would wander a bit, but given our wet status, we popped into a pub we’ve visited before Jewel. A very nice cocktail bar and a great place to wait out the rain. Happy hour meant half price on wine bottles, which made us very happy after the prices we had been paying! Met numerous lovely people while sitting there and thankfully the rain did finally end. We jumped on the tube and headed back towards home. BUT we decided to visit one more place – so stayed on the tube past our stop and got off at Parsons Green to visit the White Horse. This is a great local pub, known as “The Stone Pony” to locals. They have a really fabulous outdoor seating area in front, facing Parsons Green park, which on this particular evening was very crowded. But we got a glass of wine at the bar and headed outside anyway. Found a spot to stand and met some great guys from the area. Once we were done, we decided to walk back through Eels Brook Commons (the park behind our flat) on our way home. Great start to the weekend!
On to Saturday and more pub crawling. Took the tube down to Embankment Station and walked over to Tatterhshall Castle, which is not a castle at all but actually a docked boat. We sat outside in the sunshine (mostly sunny although can’t really tell from the pictures) enjoying the view. Had a quick bite to eat here as well.
Next stop, one of our perennial favorites, The Sherlock Holmes Pub. The place was packed but we fortunately got a table inside. Although it was sunny out, it was very cold, especially sitting on the water, so we needed to warm up. Met some more lovely people who sat at the same table as we did (this is a common occurence here. If you are two people and sit at a table for 4, two other people will ask to also sit at the table).
We then headed to Trafalgar Square, where the feast of St. George was going on. St. George is the patron saint of England and was known as being a dragon slayer as well as fighting in the Crusades. Lots of people at the festival, but not much really going on. We headed over to St. Martin’s in the Fields cafe to have a quick drink and met a really nice family; the dad wanted desperately to talk American politics with us (happens quite frequently).
From here, we headed to our favorite spot, Gordon’s Wine Bar. Got a table and enjoyed a very nice Malbec along with a cheese and bread plate. We will both really miss this place very much. As we were walking out, Tim saw Gerard the manager. Such a wonderful guy. We of course went back in to say hello and chat with him a bit. He ended up buying us an even nicer Malbec and we sat for quite some time talking about everything and anything. From here we headed home (after calling our friend Natalie to wish her a happy birthday!) – that one last wine was enough for us to call it an evening.
Our last Sunday started out a bit slow (can you imagine why?) 🙂 We did make reservations at The Rose Pub for our last Sunday roast. Such a great place, sorry we didn’t find it sooner. Food was very good, great service, even better atmosphere. The lamb roast is heavenly! We were sad to see the weekend coming to a close…..so we went to one last pub. Well, not really a pub. We went to Vagabond Wines, a wine tasting and wine store. You get a little card and load whatever amount of money you want on it. Then you go to their wine walls where there is a selection of over 100 wines to choose from. You can get a tasting or a full glass. We opted for two glasses and sat and reminisced about our weekend. We then headed home to call it a day – and to do a little binge watching of Breaking Bad (currently on season 4).
I decided to do one last London Walk this week – and opted to do a Beatles tour on Tuesday. How could I live in London and not do at least one Beatles thing? The tour was a bit disappointing; our guide was extremely knowledgeable about all things Beatles but didn’t have a great presentation style, plus there was an excessive amount of walking for just a couple of things to see. The tour met at Marylebone Station where numerous scenes from the movie Help! were filmed. We then walked over to the Registry office where Paul and Linda were married as were Ringo and Barbara Bach (Paul also married his third wife here). Unfortunately, the building was covered in construction so it was a bit of an underwhelming stop. Next we went to see an apartment where Ringo lived with his first wife and where his first child was born (well – not born actually born in the apartment). When Ringo moved out, Paul lived in the basement for a few months. After he moved out, Jimi Hendrix moved in (he was subsequently asked to leave because the neighbors complained about all the loud parties he was having). Later John and Yoko moved in to the flat. In 1968 the police raided the place looking for marijuana. John, having been tipped off that the police planned the raid, emptied the apartment completely. And yet the police still managed to find some (some say it was planted), which resulted in them eventually moving to New York City. Next stop was the first Apple Store, which was located on Baker Street. The building originally had a huge psychedelic mural painted on it, which the local businesses did not like. The store was not successful and after a year they decided to close down. The last day they just left the doors open and allowed anyone to come in and take whatever they wanted. We next saw the flat where Paul lived with long time girlfriend Jane Asher and where he and John wrote I Want to Hold Your Hand and Paul later wrote Yesterday. We then got on the tube and rode one stop down to visit the famous Abbey Road Studios – and of course the famous crosswalk. As luck would have it, there is construction going on so only one half of the walkway can be crossed. Had to walk across anyway of course!
So there you have it – the last of my big adventures in London. Its time to start packing up in preparation to head home. I’ll do one last blog though before I go. So until then,
Cheers Mates!
Mind The Gap 