Tag: London

Travel

I have so many travel photos and I have over 25,000 photos on my iPhone so I can keep going for a while.

Japan was really special.
I saw this in a small village near Pamplona near the time of the running of the bulls. They had live bulls running too. I have to say that I felt sorry for the bulls as they seemed terrified rather than fierce.
Beautiful glass art by Chihuly in Seattle.
The Vessel in NYC.
The Eye lit up in London.
Monks in Conques on the Camino.

Travel 3

As expected, they have extended our confinement here in Paris (this was written on April 29) but we don’t have an actual date of when it might end. If we stay at or below 3000 new cases a day, we might be able to get out more normally starting the end of May. Testing will be available for anyone with symptoms. It’s a strange and confusing time. Again, here are some photos, some going back ten years, of voyages we have taken. Those were the days.

A pretty pub entrance in London.
The gorgeous Maldives. We went there for my birthday a couple of years ago.
White Sands, New Mexico. Such a unique place.
I loved Porto, Portugal. This was the first building we saw as we left the metro that we took from the airport to our hotel.
Beautiful Rome. This area was absolutely packed with tourists.

The Last Day

I feel like I wrote this post months ago instead of a few weeks ago. Of course, the virus situation is changing everything. I was a bit concerned in the British Museum as there were a lot of people, and the metros were full too. Last night the French government has shut everything but grocery stores and pharmacies and we are supposed to stay home. Yesterday we made a trip to the grocery store and stocked up. We will see how long we can go without another stop. The Monoprix near us was packed with people probably with the same idea. We went out for a walk last evening for some fresh air and I thought we would find very few people about but instead it was teeming with people, especially young people having miniature parties in groups drinking beer and smoking. I even saw some places open and serving crepes and waffles to go. It’s like no one really believes how serious the spread of the virus is. Anyway, here is my post on London:

We had an evening return back to Paris so had our last day to walk around. We chose Covent Garden after visiting the British Museum.

The impressive exterior of the British Museum.
Some of the Elgin Marbles.
For breakfast we had scones with clotted cream and jam. Very good. We had a full breakfast at our hotel one day and thought we would try something lighter and different.
We went to a pub for a lunch of fish and chips which I really liked.
Covent Garden which was once a fruit and vegetable market.
The interior.
A lovely window.
The Royal Opera.
We saw the play Come From Away our second night and it was excellent. It’s the story of a very small town in Canada which took in thousands of passengers when planes had to land on September 11th. The real story is just incredible and the play was too. I highly recommend it

London Eye

We had a play to see in the neighborhood of the London Eye and walked around a bit looking around.

We arrived as the sun was setting.
It leans out over the water for some reason. I rode it the last time I was in London and had great views of the river below.
We were across the river from Parliament. Big Ben is covered in scaffolding right now.
This is called County Hall where one branch of the government once met. It now houses many things including the theatre of the play we saw.
We had time to kill so went into a bar in the Marriot Hotel and had this great view.
It was a gin bar so we had gin and tonics. There were all sorts of gins to choose from. This one was a floral flavoured gin.
The play, Witness for the Prosecution, an old Agatha Christy play, was set in the old chamber for the government which really fit the play as most of it takes place in a courtroom. Twelve people over to the left got to be the jury and one of them even got to give the verdict.
The London Eye as we headed to our metro stop.

Victoria and Albert Museum

Visiting the Victoria and Albert Museum is a must.

The modern glass sculpture by Chihuly in the main lobby.
We set out to find the famous ceramic staircase. At one time the whole existing museum at the time was going to be totally done this way but it proved to be too expensive.
Moldings made of famous structures.
Another interesting room.
Looking up in the cafe.
Afterwards we walked over to see the Albert Memorial.
And passed the becoming rare phone booth. Most don’t work, some have wifi, many have graffiti.
Isn’t this a great little corner for drinks or a meal?

St Martins in the Hills

As we were near this church when we went to get half price tickets for a play, we stopped by.

It has a familiar exterior.
But we mainly went here to the crypt below for something hot as it was a bit chilly. The day we arrived it was pouring rain but, luckily for us, we didn’t get rained on again.
Here it is. Doesn’t it look inviting? I don’t think the souls of the departed minded.
We visited the nearby National Portrait Gallery.
For lunch we had this Japanese dish, Okonomiyaki, which was very good and cooked in front of you.