Before Paris there was 6 days in London…
The weather wasn’t the greatest but we managed to see just about everything we planned to.
The week started with the arrival of the parents on Friday afternoon. Despite landing late, they cruised through Heathrow (apparently new Terminal 5 has taken some of the pressure of the rest of the airport) and were at Paddington via the Heathrow Express by 4pm.
A slow trip by the Circle Line and were in the City and heaving the parent’s luggage to the hotel. A quick change of clothes, and a freshen up saw us in a cab on the way to Chelsea. As luck would have it the weekend the parents arrived was the weekend of the Chelsea Flower Show. Luck was really on our side as the cloud that had been hovering above London all week cleared away for a sunny evening.
The Chelsea Flower Show is quite a spectacle. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but in the end was impressed by the show gardens, including an Australian garden designed by none other than our own Jamie Durie complete with requisite water feature. It was actually the largest of the show gardens and rather well done, particularly when viewed from across the 'billabong' water feature while enjoying a glass of Pimms.
Under the huge marquee was the flowers bit. Stands of cut flowers and arranged flowing plant filled the marquee with colour and perfume. Pretty much everything was there from orchids, to roses to carnivorous plants.
As the parents started to show signs of tiredness (they had been flying all day and then hurled around London by me all evening) we headed back to Sloane Square station and the hotel.
And so began 6 days seeing the sights of London. We did most of the major tourist spots; the Tower, Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s and took a ferry down the river from Embankment to Greenwich. The week just seemed to fly by. In between the London sight-seeing we managed to get to Hampton Court for a morning and spend a day in Bath. All in al the weather was tolerable with the exception of Monday. The day dawned windy and cool with heavy rain. It was the worst day weather-wise since I have been in London. We managed to find shelter from the wind and wet Westminster Abbey but postponed our plans to go to Greenwich in the afternoon. On a spur of the moment decision (after buying theatre tickets to the new show Marguerite) we split - Mum and Ed and Sandra headed for Harrods and Dad and I went to the British Museum, meeting back up in time to head to the Theatre Royal Haymarket for the show. None of us had a clue what it would be like. I hadn’t read any reviews and the foursome from Australia hadn’t even heard of it. I think everyone enjoyed it in the end... the show is a rather heavy story of love in Paris during the second world war, written by the creators of Les Miserables. The music is quite engaging and the leading man shows his talent by singing and playing piano on stage but some of the scenes between the musical number drag a little. That said… I can assure you it will not still be playing after 22 years continuous run like Les Mis! It might make 6 months… might…
6 Days in London was not enough and the weather made the time we had even shorter… and since I have decided to stay another year here… a good excuse for the parents to come back!
The weather wasn’t the greatest but we managed to see just about everything we planned to.
The week started with the arrival of the parents on Friday afternoon. Despite landing late, they cruised through Heathrow (apparently new Terminal 5 has taken some of the pressure of the rest of the airport) and were at Paddington via the Heathrow Express by 4pm.
A slow trip by the Circle Line and were in the City and heaving the parent’s luggage to the hotel. A quick change of clothes, and a freshen up saw us in a cab on the way to Chelsea. As luck would have it the weekend the parents arrived was the weekend of the Chelsea Flower Show. Luck was really on our side as the cloud that had been hovering above London all week cleared away for a sunny evening.
The Chelsea Flower Show is quite a spectacle. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but in the end was impressed by the show gardens, including an Australian garden designed by none other than our own Jamie Durie complete with requisite water feature. It was actually the largest of the show gardens and rather well done, particularly when viewed from across the 'billabong' water feature while enjoying a glass of Pimms.Under the huge marquee was the flowers bit. Stands of cut flowers and arranged flowing plant filled the marquee with colour and perfume. Pretty much everything was there from orchids, to roses to carnivorous plants.
As the parents started to show signs of tiredness (they had been flying all day and then hurled around London by me all evening) we headed back to Sloane Square station and the hotel.
And so began 6 days seeing the sights of London. We did most of the major tourist spots; the Tower, Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s and took a ferry down the river from Embankment to Greenwich. The week just seemed to fly by. In between the London sight-seeing we managed to get to Hampton Court for a morning and spend a day in Bath. All in al the weather was tolerable with the exception of Monday. The day dawned windy and cool with heavy rain. It was the worst day weather-wise since I have been in London. We managed to find shelter from the wind and wet Westminster Abbey but postponed our plans to go to Greenwich in the afternoon. On a spur of the moment decision (after buying theatre tickets to the new show Marguerite) we split - Mum and Ed and Sandra headed for Harrods and Dad and I went to the British Museum, meeting back up in time to head to the Theatre Royal Haymarket for the show. None of us had a clue what it would be like. I hadn’t read any reviews and the foursome from Australia hadn’t even heard of it. I think everyone enjoyed it in the end... the show is a rather heavy story of love in Paris during the second world war, written by the creators of Les Miserables. The music is quite engaging and the leading man shows his talent by singing and playing piano on stage but some of the scenes between the musical number drag a little. That said… I can assure you it will not still be playing after 22 years continuous run like Les Mis! It might make 6 months… might…
6 Days in London was not enough and the weather made the time we had even shorter… and since I have decided to stay another year here… a good excuse for the parents to come back!
No comments:
Post a Comment