No Place Like London: Day 2

Sunday morning and we were off to Buckingham Palace. Our ticket allowed entry into the Queen’s Gallery, the Royal Mews and the State Rooms. We headed to the Queen’s Gallery first and looked through the ‘Victoria and Albert: in love’ exhibition with furniture, paintings and jewellery commissioned by and for Victoria and Albert.

After cruising through the exhibit it was time for the changing of the guard. We headed out to the front of the Palace to join the thousands of other tourists lining the streets watching the parade. The view from the street wasn’t that great because of the crowds so I climbed a nearby wall to get a better view of the parade ground. There was a couple from California sitting next to me who asked me to take some photos for them because they weren’t game enough to stand up!

The Queen’s Guard Band performed songs from Singin’ in the Rain, Avenue Q, Pirates of the Caribbean and a couple of jazz standards. I obviously chose the right day to go!

When the parade had finished we headed into the Palace to view the state rooms. The place is amazing! An audio guide was provided to explain the renovations that have taken place at the Palace over the years and which wings serve which purpose.  They have timed the audio guide perfectly: as you are walking up the grand staircase the Coronation Anthem by Handel (Zadok the Priest and Nathan the Prophet) starts playing in your ears. Very impressive!

The state rooms are stunning, as is the exhibition on the ‘Queen’s Year’ currently on display. Unfortunately photos aren’t allowed to be taken inside…and I didn’t want to risk being thrown in jail for illegal photos.

After the Palace it was time to check out the Royal Mews. This is where all the royal coaches and cars are kept. The main attraction was the Coronation Coach which has been used for every royal coronation since 1782. Also on display is the Australian Coach, the most recent coach to be made for the Queen and the most comfortable as it comes with power windows and air-conditioning running off of its own generator. We do things well!

By now it was getting late in the day so we headed off to our respective hotels/hostels (I went back to Westminster Bridge to get some photos in the daylight).

The River Thames Festival celebrates the end of summer and was running on Saturday and Sunday so we really chose the perfect weekend to be in the city. On Sunday night we went to the River Thames and watched a big carnival/parade which finished off the festival. There were some interesting costumes.

Then it became a hunt to find somewhere open for dinner that was still serving food that late. Eventually we found a pub right at the end of Waterloo Bridge and next door to the Lyceum Theatre where Lion King is being held.

Most important discovery of the day: the carpets at Harrods are thicker than the carpets at Buckingham Palace. UNBELIEVEABLE!

The REAL changing of the guard

The crowds trying to see!

A slightly better view away from the crowds

These guys must have been running late because all the other guards were outside the Palace

Me at the back door to Buckingham Palace
This is where the tour ends

The backyard of Buckingham Palace

The Australian Coach

The coronation coach
4tns of gold and iron!

Westminster during the day

The River Thames Carnival

Some Romans romin'



A pirate ship



No Place Like London: Day 1

On Saturday morning (11^th September) I packed my bags and headed to the station to catch my train to London, where I would be spending the weekend. As luck would have it I packed everything I needed…except for my Young Persons Railcard. So after racing home and back again I sat at the station waiting for the next train which was an hour away!

When I got to London I caught the tube straight to Leicester Square to hit up the TKTS booth for some cheap theatre tickets. Turns out Billy Elliot was the best on offer for the matinee that day. After sorting out the tickets I headed to my hotel to check in and get ready for the show.

My mate Andrew was also in town for the weekend so we met up before heading to the show together for some lunch. Billy Elliot was showing at the Victoria Palace Theatre, just around the corner from Buckingham Palace. Before the show started we checked out the Palace and then booked out tickets to walk through the State Rooms the next day.

Billy Elliot was fantastic. Genevieve Lemon, who played Mrs Wilkinson (the dance teacher) in Melbourne is now performing the role here in the UK.  She was fantastic then and still is now. I can understand why they have an Australian playing the role in England! Billy was great but his singing wasn’t quite strong enough.  Otherwise a great show and it was on the top of my ‘too see’ list!

After the show we started wandering around and found ourselves outside of a magical place called Harrods. The shop is huge. Andrew and I played the “Spot the white/Anglo-Saxon in Harrods”…I got to 7…that included the two of us. There is a lot of oil money walking around which isn’t surprising considering the shop used to be owned by Mohammed Al-Fayed. Another result of ownership by Al-Fayed are the memorials to Dodi and Diana on every level of the store, Dodi being his son.

I grew depressed rather quickly because I knew I wouldn’t be able to afford shopping at a place like this. I’m not sure where this realisation struck me…perhaps somewhere between the floor dedicated to Persian rugs or the floor dedicated to watches and phones. What hurts the most is the fact that you can do your ordinary grocery shopping there. What’s even more painful is the fact that people DO do their grocery shopping there. Then they leave through the side doors and hop into their Rolls Royce Phantom idling out in the street.

I left in complete disgust!

After some dinner at the pub near my hotel we headed over to Westminster to take some photos of the stunning scenery from Westminster Bridge! The views are absolutely breathtaking. I’m sure you’ll agree. Sondheim certainly got it right when he wrote the song No Place Like London...

Victoria Palace Theatre

Buckingham Palace

A miniature changing of the guard - not sure what was going on!

Me - pennyless outside Harrods!

The infamous green door men...good for a laugh!

Houses of Parliament

Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey

Houses of Parliament and the rear of Westminster Abbey

My hotel room

When in Bath, do as the Romans do...

Of all the places I have been to so far in my 3 weeks in the UK, none have mesmerised me more than the Roman Baths at Bath. Hilary was working in Taunton on Friday 10th (which is in the south of England) so she offered to drop me off on her way. So after waking up at 5am we were off on the road. 2.5 hours later we were in Bath. Given that it was still very early and next to nothing was open I decided to get something to eat. So there I sat, right outside the Roman Baths, in Bath, sipping on a hot chocolate and eating a Danish pastry. Life is tough! I sat there and watched the town come to life as more shops around me opened up and people started their day.

When the Tourism Centre opened up I headed in to check out what was on offer. I started the day with a trip to the actual Roman Baths. It is difficult to explain how amazing the baths are. The architecture used, the technology and science incorporated…the Romans knew how to build a leisure centre!

The baths were constructed in around 43AD around a natural hot water spring which earlier settlers thought to be sacred. The spring was named the Kings Bath and therefore no one bathed in it. Lead pipes were used to direct water into the Great Bath which is an Olympic sized pool in the centre of the complex. On each end of the Great Bath lies a wing of smaller baths and rooms, men one and women the other. Originally they all bathed together but the then Emperor caught wind of it and decreed that they should have separate bathing times and rooms. No one took any notice though. It took 43 decrees and him turning up personally to stop everyone stripping off for a swim together.

The water in the spring comes up at about 43 degrees Celsius and by the time it reaches the Great Bath it is about 36. You can see steam coming off the water in both the spring and the Great Bath. Apparently in winter the steam fills the whole place and people have to walk through a thick fog.

The spring is fed from rain falling on the mountains. It takes 10,000 years for the rain to reach the spring. As part of later renovations the Romans built a number of saunas. People would be covered in oil then go into the sauna where a servant would scrape them with a butter knife type object. The servants would often bottle the men’s sweat scrapings as women liked to add it to their make-up thinking they would be more appealing to the men. For a civilization that controlled a huge part of the world and were ridiculously innovative and industrious…they were pretty delusional!

Four hours later and I forced myself out of the place to get some lunch. Lunch was at another café just outside the baths in an open forecourt area where some girls were trying to sing opera.

Following lunch was a 2.5 hour guided tour of the city. My guide was a retired school principal so he had a lot of odd quirks. Even still, he was a great guide, discussing the diversity of the architecture throughout the town, how to ‘read’ a building, the principal players in Bath’s history and the history of the place. There is a lot of money in Bath. The famous Royal Crescent (row of million dollar town houses shaped in a crescent) is ridiculously exclusive with a large private lawn out the front and a Ha-Ha (a hidden wall).

By the end of the day I was exhausted, both physically and mentally! I did a huge amount of walking and a huge amount of learning.

It really blew my mind to see something so old. My whole trip this far has really made me realise: Australia is barely a toddler in the great scheme of things. I am exploring castles that were built hundreds of years before Capt Cook was even born, churches that were built in the 1000s and 1100s, and the Roman Baths which were built in 43AD, left to ruin, grown over, forgotten about for hundreds and hundreds of years then rediscovered when somebody wanted to build a new building on top of it.

It is a huge reality check to read and hear the history of some of these places and really appreciate where we have come from and what people have had to go through in the centuries before us.

It is a humbling experience.



The tough European lifestyle!




The Great Bath
I was quite tired here...and it was only 9am.



The King's Bath/Sacred Pool



Remaining stone work from Temple entrance

The original entrance - steps mid left is the original doorway
Curvature of the stepping stones indicates how popular the baths were

Original Roman drain. Very steamy as water temperature is about 46 degrees Celsius!

Great Bath
Green tinge comes from sun exposure. Originally Bath covered with a giant arcing roof.

Original lead piping used to transport water to the individual baths and saunas

Piles of tiles supporting flooring
Originally a floor would have sat atop of these piles. A furnace would be burning in an adjoining room with the heat directed into this room. Water would be thrown on the walls which, combined with the hot air travelling in the space below the floor, would create a steam room!

Water fountain from spring

My glass of 10,000 year old hot water...yummy!

The town finally coming to life. Buskers were everywhere!

The only remaining part of the town wall erected in medieval times.
Significantly lower than the current ground level.

Bath weir...installed to control major flooding issues.

Part of The Circus...exclusive townhouses made up of three similar stretches which face in to make a circle.

The Royal Crescent
The stonewall in front is a Ha-Ha (hidden wall). It is used so that the owners of the flats didn't have their view interrupted by a big wall...but were still protected from people trying to climb it.

The Bath Abbey was where the coronation of Edgar took place in 973AD

Looking back on the Roman Baths with the Abbey in the background.

A hint of Melbourne...

The weather was promising to be sunny on Thursday 9^th so I took the chance of heading into London again to go on a bike tour of the city. The tour was great, one of the guides was Australian and there were a couple of Aussies in my group. We headed off through Kensington Gardens and past Kensington Palace (the home of Charles and Dianna, then later just Dianna. Now it is only used for when Harry has a big night on the town and can’t make it back to Clarence House). From here we headed through Hyde Park and to the Wellington Arch, named after a high ranking officer of the military who pulled himself out of poverty to become the Duke of Wellington. While we were in the middle of the archway an official motorcade came through with Police bikes and cars escorting it. We tried to look in the windows but the glass was too dark. Next to the Wellington Arch is the Australian Armed Forces Memorial displaying all the villages where British and Australian troops have fought together.

We then continued along through St James’ Park and followed the back fence to Buckingham Palace. No matter how many postcards you’ve received or TV clips it has been in, as soon as you see the Palace you get excited. It is such an awesome building! We stopped quickly to take in the view before heading off down the Mall and on to Trafalgar Square where we had our lunch break.

With the lunch break over we headed into Westminster and passed the Wellington Barracks and Guards Museum. It was here where London’s similarity with Melbourne was truly experienced. One moment the sun is shining and we are all wiping a few beads of sweat off our brow…the next minute it’s cold, windy and absolutely bucketing down. We were all soaked through in 30 seconds.

We peered out at Westminster Abbey and Parliament House from under a tree in the rain and learnt about the painful end of Guy Fawkes. The rain wasn’t easing up so we decided just to keep going and headed back into St James’ Park. As soon as we entered the gates the sun came out again! Some good photo opps (especially considering there were some ex-QUT students in my riding group and I was wearing my Business Exchange shirt and had my blue cube handy!)

We then headed back through Hyde Park and stopped off at the Albert Memorial and had an interesting chat about what Albert has been remembered for in modern day society.

By the time we made it back to the bike sheds we were all warm and dry. Typical Melbourne weather!

Me attempting to ride a bike and take a photo of myself
Kensington Gardens

Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park

Wellington Arch

Buckingham Palace

Trafalgar Square with Big Ben in the background

Me...dripping wet...and freezing!

St Paul's Cathedral