Today was our last full day in London. Last night we booked matinee tickets at the Noel Coward Theatre to see the musical “Half A Sixpence “.

The Noel Coward Theatre
51.5111° N, 0.1273° W

Before the matinee we took a double decker bus from a stop near our hotel to the Selfridges department store on Oxford Street. It was pretty impressive but most of the merchandise was above our price point so we walked across the street to Marks & Spencer’s flagship – the “competitor” store.

Our shopping there was focused on finding our favorite M&S brand chocolate cookies!

The show was wonderful. Our seats were among the cheapest in the house but the theater is small & our seats were great so they we didn’t miss seeing anything on stage.

After the show we went to a nearby pub for dinner. A relatively new place that has only been in business since 1873!

Our meal was delicious & the desert was so decadent that we both wanted to lick the plate clean.

We started our holiday in England by arriving in the country separately & we will be ending it in a similar fashion. Catherine will be flying home on Delta Airlines via JFK Airport in New York City & I will be flying home on Air France via Paris.

Unfortunately we couldn’t get seats on the same plane :(. But our planes will land in Toronto within an hour of each other. Another airport reunion to look forward to!

Cheers!

London Docklands Museum

51°30′26″ N 0°1′26″ W

Today our first destination was the London Docklands Museum at the Canary Wharf development.

This museum was recommended to us by Catherine ‘s close friend Barb Ford. She & her husband Bruce spent 6 weeks living in London last year while Bruce was doing research at Kew Gardens. They gave us lots of great tips on what to see & do while we were here.

We have travelled extensively using London’s mass transit system “The Tube” (subway) & the above-ground rail system. It is very convenient & economical to use. Catherine has done an excellent job figuring out routes for us to take each day. We are moving around the city like locals now & even have had other tourists stop & ask us for directions! I always refer them to Catherine 🙂

The Docklands Museum is really well done & tells the history of London & the Docklands area over many decades.

It also has an area devoted to the Docklands during the Second World War. The photo below shows an emergency bomb shelter for 1 – 2 persons. I cannot imagine being shut up in one of these during an air raid!

After we left the Museum we took around the Canary Wharf business district. This huge area even has a Canadian connection as it was a multi-billion £ redevelopment project led by the Reichman brothers who leveraged their mega project development experience gained in Canada & other locations around the world.

After touring Canary Wharf we got back on the Tube & went into the center of the city to visit the Tower of London & the Tower Bridge – some other real estate developments that have been around considerably longer than Canary Wharf 🙂

We walked around the perimiter of London Tower & then crossed the Tower Bridge – along with a few thousand other sightseers.

I’ve walked more miles in the past 7 days than I have walked in the previous 7 months!

Tomorrow is our last day in London. Now it’s time to rest up for our next adventures. My feet are looking forward to a nice, long soak in a hot bath.

Cheers!

May 1 was a Bank Holiday in England & we spent the day at Hampton Court Palace.

51.4036° N, 0.3378° W

This is the palace where Henry VIII spent a significant portion of his reign with Anne Boleyn & Jane Seymour.

The palace is quite a distance from the city center & it took us about an hour on the subway & connecting train to get there – but it was well worth the effort.

Today the palace offers a unique experience to visitors through a group of actors who portray the King, Ann Boleyn, Cromwell & Jane Seymour and several others in a series of scenes in the very rooms in the palace where the actual people could have had the same interactions & conversations.

It really enhanced our experience & our appreciation of the significant history of this palace & the people who lived there.

Following the vignettes we toured many rooms in the palace.

There were several throne rooms on display

Some were used more often than others……

Talk about having a soft seat……

Next we took a guided tour of the palace gardens.

The tour focused more on the history of the gardens rather than on the plantings. Our guide was excellent & the gardens were spectacular.

Our guide told us that the gardening staff are focused on maintaining the gardens with the same types of plants that were used when the monarchs were in residence.

We even got a “behind the scenes” tour of some of the greenhouses where plants for the gardens are grown from seed.

Cheers!

Today we travelled into part of the city to see several iconic buildings & to meet up with my friend Darren Montgomery.

Our first stop was at Florin Court, the residence of Hercule Poroit in the BBC TV series. This Art Deco style building is just a few steps away from the subway station.

51°31′14″ N 0°5′56″ W

An interesting side note, when we came to street level from the subway stop near Florin Court we looked at the street map posted outside the subway station & were very surprised to see some of the other local street names! The photo below is not altered – other than the red marking I put around the street names.

You can draw your own conclusions about what this means 🙂 …..

Next, we did a mini (self-guided) walking tour of London’s financial district & saw several iconic buildings including “the Gherkin”

The Gherkin

We also walked past The Cheese Grater & the Lloyds Of London building. It was really neat to see such unique architecture in the midst of many of England & Europe’s most recognizable classic buildings.

We ended up at St Paul’s Cathedral & we went to a morning service there. It was very special to attend the service. We even sat in the front row of the congregation! My Dad would have really liked that – even if it wasn’t a Presbyterian Church!

After the service we met up with my friend Darren Montgomery. We worked together in Kuwait in 2011-2012 & have stayed in touch ever since. Darren is originally from England & is currently working for a utility company in the Southampton area.

We went for lunch in a nearby pub & then walked around the city – ending up at the British Museum. It was great to catch up with Darren. Our “reunion ” is certainly a highlight of our trip for me.

Cheers!

Today we went Greenwich to tour the palaces, the Prime Meridian Observatory & the Cutty Sark clipper ship.

51.4769° N, 0.0005° W

It was really exciting to be at the place where such significant principles of geography were established. And, as a bonus, I was able to get a close up look and tour of the famous clipper ship, Cutty Sark which has been wonderfully preserved.

Cutty Sark rigging

Cutty Sark helm

Captain’s lounge

Captain’s head

Cheers!