The Great Escape

  Apr 12 - London   A couple of Houses of Parliament tours today, followed by a visit to the Tate Britain art gallery.  First off to visit the state apartments of the Speaker of the House of Commons.  The   Speaker has had an official residence here since 1800 and it is said to be the grandest of all the buildings in the Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament complex). The whole residence is built around a square light well and the corridors have ceilings like a fan vaulted cloister. The rooms have huge great windows with carved oak panelling on the walls and magnificently carved doors.  Along with the rich interiors, the views along the Thames, the marble and brass decorations, it really is majestic here and I would re-visit in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, again, no photos were allowed so the only pictures we got were of the Westminster Hall and the exterior building Westminster Hall Between tours today we had a walk along Birdcage Walk to Horse Gu...

  April 11 - London After brekkie in Covent Garden, Monday’s itinerary started off with a walk to the National Gallery, the museum that houses Great Britain’s national collection of European paintings.  Much of the artwork on display is by the ‘Old Masters’ but there’s also a lot by many that I’ve never heard of (art being one of the many subjects I don’t know much about! 😀 ). One painting in particular we were lucky to see is the ‘Blue Boy’ by Gainsborough.  This is presently on loan from the States and it’s the first time it’s been back in the UK for 100 years. Our next port of call today was the British Museum, home of, amongst many other things, the ‘Elgin Marbles’.  No argument on here about the rights and wrongs on these magnificent artefacts but just to say that Australia and England didn’t quite come to war on this subject during our visit! 😊   The rest of the museum is open to a vast array of works dedicated to human history, art, and culture, it’s ...

  Apr 10 - London A trip up to London this week sightseeing.  There are just so many places up here that I either haven’t seen before or haven’t been too for what seems like a lifetime that I reckon we needed at least a week for starters.  For accommodation we’re staying in a hotel in the old ‘County Hall’ building.  This is on the south side of the Thames, just the other side of the river from the Houses of Parliament and ‘Big Ben’, while also overlooking the ‘London Eye’. It’s a great spot and just so easy to reach all the major tourist sites.  And on that thought, this week’s attraction’s are mainly going to be a mixture of museums and art galleries, with a splattering of political and royal architecture thrown in.  Our Hotel in purple/blue Arriving by train from the south coast (and a warning for anyone thinking of using rail travel in the UK, start saving now, it’s outrageously expensive!) we booked into our hotel and then took off for the Imperia...

  March 31 - Worthing It’s a bit of a late start but welcome to our occasional diary capturing the next few months in the UK and Europe. This trip was originally planned for 2020, however, due to the delay caused by the dreaded ‘lurgy’, we’ve finally managed to get away 😅. The trip, fondly called ‘The Great Escape’ by Jane (as opposed to the ‘Geriatric Gap Year’ elsewhere on this site) will hopefully include catching up with family, sightseeing, hiking, cruising, and generally having a good time (and I might even get to see a few Fulham games!). The next few weeks weeks will include investigating Europe’s Covid restrictions before booking some trips and then updating this as the time progresses. I’m sure we’ll have a ball but for the moment ‘Au Revoir” The first week OMG What a shock when we arrived, 3°C and snow! ❄ Things did improve though with some lovely sunny days on the beach and pier even though it was still pretty cold. I’d forgotten how nice it can be over here in spring,...