Beasleys Abroad: Trafalgar Square

After living away from London for 44 years it should hardly be a surprise to me or to anyone else that I'm having to relearn my way around. As I told you yesterday, the place is the same but oh so different. We are also living in an area with which I'm not familiar. Yesterday we took the bus into The City to pick up another mobile (translation=cell phone) for Michelle. Now we can stop worrying about losing one another. The crowds really are ridiculous

From there we took the Underground to Golder's Green to meet an old friend of mine, Helen. Although my parents had known her parents since before WWII in Czechoslovakia, she and I didn't meet until we both ended up working for Marks and Spencer as our first jobs. She took us to a lovely park for lunch and its too bad Michelle didn't photograph the jacket potatoes because I've never seen anything so enormous.

Golder's Hill Park

During lunch Helen showed me a book that had been written about Czech young men who escaped to England during the war and enlisted in the Czech army and fought with the British against Hitler. They had been posted in Leamington. In it she had found a photograph of her father which immediately begged the question as to whether there might be anything in there of interest to my Uncle Ernie who was also in the Czech army, but we didn't know if he had been at the same location. As luck would have it, when I bought a new SIM card for my phone they gave me 60 free minutes to the US which I thought I'd never use. Ernie lives in Florida and I tried to call him from the park. That would have made a good story had he been there but unfortunately he wasn't. I did call him later in the day and yes, he was stationed at the same location. Helen is now trying to get him one of these limited edition books. ...but not only that, it prompted Ernie to tell me another story from the past which involved Helen's dad and her uncle. It was pretty neat for both Helen and I.

After lunch we visited the Crematorium where both of my parents had their ashes scattered. Of course this means that there is no grave to visit but we strolled around the perimeter path and enjoyed the absolutely magnificent roses of every imaginable colour and size. I leave all the photographs to Michelle and when I asked her later if she had any pictures of the place she told me that her thoughts were all for her Omi and she didn't think about taking a picture.

Michelle has told you in her blog of today that we went to Buckingham Palace today. What a zoo! After the Portobello Road experience maybe I should have anticipated the crowds but I didn't. We couldn't even get near to the action. At one point some poor old boy fainted in the crowd and it was hard for people to push back and let some air in for him. As many of you will know, outside of Buckingham Palace its a pretty big area but honest to God it you'd have thought the royal wedding was happening today. I was blown away by the number of people.

Buckingham Palace and the Crowd

Statue outside Buckingham Palace

When we tried to get out of the centre of the crowd we were held up by the police who were holding back the traffic so that the incoming guards could march through. The sentries that used to be posted outside of the gate now seem to be on the inside....well no wonder. I can remember as a kid that my dad often took me to see the changing of the guard on Sunday mornings while mum cooked the Sunday lunch. You could go right up to the guy standing guard and he wasn't allowed to flinch. On a busy Sunday there would be maybe 10 other people watching. The photos that Michelle posted were taken with her holding the camera over the tops of peoples heads. Totally nuts!!!

From Buckingham Palace we walked The Mall along Green Park. I had to laugh when Michelle asked me who somebody was on one of the statues. Nelson's Column I know... the rest, I haven't a clue!!! As Michelle says, there are a lot of statues in this city all depicting men of note or serious events. Makes Frank Ney, Mayor of Nanaimo and real estate agent seem a little trivial!!! lol.

View of Big Ben from The Mall

Green Park

Thanks to Rick Steves for his great recommendation to eat lunch at the Crypt Restaurant in the St. Martin's in the Field church. As we headed for this location we anticipated that most of the crowd at Trafalgar Square had never heard of American travel guide Rick Steves and it seems we might have been correct. Mind you we were there for noon which is lunchtime in Nanaimo but an hour before Europeans eat lunch. The food was very nice and very reasonably priced, the place was wonderfully air conditioned (its hot here today) and I'm hoping that Michelle's photo will show you the look of the place.

St. Martin's in the Field

(As seen from in front of the National Gallery)

Inside St. Martin's in the Field

Ceiling of St. Matin's in the Field

Inside St. Matin's in the Field

Cafe in the Crypt, St. Matin's in the Field

The Church is right next to the National Gallery where we went next. Thanks again to Rick Steves and to Michelle's efficient photocopying of all relevant parts of his books. Although we did rent the audio tour, we didn't end up using it. Rather than wonder aimlessly around looking at everything, we followed the travel guides recommendations and focussed mainly on those pictures he recommended. His notes come with room numbers and a short comment on each picture which we found totally adequate. Even so we were there for over two hours which, at this point is all that our feet could take. We made it home just before the rain.

The weather forecast isn't so good for the next few day so what we plan to do tomorrow will be as a big a surprise to me as it will be to you. Thanks to all of you who have emailed to say that you are enjoying our blogs. Even though we are over here and enjoying ourselves, you might be surprised to know that the first thing we do when we get home is to turn on the computer to see who has written to us. It is very time consuming to do the blog, particularly for Michelle who has to upload the pictures and rarely gets time to "fix" them before she posts them but since there is no TV in the flat (definitely not a complaint) it has become our entertainment for the evenings. Love to all of you friends and family....keep 'em coming!! Sue

1. Green Spaces
There are hundreds of green spaces around this city and each one seems more picturesque than the last. These are parks or squares or tree lined streets and they are remarkably beautiful and well maintained. But not just that, people use these spaces and I mean really use them. They picnic, or lay in the sun, or take the kids to play. I am amazed how many people I have seen out making use of these lovely spots.

Golder's Hill Park

(There was an old man sitting next to this pond, you can just see him on the left, and he was sleeping. It was so cute)

Golder's Hill Park

(They had a lovely Cafe here, just out of this picture on the right. We sat outside and had a delightful lunch. Mum and I had Jacket Potatoes, thanks for the recommendation Megan, and they were so huge neither of us could finish them. But, boy were they yummy!)

Green Park

(I love how the city provides deck chairs so people can come down and sit in the sun. I wish we did that!)

Mum along the side of the Mall next to Green Park

2. Crowds

I know I mentioned this before when talking about Portobello Road, but the crowds are ridiculous. I do understand that part of this is the fact that we are going to tourist locations in July and as such crowds are to be expected but Oh My Goodness. We walked up toward Buckingham Palace this morning on our way to the National Gallery. We didn't really plan the timing, we had gone to an appointment at the bank first, but ended up at Buckingham Palace right in time for the Changing of the Guard. What a madhouse.

Crowds Outside Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace with the crowd outside

3. Pomp and Circumstance

Despite the crowds we were able to see some of the Changing of the Guard. I am glad we didn't go with that as our intention though because what we could see was pretty limited.

Horse Guards heading into Buckingham Palace

Guards heading away from Buckingham Palace

4. Public Transport

I have been really impressed with the speed, ease and inexpensive public transit in this city. Coming from Nanaimo, where you have to plan your entire day around the bus schedule if you want to use it, it is lovely to be able to get around so easily.

Buses coming round Trafalgar Square

5. Architecture and Statues

You cannot turn around in this city without finding yourself standing in front of some impressive building or statue. Monuments seem to be on every corner and in the centre of every square. I keep asking Mum who the people are but there are just too many to know them all.