londonwalking

My Europe Tour 2025 – Blog #26 – London UK B 08/11/25

8/11/25 Another HUGE day with so many photos, including Westminster Abbey. Keeping to my body clock I showered, packed my day bag & completed my mandatory protein enriched brekky. Having a big protein brekky is a must for anyway touring & walking as much as I do plus frequent hydration. I headed off West, the opposite way I have been starting my days, & seeing the other end of Hyde Park to view Kensington Castle, Princess Diana’s residence for years & her favourite sunken garden & pond where a now famous statue of her, dedicated by Prince William stands. Coming from the direction I took you come across the gardens, sunken pool & statue prior to seeing Kensington Castle. Also, numerous squirrels being silly in thick Autumn leaves. Certainly, brings some laughs & smiles.

After surveying the area, you can see why Princess Diana liked this area, for its ambience of retreat & solitude. Princess Diana was my favourite royal & now I admire Princess Kate (Catherine). I left the grounds of Hyde Park & walked along the ultra-long street of Kensington Rd, joining onto Knightsbridge & I felt another nosebleed from the air of money to live in these buildings. Plenty of embassy’s too & very expensive cars. Located at 161 Knightsbridge I came across something quite extraordinary to be found in London … a suspended rhinoceros above Samer Halimeh NY, a 2-storey famous US jeweller shop with 30mm bulletproof glass windows & prices start at £5,000. This renovation cost £10mil based on bringing NY architecture to London. With the ‘nosebleed’ & constant viewing of architecture & the like I ultimately took a wrong turn & headed down Vauxhall Bridge Rd but realised in time before I got to the River Thames. The more you look around London, the more you see.

Again, many weird sights, memorials & ultra-strange building designs like the Underground Victoria Station (curved roof building). With many frustrations with Google Maps, I eventually found my way back to Westminster Abbey & finally the public are allowed entry, so I managed to find the ticket booth to the side & buy an entry ticket on a concession rate (over 60) for £28. A bit of a wait to get in & the volume of people within was amazing. A bit of patience is required as we saunter through the mire of elevated & sectionalised tombs with the number of conga lined viewers. The left photo below shows the Eastern elevation & the right one, the Northern Front Entrance.

The Abbey is amazing, but for me it was predominately, a crypt for the volume of tombs inlaid within. Some 3,000+ burials & 600 memorials lie within the Abbey. It is an architectural masterpiece, particularly from 13th to 16th centuries where many royals, dignitaries are entombed & royals commemorated. No-one knows when the first church was built on this swampy, previously Thorney Island site, however it is estimated over a thousand years ago. History became more factual once King Edward, The Confessor, started his church. To be absolutely clear you could spend 4hours minimum here just going through the entire Abbey & looking at everything that catches your eye. The Great Rose Window & the other glass windows are a standout but as you see the works involved in the construction of the ceilings, some 102′ above the floor & well, that is beyond amazing.

The Abbey is divided into so many chapels, & recognition memorials of various human achievements, such as literature, music, science, law, mathematics, physics, medicine, exploration, navigation, governance, war heroes & the list continues of so many famous names. Queen Elizabeth 11 was the 1st funeral for a reigning monarch at the Abbey for some 250years. She was later buried in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle alongside Prince Phillip who died 1yr prior in 2021.

Currently, King Charles 111 is building a Sacristy extension to the Abbey. Forty monarchs have been crowned in the Abbey since King Edgar in 973AD, latest of course being King Charles 111. Entombed in this Abbey are approx. 3,300 burials of previous Kings & Queens & so many others, but more importantly, King Edward, later Edward the Confessor back in 1065 passed away who started this Abbey & is intombed in front of the High Altar.

The ancient Coronation Chair (1301) is still present in the Abbey for viewing but you need good eyesight for the distance from the barricade & is used to this day but has been decorated over the centuries. The happiest event of late was the marriage of Prince William & Catherine, 29th April 2011. At the West Door entrance, the first tomb inlaid in the floor is The Unknown Soldier from WW1 surrounded these past days with the recognised poppies & wreaths are laid in every war service. Upon leaving, I bought a booklet for £9.00 for future reference & hasn’t that been a godsend of good fortune.

Walking away from the river slightly, I walked from the other end of Parliament St to view Downing St, but with the usual security & TV camera setups no access was freely available. Whitehall is the Parliament House & other main government departments. House of Commons & House of Lords area, etc are over to the West behind Big Ben & Westminster Abbey closer to the River Thames.

Apart from wandering around, I didn’t see all that much, but I loved walking around London compared to some other cities on this trip however, you can see the terrible changes with the confronting attire of the Muslims & their arrogance of walking right through you. How can anyone get used to black letterboxes walking into you? What they are doing is real colonization & not in a good way like the British accomplished. Sadly, Australia is following the failed British society. Always something to see or experience. Again, it was getting quite late & it was dark when I reached my Thistle Hyde Park Kensington Hotel. Today I walked 27,263 steps = 21.37kms & straight into food, beer & writing my travel blogs … Oh … & a good shower.

Post Blog: I wholeheartedly wish for our current King Charles 111 to abdicate immediately for he is the Defender of the Faith of Church of England like his predecessors for some 500years with the common title of Supreme Governor. Since his coronation it is becoming aware he has a very strong bond to Islam & did not do an Easter message to Britain but did one for Ramadam & also had a Ramadam Dinner at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle where Queen Elizabeth 11 is now buried. What a disgrace!!! I NEVER liked this imbecile & definitely not for a role as King. Thoughts?

All photos are copyright of bhlifestyles.travel.blog

My Europe Tour 2025 – Blog #25 – London UK – A 07/11/25

7/11/2025 Again, brekky at 7.30am & I’m walking back toward Paddington Station on my way to Lord’s Cricket Ground for a tour starting at 10am. It was about a 20min walk to Lord’s & I was surprised to find the classic canal water boat sanctuary along the way. These boats are mostly permanent residences too. The closer I came to Lord’s the more expensive the housing & units became. Paul McCarthy has a home near to Lord’s at the Nursery end along with Mick Jagger, a unit at the other end of the cricket ground to name a few. I wonder who else has an apartment here. Something of note was to understand I’m looking for a cricket ground & not our usual cricket/ sports stadium we are so used to in Australia & with that I almost missed Gate 6 & fenceline of the Lord’s Cricket Ground in a quiet street of Middlesex/ Marylebone. I’ve seen houses with the same fence height & look. LOL!

Of course, being traditionally early as always, the friendly uniformed guard at Gate 6 (meeting point) told me to fill in the time by walking back almost the way I came by some 5mins & I’ll come across the famous pedestrian crossing of Abbey Road, the Beatles album cover they did decades ago. It didn’t take me long to know I had found the pedestrian crossing for all the self-indulgent idiots stopping traffic trying to get the same Beatles photo. Talk about self-entitlement on display. A couple almost got hit by a car due to their selfishness & stupidity. I took my required photo (without the fanfare, etc) & left the idiots to cop the rightful tirade from motorists. I wonder how the nearby residents handle this crap plus the numerous horn toots.

With still some 20mins for the 10am entry, the same guard let me enter the grounds with the only entry available being the museum which was most satisfactory. With complete shock the first item, near the entry was the original & famous Ashes Urn in its unique glass encasement. I was expecting a replica & not the real thing & especially close to the entrance/ exit. There was a replica further in too. Lady Janet Clarke, a well-known Australian philanthropist, residing in Melbourne used a tiny terracotta urn (4″ high) on her dresser, believed to be a perfume bottle bought by Lady Clarke at an Egyptian bazaar, was presented to Ivo Bligh, the captain of the English touring team of 1882/83 who was defeated by an Australian team of a test match (a national calamity by the English press), where she placed the ashes of a bail from a social game between the touring team & her estate staff on her property & offered it as a gift to the English Captain who treasured it for years. When Ivo Bligh passed away, he gifted the urn to the MCC & that’s where the legend began between the two countries.

Lord’s is very small when compared to our MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground, capacity of 110,000) but full of history. Lord’s attendance record is 31,180. Cricket is the only sport carried out on the actual ground. No concerts either, purely for cricket. The Lord’s premises does cater for tennis, squash, etc for the member’s participation in other buildings.

Getting into the museum early was a bonus to peruse the artifacts, etc at my pace & that allowed more understanding & relevance when Neil, our guide joined us for the tour & showed us certain items in the museum & the statistics just kept flowing from his mouth with no intention available to us to remember just some of it. There were so many familiar famous names that brought back wonderful memories. He certainly knew cricket history & his bucket list is one day to visit our MCG. I told him never say ‘one day‘ & now is the perfect time, for the AUD is about 2 for 1pound plus you could see his health needs improving. I hope he took that advice strongly. Below is a painting of a cricketer, the low stumps & the hockey type bat they used in the early days. The other photo shows several caps, but the standout was the Umpire Dicky Bird’s cap, a treasured & much-loved umpire character.

Neil showed us the famous Long Room where teams come close to members during the match, how & where they walk out into the ground. The next room we saw was the Committee Room, where a certain chair was used for Queen Elizabeth 11 to watch cricket. It was not the best seating location, for the Queen was not a true cricket fan & it possibly gave her more privacy. Prince Phillip on the other hand was an avid fan & would attend every chance he got. Every year a person becomes President of the MCC & when it is formally taken that person immediately nominates the next president to be ready for the next year. Currently, a woman is the first ever woman to take the President’s role.

Apparently, there are more than 188,000 people awaiting the approval to be a registered member & can take more than a decade or two minimum. When a person turns 16, they start the process & if it advances several interviews, performances & demonstration of cricket becomes essential & critical to further advancement up the ladder with no guarantee of any success, let alone the fees involved. The members on match day have no set seat assigned. First in first served, so some members sit outside the entry gate before dawn to get in first & the second the gates open, the stampede starts, obviously little decorum is shown.

We could not see the player’s dressing rooms due to a cricket function that day. Neil then took us to Section C of the largest grandstand (named Grand Stand .. LOL) which showed the incredible 8’ slope from one side to the other (across the front of the Pavilion). It is economically not viable to rectify this slope as it affects everything on this estate & beyond. From there, we ventured into the ‘spaceship’ Media Centre but was quickly told the architect referred it to the hull of a ship. None of us got that inclination. Spaceship for all of us. Neil identified the chair our great Richie Benaud used when commentating. When he passed away, the seat remained vacant as respect. I miss his voice & cricket wit. I bought a booklet to remind me of this great experience for £15.00 from the museum shop.

On this tour I met a group of Australians & straight after invited me to join them for lunch which was a blast. One married couple from Ex-Melbourne (Wayne & Bernie) now live in a village in Bali & they still contacted me when I arrived back in Australia & they did most of the communication out of the group at lunch. They certainly love living in Bali through their ‘retirement’. The lunch catchup was truly wonderful to hear their stories & also to share mine of course. It was priceless to be so welcomed to share their time with me. I love meeting these people who openly interact to expand my life network & to learn their life stories. After a great talkfest, I said my good-byes, for they were e-biking/ scooter in a different direction to me. With this buzz of positive interaction, I quickly hit my steps.

I headed back down through the suburbs following my brain compass & sometimes Google Maps to ultimately arrive near The Strand & then onto Big Ben area again. It was quite a walk of looking at suburbs & shops & more landmarks & great architecture/ history & it wasn’t till I got back towards the river the scenery became obviously more impressive. The Strand area is certainly worth visiting. I came across the famous communication BT Tower with its impressive height of 191m. The viewing area is not open to the public, which is a shame, but understandable. Next was Bush House as a standout which was a 1925 building for trade by an American Irving T Bush & was later a base for the BBC & now is used by King’s College.

The next unusual architecture that caught my eye was surprisingly the Australian High Commission (Australia House). King George V laid the foundation stone in 1913, but the building only opened 1918 due to WW1. It is the oldest continually occupied diplomatic building in London. It’s location on The Strand is part of ‘Old London’. Within the building foundation is an uncovered ancient well of some 900years old & that is where the local name of Holywell originates from. The well was tested recently & the fresh water still remains suitable for human drinking. The staff can sometimes show you around the magnificent interior when time permits but of course, I was unaware of this availability. Certainly, the interior & designs would be amazing. Such a shame to miss this. Just outside of this building is the Lord Dowding Statue of a great aviator reaching the rank of Air Chief Marshall of WW11 with Battle of Britain & his aviation also started in WW1. He later became 1st Baron (1943) who died in 1970 at 87yrs old & buried in Westminster Abbey due to his critical contribution.

Another standout & wreaked of importance & stature was the Victorian Gothic architecture of The Royal Courts of Justice, opened in 1882. This Royal Court houses the High Court & Court of Appeal of England & Wales plus other courts of notability. There are over 1,000 rooms within this structure. The architect, George Edmund Street died during its construction.

With further walking around the Big Ben area I started to unwind, people watched & slowly made my way back to The Marble Arch & along Bayswater Rd to my Thistle Hyde Park Kensington Hotel. It turned out a day of minimal after yesterday’s huge day & after the Lord’s tour but managed to walk a good 28,093 steps = 22.19 kms just below my tour record of 25.55klms yesterday (Blog 24).

I’ll end my Blog #25 here. Many thanks for reading my blogs. My next blog will be more of London UK B. Please stay safe, happy & healthy. Cheers.