Marking time at Paddington

If you have to spend a few hours waiting for a train anywhere, Paddington station has to be one of the best places to do it.

I had a few hours to kill till before my train to Oxford this morning and my luggage was too heavy to drag about too much so I sat on a bench seat and watched the world go by. 

The Glastonbury music festival starts on the weekend and hundreds of bright young things were heading off early to find themselves the perfect spot to pitch their tent.  Based on the people I saw this morning, there is a definate uniform for festival attendance. Skinny jeans or linen shorts, backpack front and back with pillow, tent and rolled mat juggled precariously on top, knee high socks and gumboots. Artfully rolled scarf, blue tinted glasses and floppy black velvet hats are optional extras. 

The station has a unique way of managing their bird problem.   was idly watching pigeon walk akong the floor at my feet when a young man in an orange high visibility vest strode up with a falcon resting on his arm. The pigeon took off pretty quickly so I guess that the falcon is their clever way for keeping the bird problem down.

He came back later and I asked how effective the falcon is on the bird problem. He said it worked better when he could release the bird but even seeing it sent the pigeons away. He said that he spent four hours a day at Paddington three days a week but that he also visited other stations around London.

Marking time at Paddington

If you have to spend a few hours waiting for a train anywhere, Paddington station has to be one of the best places to do it.

I had a few hours to kill till before my train to Oxford this morning and my luggage was too heavy to drag about so I sat on a bench seat and watched the world go by. 

The Glastonbury music festival starts on the weekend and hundreds of bright young things were heading off early to find themselves the perfect spot to pitch their tent.  Based on the people I saw this morning, there is a definite uniform for festival attendance. Skinny jeans or linen shorts, backpack front and back with pillow, tent and rolled mat juggled precariously on top.  Knee high socks and gumboots. Artfully rolled scarf, blue tinted glasses and floppy black velvet hats are optional extras. 

The station has a unique way of managing London's ever present pigeon problem. I was idly watching a bird walk along the floor at my feet when a young man in an orange high visibility vest strode up with a falcon resting on his arm. The pigeon took off pretty quickly so I guess that the falcon is their clever way for keeping the bird problem down.

The guy came back later and I asked how effective the falcon is on the bird problem. He said it worked better when he could release the bird (the mind boggles) but even the sight of it sent the pigeons away. He said that he spent four hours a day at Paddington three days a week but that he also visited other stations around London. I wonder how he describes his job on his passport - Pigeon scarer?  Falcon carrier?  Some people do amazing jobs.

Last London day

Last day in London today so I headed into town to visit a few favourite places.

First stop was Trafalgar Square and a visit to the National Gallery.  The Gallery is huge, and without significant effort and dedication it's not possible to see the whole thing in one sitting, so I drop in from time to time to visit different areas.  My room choices this visit were mainly dictated by ones that allowed me to avoid shrill groups of primary school children and their teachers, with their constant calls of "shhhhhh now", "Wilbur, don't let go of Mavis' hand" and "One more outburst and you are all going back to the bus." All threats are completely useless and actually more irritating than the noise of excited children enjoying a day away from their classrooms.

Then I popped next door to the Portrait Gallery and wandered through my favourite wing - the Tudor period - and watched still more school children sitting on the floor beneath portraits of King Henry XIII and Queen Elizabeth and making their own copies of the priceless masterpieces.  Some of them were very imaginative!

It was lunchtime by the time I came out so I went across the road to the St Martin in the Fields church to have lunch in the crypt downstairs.  I'd read that the lunch there is something not to be missed and now I know what people were talking about.  For a very reasonable sum I got a chicken, leek and mushroom pie with vegetables and a mint and chocolate chip ice cream.  

St Martins in the Field is renowned for its support of the homeless and its musical performances.  A pianist was preparing for a concert when I walked through the church and I sat and listened for awhile. The notes danced around the columns and up into the ceiling. It was serene and beautiful.

Next I walked up to Covent Garden to watch the various street performers and browse the shoe shops (for some reason they have a lot of fabulous shoe shops in CG!). 

All this walking wasn't helping my blisters any so I refulled with a coffee - and then kept going.  London is like that though - you keep planning to stop because your feet are threatenning to fall off but then you realise you are just down the road from Piccadilly Circus and off you go again.

I finished the day lying under a tree in Kensington Gardens and watching children playing, couples snuggling and joggers...... being irritating and fit. Then I walked down the high street to pick up Chinese roast duck and stir fried vegetables for dinner, Thanks London, it's been fun.

I heart Mummies

It's been a quieter day in London today. I woke up tired, with the languid weariness that no amount of coffee could erase so I decided on an easy day and took coffee and my kindle to Kensington Gardens to soak up some sun and chill out.

Once I had worked up a bit more energy I caught the tube to the British Museum.  The museum has one of the best displays of Egyptian artifacts outside Cairo and I wasn't disappointed. There are two floors of displays from Egypt alone and some of the pieces were just amazing.  

They also have the famed Rossetti stone - the artifact that helped archeologists decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs that had been a mystery for thousands of years.  The stone shows part of a proclamation that was written in 196 BCE in Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, Demotic script and Ancient Greek and is the museum's most famous display.

  

There was also a special exhibition of eight different wrapped mummies. Each one had been CT scanned and the scans allowed researchers to look beyond the wrappings and share pictures about the age, physical condition and burial rites of the mummies. Each one had an interactive display and you could watch the scans yourself. They also had displays of jewellery and artefacts from the tombs - so interesting!

Finished the day with a walk around Picadally Circus and a visit to Whole Foods to buy some of my favourite yoghurt. Think I'll have an early night.

 The Rosetti stone

Whoops!

Sometimes I am so blonde I surprise even myself.

One of the few things I had planned to do while in London was to visit the Notting Hill markets. I wanted to pick up a duplicate scarf to one I had bought last year for a friend, so I'd deliberately planned my visit over a weekend. 

This morning I jumped on the tube to Notting Hill and began walking in the direction of the markets. Somewhere along the way I took a wrong turn and ended up in the middle of unfamiliar territory so I asked a pedestrian which direction I should take. She gave perfect directions but also said that markets were on Saturday not Sunday - whoops! 

After I got back to the right place, I wandered down the main street feeling quite defeated and looking for a place for breakfast. There were half a dozen stallholders setting up in the space where 50 or so stalls would have been yesterday. I was cursing my stupidity and not really looking at them when something caught my eye and I realised I was standing in front of the scarf seller I had come to find!

I was his first customer of the day and he was so happy to hear that I had come out just to find him that he gave me a really good discount - score!

All in all, it worked out perfectly and I got what I needed, avoided the crowds and ended it all with a full English breakfast in a local cafe. 

It's hot!

I hear that Eastern Australia is in the midst of a big cold snap and while I'm not sorry to be missing it, I wish it were a little cooler here. 

Last year I came to Europe in the middle of the coldest spring they had experienced for 50 years. For six of the seven weeks I was here it was cold - cold enough for me to wear warm scarves, boots and multiple layers. 

This year the weather is back to normal and it's a little later in the season. And it's hot!

At home I set the air conditioner to 24 degrees to cool down. Here the temperature has yet to get above 25 but it feels more like 30+. While there is no humidity, you get warm as soon as you move and the buses (where windows can't be opened) and tube trains are hot and airless. Buildings designed to stay warm trap the heat and it lingers long after the temperature has dropped to 12 or 13. 

My ugly but practical hiking sandals have not been off my feet (unfortunately giving me a massive blister) and my warm jacket is packed in the bottom of my suitcase - I'm thinking that I won't need it again till I fly home.  

But on the plus side, the sky is blue, the breezes (when they blow) are delicious and there are plenty of legitimate excuses for ice cream consumption.

Other than Ireland, this is probably the coolest place I am going to visit so I suspect the next few weeks are going to get interesting!

Scotch eggs and Strawberries

I woke up hungry.

Given the marathon journey it takes to get to Europe, the flights went well and there was even a spare seat between me and another traveller on the Singapore - London leg. Singapore Airlines came up trumps on good food and great in-flight entertainment and everything ran on time. I landed in London just after 7pm to a balmy 22 degree evening that was as light and bright as 2 or 3pm at home. 

I cruised through customs and after a train ride and short taxi journey I was at my hotel and diving into bed for some much needed shut eye.

But now it was Saturday morning and I was hungry for breakfast and a chance to stretch my legs so I caught the tube to London Bidge to visit the Borough markets. 

The Borough markets are a haven for foodies everywhere and specialise in quality cuisine. It was after 9am by the time I arrived so first stop was coffee and breakfast. I bought my first ever Scotch Egg and I have to say, it was magnificent. A Scotch egg is a hard boiled egg (with a slightly soft centre) wrapped in flavoured sausage meat and crumbed. I don't know if this was indicative of all SEs, but served on a rocket salad with some sweet potato fries, it was heavenly.  I finished up with some fresh blueberries from a fruit stall.

Jetlag started to hit as soon as I ate, so after a wander around the cheese, bread, fruit and cake stalls, I set off to the waterfront and walked along the south bank.  When I got to the Tower Bridge, I bought a ticket for the top and walked along one span of the bridge and admired the view.  The bridge was opening for a boat as I cane out so I watched it go through before crossing to the other side and setting off to walk west along the entire city of London towards Westmister. 

It was a hot and sunny day, but the walking was easy and interesting and I had a punnet of strawberries to keep me going.  At one point I found a way down to the beach and was able to walk along the banks of the Thames, looking at all the interesting things washed up by the tide - a bucket list item! I found some shards of pottery that I'm telling myself are from a Victorian house, an old nail that obviously came from a house burnt down in the great fires of 1666 and a piece of flint that was shaped by cave men (and not the tides).  What great fun!

My ugly but practical hiking sandles had their first big workout and execpt for a blister on my heel, they are wearing well.  Pretty good for a four hour walk!

Crawled back to my room for a well earned nap and let the jet lag take over.