Jour 26

26 days already.  Time go so fast! Only 8 nights to sleep in London.  Sigh....  I am never bored when I am in London, but I have to admit that I miss my suppers with my love.

Today was a strange day.  Raymonde and Robert had planned to visit Greenwich, but Raymonde caught a cold and didn't sleep well so the planning of the day have been changed.  They stayed home to rest.
As for me, my goal was to finally visit Kew Garden.  It was on my to do list since a long while.  Today was the day.  I wandered in the park for about two hours.  Kew Garden is a Royal Botanic garden.  I saw the must see attractions: Temperate House, the rose garden, the Japanese getaway and the great pagota.    There was an exhibition called Chihuly: Reflections on nature.  12 piece of art glass are installed everywhere in the garden.  I saw some of them.  Of course I didn't saw 25% of the entire garden.  For those who know me well, you must guess that I got lost in the garden as I was searching for the way out.  I finally found the door through which I had entered.  Fiou!
    

    



At the end of the afternoon, Raymonde was feeling better, so we went for a walk.  Our purpose was to go in the Battersea Park.  On our way, we passed in front the Battersea power station that is one of the first large coal-fired plants in England.  The production was stopped in 1983 and it is now a grade 11 listed monument.  It is actually in great transformation to become a mixed-use: a place for locals, tourists and residents to enjoy restaurants, shops, parks and cultural spaces.  It is a very big project.
If you know Pink Floyd, you surely have seen this picture on one of their albums.  Interesting fact:  Raymonde and Robert can see the power station from their bedroom window.

Anyway, we never been at Battersea park because rain started to fall and we back warded home as fast as we can.
We ended the day with a pleasant meal at home. 
Fancy a cup a tea?

jour 25

How lucky we are for the weather!  Who said it's still raining in London?  It was another beautiful day in London.  Perfect for traveling!  Not too cold, not too warm, just comfortable.
Today, we did a tour I already did with other visitors, but it was very different.  This is the proof that we can redo the same path and see things from another point of view.

On Piccadilly street, Robert enter in a Wifi box.  Isn't it a good idea to converse the red telephone box into Wifi space?


Walking in Carnaby street, Raymonde was attracted by this fabulous shoes store.

As we were in the design quarter, we had a look at the store of Liberty.  Liberty is well know for is luxurious fabrics.It beautiful Tudor style front is well preserved.
Even the sellers wear beautiful tissues with elegance.


Raymonde it always fascinated by the architecture and in London it is very various.  It is amazing to see some very modern buildings in old part of the city like Soho.  This colorful building was impressive.

It is impossible doing a tour around Covent Garden without a stop at Neal yard.  But I saw something I never noticed before.  There is this clock placed above the entrance of the courtyard that pours water on the passer-by.

On our way back, we passed in the beautiful Victoria Embankment garden and I couldn't resist to show the Gordon Wine Bar to Raymonde et Robert.  Here is the link to learn more about this very special place: https://gordonswinebar.com/
 It was a marvelous day of 18000 steps, but don't worry, we took the time for a break from time to time.  My traveling companions enjoyed the tour.

To end this day, we went on this little Italian restaurant we had discovered before with José, Denis and Carole.  Our waitress was from France, so we chatted with her in french.  Robert had expressed the wish to come back before the end of the vacation.

As did Marie-Josée et sa famille, Raymonde named her 3 wow of the day:
-Liberty Store
-Neal Yard
-Gordon Wine Bar
A special mention to the supper at Stockwell Continental.

jour 24

It is a very windy day.  It is chilly too.  And today, Raymonde and Robert arrived.
There fligth was delay.  It was expected at 10h but only landed at 11h45.

Since leaving Montreal. it was a succession of imbroglios. Delay for the flight, change of boarding gate, wrong train from Gatwick, the bus driver who does not know the stop ...  Any way they finally arrived at 2h pm.  After a short break for lunch, we went for the royal tour that start at the parliament, St-James park with view on Buckingham palace, the Mall...  On our way we stop in the court of Horses Guards.

We followed our route to Trafalgar.  Stop at the Crypt.  We decided to visit BP Portrait at National Portrait Gallery.  The BP Portrait Award is the most prestigious annual portrait painting competition in the world with a first prize of £35,000.  The visitors can vote after the visit for their favorite portrait. 

Then, we cross Jubilee Bridge to walk on the south path to our bus stop.  Before coming back home, we stop at Sainsburys for pizza.  

It is now time to go to sleep for my new guests.  

jour 23

Today is the last day for the Lynch in London.  They went to Tower of London.
 
It was a visit they all enjoyed.  They discovered a new point of view to see London from above.
https://www.thegardenat120.com/?fbclid=IwAR2H2iapHUzfTot520Ezlh3ysfpt1KzCOpQGYgK3EG3AllyC8R3qnRIOfCM#content/page/visitor_info

For my part, a friend gave me a mission: take a picture of Sherlock Holmes' house on Baker Street

So I went there. I did not enter, since I had already visited on a previous trip.  But I took pictures.

  

As I was very near Regent Park, I went for a stroll.  It was so peaceful walking in the park this morning.  You just have to do a few steps in a park and already you feel away from the buzz of the city.  

I got back on the Tube to Charing Cross to take a picture of Sherlock Holmes pub.  It is significant for me because Marcel asked me in marriage for the second time at this place in 2010.  

Then it was time for coffee break that I took in a beautiful park called : Victoria Embankment.

On my way back, as the bus passed in front Tate Britain, I decided to get down there.  I have never been to Tate Britain before.  It is a museum dedicated to British art from 1500 to the present.  I visited only a few rooms among one called Art Now where emerging artists exhibit their works.  I was impress by the variety of art in the museum.  

  

After the visit, I went to to the grocery and back home for a late lunch on my cute little terrace. 


We said goodbye with the promise  to keep in touch for the rest of the trip.  It was a pleasure to have them with me in London.  Elise and Jane are so nice!

jour 22

It was a very long day of sightseeing but it worth it.
We started our day early to go on Abbey Road because it was a very special event: the 50th anniversary of the picture on the cover of Abbey Road album.  We wanted to be there before the crowd.  At first, we passed in front Paul house. No sign of life there...  Then we went to the famous crossing.  There was already a lot of people there.  It was such a thrill to be there especially for this event.  We saw the Roll Royce Phantom V, which belonged to John.  There was a special photos shoot organized for the fans, in front a big poster of Abbey Road.
    

After we went to the waterbus toward Camden.  We had a very good lunch at the food stands as soon as we arrived.  As usual, there was a crowd there too.


We wandered around for a while and my group took opportunity to buy souvenirs.

We where then in the middle of the afternoon and Marie-Josée didn't want to come back home for a break before supper.  She thought that if they came in, she couldn't want to go out again later.  So we took the tube to Charing Cross and went to visit National Portrait Gallery.  We return to the Crypth for a cream tea and we walk the Mall to the Buckingham Palace.
  
By this time it was near 18h so we went in Belgravia to search for a proper pub.  We passed in front some nice pubs but the crowd was so big that it seemed less interesting to stop there to eat.  After circling a little bit, we followed our way to the Grenadier.  I have already had a beer there but never had a meal.
For Hugo and Elise it was a must to eat a Fish and chip in a pub while they are in London.   Sincerely, it was one of the best I have tasted.  They loved it!
   
Finally, we came back home after 20h30.  The girls had a ice cream on our terrace before going to bed.

jour 21

As we went to bed quite late yesterday, we started our day slowly this morning.  We let the girl sleep until 10h am.  Today, we went in the city.  We took the bus to Trafalgar and walked until St-Paul Cathedral.  We had lunch at Birley on Paternoster Square, just beside the cathedral..  It was a discovery,  We can eat salads made with ingredients we choose one by one.

We then crossed Millennium bridge and went to Tate Modern.

After a quick visit, we followed our route to Borough market where we bough what we need for our dinner.  Marie was quite impress by the market.
  

After dinner, I went to meet Nicole and André, two friends visiting London. We had a meeting at Riverside Cafe, but it was closed. We sought advice from a passerby who recommended a place with a beautiful view of the parliament, the Park Plaza Hotel. In addition to having a beautiful view, we had a pleasant musical entertainment. It was really a nice meeting where we shared our impressions of London.

Marie-Josée, Hugo and the girls stayed home to rest and do some laundry.

Jour 20

Sorry for the delay.  We arrived home at 00h15 last night, too tired to do the blog.
So...  We went to Liverpool.  It was a beautiful sunny  day.  We took the train at 9h07 at Euston.  It was a cool ride of 2h15,  As soon as we arrived, we walked toward Albert Dock.  It was sunny in Liverpool but windy and a little bit colder.  On our way there was a Primark.  Marie-Josée could'nt help getting in.  That make her laugh because she know I wouldn't go there by myself. 
We had lunch on the stairs at Liverpool One before heading to Beatles Story. 

We did a very exhaustive visit of almost 2h hours in the museum.  I completed live the information of the audio guide for Jane. 
    
After the visit we have done some shopping at the boutique and we walked on the river side to search for those famous 4 lads.  We saw them neat the emblematic Liver building.

We then when in what it called The Cavern Quarter, on Mathew Street. We entered in the Hard Days Night Hotel to have a quick look and we went to the Cavern.  There was now a cover charge of 2.50 by adult to enter.  Nothing to break the bank but it is new. There was a big crowd so we didn't had place to sit.  The performer was not bad but it isn't the best I saw there.  Marie-Josée was impressed thinking about all those famous stars who played in the Cavern: Queen, Oasis, The Kinks, The Who, The Rolling Stones and of course The Beatles, just to named a few.  Anyway we didn't stay very long, little Jane didn't really enjoyed the place. 
  
After the Cavern, the intention was to visit the old town a bit and see the cathedrals, but my group had foot pain and couldn't walk that much so we when shopping in stores that appeal to young people.  We ended up in the most Americanized of Liverpool.  There even is a Disney Store.  The girls were pleased. 
We ended the day with a good meal at Ask Italian. 
On our way back in the train, everybody was exhausted but satisfied by this good day trip.