So that’s it for this trip! We had the easiest possible travel day and it went by in a flash, unlike the return from Paris of the rest of our group. (Bumped off their flight from Toronto to Windsor and had to take a train).

The terrible Manchester bombing on Monday has naturally changed the tone of things in the UK. National Security is now elevated to critical levels and on the streets it might feel more like Paris for a while. That LSO concert we saw in Trafalgar Square on Sunday could be the last carefree civic gathering for some time. I don’t know. It’s good to be home. It feels safer here at the moment.

Although we have to accept that the “feeling of safety” is more hopefulness than instinct these days, we also have to keep living and working and doing what makes us happy (if we have that luxury). I’m am antsy to get home and find work for the summer and get back into the flow so in a few months I can start thinking about where to go next. And maybe get a cat. Or a bird. (Been seriously thinking about birds on this trip).

 

Because that’s what you do. At Versailles, you are herded en masse along a specific route but at Hampton Court, you have the run of the place. You get to spend the day roaming whimsically and poking into courtyards and empty corners between buildings, exploring freely. Of course there are off-limit areas, and directional signage, but apart from inadvertently colliding with a school group a couple of times, we were on our own, snooping around a palace (which is fun!).

I am probably never going to get straight on the convoluted history of Kings and Queens, but I love to look at paintings of them!

We did a bit of sitting and drawing outside and spent a couple hours of exploring the grounds, which I love. And that was the day!

We spent the rest of the evening sorting our luggage. Gabriella wins the prize for fitting the most into the smallest suitcase. (A lump of coal would have turned into a diamond in there). We had a classic pub supper of fish/chips/peas and a Pims Cup.

 

After the Tate, we roared and squeaked through the tunnels back to our perch at the The George Hotel on Cartwright Gardens. I can’t really recommend this place except for it’s excellent location. It was ok, but “tired”. You know, when they carpet over old carpet 3 times and never quite vacuum out around the baseboards? Limp dusty bed skirts. Shoddy carpentry. It was like that. A once nice old place that didn’t quite get steady care. The breakfast was spiritless. Location, as I said, VG.

It took 1.5 hours of train plus bus to get to The Kings Arms in Kingston. It is right outside Hampton Court, where we planned to spend our last day. This place I can recommend with enthusiasm. It’s all king and queen kitschy fun, historic and beautifully kept. It was originally a brothel, built for the garrison soldiers of the palace.

Here is a view out the back. This is the hedge maze located in the gardens.

Our room was called (Bloody) Mary I. Great velvet flocked wallpaper! Nice breakfast too. Ok, that’s it for my reviews.

 

This rare moment of emptiness. We took the Picadilly Line a lot, which requires a journey to several stories below, as you can see from this escalator. It’s nothing to Londoners, but I sometimes had to take a breath and hold on to deal with the crowds, dizzying descents, packed elevators and whole undergroundness of the thing. I would normally just walk the extra km but we were zipping around town and for that, the tube is fabulous.

Gabriella wanted to visit Camden Market…we caught a bus around the corner and took it to the scrubby, but colourful little strip of Camden High St.

It was a fun morning of snooping around endless kiosks full of some typical and some interesting stuff.

I am actually VERY respectful of this place, just still in a silly mood. Gabriella and I will see a few museums this week. We were in John Soane’s house on Thursday, which is wonderful (talk about an emporium) with plans for the Tate Britain and Portrait Gallery Sunday and Monday. I love the V&A but we got mired in the decorative arts and lost momentum after a couple hours. There’s so much variety to see but it’s easy to meander into a wing and not surface for 45 minutes, after which you are desperate for a cup of tea and would afterwards rather just browse in the museum shop than say, plunge into oriental antiquities.

(from Sunday) I loved this piece at the Portrait Gallery, and as it features Victoria and Albert doing some of their other good works, I thought I’d put it here. It’s a beautiful painting by Jerry Barrett and a collective portrait of identified people, including the wounded soldiers.

Goodbye Paris! Hopping on a train for 2 hours and turning up in London is pretty amazing! It feels very different here, and I love it. It’s scenic, bustling and people are off-the-charts polite and helpful. It feels more relaxing than Paris (though there is also a visible security presence, it is low key) London just has better energy at the moment and it’s understandable.

Gabriella and I spent a couple of days in and out of Harry Potter bliss. We landed at St. Pancras and hopped right over to platform 9 and 3/4 at King’s Cross, where there is a store (of course!)

We went to the Palace box office to pick up our tickets and I admit I felt like I had won the Golden Ticket to Willie Wonka’s. Gabriella spotted a curious flyer for a Harry Potter Gallery around the corner and it turned out to be a mesmerizing little building that showcased the graphic design, artwork and props of the designers who worked for ten years on the series. We spent an hour plus coveting things we couldn’t afford ( gorgeous, metal embossed prints of potion labels) and ended up splitting on a pack of postcards.

(*After 2 days of agonizing we just went back and splurged on things.)

I can’t say enough about the play (two evenings of it) but we are charged with “keeping the secret!” I’ve never seen anything like it! The magic and effects were creative and suprising! Just the scene changes and choreography were so beautifully done and the music was fantastic…all very poetic. I’m glad that I didn’t read the play beforehand. It really is a theatre piece and nothing else. Stunning. I would love to see it again.

The Theatre is lovely too, and the walls have specially designed HP wallpaper, though it’s very subtle. An unforgettable experience.