London

Just over halfway through our time abroad and we've finally made it to London. Timed to work in with our Oxford Canal Narrowboat Cruise and before the Rhine - Danube River Cruise we had a wonderful time catching up with cousin Glenn and partner David and to visit a few places and sights we couldn't fit in the last time we visited the UK.

Our hosts have a lovely place in Lambeth, just a stone's throw from Waterloo Station and the London Eye. It was a perfectly central location for a couple of Aussie tourists. Even the weather continued to be kind to us - unseasonably warm and dry for the end of October.

London Eye

After not managing to get to a live show in New York it was imperative that we right this wrong in London. We were hoping to see the quintessentially English "Mary Poppins" but unlike the Broadway version the West End show closed in 2008. Instead we got half price tickets to "We Will Rock You" - a jukebox musical featuring the music of Queen and written by the very funny Ben Elton in collaboration with Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor. It's been running in the West End for nearly 10 years. Brian May often performs with the London production on special occasions such as anniversaries and on Freddie Mercury's birthday.

We Will Rock You - London Cast

We were also taken to Harrods particularly to visit the food and toy departments and see the 2011 Christmas decorations that were being created.

Harrods Department Store - Knightsbridge

Also checked the Dianna and Dodi shrine on the lower ground floor and came away with mixed emotions.

Shrine to Dodi and Diana - Basement of Harrods

Something we visited that didn't exist back in 1986 was the Dianna Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park. The fountain consists of a large Cornish granite oval streambed with water flowing in two directions at different speeds, and is "like a necklace" around the contours of the site. The design tries to reflect Diana's personality, water flows from the highest point in two directions as it cascades, swirls and bubbles before meeting in a calm pool at the bottom.

Dianna Memorial Fountain - Hyde Park

 We walked to the top of the hill to take a quick look at the seventeenth century London Observatory building and grounds. Can you believe that Roger forgot to bring his GPS to calibrate it at the Prime Meridian line. It turns out this was a good thing because the Prime Meridian of today's reference systems is 102.5 metres east of the Greenwich astronomical meridian represented by the stainless steel strip.

East meets West

The beautiful grounds in Greenwich were selected as the site for the 2012 Olympics Equestrian events.

Greenwich Park

We took a look at nearby National Maritime Museum housed in one of the former Royal Naval College buildings on the south bank of the Thames just east of the new Canary Wharf area and close to the relocated Millennium Dome.

Old Royal Naval College

On our last day in the UK we caught the train to Cambridge then a bus to the Imperial War Museum, Duxford. Duxford is Britain's largest aviation museum, which houses the massive collection of nearly 200 civil and military aircraft in seven main exhibitions buildings. The collection is principally of British and American aircraft with a heavy emphasis on the role of the Allied Air Forces in WW2.

Panorama of AirSpace with the Concorde right foreground

Duxford Aerodrome was originally operated by the Royal Air Force during WW1. During the WW2 Duxford played a prominent role during the Battle of Britain and was later used by US Army Air Forces fighter units in support of the daylight bombing of Germany.

Eight Spitfires, one Hurricane and a Messerschmitt BF109 in Luftwaffe colours flypass at Duxford Aerodrome

Some of the exceptional exhibits (for Roger) were a BAC Concorde 101 (one of four four pre-production aircraft), a Boeing B52 Stratofortress, an Avro Vulcan, a deHavilland Comet, a Short Sunderland Flying Boat, an Avro Lancaster, a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, a Lockheed U-2 very high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft and the V-1 Rocket (incl. starting ramp).

AirSpace - Standing and Suspended Exhibits layout

Avro Lancaster

V-1 Rocket (incl. starting ramp)

B52 Stratofortress

Many of the exhibits are on loan from private owners and a number continue to be flown and exhibited at air shows. As well as having this most comprehensive collection of thoroughly restored and presented aircraft, the facility actively supports the restoration of private vintage aircraft and visitors are also welcome to walk through the aircraft conservation workshops and amongst the airframes where this work is happening. Perhaps the most notable privately-owned and operated aircraft based at Duxford is Sally B, the only airworthy B-17 Flying Fortress in Europe.

Restoration of private vintage aircraft

The train trip home was full of adventures. Firstly we caught up with Nancy and David (friends on sabbatical leave from Toronto Canada.

Nancy David and Helen

Then we missed the train we intended to catch back to Kings Cross Station - it left ¾ of the way down the platform at the same time another train was standing next to the station building.

Roger and Glenn at Kings Cross Station

Once we arrived at Kings Cross Helen raced off to check if the Hogwarts Express was standing at Platform 9¾.

Platform 9¾ ticket barrier

On the eve of our departure for Amsterdam and our Rhine / Danube Cruise we called into the square outside St Pauls Cathedral to experience the Occupy London Protest. This brief encounter with the people demonstrating against economic inequality, social injustice and corporate greed was just one of the many unexpected but memorable experiences of this adventure.

Occupy London Protest outside St Paul's Cathedral

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Sadly that was all we had time for in the UK. As promised, our next story will describe what it's like to cruise the Rhine and Danube Rivers visiting the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary. In the meantime please keep sending in your comments and questions.


If you're unsure which stories you've missed - look for the Blog Archive near the bottom of the page - it's the best way to select the post you haven't read yet (or want to re-read).