The Lion King in the West End

Last evening, after such a wonderful day in Kent, I returned to London and decided to see if there were any theatre tickets left. I walked direct from Charing Cross station to Covent Garden and there before my eyes was a side door to the Lyceum Theatre. It was meant to be! Five minutes before the curtain went up I purchased a good ticket to see The Lion King and it was fabulous. I have seen many musicals but this was something quite unique.

Sissinghurst Castle magic

Yesterday I took the train to Kent to visit Sissinghust Castle Garden - a long awaited treat. With my holiday drawing to an end, I have left the gardens as far as possible into May and must now see what I want to see regardless of the weather. Although overcast, there was no rain and no wind so it was very pleasant for wandering around a large garden. Apparently Friday is not generally busy at Sissinghurst and that was the case yesterday as well. Pictures speak louder than words though one picture cannot ever convey the spirit of a garden. As well as enjoying the magnificent vistas and individual garden rooms, there were many interesting things in the form of individual plants and flowers. Further, I was inspired by a variety of ideas that could be adapted for my own garden back at home.

See photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/j9bowes/sissinghurst

The trip to Kent involved a train to Staplehurst and then a transfer bus. I had an hour to spare waiting for the bus so I walked into the village of Staplehurst and found some lovely houses, gardens and a few pubs:

135 The Railway Tavern (Staplehurst, Kent)
136 The Kings Head (Staplehurst, Kent)
137 The Bell Inn (Staplehurst, Kent)
138 The Lamb (Staplehurst, Kent)

The Gherkin

On Thursday I had a real treat - taken out to lunch by two handsome young men (2 engineers aka Alan and his sister's partner James) in the top of the 'Gherkin' - one of London's relatively new architectural icons.

See 30 St Mary Axe (Wikipedia) and BBC News article for more detailed information about the building.

The only people who can enter there are exclusive club members and staff who can also take visitors. James' firm has offices in the Gherkin so he qualifies to take visitors to lunch.

It was a real treat - the views were simply breathtaking and the food was good too! The building itself is an engineering marvel and the geometry superb in its simplicity. The photo gallery gives some idea. I don't think I need to go on the London Eye after this unique experience - thanks James and Alan!

Sunshine arrives in London on the day of the 100th pub sign

Last Wednesday (23 April) was St George's day and the very first day of a decent dose of sun. According to locals there was not much of a summer last year and the joy was palpable. The crowds were out in great force around all the pubs and eating places along the Thames where we went for a drink at the Market Porter with Alan's uncle, his sister and her partner prior to dinner at a restaurant near the Borough Market.

On Saturday (26 April) the sun shone warmly again in London with the temperature reaching the early twenties. We ventured out in short sleeves and no coats but still included the brollies just in case. Claire and Alan were keen to take me to The Farm, a favourite weekend brunch spot in Fulham Broadway. This was a good plan but they had not factored in the at home game for Chelsea and Mancheste United that was also happening. The sea of blue kit gathered intensity as we got closer to our destination and it was clear that most eating places were full to overflowing. However we managed to secure a table at The Farm and discovered that they had a special modified (ie reduced) menu for the occasion. This did not matter as our preferences were there - Eggs Benedict for Claire, Eggs Royal for me and a full cooked breakfast for Alan. It was delicious and the crowd dissolved quickly as the game starting time approached. The police were out in force in the street (manpower, vehicles, dogs, mounted police) and I was astounded as Claire told me the costs involved for a season ticket and the kit which most supporters seemed to have.


Claire and I then left Alan who had other engagements with his mates, and set off on a shopping afternoon in Marylebone High Street - chosen because I found out that there is a Button Shop nearby - The Button Queen. While catching the Tube, a voice called out to Claire and it turned out to be her friend Anna from Primary School who was in London on her honeymoon! How random! They have now caught up on Facebook but catching up turned out not to be feasible as they were off to Paris the next day.

We had a lovely afternoon in and out of gorgeous shops such as The White Company and Ollie and Nic, trying on a few things, buying me some new jeans (much easier with a daughter to assist) and picking up lunch from the Natural Kitchen which we ate in the grounds of St Marylebone market. The Button Shop was shut by the time we found it (Claire was relieved) and as usual we did not get as much done as intended (and not only because of pub signs I hasten to add) - but it mattered not. It seems fitting that the Marylebone Tup in the High Street was my 100th pub sign. I did not realise at the time or we would have had a drink there. Pub signs added since the last update are:

95 Cock and Hen, Fulham Broadway
96 The Prince Albert, Battersea
97 Tattersalls Tavern, Knightsbridge
98 Paxton's Head, Knightsbridge
and from today:
99 The Pontefract Castle, Wigmore St, Marylebone
100 The Marylebone Tup, Marylebone High Street
101 Prince Regent, Marylebone High Street
102 Angel in the Fields, Marylebone High Street
103 The Conduit of Tybourne, Marylebone Lane


Claire's friend Kate joined us at home in the late afternoon - in fact she was sitting near us on our bus and none of us realised until near the end of the journey - and we three went to the movies to see "21" which was fun.


All in all, a very pleasant way to spend a day. A web album of snapshots from the day is also online.

Monet's garden

The highlight and main purpose of Claire and I spending a weekend in Paris was this "must do" for gardeners. On Sunday we travelled by train from Paris to Vernon and then by bus to Giverny to visit Monet's house and garden, fulfilling one item on my long list of "must dos". The garden peaks in summer but seeing it in mid Spring was fabulous in its own right and arguably gave a better overall view of the structure as it was uninhibited by dense foliage. You could also gain a good sense of the promise of things to come with the fat buds and emerging fresh juvenile growth on vines, roses, perennials and deciduous trees and shrubs.

The slideshow below is a selection of the large number of photos taken.

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The house presides over the garden which is in two main sections - the geometrically laid out beds and the waterlilly pond. Our visit was punctuated by a shower of rain which meant we visited the waterlilly pond twice in two quite different light settings. On a macrp and micro level there is a seemingly endless set of visually compelling images.
The garden was not as extensive as I had imagined though it is intensely planted and would take a small army to keep in order - definitely not a low maintenance affair. I took over 200 photos and had a good time playing with close up shots. Many of the photos are for ideas in my own garden, particularly colour combinations of plants. The large number of visitors were easily absorbed along the many paths.
My favourite parts of the house were the kitchen and dining rooms - particularly for the colour schemes and as photography was not allowed I bought the postcards.
[I am experimenting with using Slideshare to embed a slideshow rather than link to an external web album. They each have their pros and cons and I have not decided yet which is generally better for my purposes .]

From London to Paris in 12 hours - a Eurostar saga

Claire and I set off from from London for Paris on Friday 21 April at 8pm expecting to arrive 2 hours later on the super fast Eurostar train. It turned out to be a comedy of errors with one technical failure after another. As a result we spent the whole night stranded on a broken down train in the middle of the French countryside, mostly in the dark and with little information provided. To make matters worse, people were allowed to smoke in the bar car which filtered through the other cars affecting myself and others with respiratory health issues. On the plus side, the staff were very helpful and responsive when alerted to medical issues. It was hard to know whether to laugh or cry as the situation went from bad to worse.

By 4am, in the absence of information updates, there was growing uncertainty and when the silhouetted figures of large darkly dressed men carring guns appeared in the doorways, it was not at all clear whether they were police coming to help or armed terrorists. Fortunately most passengers remained calm though frustrated and the gun-toting men were in fact police marshalling us to get off the train and walk along the track to the replacement train that had finally arrived from Paris. We then had a very slow journey to Paris towing the beleagured train behind us, arriving a little after 9am Paris time.

Upon arrival in Paris we were given some light refreshments (sweet sticky muffins and orange juice), taxi refund vouchers and an address for claiming a refund. Having lost a night's sleep, and therefore half our weekend we did not think that was enough and will be writing a letter.

Initial news report: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/7356283.stm

Preliminary inquiry findings: (apparently the driver was to blame..... )https://outlook.education.tas.gov.au/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL2112787920080421

Pub signs added today

Today's explorations took me to the London Bridge area. My plans were interupted when my camera battery ran out and I decided I could not possibly continue without out so I returned home to rethink my day, ending up going out again to the Theatre to see the Sound of Music West End production. More on that later.

Nevertheless I collected a number of new pub signs today from around the London Bridge and Tower Bridge areas (both I which I traversed).

It is curious how many of the older pubs are to be found down laneways, off the main drag. There must be a reason for this.

Pubs added today with links to their signs:

• 86. The Globe (in the Borough Market area - famous as the pub above which Bridget Jones lived in the films)
• 87. The Market Porter (Borough Market area)
• 88. The Wheatsheaf (Borough Market area)
• 89. The Old King's Head (down a lane in the Borough Market area)
• 90. The George (a haunt of Shakespeare and Dickens, now National Trust)
• 91. The Southwalk Tavern
• 92. Old Thameside Inn (right beside the Golden Hinde replica)
• 93. The Barrowboy and Banker (just across the road from London Bridge on the South side). This one is a cool name but only just qualifies under my criteria as its sign is a generic one for the Fullers chain of "ale and pie houses" - see also the Blackbird at Earl's Court. Further the image is very stylised.
• 94. The Imperial (just off Leicester Square in Theatreland)
  

The updated gallery complete with additional shots of the actual pubs and information where available are at http://picasaweb.google.com/j9bowes/PubSigns2008