Summer’s supposed to be here, but we haven’t seen much in the way of summer weather so far,although it looks like it will arrive in time for the Olympics which start on Friday. Earlier in the week we noticed that Saturday was forecast as a reasonably warm, clear day, so we decided to make a day trip to London. Lots of research by Carolyn produced a plan to revisit the Hyde Park Rose garden, some indulgence of interests and then a visit to St Paul’s Cathedral.
So up at 5.30 to get ready, in the car around 6.30 and we headed off. No issues with it being too dark - as it starts getting light around 3.30am at the moment, it was well and truly daytime by the time we set off. A quick pitstop for fuel, air and coffee at Peterborough Services, then back in the car bound for Cockfosters tube station which is the last stop on the Piccadilly line – parking there is pretty secure and quite cheap on a Saturday (£1.50 for the whole day). After buying some Tube day tickets we got on the next train and got to Hyde Park Corner around 11am.
We spent the first hour or so wandering around the Rose Garden, which is one of our favourite places in England. It was one of the first places we visited when we first arrived from Australia, so holds a special place for us all. While a lot of the rose bushes were not in bloom, those that were blooming were worth seeing. We managed to find a “Blue Moon”, which is the rose that Carolyn had in her wedding bouquet. Jack spent 20 minutes or so eavesdropping on a school tour group from Italy while their guide told them some history of the UK. It was a good chance for him to hear some actual Italian, rather than just from his Rosetta Stone course at school. We also saw some Robin Red-Breasts and Blue Tits feeding in the bushes. We do see them from time to time at home, but don’t generally get so close to them. They’re very cute little guys.
We walked a little further through the park to the lower end of the Serpentine. There was a lot of work going on to prepare for the Olympic torch concert which is on Thursday night. Lots of areas closed off, but still plenty of room for our picnic lunch watching the squirrels doing their thing around the park.
After lunch we split up – Carolyn and Anna going to the Wellington Arch to do some sketching, Jack and Scott heading into Knightsbridge to do some car-spotting. Jack was stoked when we walked out of the park to Knightsbridge (the road) and straightaway saw a Ferrari dealership with a 599 GTO in the showroom (there aren’t many of them and this one was a racing version as well) and an FF, neither of which we’d seen in “in the flesh” before.
After spotting a few more Ferraris, a couple of Audi R8s, any number of Bentleys, Range Rovers and Porsches a a couple of ridiculously stretched limos, we eventually found the McLaren shop which had a couple of MP4-12C road cars, another MP4-12 bare chassis (everything but the body), the car the Lewis Hamilton drove to his Formula 1 world championship in 2008 (hanging vertically over the door!) and one of Ayrton Senna’s F1 cars from the 1980’s. We thought that was pretty cool till Jack turned around and noticed a car sitting at the intersection behind us – a very shiny black Bugatti Veyron. Neither of us had seen one on the road before, so it was pretty cool to spot one. Unfortunately we couldn’t get pictures before it headed up Brompton Road towards Harrods’, so you’ll just have to take our word for it that we saw it! We had to chase it to try to see it again, ignoring the other cars around but it had got away.
After a quick walk through Harrod’s we headed back to meet up with Carolyn and Anna (seeing a red London bus done up as a wedding car on the way) at the Wellington Arch, and hopped on the tube to St Paul’s station. From there we walked (you guessed it) to St Paul’s Cathedral which is one of the most magnificent buildings. Designed by Christopher Wren, it is stunning on the outside, beautiful on the inside and has so much history. After getting our ticket we were deliberating about where to go, when a volunteer guide came over and asked if we needed any help. She described some of the history of the cathedral and what the options were for seeing it. In the middle of a sentence she turned to Anna and said “You have a lovely face! What’s your name?”. She then went on to tell Anna that she would be able to remember her visit to St Paul’s because of the “mad Londoner” she spoke to. She was quite a character!
Unlike when we visited in 1996 (and were scared off by the cost), the entrance fee now includes an opportunity to go up into the dome. The first level is the Whispering Gallery which is 257 steps up a timber spiral staircase inside the dome, where you can have people on opposite sides of the dome able to converse due to the acoustic quirks of the design. We tested it and found that you need to use a deep voice – Carolyn and Anna could hear me but I couldn’t hear them till Anna used her deepest voice to say “Manly rules” (which is unfortunate as they had lost their game on Friday to the stupid Bulldogs, who now lead the NRL competition). Up another 119 steps on a steep stone spiral staircase and you get to the Stone Gallery, which is on the outside of the dome and affords great 360-degree views of the city. It is fairly deep and has a high stone railing about 8 feet tall so is quite safe. The Gold Gallery is a further 152 steps up by way of a series of metal spiral staircases, the kind with latticed steps which you can see through, so that can be a bit off-putting for people with height issues. A few steps before getting out to the viewing area outside, there is a small window in the floor looking back down to the cathedral floor about 85 metres down. It gives a strange perspective on the cathedral!
Out on the viewing platform there is not a lot of space between the wall and the 4 foot high stone railing so it was a bit squashy, lots of people trying to get past each other and having to negotiate who was prepared to squeeze up against the railing and who wasn’t. The view out towards Canary Wharf in the East end is dominated by tall office buildings, including the Gherkin. Further round toward the south is the stunning Shard, which opened earlier this month and is Europe’s tallest building. Working further round you get a great view of the Thames, the Tower Bridge (which has giant Olympic rings on it at the moment), the new Globe Shakespeare theatre, the London Eye and, right near the cathedral, the Old Bailey.
After a long walk back down the 528 steps, we were quite exhausted, so we headed down to the crypt, as you do. Down there we saw the tombs of Horatio Nelson, the Duke of Wellington and a few other notable military people. We couldn’t get into the Chapel of St Faith or to see Christopher Wren’s tomb as the area was closing. We did indulge in afternoon tea in the cafe with some wonderful chocolate brownies, scones with jam and clotted cream and lemon drizzle cake. It was an expensive but delicious treat to end the afternoon.
Back to the tube station for the trip to Cockfosters before driving back home with a dinner stop at Peterborough. Back home around 9.30 (it was still light then) and falling into bed. A memorable family day out.
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