8 October 2016 Colliers Hotel, Warwick Way, Victoria, London

Queuing for Westminster Abbey

Our last days in Suffolk were spent on schedule, and the transfer of the caravan to its temporary home up near the Thetford Forest without event, although we remembered a couple of minor points the next day and communicated these to Chris’s brother John who considered these more important than we did. As a result he was to have travelled up there today to right the matters, hopefully in our car which we left in his care, with a tank full of fuel and repairs to be carried out in our absence.

The last night in Suffolk was spent at Margie’s residence, our luggage filling her compact house and our bodies, her little spare bed. The last supper was a shared feast of fish and chips with John, the four of us struggling to consume an order which would have fed a boatload of refugees as well as our little family. In the morning Margie drove us down to the railway station at Stowmarket and we travelled through to Ipswich, then changed to a smarter train through to Liverpool Station here in London. There we lugged our four heavy pieces of luggage through to the Underground and travelled the last leg through to Victoria Station, then walked to our hotel dragging our bags behind us, massive packs on our backs .

I had been dreading the trip, remembering a similar route last year when we left our hired motorhome near Upminster, and travelled by train through to the same area. Then we had to stand with our luggage for the entire trip, and then found the transfers at the stations complex because of construction works. For me it had been a gruelling exercise hence I was delighted with the better experience last Thursday.

Black & Blue at Somerset House

Yesterday we set out to explore Westminster Abbey, one of the London must-dos that we had avoided on previous visits, mainly deterred by the price, especially since so much of London can be seen for free and an Oyster card.

Courts of Justice

The Abbey Church of Westminster was consecrated in 1065, and the following year Edward the Confessor was buried there. It became the resting place of most English Kings and Queens, from Henry VIII in 1509 to George II in 1780. Thirty nine English sovereigns have been crowned here, and since 1919, the Abbey has been the setting for a number of royal weddings, including that of the current Queen and her husband in 1947.

We travelled with thousands of underground commuters from Victoria Station to Westminster, then joined a relatively short queue outside the Abbey’s entry before the 9.30am opening time. We were soon in and armed with our audio guides, and within half an hour moving around the prescribed route through the abbey at snail’s pace, pressed up against hundreds and hundreds of other tourists, most on guided tours.

The interior of the structure is quite superb; ornately decorated and well maintained, and littered with hundreds of effigies and tombs, memorials and plaques of royals, poets, scientists, military and miscellany. Beyond the main structure of the abbey, the chapter house and cloisters disappointed; we have been spoiled with better examples of greatness. We also remarked that without the audio guides, it would have all just been a confusing jumble; there is little in the way of interpretative panels. But we were very glad we had bothered to visit, because the Abbey is, after all, a very important part of England’s history.

Westminster Parliament; an interesting backdrop

From here we made our way to Trafalgar Square, now a familiar spot to us, and found a semi-sheltered spot from the light rain, sheltered enough to eat our lunch and from which to watch the busy-ness about us. Then we headed east along the Strand until we reached Somerset House. Here can be found the Courtald Art Gallery, which we left unvisited for now, but we did enter into the central courtyard where we found forty nude black male figures arranged in neat rows. This is part of the Contemporary African Art Fair currently being celebrated. Zak Ove’s sculptural installation is titled “Black and Blue: the Invisible Man and the Masque of Blackness”. We were ignorant of the work’s title when we saw these, or of any underlying story, but were most impressed. I was rather disappointed to learn they are only temporary and an example of the variety of work and exhibitions installed in this space from time to time. Perhaps if we return next year to check out the Courtald Art Gallery we will see yet another wonder?

Our next little bonus was further down the road where I wanted to check out the law court precinct. I had seen this from a sightseeing bus eight years ago, having been entranced by the ornate walls and buildings. The gates were clearly private, or for authorised folk only, however we came upon the Great Hall of the Law Courts, and made our way in through the security then wandered about this grand interior which is point of access to all the law courts. The Hall is 238 feet long, 48 feet wide and 80 feet high, with a mosaic floor in Italian marble and high Gothic arches. There are apparently a thousand rooms in all and several miles of passageways, but we did not venture beyond the Hall. It was opened in 1882 by Queen Victoria. 

The Jewel Tower

We had found a little restaurant up the road from the hotel serving a set menu for early diners and dined there on the Thursday evening. Last night we dined at a pub found last year when we stayed in the same street. Speaking of which, our hotel this year is just metres up the street from the Blair Victoria which we had found below par, although one should always remember that you get what you pay for. The Colliers Hotel is also run by sub-continental Asians, the breakfast room staffed by EU citizens, friendly girls who spend most of the time chattering in Romanian or Russian or whatever. We elected to take a room on the second floor of the hotel, with views out over the back of tightly terraced houses and a double bed. The bed is comfortable and bug free, the bathroom plumbing works and we can make ourselves cups of instant coffee or tea; what more could one want?

Today, Saturday was another brilliant day in London. The star of the day was a guided tour round Westminster Palace aka Parliament, a tour we had booked and paid for some time ago. We would have preferred to have attended Prime Minister’s question time, however as “foreigners” not enrolled in any UK voting electorate, would have been hard pressed to have found our way into the public gallery. It seems that this is quickly filled by special guests of one’s local MP, and then such spaces are very limited. Attendance to the more regular question times or normal parliamentary sessions are more open to the general populace, but again require patience and much queuing. And for now anyway, Parliament is not in session, the government not returning until next week after an arduous party conference week in Manchester. For now we were content to join the paying tourists and after being frisked and scanned, the former a rather pleasant experience if you are of a sensual nature, we were allowed through into the public area of the parliament precinct where we were scooped up into the tour. Being super punctual, even tediously too-early types, we were moved to an earlier tour which was to our advantage; guide Jacky was absolutely brilliant! 

Obviously tourists are given access to only selected areas, but surely these were the most grand and most interesting. The tour started as if we were the Queen about to open Parliament for the year, arriving in the Norman Porch, taken into the Robing Room, then through the Royal Gallery, Princes Chamber and into the Lords’ Chamber, the equivalent of the Senate in say, Australia, then through various lobbies and committee rooms to the Commons Chamber, and on back to the Great Hall where we had started our tour.

The Palace of Westminster originally formed the main residence of kings and queens of England from the reign of King Edward the Confessor (1042 – 1066) to about 1512 when the royal residential area was destroyed by fire during the reign of Henry VIII. St Stephan’s Chapel survived the fire and became the home of the parliamentary structures that rose and fell during the subsequent years.

The Chapel underwent many changes and was almost completely rebuilt after a devastating fire in October 1834. Then architects were invited to offer plans for a completely new parliament, following either Gothic or Tudor styles. Sir Charles Berry won the competition and supervised its construction until his death in 1860. The famous Augustus Pugin, whose name has popped up time and time again as we have visited grand estates about the country, designed the interior fittings and furnishings, and the elaborate decoration seen today is all due to his flair and talent.

Alas, the Blitz of 1940 saw damage to the now not so new structure, particularly to the Commons Chamber and adjoining lobby, as well as other lesser areas. Sir George Gilbert Scott was engaged to undertake the restoration, however he decided on a much more simple style, which served to contrast with the more ornate Lord’s chambers.

The medieval remains of the Palace include Westminster Hall, started by King William Rufus, son of The Conqueror and he who was shot “accidentally” in the New Forest. King Richard II completed the Hall in the mid-1300s. It was interesting to read that in 1913 a roof inspection revealed alarming damage caused by death watch beetles. The insects had created huge cavities inside the timbers, some large enough for a man to crawl inside. To avoid destroying the entire roof, the architect of the Office of Works, designed steel supports that fitted discreetly into the arches, invisible from ground level. Only 10% of the timbers were replaced and the 600 year old roof was saved.

Prince Albert Memorial

We spent just over two hours about the parliament and then only saw the most ornate areas, but felt it had been money well spent, albeit £21 each.

There had been showers during the morning, but they stayed away while we dined in the grounds of the English Heritage managed Jewel Tower before entering the three levels open to the public. The Jewel Tower was once part of the Palace of Westminster, but stood far enough away and upwind to avoid the flames of the first fire. It was designed as a private treasury and housed plate, clothing and other treasures for the kings until 1621 when it became storage for parliamentary documents alone. In 1869 it became the centre for the Board of Trade’s Standards Department, which tested standards of weight and measure, until the late 1930s when traffic was causing too much vibration. The Standards office moved out in 1938, bringing to an end the Jewel Tower’s use by institutions of government after nearly six hundred years.

The discovery and subsequent exploration of the tower was a bonus, mainly providing a pleasant spot to lunch, however on leaving, we had to agree that as a museum, it was pretty poor and not worth the entry fee.

Royal Albert Hotel

We returned to the Underground Station, and took the train through to South Kensington, along with five thousand others packed on to the same train. Well, perhaps that is a slight exaggeration; however the Circle line was out of action today for maintenance, so there was extra pressure on the District line, and half of London was out and about travelling to various points on that line. We were packed in like sardines, breathing in tightly to allow everyone be kept safely within the carriage as the doors shut, then all spilling out each time the doors opened at a station.

Alighting near the museums, we walked up Exhibition Avenue toward Kensington Park, then westerly until we reached the Royal Albert Hall to collect the tickets for the Beethoven concert tomorrow. What a glorious building this is! And here I can only speak for the exterior because any views of the interior as we made our way through to the box office was obscured by the press of theatre goers enjoying the interval.

The concert hall was opened by Queen Victoria in 1871 and today is famous for holding the annual Proms concert, and has been since 1941. Apparently it has a capacity of up to 5,272 seats; I am looking forward to seeing that for myself.

We wandered right around the exterior, admiring other buildings in the vicinity, not least the Royal School of Organists, and then crossed the road into Kensington Park to inspect a massive gilded monument that could not be ignored. This latter is a memorial to Victoria’s beloved Prince Albert, and to a man who did have some vision for science, commerce and industry.

It was just along from here in Hyde Park, in the area which is now sports fields and this weekend the venue for the Royal Parks Half Marathon, that the brain child of Prince Albert, the Crystal Palace, was erected in 1851 for the Great Exhibition. This is the grand structure which was later relocated to the parklands near the camping ground we stayed at earlier in the year in the suburb of Crystal Palace.

After checking out the memorial, and discovering it to have been designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, he who many years later was to restore part of the Parliament buildings, I was drawn to take a dozen or so photos. This Gothic Revival monstrosity, standing fifty four metres high, took over ten years to build and cost the equivalent of £120,000 in today’s money. It has been Grade I listed since 1970, so someone will have to keep on paying out for the layers of gold leaf that will forever need work.

Despite the lurking showers, we walked the length of Hyde Park then down to Victoria Station and on to our hotel, checking out various restaurants as we went, but then after a couple of hours rest, returned to Grumbles, the restaurant dined at two days ago.