Here we are ready to leave this wonderful little country,
ancestral home to both of us by varying degrees. We have dined well and Chris
has made his farewell calls to his siblings. Tomorrow we will leave the bags at
the hotel until mid-afternoon when we will return to collect them, trundle
everything along to Victoria Station and travel on the underground to Heathrow
via South Kensington. By Wednesday afternoon we will be back in New Zealand
ready to sort out our lives there.
Our last full day in London has been absolutely marvellous. We sat
over breakfast as much as one can sit over toast and jam and instant coffee and
a full house suggesting the next folk might like to either share or take your
table. Then we sat on our bed for a couple of hours and watched the Sunday
political commentary programmes that we have come to enjoy whilst here in the
United Kingdom. We will miss the hurley-burley of the politics; they have been
both entertaining and educational during this last six months.
Then we set off as we have every other morning, albeit much later,
stopping by the Tesco Express to buy our sandwiches and joining the underground
at Victoria. Today, still the weekend, the lines were again in chaos, and we
had to disembark at Embankment rather than Temple to follow our plan. The Plan
turned out to be a fizzer anyway because the wonders of the Temple area, the
old law university area, are no longer to be found, or at least by travellers
such as ourselves. The fascinations promised in our Rough Guide are either all
redeveloped or misunderstood. Perhaps we should have done more research before
setting off, however we did get plenty of exercise walking along the bank of
the Thames, and up and down the avenues and lanes in the Temple area, then back
to the underground after sitting by the river dining au Tesco and people
watching.
Back on the train, we headed through to South Kensington and
retraced our steps of yesterday to the Royal Albert Hall, too early in normal
Clarke style. We sat on a rail in Kensington Park watching a dozen or so
squirrels scamper about in the first of the autumn leaves, gathering nuts for
their winter store.
In due course, we crossed the road and entered the hallowed temple
of the Royal Albert and joined the other five thousand or so doing the same.
What a treat we had; the bonus of Beethoven’s 5th Piano Concerto followed
by the Symphony No 9. I was unfamiliar with the first work and so did not enjoy
it as much as I might have otherwise, but I say that only when I compare it
with the Symphony which was just fabulous. The choir of seventy odd was stupendous
and we left just buzzing. What an afternoon! The Hall is an absolutely beautiful
building which added to the experience.
Now late afternoon and the streets wet with rain fallen during the
concert, we made our way back to the Underground, which was at least as busy as
yesterday. Leaving Victoria Station on foot, we checked restaurants we knew of;
an Indian, an Italian, both closed for the day, then a Thai too expensive and
settled for the Willow Walk, a pub near the station which operates under the
Wetherspoon franchise. There we had an excellent meal for a very fair price,
good service and did not have an argument about the “optional” service fee.
And so here we are at the end of our trip; rather sad, but happily
we can say, we’ll be back!
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