yet another London Day

The man and I have been living and working in the UK for more than eighteen months. I fully intended to keep a diary from day one, but I guess I must have a black belt in procrastination after all this time.

Better late than never I guess.

So what did we do last weekend? Saturday was a beautiful clear blue sky day with next to no breeze. Much too good to stay at home, so we didn’t. Where did we go? Read on.

We use National Express a lot on our many trips out of the city, often passing the home of the Chelsea Pensioners.  Well on Saturday it became our destination. A short train ride to London Victoria and an equally short walk took us to the very grand home of the red coated gentlemen. Across the frontage, in Latin is written

 “FOR THE SUCCOUR AND RELIEF OF VETERANS BROKEN BY AGE AND WAR, FOUNDED BY CHARLES II, ENLARGED BY JAMES II AND COMPLETED BY WILLIAM AND MARY IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1692   (thanks Google)

More information about this amazing facility can be found at www.chelsea-pensioners.co.uk

Being our usual gregarious selves we stopped to talk to one of the residents, a fascinating chap who regales us with his history. A ten pound pom (ok if you don’t know what that is look here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Pound_Poms) Anyway he had returned to the UK and was now a happy resident of what has to be one of the country’s grandest old peoples home. The grounds of this place are huge and in impeccable order, more park than garden. Complete with the obligatory cannon and statue, decked out in gold leaf of course.

The small but perfectly formed chapel was a delight and the dining room (now a café open to the public) was hung with old regimental flags and panelled in glossy wood. High windows and long tables completed the picture. No we didn’t stop for coffee, but we could have.

Next door is a War Museum, and not one to walk past such a thing we availed ourselves of the fantastic display. Not being a fan of any armed skirmish I was pleased to discover that it did not so much glorify the battles as the men and women in them.

I found the displays concentrating on WWWI particularly moving,

On a different tack I’m reading a Philipa Gregory book at called Virgin Earth. Call it serendipity if you like, but most of places we have been to in recent months have been centred on the time frame this book is set in. I have even seen portraits of the main characters in a museum

The Man led us to the river (Thames of course) and across the other side its statues gleaming gold in the sun stood,  what we later learned was, the Peace Pagoda (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Pagoda). Gotta go see that, there must be great photo opportunities there.

Crossing the river (Thames again) via Albert Bridge we found ourselves in Battersea Park, and what a gem of a place. Fountains, aviaries (first Public Park we’ve come across with them) and the beautiful gleaming Pagoda. It was a lovely place to sit and eat our lunch, made by The Man’s fair hands, hands that accidentally knocked over and broke the thermos that held the hot water for our coffee. (Glad it wasn’t me). Never mind.

Through he trees we spotted the chimneys of the now abandoned Battersea power Station, meaning that the train station was close. A short walk past more, statuary commemorating war dead, and one focusing on Gallipoli and we found the station. With our usual impeccable timing we had a very short wait for the one back to Crystal Palace. Can’t wait to get those pics downloaded onto the electronic gadget.

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