Spanspek

We discussed the options for today and decided on Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace and the London Eye. It certainly is quite something to walk around places that one has seen only in pictures (still or moving). However, photographic tricks are revealed when, with an ordinary camera, one is unable to get shots like those one has seen elsewhere. That said, Trafalgar Square is a lot smaller than I thought it would be! We walked to Buckingham Palace, which is as big as I thought it would be. I feel the same way about this as I do about Catholic churches: imagine the good that could have been done if the British taxpayer didn't have to fork out all that money. But then one has to remember that, until quite recently, the Brits really have been very fond of their royals. A constitutional change wouldn't necessarily make that much difference. Many aristocratic properties have ling since passed to the National Trust and similar organisations. Like it or not, the anti-democratic monarchy is part of the history and its legacy should be preserved up to a point. We walked through St James Park to Westminster Bridge. It started to rain. It seems as if Daniel's coming down with a cold, not because of the weather, but it didn't help. The London Eye is certainly spectacular, but is it worth £17 a ride? I'm not so sure. It took 11/2; hours to get back to the boathouse. The Tube's District Line has three or four branches from its Western half. We wanted a train to Richmond but there were only two there and 10 or 12 to each of Winbledon and Ealing Broadway. It didn't help that announcements were frequently wrong. Just another example of downtrodden Brits putting up with bad service.

There's a pool close by! The Centre is being renovated so there are no showers for pool users ("Please don't use the dry side showers"—why ever not, I say, since stinking gym users can't be less objectionable than dripping, chlorinated swimmers). There are no 5 metre markers in or above the pool so doing backstroke is dangerous. Still, we're happy to be able to get a swim. I hope I can swim every day! Since the Tube was out of action, Mum and Gillian came across using the National Rail, which is hideously expensive and mostly not useable with an Oyster card. But at least they got here and we all walked across the bridge to Kew Botanical Gardens. Kew is an important horticultural research centre with a seed bank, many collections of exotic plants (including Wollemi pines) and, soon, a very large collection of fungi. Daniel had a play in the children's section and the "evolution" house (no dinosaurs though). We also went on the treetop walk—not unlike Tasmania's Tahune Air Walk but not as high—and the Temperament House (a greenhouse full of exotic species). After that, we had dinner at a local restaurant near the Gardens and walked home. It was a very nice day.

I've probably blown the maximum fare on the Tube today. I was in a hurry to get to Paddington to catch the Heathrow Connect, a faster train service not affected by works this weekend. I don't think my Oyster card scanned properly when I left the Tube. At Paddington, there are signs for the Heathrow Express, another service which costs twice as much as the Connect (and the Connect costs twice as much as the regular Tube). Of course, they want you to pay for that so I missed a train trying to figure out how to get a Connect ticket. As I had only a £20 note, I didn't want to use a vending machine in case it didn't spit out more than £10 of change (the ticket cost £7.60). The queue at the ticket counter is not the fist I've been in here but it must be almost the slowest. I've seen the staff wander away from the counter for minutes on end for no apparent reason. Of course, since almost everyone here is British, no one says anything. They just stand there are take this shit! I met Lou, Daniel and Kiera and we took a very interesting taxi ride to Kew Bridge. Had I been sitting in a forward-facing seat, I think I would have feared for my life. Some of the driver's moves were innovative, to say the least! We were caught up in traffic and it ended up costing £40 (ouch!). We met Sue on the street near the boathouse. The boathouse is very charming, if a little rough.. At this point, the Thames is still tidal so that water almost disappears on this arm of the river, as the following photo shows:
View Larger Map I can't believe this! It must be 25 miles from Southend-on-Sea! We took a walk across Kew Bridge to the Green, briefly watched the cricket and then checked out Kew Gardens. The houses around here are evidently quite old, at least those that are original. They're all semi-detached, perhaps what we in Melbourne would describe as terrace-like, each with its own front and rear garden. They're rather charming and, if each were built separately (as most appear to be), shouldn't be too noisy like apartments in single buildings. There are also lots of pubs in the area with large-screen TVs tuned to either Wimbledon or the cricket. On our side of the river, none serve dinner on a Saturday night. I guess that's the big drinking night. We've seen two museums on the Kew Bridge Rd: a steam museum and a music museum. I'm sure Daniel will be interested in both.We still have to check out options for shopping. Sue found a small supermarket but it's not got a wide range. Lou commented that given the size of residential properties in the area, it's hard to see where a larger supermarket might be put.

Back to Pension Barja for one more night. In the morning we got up to have breakfast at a cafe we'd previously visited. It's radio is fixed to a station that seems to play nothing but English-language pop music. We picked up our luggage and took one last trip on the Metro to the Airport. I hadn't realised that it costs €1 to make one trip, but €2 to go to the airport. The tiocket vending machines at other stations don't offer this, but there are "supplementary ticket" machines at the exits of the Airport stations. Who cares! It's still very cheap. I'm glad I didn't spend all my Euros: Iberia charges for food and drink! It took one hour of queueing to get through UK Immigration. I was a bit uncertain about the actual address of the houseboat Lou's Mum had organised as accommodation so I wrote down what I thought it was (Kew Bridge Road—this may not may not be the case). The sour-faced officer didn't give me too hard a time though. The Tube ride was 50 minutes. I bought an Oyster Card. The guy at the counter recommended a 7-day pass but didn't tell me that there were to be works on several lines that weekend with no replacement bus service. I might have waited until Monday otherwise. I travelled to Russell Square and hiked a couple of blocks. The hotel that Mum booked for her and Gillian (and me, for the first night) is two terrace houses combined. There's no ventilation in the rooms so it's incredibly stuffy. I found my sister resting and we spent the hour catching up until Mum arrived. Soon after, we went out in search of dinner. Thanks goodness I'm moving out tomorrow!