More London

23 Jun

The next two days we spent visiting and exploring parts of London we hadn’t seen before. We always take the tube for transport when we are here but it can be expensive so we tried catching a bus downtown. That started well but 50 minutes later crawling along Whitechapel road which was totally torn up with construction we gave up, got off, and caught the tube the rest of the way in. The girls rode into town using the ubiquitous bike rentals and only got lost once. Lyndsay has the system figured out. If you dock the bike back into any of the racks within half an hour it’s free. Then you immediately take out another bike and ride another half hour and never pay. We met at Victoria station and then off we went to Hampton Court by train.
Hampton Court is one of the royal palaces near London. It was the home of Henry the VIII and its 500th anniversary is being celebrated this year. Since the weather was reasonable we wandered the grounds and gardens rather than going in. There is a maze (Harry Potter’ish) we tried and an ancient and huge grape vine to wonder at, as well as as the formal gardens.
The evening was spent with Anette, the wife of my cousin Poul, at their flat at Limehouse basin. This is a historic and picturesque spot connected to the Thames by its own lock. There are several canals that go off from here and it is really a wonderful spot to live.
Tuesday we met all three daughters near Guildhall, Erika’s alma mater, and had lunch chosen from one of the kiosks/food trucks that spring up at that time every day. Erika had a gig that afternoon but we went with the other two to explore the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery. Lyndsay convinced us to go by bike, in the heart of London, on the wrong side of the road, destination Trafalgar Square. What could go wrong? I am happy to say it was uneventful and we survived. London has great cycling infrastructure but with 8 million people it’s still a bit crowded. After supper we said our goodbyes and took the train to Gatwick for a one night nearby hotel stay due to the early flight the next morning.