Oh, how I do love London--just the prospect of a fairly short visit (4 days, 5th visit) had me all giddy with glee. I arrived at King's Cross close to 1 pm on Wednesday, walked over to the Underground and added £30 giving me a total of £36 of which I used £33. I have 2 hotels I like and this trip stayed at the Caesar on Queen's Gardens, a 10 minute walk from Paddington and also to Queensway with 2 stations and lots of food options. I like the quiet residential area, and had a very nice & spacious room. As soon as I had unpacked a bit it started to rain--not the polite drizzle of Edinburgh but a more determined, wet rain. Put on my hooded jacket & umbrella and off I went to Oxford Circus where I had excellent fish & chips and a cider at The Clachan on Kingly, just behind my favorite store, Liberty--they were having a sale! Just the sight of the iconic building delights me & I go there for the craft & fabric dept, got a needlepoint kit commemorating the Coronation--this will go nicely with the one I stitched last year for the Queen's Jubilee. Bought some candy and a Christmas ornament and decided to brave the rain--rush hour & the Underground is a blasted mess when it rains, by the time I got back to the hotel I was quite drenched...but happy to be here!
Thursday was wonderful--I visited my most favorite place in London TWICE--the Tower! In the morning I checked out the Crown Jewels, then spent time watching the ravens, especially Edgar & Bronwen, who are a couple, fighting over treats. Walked the ramparts and just sat happily in the sun before heading off to see St Paul's & exploring that area, then the V&A to just poke around--the Chanel exhibit was sold out, alas. A bit after 8 pm I got back on the tube to the Tower for the Ceremony of the Keys, had to be there exactly at 9:30. I chatted with a nice couple from MO to pass the 1/2 hr wait, then we were let in & guided by Yeoman Warder Terry into the courtyard where the ceremony began. The 2nd part of it had us move into the area near the White Tower--that borders the raven enclosures, & something made me look up on the high wall & sure enough, Edgar & Bronwen were sitting up there! At 10 pm this was highly unusual, they are put to bed at dusk to guard from predators. We were adamantly warned no pictures allowed during the ceremony or you'd be frog-marched out, but once it was complete Terry said "Here's the money shot, the White Tower all lit up, get out your cameras!" Needless to say my first shot was of the ravens 😬 then the White Tower, spectacular at night. I asked Terry about the ravens & it seems they have a nest and won't let Chris, the Ravenmaster, catch them at night, they play every trick possible to elude him! Seeing them was the absolute icing on the cake for me--the Ceremony is wonderful, much pomp & circumstance & tradition, and a bargain at just £5 to see all that and be in the Tower at night. No problems taking the tube back to the hotel, streets in the neighborhood were active at 11 pm. I did not bring my purse, just phone & ID & credit card in a zipped pocket. And my umbrella, which went everywhere with me this trip!
Friday I had a ticket for Kew Gardens, I had put it off for several trips & I must say it's just a glorious place and I had hours of sun to explore it in. Loved Kew Palace, did the Treetop Walkway, made friends with lots of birds & squirrels and even saw a beautiful fox on a quiet path. The thing I loved the most was the Marianne North Gallery--what an incredible woman, she traveled all over the world in the Victorian era to paint trees & flowers, then built this gallery to house them all at Kew. I then continued on to Richmond in late afternoon, explored the charming town for a couple of hours & a bit of the park and had dinner at Bill's, by then it was raining--I will definitely return, really liked the feel of this town.