There will be no blog this week, we are on vacation in France.
Leanne and I
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Monday, November 16, 2015
Short walk and Greenwich
The weather is starting to get a little colder here. The temps are in the lower 50's and there is more rain and with that the leaves are falling. The house across the street that we never saw is in plain sight. It's a large house and i'm sure at one time had a huge front yard that took up where our house is. There has been a small amount of fog, but not what we had expected. Maybe that will come later in the year.
Leanne has been very busy at work and has been working long hours. She said its the time of year for her line of work and hopes it will slow down next month.
She has not seen the foxes on her morning walks, yes it is hard to believe but there are foxes in London. There red foxes, and when you first see them your not sure what they are. Coach does and if he's not on his leash he's gone after them. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/05/foxes-london.html
As far as other wildlife around our area there are squirrels but we have not seen any rabbits.
There are pigeons and they are big and fat. http://www.londonpigeons.co.uk/
The locals have to make it hard for them to congregate overhead where people are.
One of the things they do is put wire pointed up so they can't land and they also put up netting to keep them out of the tubes (subway).
and i don't know how they do it but they have there own Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pigeonsoflondon/
And there are the peacocks in Holland Park, we have to watch Coach when there walking around. He almost had one once, good thing they can fly.
On Sunday we went to Greenwich https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwich
to walk in Greenwich park.
The park is 183 acres and the former Royal Observatory, Greenwich and the Prime Meridian passes through the building. On one side of the line is the Eastern hemisphere and on the other is the Western hemisphere.
Leanne has been very busy at work and has been working long hours. She said its the time of year for her line of work and hopes it will slow down next month.
She has not seen the foxes on her morning walks, yes it is hard to believe but there are foxes in London. There red foxes, and when you first see them your not sure what they are. Coach does and if he's not on his leash he's gone after them. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/05/foxes-london.html
As far as other wildlife around our area there are squirrels but we have not seen any rabbits.
There are pigeons and they are big and fat. http://www.londonpigeons.co.uk/
The locals have to make it hard for them to congregate overhead where people are.
One of the things they do is put wire pointed up so they can't land and they also put up netting to keep them out of the tubes (subway).
You don't want them to drop there lunch on you.
and i don't know how they do it but they have there own Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pigeonsoflondon/
And there are the peacocks in Holland Park, we have to watch Coach when there walking around. He almost had one once, good thing they can fly.
On Sunday we went to Greenwich https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwich
to walk in Greenwich park.
The park is 183 acres and the former Royal Observatory, Greenwich and the Prime Meridian passes through the building. On one side of the line is the Eastern hemisphere and on the other is the Western hemisphere.
Also at the observatory is the 24 hour Shepherds gate clock
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepherd_Gate_Clock
and under it the standard length wall.
More statues of famous people we didn't know. This is James Wolfe a British officer that captured of Quebec. For some reason we never learned this in our history classes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Wolfe
Leanne and Coach in a section of the park. A little while later Coach was chasing a squirrel. The squirrel zigged and Coach zagged and he ended up hurting his front leg. He came limping back and our day in the park was over. As we were walking out of the park another squirrel ran in front of him and he was off again. Apparently his leg was not that sore, but after the run he was limping even more. The leash was put on him for the rest of the walk.
On the way out of the park we saw the masks of the Cutty Sark
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutty_Sark
That will be a story for another day
Monday, November 9, 2015
Fireworks in November
November is time for fireworks in England. The actually day for it is November 5th or Guy Fawkes Day.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night
Guy Fawkes was a catholic that was tired of all the anti-catholic in England so he and some friends decided to blow up the House of Lords in 1605. Needless to say they got caught, were tried and executed. Soon after they made it a day of remembrance and for the most part it was a reason to party.
Even though the celebration was supposed to be on the 5th, it seemed like the fireworks started on the 2nd and ended on the 8th. Coach has not been very happy with the noise and has been looking for a place to hide.
This week i visited the Churchill War Rooms.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchill_War_Rooms
This is was the British command center from August of 1939 till August of 1945. There is also an area that has the history of Winston Churchill.
Saturday Leanne left early for her walk with Coach. She was in Kensington Gardens and at one end is statue of Peter Pan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night
Guy Fawkes was a catholic that was tired of all the anti-catholic in England so he and some friends decided to blow up the House of Lords in 1605. Needless to say they got caught, were tried and executed. Soon after they made it a day of remembrance and for the most part it was a reason to party.
Even though the celebration was supposed to be on the 5th, it seemed like the fireworks started on the 2nd and ended on the 8th. Coach has not been very happy with the noise and has been looking for a place to hide.
This week i visited the Churchill War Rooms.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchill_War_Rooms
This is was the British command center from August of 1939 till August of 1945. There is also an area that has the history of Winston Churchill.
Saturday Leanne left early for her walk with Coach. She was in Kensington Gardens and at one end is statue of Peter Pan
And she saw another group on horses, these were women riding side saddle.
I met up with Leanne for coffee, this was our view.
There is a group that swims all year long,
and it was cold out
this is a bridge that separates Kensington Gardens and Hide park
another view in Kensington and then a little bit of rain
and this was the view in Holland park, soccer practice for the little ones,
It was nasty but they were all having fun.
The Studs group had an event on Saturday, it was called Studs and Spouses. Its and event they have every year so that the wives can meet each other. It also lets the wives meet all the guy in the group.
One of the guys in the group had it at his house. The house itself was huge, 3 story with 4 bedrooms and two decks. One down stairs and one on the roof. At one point all the women sat at one table and started to talk. I asked one of the guys if this is what they do and he said they have never done this before. The guys all had worried looks on there face.
A great night, we shared a cab ride home with another couple that is leaving in a week. Her work assignment is over and there moving back to the states.
Monday, November 2, 2015
Bond and a walk around town
This week a few of the Friday pub guy met for a James Bond day. It ended up that there was 6 of us and first stop was the Bond in Motion
http://londonfilmmuseum.com/home/
It had most of the cars from all the movies and some scale models. It was interesting to see a Honda ATC-90 and a Ski-Doo snowmobile that were used in the filming. My boys had owned both models, and i think they drove them just as hard as in the movies. They also had two cars from the latest movie.
Next stop was lunch at a local hamburger shop. Most of the burgers in London are not all that good, these were great. The must have the meat shipped in from the states. After that it was on to the movies. Here in London when you buy your tickets you pick where you want to sit. There is a section in the middle that has wider and more comfortable seats, these cost more than the regular seats.
The movie was good, your typical Bond flick, he drives fancy fast cars, kills the bad guys and gets the women at the end of the movie.
After that we went to the Duke's Hotel https://www.dukeshotel.com/dukes-bar/
the bar was a frequent stop for James Bond author Ian Fleming and where the famous "shaken not stirred" line came from. The place was packed so we moved on to an american hotel/bar that was around the corner and had our martini's.
Leanne took Coach for a long walk on Saturday morning, all around Holland park, Kensington garden and Hyde park. After she got home we went to a french restaurant for breakfast. The hollandaise sauce on the eggs Benedict is the best we have every had.
Near the restaurant is a roof garden we have been meaning to go to, http://www.virginlimitededition.com/en/the-roof-gardens
Its now owned by Sir Richard Branson so there is a little advertising with it.
It was built in 1938 and sits on the 6th floor of an office building, there is also a dance floor and a restaurant on the 7th floor. And it does have some wild life, ducks and pink flamingos.
http://londonfilmmuseum.com/home/
It had most of the cars from all the movies and some scale models. It was interesting to see a Honda ATC-90 and a Ski-Doo snowmobile that were used in the filming. My boys had owned both models, and i think they drove them just as hard as in the movies. They also had two cars from the latest movie.
Next stop was lunch at a local hamburger shop. Most of the burgers in London are not all that good, these were great. The must have the meat shipped in from the states. After that it was on to the movies. Here in London when you buy your tickets you pick where you want to sit. There is a section in the middle that has wider and more comfortable seats, these cost more than the regular seats.
The movie was good, your typical Bond flick, he drives fancy fast cars, kills the bad guys and gets the women at the end of the movie.
After that we went to the Duke's Hotel https://www.dukeshotel.com/dukes-bar/
the bar was a frequent stop for James Bond author Ian Fleming and where the famous "shaken not stirred" line came from. The place was packed so we moved on to an american hotel/bar that was around the corner and had our martini's.
Leanne took Coach for a long walk on Saturday morning, all around Holland park, Kensington garden and Hyde park. After she got home we went to a french restaurant for breakfast. The hollandaise sauce on the eggs Benedict is the best we have every had.
Near the restaurant is a roof garden we have been meaning to go to, http://www.virginlimitededition.com/en/the-roof-gardens
Its now owned by Sir Richard Branson so there is a little advertising with it.
It was built in 1938 and sits on the 6th floor of an office building, there is also a dance floor and a restaurant on the 7th floor. And it does have some wild life, ducks and pink flamingos.
After we left the gardens we picked up Coach and went to another walk of London. This started near the Thames river and ended up near the theater district. First stop was the Roman baths
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Baths,_Strand_Lane
seems like the Romans were putting baths in every town around here----must have been a smelly bunch.
From there it was on to look at a gas lamp, not just any gas lamp. This lamp is the last one that uses sewer gas for the fuel. Its on 24 hours a day. I know your day is complete just know this.
Fro there we went to the Embankment park,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_Embankment
lots of statues of men we didn't know
At the end of the Embankment park was the York water gate. This was on the edge of the water and was the entrance to the York house. It was built in 1626 and now sits 165 yards from the river Thames.
http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryMagazine/DestinationsUK/York-Watergate/
Behind this and to the left is the oldest wine bar in London,
http://gordonswinebar.com/
seemed like a good place to stop and take a break.
Just down the street from the wine bar was the Ben Franklin House
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin_House
He lived and worked there for 16 years.
From there we walked down to Trafalgar Square,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trafalgar_Square
this is where it got interesting. It was supposed to look like this
But it looked like this
The rugby finals were being shown on a few big screens that they had set up. The place was packed as was the rest of the area we were trying to get to. We decided to end our walk, Leanne took Coach home and we met up at an area with a few restaurant we had noticed the week before.
These restaurants were down a dark alley, there was an Italian, French, Iranian, Turkish, Indian and a few British pubs. We picked the Turkish and will go back again.
Sunday Lee went on her morning walk, it was a bit cold and foggy.
of course there will be a picture of Coach.
This is a great shot of the Albert Memorial in the fog.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Memorial
They did a 5 3/4 miles walk. When they got home, Coach ate and went right to sleep.
Today I saw the Queens Guard all dressed in red
Last week Leanne saw them in black.
This is the history about them,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen%27s_Guard
that's it for this week.
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