A light weekend

Friday night went to the theater and saw the musical An American in Paris.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_American_in_Paris_(musical)

It was a great show.

We spent weekend around London and explored a few more parks. Hard to believe we have not see them all.  Saturday Leanne would take Coach for a short walk while i made breakfast. After we ate and sat around for a while Coach gave us the "can we go for another walk" look.

So we were off to Kensington and Hyde park. It was a gorgeous day. We even found a ball and had Coach chasing it and bringing it back to us. We weren't sure what happen to him because he never chases anything. He did it about five times and then must have thought "this is dumb" and was done playing catch. It was fun while it lasted.

The day was perfect we are going to miss this park. 

Coach will too, this is his favorite digging spot.

When he sets his mind to dig,

He is all in.

"Yes we are leaving, no you can't did for five more minutes".

A great picture of Kensington Palace.

Sunday morning Leanne would take Coach for another short walk. She took him off his leash and when she walked around the corner a peacock was standing a short distance away.  She called for Coach to come to her and for some reason he did. Generally when he sees the peacocks he wants them, and i don't mean to play with them. Maybe he was tired from all the digging yesterday. 

We had heard of a farmer's market that mainly sold flowers on the east side of London. So that would be our trip for the day,  and there was also a few parks in that area too.

After the tube ride we came across this small city park. It seems like every park has a statue, some are very odd. That is what i thought of this one.

Next was the flower market, it was about two blocks long and very crowded.  It was OK but with all the people it was difficult to even get close to looking at anything.

After leaving all the people we went to a city farm park that had barnyard animals. Coach wanted to play with the rooster---good thing there is a fence between them.

Coach and his brand new friend, he was crying as he tried to get closer to him.

Can i take him home with me----

by my new friend :(

From there we walked the neighborhood found another street market that sold a little of every thing. They even had rainbow croissants.

We passed a pub called the Well and Bucket 

http://londonist.com/pubs/well-bucket

and there specialty was seafood. Leanne had a crab salad and I stuck with the meat sliders. We were both satisfied with our selection. 

The art work at the pub was another story.

Not sure if there even was a story, i thought they were just weird. 

After that it was time to head home, but not before passing another odd named pub.

This pub is called Dirty Dicks and its history is worth reading.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_Dick

Another great weekend and it looks like the weather is finally starting to break. 

One last thing I found this at the local grocery store. I guess there's only one way to find out if its good or not-----

Park hopping weekend

A few more pictures from our stop at the Royal Mews from last week. This is the tack room, and for all the non horse people: A tack room is a room in or near a stable for storing saddles, harnesses, and other tack.

The last time I was here there was a guy cleaning every thing. It looked like a 

job that would take forever.

Leanne had a morning meeting near St. Paul's and as she was walking the bells 

started ringing. A nice way to start the the day.

That night before dinner i made Saganaki.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saganaki

its a Greek cheese with a lot of flair--and fire. Don't try this at home, and if you do step away from the stove---and be near the sink in case you need water.

The next day while Leanne worked from home (great office with lots of light) 

I would take Diane to Windsor Castle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windsor_Castle

We did a self guided tour of the state apartments and after walked outside to look at the upper ward.

As we watched the royal guards marched from the upper ward and past us. 

Diane would leave early Saturday morning and go to Boston to see her son, daughter in law and grandson. It was nice to have her over here for a week. 

The next morning  Leanne would take Coach for his walk---i was lazy and stayed in bed.  She took some pictures of some interesting things in our neighborhood. They trim the trees on an every other year scheduled. This year it was this streets turn. The first time we saw this we thought they were trimming them back and then were going to cut them down.  And its all different times of the year when they do this.

Another thing is the shrubbery, some where under this bush row is a metal fence. What is really amazing is how strait the top and side are and also how square the corners are. Coach is also amazed at how it looks-----OK--Coach is just wondering why Leanne stopped.

Not sure what these trees are but the red flowers really pop in the sunlight. This is Holland park, it is the nearest park to our house.

The next day we would visit two parks we have not been to. The first was Wormwood Scrubs or Scrubs as the locals call it.  Before we got to the park i noticed a large building complex with a wall around it. I told Leanne i thought it looked like a prison and i was right. It was the HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs, built between 1875 and 1891. One of its famous prisoners was Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HM_Prison_Wormwood_Scrubs

The park is 200 acres and mostly open grown with trees around the outer areas. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wormwood_Scrubs

This section was set up for model airplanes and we were able to see a few of them.  Leanne is reading one of the parks information boards.

There is a large section laid out for football pitches (soccer fields).

Oh look, it must be time to watch some football and have some bubbly. 

Coach is doing his "i'm a good dog, can I have a treat" pose.

So much for the break---it was a small bottle

There were 12 football pitches on the far end of the field and this side had baseball and rugby.

It was early in the day so we decided to keep moving. After a couple of tube rides we headed to another park. This one was in the town of Ealing, a suburb of london.

Coach and I waiting patiently for out turn to cross a busy street. 

The walk would take us by Popes lane, not sure how the road got this name. 

Next stop was Gunnersbury park

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunnersbury_Park

Most of the park is open ground, and very little trees. Unlike the Scrubs there are no football pitches laid out on the property.

It was another nice open space to walk.

Coach taking turns walking with us.

I see and concession stand on the right, time for a break. Leanne bought a snickers bar---big score.

A section of the park has a mansion and a museum. We did not get near either of them but did pass this old gate opening. Also past this gate was an 18 hole par 3 course that was also used as a Foot golf course. 

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footgolf

On the way home we passed two house that had dragons on there entry ways.

The do like there dragons here in London. 

A good day of walking, and my legs are saying it's time to go home.

My sister Diane travels over the pond

I walked by a watch store this week that was selling Rolex watches. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolex

I was not in the market for a new watch or even an old watch. And after seeing the prices i will never be in the market for a Rolex. The least expensive one was around £4000.00 pounds. The one on the right cost the most with a price of £28,000.00.  

I have a clock on my iPhone and it works fine.

My sister Diane would be coming for visit over the pond, she would be taking an express train from the airport. As we waited we passed one of the many plaque's that are in London. This one was for Alexander Fleming, the man who discovered Penicillin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Fleming

After Diane arrived, we went back to the house so she could drop off he luggage. After that we went to see the Royal Mews.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Mews

I had already been there twice, but this would be Leanne's first time seeing it.

After the Mews we walked by the front of Buckingham palace  on our way to see the American embassy. The embassy has a statue of Dwight Eisenhower on one corner and Ronald Reagan on the other. 

After that we decided to head back to the house, while passing a couple of interesting spots.

Charles street, i'm sure it was named after King Charles and not my son Charles.

And the Purdey gun shop

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Purdey_%26_Sons

Founded in 1814 they make custom guns that cost as much as £89,000. 

Diane was ready for a much needed nap.

The next day Diane went on a Harry Potter tour and after that we met Leanne to see a play at the Globe Theater.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globe_Theatre

The play was called Nell Gwyn.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nell_Gwyn

It was about Nell Gwyn who was a mistress to King Charles II. The globe is an open air theater and the night was cold. Good thing we brought along blankets.

The next day Diane would be off to Amsterdam  for two days to look at windmills and tulips.