| 09.15 |
Shoka and Hawklady arrive outside Susan's hotel. As it was so early we decided to go for a cup of coffee. Then we
walked along The Strand for about twenty minutes before turning
and walking slowly back to the hotel. |
| 10.15
|
Arrived in the foyer of Susan's hotel and sat down to wait for her.
|
| 10.30
|
Susan came to meet us and we sat down to wait for Mule and Creature
Feature. Hawklady gave Susan a bag of British Mars bars and Milky-
Way bars so she can compare them to the American versions.
|
| 10.45
|
Mule phoned to say that he was stuck on a stationary train and was
still at least half an hour away. He said that CF had phoned him
to say that she was also stuck on a train!
|
| 11.15
|
Susan went to take the bag of sweets to her room, Shoka & Hawklady
stayed in the foyer to await Mule and CF.
|
| 11.20
|
A young woman came into the foyer, looked around and went out
again. Shoka & Hawklady ignored her! Shoka then mentioned to
Hawklady that the young woman was waiting outside. Could it be
CF??
|
| 11.25
|
Shoka went and asked the young woman if she was CF - she was!
|
| 11.35
|
Mule arrived rather out of breath just before Susan rejoined us.
So the Shejidan Zimmer Frame Club Get-Together was under way!
|
| 11.45
|
Hawklady presented the others with Souvenir Certificates, bookmarks
and badges as mementoes of the occasion.
|
|
|
| Souvenir Certificate
|
|
|
Shoka, Hawklady & Mule
already had badges so CF and Susan put theirs on too, and we were
ready to hit the town!
|
| Mule, Susan & CF
|
|
| Susan, Mule, CF & Shoka
|
|
| 11.50
|
Mule and Susan suggested a visit to the National Portrait Gallery,
so we all trooped up The Strand to Trafalgar Square. We agreed to
go to the 'Tudors and Stuarts' gallery, so sneaked up to that in a
quiet lift that Susan knew about. After the Tudors and Stuarts,
we drifted on into the Regency gallery.
By now lunch was calling so we abandoned the Portrait Gallery
and set off via Leicester Square for the south end of Soho.
With a huge effort of self restraint, we then walked past book-shops
(including Mule's second favourite book-shop) and an Italian
ice-cream stall without going into any of them!
|
| 13.00
|
Mule suggested a very nice restaurant that he knew of which was
quite close by, and proved to be an excellent choice. It was a
very sophisticated establishment, reputedly founded by Napoleon's
chef after he was captured at Waterloo, complete with a live
pianist, authentic pizzas and excellent service.
|
| CF In Restaurant
|
|
| Mule In Restaurant
|
|
| 14.15
|
After we had all completely stuffed ourselves on pizzas, we set off
for Mornington Crescent. Susan's ankle was not up to taking the
tube however, so we all got on a No 29 bus and arrived outside of
the station rather than inside it We all took photos, and took
another bus back to Trafalgar Square.
|
| Mornington Crescent Station
|
|
| Mornington Crescent Station
|
|
| CF, Mule & Susan at Mornington Crescent Station
|
|
| Shoka, CF, Susan & Mule at Mornington Crescent Station
|
|
| 15.15
|
It was such a lovely day that we decided to go on a river-boat tour
on the River Thames, so off we went. We walked down to the
Embankment and along it until we came to the boats by Hammersmith
Bridge. We decided to take a 'Circular Tour'.
|
| Hawklady, Susan & CF in the boat by Hammersmith Bridge
|
|
| 16.00
|
The boat, named 'Mercedes', took us along the river eastwards as
far as the Tower Bridge and back again. We passed quite a few
'Sights of London', including the Modern Tate Gallery,
|
| Balloons outside Tate Modern Gallery - Modern Art!
|
|
|
|
The London Eye (which is an absolutely enormous Ferris wheel - each
pod holds about 20 people and it takes 45 minutes to complete one
cycle),
|
| The London Eye
|
|
|
|
The Millennium Bridge,
|
| The Millennium Bridge
|
|
|
|
The Globe Theatre (the white building with a huge tree in front of
it),
|
| The Globe Theatre
|
|
|
|
and HMS Belfast, a retired war ship now open to the public.
|
| HMS Belfast
|
|
|
|
We also passed The New City Hall, (the glass round-fronted building)
|
| The City Hall
|
|
|
|
Tower Bridge, then went
|
| Tower Bridge
|
|
|
|
back under the Millennium Bridge, which is pedestrian only.
|
| Under the Millennium Foot Bridge
|
|
|
|
We could just see the dome of St Paul's Cathedral,
|
| The Dome of St Paul's
|
|
|
|
and we came back towards the Houses of Parliament and the clock
tower known as 'Big Ben' after the huge bell inside it.
|
| Houses of Parliament & Big Ben
|
|
|
|
The London Aquarium is on the opposite side of the river and is
housed in the old 'County Hall' building.
|
| The London Aquarium
|
|
|
|
The boat stopped several times on the way to Tower Bridge to pick
up or set down passengers, but did not stop on the way back to
the starting point. We (naturally) made use of the licensed bar
on board.
On the return leg, the captain of the boat gave us a very witty
commentary, in a very broad Cockney accent, about the various
landmarks along the banks of the Thames as we passed each one.
|
| 17.30
|
We arrived back at the Embankment, and it was sadly time for Mule
to leave us. We all said goodbye to him by the tube station and he
went on his way. The rest of us walked up Whitehall, past the
Cenotaph, on the way back to Trafalgar Square and Susan's hotel.
|
| 17.50
|
Hawklady and Shoka decided to try out a local hostelry, but Susan
and CF declined. CF said she would go the rest of the way back to
the hotel with Susan, so we said more goodbyes and went on our
separate ways from there.
It was a very pleasant and memorable day.
|
|
|
So ended the first Shejidan Zimmer Frame Club Get-Together!
|
|
|
Just for interest, I've added a photo of the Royal Albert Hall
|
| The Royal Albert Hall
|
|
|
|
and one of the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens, which Shoka and
Hawklady walked through on the way to their train.
|
| The Albert Memorial
|
|
