Brisbane
Date Time
Local
Date Time
Event, Location
The Travellers' Diary
Fri 21/06 15:20
JPC breakup
Robbie's on Holidays. Off to Nanna's in the morning.
Fri 21/06 22:24
Solstice
Shortest day of the year. So little time to get ready.
The bags are packed.
Sat 22/06 18:10
QF 549 Bne->Syd
Thanks, Peter for the lift to the airport. Thanks, Joan for the honey-lemon soothers.
Sat 22/06 22:15
QF 31 Syd->SIN 04:10
Fairly straight-forward flight. Flew over Katherine in NT and the East-West Timor border. Just a few bumps along the southern coast of Borneo.
Sun 23/06 6:10
Sun 23/06 4:10
Arrive Singapore
Qantas Club Trmnl 1, turn left after Immig., up escaltrs +65 (395) 3566 Qantas/BA Airside
Sun 23/06 7:45
Sun 23/06 5:45
QF 31 5:45 SIN->LHR 12:15 Sun
Tough leg, 13 1/2 hours. Up the Malay peninsula, across the northern tip of Sumatra, across the Bay of Bengal, over Chennai on India's east coast, just south of Mumbai on the west, the Arabian Sea, Oman, over Shiraz and the Zagros Mountains, between Baghdad and Teheran (on the Iranian side of the border), into eastern Turkey (are we nearly there?), veer left along the Black Sea coast, finishing with a gentle 2 hr slalom across Europe, south of Bucharest, north of Budapest, south of Prague, north of Frankfurt, south of Bonn, sliding into London 15 mins early.
Sun 23/06 21:15
Sun 23/06 12:15
Arrive London (Switch to GMT +1)
You'll never guess what! There wasn't a spare gate so we had to park in the middle of the tarmac. They organised some stairs and a fleet of buses to take us to the terminal. At Heathrow! At least immigration and customs were quite straightforward.
Sun 23/06 23:00
Sun 23/06 14:00
Hilton London Metropole 7nts
+44 (20) 7402 4141
Checked in. We're on the 18th floor of one of the largest hotels in London. Great views along Edgware Road (an old Roman road) and to Hyde Park.
Went for a walk down to Hyde Park. Were disappointed not to hear any erudite political comment at Speaker's Corner. It was mainly religious fanatacism.
Mon Evening
Mon Dawn
Awoke to brilliant sunshine and a completely cloudless blue sky. Here's the sunshine glinting off the London Eye.
Mon Night
Mon Morning
Our package included a bus tour orientation around London, showing some of the sights, such as the Albert Hall
The tour also included entry to St Paul's Cathedral with its fabulous dome.
The highlight of the tour was when, despite the enormous crowds at Buckingham Palace, our tour guide got us into just the right position for some fabulous photos of the changing of the guard.
Everything's so neat. The Horse Guards were even followed by the Royal Pooper-Scooper
Mon Afternoon
We left the bus tour early to continue on foot. Saw Westminster Abbey, stopped for lunch at a great English pub (carrot soup and a pint of lager, which went down real easy) Then over to Westminster Cathedral (the Catholic one), through some really interesting and neat back streets to the Lambeth Bridge, along the Thames, past the House of Parliament and Big Ben, took a ride on the London Eye
then back to Trafalgar Square, a visit to the church of St Martin in the Fields and a tube ride home.
Tue 25/06 6:42
Mon 24/06 21:42
Full Moon
Yes, it was a full moon. But it came up after 9pm.
Tue Night
Tue Day
Trip to Stonehenge and Bath
Went to Bath and Stonehenge on a bus trip, with a completely mad English guide. Stonehenge is incredible to contemplate. It was pretty cold. The guide said it always is freezing on the Salisbury plain.
Bath was warmer and was magical. I could spend a week there. The town is just georgeous. Local town planning laws insist that the same yellow stone be used everywhere.
The 2000 year old Roman baths were obviously stunning in their day and absolutely huge, with lots of pools. What is most amazing is that they are still running at the same pressure. In Rotorua, the pressure of the thermal pools has decreased dramatically over the years, but Bath hasn't suffered over 2000 years of civilization.
Wed 26/06 05:15
Tue 25/06 20:15
"Art"
Went out to see a play at the West End called "Art", and it was most enjoyable. Three actors in the total cast, one of whom was Sanjeev from the Kumars. He was great and the crowd loved it. Robbie, Pete and Andy would have split their sides laughing. They love Sanjeev. No, his mother wasn't in it. Shame!
Wed 26/06 7:30
Tue 25/06 22:30
AIMIA, Andrew
Hope someone got Andrew up in time for this meeting.
Wed 26/06 Evening
Wed 26/06 Morning
Oxford Street
Walked down Oxford St - a bit expensive. T shirts $150!
Here is Mike outside Selfridges.
Wed 26/06 Late Night
Wed 26/06 Afternoon
Tower of London and Crown Jewels
The day was almost hot, and no clouds at all. Everyone says it usually rains for Wimbledon. The Tower Bridge looked magnificent and so did the new Greater London City Hall, which some people don't like. They sold the old one to the Japanese to turn into a hotel. To make matters worse, the Japanese apparently haven't even paid for it yet. The new one was really expensive, and soon to be opened by the Queen. The Mayor is in deep trouble at the moment for bashing up people at a party. (Makes Jimmy Sorley look good!)
The Tower of London was fascinating. Again, you could spend all day and more there. The crown jewels were certainly spectacular too. (They are in the building below, where there were no crowds, even on a perfect day. They must all be at Wimbledon.) Don't you like the 6 foot 9 inch suit of armour and the little kid's matching suit.
Please, do not show the following piece of news to Peter Mills!!
I hear all the doctors are going on strike in Qld. Talk about different here. Two surgeons have just "got off", having taken the wrong kidney out of a patient, who then died. They were even warned in the operating theatre by a medical student, and chose to ignore her.
Thu 27/06 4:30
Wed 26/06 19:30
La Boheme, Royal Opera House, Order No: MJGBLEJV738668
Got dressed up. We were the best-dressed couple on the Tube going to the theatre. Great show, excellent production. Really appreciated the English "sur-titles" projected above the stage. The Royal Opera House is very impressive architecturally but cannot handle the ingress and egress of people at interval as easily as our own Performing Arts Centre. Maureen reports however that the Ladies were better equipped. Most others were dressed up however Maureen saw two real bohemians dressed in Hawaiian shirts and thongs. The trip home on the Tube was quite crowded. All the West-End theatres emptied at once.
Thu 27/06 Evening
Thu 27/06 AM
On foot thru Kensington
Kensington Palace and Gardens
.Took the tube to High St Kensington and had a lovely walk through Kensington Gardens and looked at Lady Di's old palace at Kensington. Didn't go inside - it cost �10 ! Lots of squirrels in the gardens, which were rather cute.
Harrods. Really liked Harrods. The Food Court was stunning. We had a Lager in the Deli, but had to receive permission from the manager to place such a small order - 2 Lagers at �4.25 each! He looked at Mike's braces and thought we were toffs. I think I should come back to Harrods with Desley Sayers - we could really do some damage together. There is a memorial to Lady Di and Dodi there, with candles lit etc.,
Victoria & Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum was spellbinding. We both decided that we could spend a week there. How could Glennys H. and Peter Mills says there wasn't enough to do in London in 8 days.? In the pictures you can see the new Chandalier (which was clever, but not very nice), a 1500s Indian bracelet given as a gift by Queen Elizabeth I to a loyal servant (now how did that end up in England?), and a 1410 Natural History dissertation.
The bloke below is Cardinal Newman. He was responsible for Mike and I meeting. We both joined the Newman Society at Qld Uni and 29 years later here we are!
Fri 28/06 0:00
Thu 27/06 15:00
Afternoon Tea at The Dorchester
It just wasn't the done thing to take a camera to the Dorchester. The Champagne afternoon tea was perfect. Starched tablecloths, beautiful china, exquisite sandwiches, scones and even macadamia nut sweets (I put them right on that one coming from Qld). At �29.50, it was lunch and dinner and absolutely magnificent.
Fri 28/06 4:30
Thu 27/06 19:30
We Will Rock You, Dominion Theatre, Tottenham Court Road London W1 0AG
We have never seen anything like this production. It had everything. Superb music, comedy, acting, lighting, and multimedia like never before. The audience went beserk! Would do anything to see it again. Maureen Jackson would go ballistic! Last night, La Boheme; tonight, futuristic bohemians!
Fri Evening
Fri Morning
British Museum
Big museum day today. The British Museum certainly makes the Brissie one look small. After centuries of plundering and pillaging they have a great collection of loot. One can see why Jim Fouras wants the Elgin Marbles returned to Greece. They are massive and stunning.
Egyptian mummies 4000 years old, with CT scans showing well preserved skeletons - wow!
The Oxus treasure from the 4th century in ancient Persia was impressive, as was the only known example of a horned helmet from about 100BC. Hagar must have buried his helmet well.
Fri Late Night
Fri Afternoon
National Portrait Gallery
We met Lisa Davenport (a friend of Mike's from SecurityMail) for a drink at a local pub and then we all went to the National Portrait Gallery. They had lots of pictures of Liz for her Jubilee year, but had packed away the one of Prince Chuck under a banana tree, and that is certainly understandable.
Had afternoon tea at the Gallery Café with Lisa, and admired the view over London. Here's a part of the view showing Big Ben (behind the flash), Nelson's Column in the centre and St Paul's dome on the right. All up, a pretty good day, just a little chilly outside.
Sat 29/06 Evening
Sat 29/06 Day
River Cruise to Greenwich and the Thames Flood Barrier
Saw the Millennium Dome. It cost �750 million, and ended up closing as a fizzer costing �100,000 a week just to keep it shut. In the end, they gave it away and it might open as a sports stadium. You can see a large circular hole in the roof. They forgot to allow for gas exhaust emissions from the underlying motorway! Nearby is a sculpture called the Millennium Man constructed from lots of bits of metal, looking a little like a man. Unfortunately, while the artist was direction construction, about 1/3 of the pieces fell into the Thames, so it takes a bit of imagination to see the man now.
More impressive is the Thames Flood Barrier. Scotland has arranged that the England end of Britain tips into the sea at 1-2 feet every hundred years while Scotland rises. This would often flood a lot of London, where the Thames has 20 foot tides. The barrier has stopped London flooding dozens of times in the last 20 years.
Greenwich was beautiful. Eighteen degrees max (again), but fine weather. Apparently, they will declare a drought in a few days, because it has been fine for a week. Lots of Lord Nelson stuff at the Maritime Museum,.
They have good sundials too, which can be used for a couple of days a year. In the background you can see Englishmen enjoying a sunny Saturday afternoon mucking about in boats.
We got to stand on either side of the 0 degree line of longitude, with a foot in each hemisphere. When we got back to Westminster, Big Ben was glittering in the sunlight. It had better be raining when we return to London in three weeks or we'll never believe our own stories about England's weather.
This evening we saw the huge crowd gathering in Hyde Park (seen from our hotel room), ready for the "Picnic in the Park" charity concert.
Tomorrow morning we leave for Brussels. Won't have as much time for e-mails and the web site, and I'm sure you will all be relieved to hear that!
Sun 30/06 16:00
Sun 30/06 7:00
Trafalgar Tours, London Tour Departure Centre, 9 Bressenden Place, Victoria, London SW1E 5DF, +44 (20) 7828 4388
Sun 30/06 17:00
Sun 30/06 8:00
Depart Grand European Tour