Wednesday, 27th September – London

Having done some big tourist hot spots yesterday (along with a gazillion tourists) we were keen to avoid the crowds today – not an easy feat in London but we managed (mostly). Our flat is close to Regents Park, so we headed for a spot called Little Venice (at this rate we won’t need to go to the real Venice – although the only thing they have in common is some water), at one end of Regent’s Canal. There’s a huge network of canals in Britain built during the Industrial revolution as a cheap form of transport, but now mainly used for pleasure. The boats are called narrowboats (for obvious reasons), and we caught one along the canal to Camden Lock. It was a lovely trip, and not a tourist in sight – just locals out for the day. The canal is lined by trees, and we passed dozens of moored narrowboats which people have converted to houseboats. The canal goes through London Zoo and you get off at Camden, just before the locks (I was hoping we’d go through one). At Camden is a famous market, which we wandered for a while, though we were fish out of water – lots of punks & Goths, people from all nations, lots of shops selling very way out stuff, but also lots of character. We really enjoyed it; it seemed to be a very “London” place. We bough lunch (Indian and Moroccan – both yummy) and enjoyed some people-watching while we ate.

Back to the West End to get theatre tickets, then to Sir John Soane’s Museum. A very unusual place, and well worth a visit (and it’s free). Sir John was a brilliant architect, well ahead of his time, but also an eccentric who collected antiquities and turned his house into a museum with hundreds of sculptures, casts, drawings, and even an alabaster sarcophagus from 1290BC. The design of the house itself is interesting, with lots of skylights and mirrors, and clever use of space which was pioneering in its time (18th century) and the collection is incredible. We had to leave our bags at the front door, which is very unusual (as a rule there are very few cloak rooms in London, because of the constant fear of bombs), but when we got inside we saw why – there is so much ‘stuff’ the walkways are quite narrow and everything is very accessible. A veritable treasure trove.

We filled in an hour traveling the tube to Paddington Station to collect train tickets for later in the week. We put our Oyster Cards (I don’t know why they call the travels cards that) to good use today – despite all the stairs and corridors, and the rushing masses or humanity, it is very easy to travel around the city by public transport. The signage is good, the station announcements are in English (!!) and we have never had to wait more than 30 seconds for a train.

In the evening we went to see Mary Poppins the musical, which had been highly recommended. And it was a rollicking good show – great singing, wonderful dancing, fantastic sets, impressive special effects, and, of course, a happy ending. It is based on the Disney film but also the original books by PL Travers (who is an Aussie, did you know?) so the story is a bit more real and less silly than the film – well apart from the magic. We didn’t manage ₤10 tickets this time, but we got the cheapest seats (₤25) which were way up the back – they provided binoculars with the seats! But we had a full view and really enjoyed the show. When we emerged from the theater (the Princess Theatre, lovely art deco style) the streets were full of life – happy theatre-goers dodging swarms of cycle rickshaws all with their bells ringing – so we walked down to Piccadilly Circus with its famous neon advertising signs before heading home to collapse into bed.

Tuesday, 26th September – London

The rain cleared overnight, and we woke to a sunny clear day, so we headed straight for the London Eye. Given that I don’t like rides much and I am afraid of heights, it’s odd that I do love Ferris Wheels – but I do – and the London Eye is the granddaddy of Ferris Wheels. It is enormous (apparently the height of 64 red London phone booths piled on top of one another!). It is naturally very popular, so we had to queue for a while (longer than we needed to because we joined the wrong queue first!) but soon we were flying (it is run by British Airways). It is remarkably quiet and you do get a fabulous view. You only go around once, but it takes 30 minutes so there’s plenty of time to look at everything and take photos. Although you really need to do it 3 times – morning & afternoon (to get photos in both directions) and at night to see the lights. But at ₤12.50 ($30) each, and the rest of London to visit, I don’t think that will happen.

We crossed the Westminster Bridge, past the Houses of Parliament, and popped in to Westminster Abbey. And stayed there the rest of the day! It is an amazing place – it contains a thousand years of English history — 3,000 tombs, the remains of 29 kings and queens, hundreds of memorials and the coronation chair on which every king and/or queen has been crowned since William the Conqueror. There’s so much to look at, and so much history there; we were completely mesmerised (and wondered later why our legs were so sore). The history books coming to life! (or death, in this case). There are so many nooks and crannies, huge memorials and tiny plaques all jumbled in together, you could spend hours exploring.

You weren’t allowed to take photos inside but I managed to sneak a few until I got caught. It’s a bit annoying for an avid snapper like me, but most places won’t let you take photos. I can appreciate the problem of using a flash, but I reckon the only reason for the ban is so you buy more postcards or guidebooks. At Westminster the excuse was that it is a house of worship (and it is) but that doesn’t stop them letting in millions of tourist, (charging handsomely I might add) and running guided tours that disturb the serenity. I don’t mind paying because it must cost the earth to maintain a thousand year old building, but I did want to take photos!

In the evening we had dinner with my sister and her children at a nice Kosher restaurant. The food was excellent and it was great to catch up with them – we hadn’t seen each other since 2003.

Monday 25th September – London

Our first day in London promised to be a perfect museum day – overcast and damp. One plan was to do the London Eye if the weather was good. But there is so much to do here that there is always a plan B if the weather doesn’t suit, and what better way to spend a wet London day than to visit the V&A (the Victoria and Albert Museum) in South Kensington. One highlight for us was the 'cast' rooms, full of plaster casts of classical statues from Britain and Europe. I know they are 'just' copies, but incredibly well done - so remarkably well detailed and coloured they look like the real thing.

After a few hours looking at antiquities and 16th & 17th Century British decorative arts (Tudor and Stuart) – amazing stuff , and a scrumptious lunch in the museum café, we left the V&A, leaving plenty to come back and see another day, and headed to Leicester Square to check out cheap tickets for West End shows. Getting around London is pretty easy on the ‘Tube’ – we bought a 7 day Oyster Card, as they call it, and just hop on and off and change to another line to wherever we need to go – though you need to be fairly able-bodied, as a lot of stations seem to just have stairs (no escalators or lifts) and long corridors, and lots of them! Despite the weather change it is still warm – people are going about in T-shirts, even in the evenings.

We looked at a few of the half price ticket outlets, but there was a play at a theatre just near the tube station which took our fancy so we went into the box office to see what cheap tickets we could get. They had ₤10 bench seats right up the back, so we took them. When we got to the theatre in the evening we had been upgraded to the royal circle – best seats in the house for 10 quid! It was 'Voyage Around My Father', an autobiographical play by John Mortimer (who wrote 'Rumpole of the Bailey'), and starred Derek Jacobi! Excellent performance.

In the meantime we saw an ‘Aussie’ pub called Walkabout advertising AFL Grand Final tickets to watch the game live on a big screen. We thought if we couldn’t actually be at the MCG on Saturday what better way to watch the game than with a bunch of Aussie ex-pats in a pub at 5:30 in the morning! The ₤10 ticket includes breakfast and a VB!

Sunday, 24th September - Cornwall to London

We drove to Exeter, returned the hire car and got on a train to London (that’s the short version of the story). A tip for next time – don’t return a hire car in a strange provincial city on a Sunday – Keith left Shelley with the bags at the station and dropped off the car at the rental place (which was closed on Sundays, but we knew that), and then had to walk 2 miles to the station – there were no cabs, and no suburban trains for the next 2 hours! Meanwhile Shelley was at the station minding the luggage (couldn’t even while away the time in the bookshop because there’s nowhere to leave your luggage in these terrorist-conscious times) watching the 1 o’clock train go past, in the end we only just made the 2 o’clock. Anyway, the train trip to London was very pleasant – beautiful countryside to look at, and someone else to do the driving.

We caught a London cab (a black one of course) from Paddington Station to the place we are staying, a nice little flat in St Johns Wood that belongs to a family friend, freshened up a bit and then took a stroll to St Johns Wood High Street. This is a chic little shopping street filled mostly with designer children’s clothing shops and trendy kitchen design places, and some nice restaurants. We noted a nice Kosher deli we’ll have breakfast in one morning, and a great Sushi place. We had a very nice dinner at Café Rouge (a fore-taste of France next week), got some things for breakfast at Sainsbury’s and retired to our flat for the evening. A nice welcome to London.

Saturday, 23rd September - Cornwall

The pointy bit of Cornwall was our agenda today - the most western and southern part of England. We drove for about an hour through yet more narrow roads and scenic pastureland (one thing you notice here compared to Australia is the way every bit of land is used. Not surprising, but it does make for a different driving experience). First stop St. Michael's Mount - a rocky island outcrop connected to the coast at low tide by a causeway. Sounds like Mont St Michel? Looks like it too, though smaller. Apparently the island reminded William the Conqueror of the one back home in Normandy. Sadly however closed on Saturdays! But they still wanted to charge us £2 for parking.

We persuaded the man to let us take some photos for free & drove on to Land's End. Parking £3 flat rate! There is virtually no free parking anywhere (there just isn't the room) but most parking is ''Pay-and-Display'' so you can choose how long you want to stay. This was the most expensive we had come across - and wasn't worth it. Land's End is the first place we have been this trip that we needn't have bothered. Tacky & expensive "attractions" (we skipped them), nice coastal views (but not spectacular) and the wildlife centre was closed for lunch.

Not a very auspicious start to the day so far! But the next place (which was the main reason we went to the area) made it all worthwhile. The Minack Theatre is a modern classical amphitheatre built into the side of a cliff in a most spectacular fashion. It was built in the 1930s by a remarkable woman, Rowena Cade, who funded the building but also did much of the physical labour herself. It's an amazing achievement and in summer it would be terrific to see a play there. We had a good look around and tried to remember some Shakespeare quotes to recite.

Next stop was the little fishing village of Mousehole (pronounced Mow-zel), another charming little town with a tiny harbour surrounded by little stone cottages. It seems to be home to a thriving art colony - there are about 8 shops in town and 6 of them are galleries. We had a long chat with a Scottish man who runs one of the galleries, about life in Mousehole.

The harbour was largely created by a sea wall, which is where we were directed to park (for £2 of course) which seemed somewhat precarious but there were other cars there so I guess it's common practice. But I did start to worry when we saw puddles of water on the road - with fresh seaweed in them. As the roads were barely wide enough to drive along let alone park we left the car there with some trepidation. Later as we passed through Penzance we saw huge waves crashing over the top of the sea wall and cars covered in seaweed, although the sea seemed fairly calm, so our worries weren't entirely unjustified!

Friday, 22nd September, 2006 - Cornwall

Sydney Swans are in the Grand Final !!!

The Lost Gardens of Heligan are Britain’s most visited gardens, and are just a few miles from where we are staying. We had read the story about their creation and were quite intrigued to go there. Heligan Estate dates back to the 13th century but the gardens were developed largely in the 18th Century and were renowned. But the gardens had become totally overgrown with brambles and ivy, like Sleeping Beauty’s castle, until they were ‘discovered’ in 1990. “Our discovery of a tiny room, buried under fallen masonry in the corner of one of the walled gardens, was to unlock the secret of their demise. A motto etched into the limestone walls in barely legible pencil still reads "Don’t come here to sleep or slumber" with the names of those who worked there signed under the date - August 1914. We were fired by a magnificent obsession to bring these once glorious gardens back to life in every sense and to tell, for the first time, not tales of lords and ladies but of those "ordinary" people who had made these gardens great, before departing for the Great War.” They have certainly done (and are still doing) an amazing job, restoring the gardens, but also growing vegetables, raising cattle, and creating a wildlife reserve. We spent a very enjoyable few hours wandering around the garden, reading about the history and the redevelopment, and just enjoying the flowers and the greenery.

Did I mention Sydney Swans are in the Grand Final? Again! While we were at the gardens we were eagerly awaiting our sms updates of the game from Rob. What are we doing over here when we should be at the games?!!

From the gardens we took what looked like a coastal drive on the map, to a town called Polperro. We didn’t actually see the coast, but the countryside is just lovely so it was a very enjoyable drive. When we left Polperro we saw a sign pointing to “coastal route” so we took that – well, we couldn’t see the coast any more than the other road, but the road was really really narrow (made those other roads look positively spacious) – somewhat nerve-wracking, but we managed to survive – and so did the car.

Polperro itself was just charming, it looked like a set from a pirate movie – a tiny harbour, with whitewashed cottages perched on steep slopes and tiny, winding streets. It used to be a major smuggling centre, but now mainly relies on fishing and tourism. You have to park on the edge of town, and the whole town is car free. Despite the profusion of B&Bs there is virtually no development, and we just loved it. The sound of the seagulls, the smell of the sea, the views around every bend – just perfect.

Go Swannies!!!!!

Thursday, 21st September – Cotswolds to Cornwall

With a long drive ahead of us to Cornwall we didn’t plan many stops along the way today. It generally takes longer than we expected to get from one place to another. We’ve begun to really appreciate our roads back home. The simple luxury of a lane in each direction was something we always took for granted. And we’ve even started to miss traffic lights – not that they don’t exist here, but there are roundabouts everywhere, some of them huge and others quite complex, so quite scary to negotiate.

But we did have one major destination, and that was Stonehenge, such a famous place and we’ve always wanted to go there. We’d heard lots of people say that when they got there it was smaller than they expected, so they were disappointed, so we geared ourselves not to expect too much, but deep down I think we were hoping that it would therefore exceed our expectations. In fact we were not disappointed – purely from an engineering aspect it was astounding – how did they manage to bring such massive stones all that way (some of the stones came from southern Wales) and erect them with such skill that much of the original stone circle is still standing 3,500 years later. It is an impressive sight although we failed to be moved by the guide’s attempt to spiritualise the place. We passed a group of bored children with a teacher dressed in robes and playing mysterious musical instruments, trying to get the kids enthusiastic about the meaningful experience they’d had. There were a lot of tourists there but spread out over a large area, so it didn’t seem crowded. You can’t walk inside the circle these days due to previous vandalism, which is a shame, but at least it means that you can get clear uninterrupted views – and photos - of the stones. Also in the area, which we had not been aware of, are large numbers of barrows (Bronze Age burial mounds) which you can see as groups of little rounded hills along the ridges in the fields all around.

From Stonehenge it was a 3 hour drive to Cornwall, and we were keen to arrive before dark, so we drove straight there. While we were looking at Stonehenge it was a beautiful sunny day with blue skies, although very windy. When you leave you walk through a short tunnel to access the car park – when we emerged the sky was completely clouded over and grey – very weird (maybe the site is magical after all!). It turns out we were on the edge of Cyclone Gordon, which has caused some damage in Northern Island and also South West England (where we are). It became windier as we drove along, at times it was hard to keep the car in our lane (we were on the motorway by then) and by the time we arrived it was very blustery. Fortunately we were not aware until after it was over quite how bad it was. The other effect though, is that the Cyclone has pushed warm air currents ahead of it, and yesterday it reached 28°C - the hottest September day on record, 10°C above average. Good sightseeing weather, but we have a suitcase full of jumpers and thermal undies!

We had a lovely welcome at our B&B – tea and scones with jam and Cornish clotted cream – and a lovely chat with our hosts, exceptionally friendly people.