Category: Tours

British and Belgian Signs We Loved

Here are a bunch of signs.  Some funny, some fascinating for various reasons.

Apsley House Garden
Tiles in the Baker Street Tube Station
Target at the French Encampment at Waterloo
In case you can’t make this out, it reads: “St. James Theatre. On this site stood the St. James Theatre demolished in 1957 despite an epic campaign of protest led by Vivien Leigh and Sir Laurence Olivier.  George Alexander, manager from 1890-1918, staged both Oscar Wilde’s ‘Lady Windemere’s Fan’ and ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ for the first time.”  The sign was put up by Theatreland: Heart of the Performing Arts in London, a joint venture of the City of Westminster and the Society of West End Theatres. It sits just outside the still-existing Golden Lion Pub, 25 King Street, St. James, to which Almack’s patrons occasionally were known to have retired for a drink during the Wednesday night balls.

Don’t you love pubs named after  architects? The Henry Holland can be found at 39 Duke Street in Marylebone. Holland (1745-1806) did work for the Prince Regent at Carlton House and the original Brighton Marine Pavilion, and he designed Brooks’s Club, St. James St. as well as many other English sites.
John Lennon, 1940-1980, Musician and Songwriter, on a Baker Street building
Some folks don’t care for the new government in Westminster.
All the pubs had World Cup games!!!
A shop in the Seven Dials neighborhood, above and below.
What in the world is elastic glue anyway?
Same Seven Dials area.
The part I like best is “Horse Clothing!” It also reads B. Flegg, Est. 1847, Saddler & Harness Maker; Large stock of Second Hand Saddlery and Harness, Horse Clothing.”
The Tate Britain Gallery had a big sign advertising their Rude Britannia exhibition of satirical drawings, cartoons, and so forth. The Brits excel at this kind of fun, whether social, political or artistic.
This sign reads “Nell Gwynn Chinese Restaurant. Eat and drink in the house used by Charles II and Nell Gwynn.” So that’s how the mistress of a king ends up after all these years, serving egg rolls and Peking duck!
No comment.

Maybe this is a little better. After all the Belgians are renowned for their beer, as well as their chocolate.
Even on the 195th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, the Wellington Cafe near the battlefield advertised the World Cup on tv. Incidentally, this was about the only mention of the victor of the battle that we found around here. Seemed like all the souvenirs were of Napoleon.  Remember, guys, he lost!!!

Public and Private Westminster…A London Walk

On the second afternoon Ed was joining us in London, he and I (Victoria) did one of our favorite things — took a London Walk. 

We’ve taken many in previous years, but on Thursday, June 17, we chose Old Westminster, guided by David Tucker, a fellow Yank, whose knowledge of history and legend is — well, legendary.


The picture above at right was taken before the tour looking across Parliament Square with its ever-changing groups of protestors. This group opposed the current Afghan war. Big Ben stands at the northern end of the Parliament Buildings and the dark structure with the prominent chimneys is the relatively new Parliamentary office building. That is where we met David at the Westminster Tube Stop.

Above and left is the view from the river frontage of the Parliamentary Office Building, looking acrosse the Thames to the London Eye and the former County Hall, now a hotel, art gallery and aquarium. At right, a statue of Boudica, the English/Celtic  Queen who tried to stop the Romans about AD 60. Various alternate spellings: Boudicca, Boadicea and others.

At the other end of the Westminster Bridge stands this coade-stone lion. This is another hint about that story of coade-stone I am promising to tell someday.

Looking at the river front of the Houses of Parliament  from the Bridge, the House of Commons, its offices, library, etc. is on the right. The House of Lords is on the left.
David told us all sorts of interesting symbolism in the decoration and coloring of the buildings, but I will not steal his thunder by repeating every word (as if I could remember!).

On the street side of the building, Westminster Hall is quite prominent, many centuries older than the rest of the building, as it survived the great fire of 16 October, 1834, along with a few other parts of the Palace of Westminster, as the complex is properly known. The statue above someone’s hands is of Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658).
 

J. M. W.Turner watched the Houses of Parliament burn and painted the scene.  Reconstructions took from 1840 to 1870. The architect was Charles Berry, assisted by Augustus Pugin, their style was the popular Perpendicular Gothic.

Here is an aerial shot showing the river frong, with the tower of Big Ben on the right and the tallest point, the Victoria Tower on the left (south).
Back on the street, looking across at the ornate House of Lords crowned by the Victoria Tower on the right. If I turned around from this position I would be looking at the apse end of St. Margaret’s Church, the church of Parliament, which stands rather in the shadow of Westminster Abbey.
This file shot taken from the London Eye shows Big Ben and the edge of the Palace of Westminster on the left, looking southwest. The small white roof and church tower in the middle is St. Margaret’s and the large building behind it is the Collegiate Church of St. Peter, commonly known as Westminster Abbey.
On our walk we crisscrossed the streets and proceeded south of St. Margaret’s and the east end of the Abbey to see the Jewel Tower, c. 1365 in the reign of Edward III, aka the “King’s Privy Wardrobe”.

                                                                   
At left, the apse end of the Abbey, toward the street across from the Palace of Westminster. The monument is George V (1865-1936). He became King upon the death of his father Edward VII in 1910.

At the south end of the Palace of Westminster stands a lovely park  called Victoria Tower Garden. This is a view of the Palace of Westminster is one I had never seen before.
Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928) is honored with a bronze memorial in Victoria Gardens erected in 1930. She campaigned for women’s suffrage, enduring several improsonments, but backed the government in WWI, causing a rift in the suffragist movement.  Women gained the right to vote in Britian after the war.

 I could not resist taking this shot of what apeard to me a whimsical structure in the Garden. Later I learned it is the Buxton Memorial Fountain, commemorating the 1834 emancipation of the slaves  in the British Empire. In 1865 Charles Buxton, M.P. designed and erected it in honor of his relative Sir T. F. Buxton  and others who worked with William Wilberforce to end slavery. The Fountain was conserved and rededicated in 2007, the two-hundreth anniversary of the end of the British Slave trade.

The private part of Westminster is found in the streets south of the Jewel Tower, where many Georgian houses are the scenes of political receptions and conferences.

David told us many entertaining stories about the poltical confabs that happened around here, during WWII and the Thatcher administration too. Then he led us around a corner, through the Dean’s Yard, past Westminster School and the School for the Abbey Choirboys, and all of a sudden we were standing in front of the Abbey.

THANKS, DAVID!

A Funny Thing Happened at Apsley House

Honestly, you wouldn’t think that two grown, American women with quasi scholastic backgrounds could have such fun at Apsley House. Tell nearly anyone in the general population that you’re going to Apsley House, or The Wellington Museum, and they’ll begin to yawn – or give you odd looks. As did the cab driver who took us to the National Army Museum. “None of my business,” he said,”but do you mind telling me what your interest in the place is?”  “The Duke of Wellington,” Victoria informed him. “Aha,” he said, apparently clueless, as he gave us odd looks in the rearview mirror.

Tell people that your visits to Apsley House have provided you with several good belly laughs and they’ll think you’re mad – it’s not the sort of place one automatically equates with hilarity. I’ve already shared some of these incidents in a previous post. During our last visit, Victoria and I had another funny experience, however this time it was more of the “odd” funny kind, rather than the belly laugh type.

Funnily enough, it was again in the Waterloo Gallery where this incident happened. (What’s up with that room?!) I was gazing out one of the windows that looks out over Hyde Park Gate, Rotten Row and the paved road in the Park. Then, I looked down and spied flowers. Standing on tip toe, I peered down to discover that they were pink roses, growing on bushes that stood in a narrow side yard of the House. I pointed them out to Victoria and later, in an off-hand manner, happened to mention to the docent that the Duke certainly had beautiful roses in his garden.

Well! You would have thought I’d said, “I’ve been sleeping with your husband for the past three years.” Or something equally as shocking. I cannot convey to you the outrage/offense/dismay, almost horror, my innocent remark about the rose garden occasioned.

“No, no,” the docent was quick to argue, “the Duke has no roses in his garden. Those roses are planted in Hyde Park not at Apsley House.”

Victoria and I glanced at one another. The docent’s adamant denials were decidedly odd. The roses were definitely not planted in Hyde Park. See the photo below – it’s dated, but the arrangement of the House, the Park and the Gate are unchanged today. Apsley House is at the right in the photo. The back of the side garden fronts the paved road of the Park. There’s no room at that location in the Park to plant roses.

“But the roses are right there, through that window,” I said, “you just need to look down to see them. They’re in this garden.”

“No, they’re not. They’re planted in Hyde Park!”

Hhhhmm . . . . I glanced around expecting to see White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. Or perhaps Nurse Ratched. I decided to let the matter drop. You betcha. Never let it be said that I don’t know when to beat a retreat. Victoria and I sidled our way into the next room as un-obviously as we could and then began to whisper furiously to one another.

“What’s up with that? She’s telling me that I didn’t see with my own eyes what I just saw with my own eyes and expecting me not to argue the point.”

“I don’t know . . . that was the oddest reaction.”

“You saw the roses, right?”

“Yes! They’re right there, in the the side garden, big as day! In this garden. Not in the Park.”

“What’s up with that?”

“That was so strange . . . . “

“Listen, when we’re done here, we’re going around to that side of the house to see what’s there, okay?”

“Definitely! Even though I already know those roses are in this garden.”

Hhhhhhmmmm . . .  so, of course, when we were leaving, Victoria and I hotfooted it over to the side of the House. And this is what we saw . . . .

And this . . . . .
as well as this . . . . .
What’s up with that?
Does the landlord forbid his tenants from growing roses on the property? Would the Duke of Wellington be breaking the lease and chancing eviction by growing roses?

Was one of the Dukes of Wellington once convicted of grievious rose abuse and thus all future Dukes of Wellington were subsequently prohibited from ever owning a rose again, on pain of incarceration?

Are they really contraband/prohibited/stolen/poisonous roses that are illegal to possess in one’s garden?
Surely it couldn’t be that this docent had never been to the west side of Apsley House and so was simply mistaken about the topography there?
Why were the docents’ denials so adamant, as if I’d accused the Duke of keeping a bevvy of under-aged harem girls out there in his garden instead of pink roses?
  
Honestly, what’s up with that?

Are You Stumped At This Victorian Term?

Victoria here…to tell you more about some of the wonderful sights Kristine and I saw on our recent visit to London.  I had arrived a couple of days before Kristine and Brooke came, so I had the opportunity to do research at several libraries (see my recent posts). On Saturday morning, June 12, while I waited for the new arrivals, I took in several of the Bloomsbury gardens that participated in the London Open Squares Weekend. 

I was particuarly intrested in gardens usually closed to the public and used only by the residents of the squares who have keys.  You know the deal — they more restricted the use, the more I wanted to see it!

Bedford Square was one of those usually closed; I headed there first.

Much of the square is devoted to a lawn with graceful old trees.  But as I followed two British ladies to show our tickets, one of them asked the official, “What is a Victorian stumpery?” For indeed the booklet that accompanied the weekend had extolled the excellence of Bedford Square’s Victorian Stumpery. And I was stumped. So I asked if I could come along with them to find the head gardener.

The three of us set off, laughing together at our mutual inability to understand the term though all of us had gardened for many years, as well as having visited scads of gardens, many world famous.

Here is the description: “Built between 1775 and 1786, Bedford Square is the best and most complete Georgian square in London. The elegant surrounding buildings, now mainly offices, were once fashionable town houses and have distinctive Coade-stone entrances.



The large oval garden at the centre is surrounded by iron railings and screened by encircling shrubberies and large plane trees. The garden has benefited recently from a programme of works with new benches and metal edging installed alongside the newly re-surfaced path that circumnavigates the whole garden. Newly planted areas of interest include a Victorian stumpery and pocket planting of a large variety of herbaceous plants. “

At last we reached the area and the  gardener explained: when huge old trees were cut down, the stump was dug out, turned upside down and used as a planter. The three of us ladies looked at each other and burst into laughter. We were all thinking the same thing: who would do this incredibly difficult task?  Certainly none of our husbands!  This was a job that would definitely require a staff!!  So probably not seen much these days.

But the effect is charming and the idea sound if you are either very strong or have lots of help. Because of all the shade, most of the plants were feathery ferns and other greenery.  The plantings are lovely and replicate a deep old forest. One almost expects either some elves to appear — or Robin Hood himself.
Almost all the planting in Bedford Square has to be shade-friendly.  And much of it will remain green in the winter, showing lovely red berries — which also brings birds.  One of the delights of the London Squares, whether closed or open to the public is the sound of birds which seems to make the constant traffic sounds retreat far away.
 Another interesting aspect of Bedford Square  is the beauty of surrounding houses, just about as they were constructed in the late 18th century, though most are offices today, not homes, as is true of so many formerly perfect residential areas of central London.  Boo hoo.
Here is one of the four houses in the center of each row. As you can see from the arched entryways, it was once two houses, with particularly lovely windows overlooking the square.
 The mutual effect of the houses looking inward at the greenery and the effect of looking out of the square at the beautiful symmetry of the houses is marvelous. A triumph of urban architecture and gracious living.
 The entrances of the darker brick houses are surrounded by white and crowned by a head in Coade-stone?  Don’t know what that is?  We’ll tell you about it one of these days.
Many of the houses around Bedford Square boast blue plaques indicating that a person of historical significance one lived here.  Actually, almost all of them shoud be included in the list.  Prime Ministers, scientists and artists all called the square home at one time.
I think I could bear living here. How about you? After all, I have to keep an eye on that Victorian Stumpery.

Sunday in the Park….London Style, Part One

Victoria here, with an account of our busy Sunday, June 13. London Open Squares Weekend was a surprise to us, discovered only a couple of days before we left for London, but it was a great opportunity to supplement our Artie Trail.

Kristine and I started our Sunday at the Queen’s Gallery, attached to Buckingham Palace where we visited the “Victoria and Albert in Love” exhibition that will take several blogs to describe in detail, but of course, no pictures allowed inside.

After we had our fill of the wonderful exhibit, we walked around Buckingham Palace just for the fun of it.  Changing of the Guard was long over and the crowds small.
We passed the Diplomatic Entrance where one enters for the tour of the Palace later in the summer while the Royal Family are in Balmoral.  I was lucky enough to go through the palace a few years ago. Amazing decoration, furniture and enough paintings to fill several huge museums. Truly masterpieces collected throughout the centuries.

You know what this is!
And this.
A lonely sentinel stands guard at the empty palace. The Royal Family were in Windsor for the Ascot Races.

Just in case someone wonders to whom this place belongs, this coat of arms should tell the story.
And this is a very bad picture of the memorial to Queen Victoria that stands in front of the Palace.

Here’s a better picture I found on a tourist site. It’s a different side.
A view of St. James Park from the Palace frontage as we walked to find a taxi to the next item on our agenda.
  The National Army Museum stands just south of the Chelsea Hospital in Royal Hospital Road. This museum is devoted to the history of the Army.  The larger Imperial War Museum in Lambeth Road (housed in the former Bedlam) has even more displays covering all the military.


To get us in the mood for the rest of the day in the Open Squares gardens, I just had to photograph some of the lovely geraniums outside the museum.

At right  is the model of the Waterloo Battlefield constructed by Captain William Siborne which now sits in the Army Museum. It’s huge and has severa
l accompanying narratives to explain the sequence of action. Siborne worked on it for many years and his story is a fascinating one. But he made the mistake of crossing the Duke of Wellington by trying to reconstruct the battle logically when, the Duke said, it was not possible. Wellington is quoted as saying there was “no hope of ever seeing an account of all its details which shall be true.” 
Many of the displays at the Army Museum show uniforms, medals, weapons, surgical instruments and camp equipment actually used at Waterloo.  Kristine has already described the saw used to amputate Lord Uxbridge’s leg (he was later named Marquess of Anglesey) and the bloody glove the surgeon wore. On exhibit is the Duke of Wellington’s barometer that survived the Peninsular Wars and Waterloo.  There’s more of the same…
One painting showed the army followers, sutlers selling provisions, the cattle driven along in its wake, and the many camp-followers. The label read, “Soldiers of both armies concentrated on trying to keep warm, dry, healthy and fed.” 
When we had spent sufficient time in the gift/book shop and cafe at the museum, we set out to spend a few hours overcoming the horrors of war by looking at some gardens. One was just a few blocks from the museum in Chelsea.
Here is the descripton of Markham Square, usually open only to residents, from the Open Squares booklet: “The building of the original square was begun in 1836 on the site of the old orchard of Box Farm, owned by the Markham family who had had common rights since the ‘29th year of Elizabeth’. In 1935 the garden was laid out as a cherry orchard in celebration of the Silver Jubilee of George V.



After WW2, the square was redesigned in the style of a private country garden by the head gardener at the Royal Hospital. The garden is notable for its light, open aspects and unusual trees, none of which has been allowed to obscure the colourful borders.”

All above photographed at Markham Square.
Almost across King’s Road was Wellington Square, where Kristine is currently house-hunting.
On this note of “Pretty in Pink” we moved on to Belgravia and our dinner with Carrie Bebris.  See Part Two.  But just so you don’t think we were worn out yet, here’s a little picture of Victoria and Kristine exactly as we looked that day.

Too bad the artist* was unable to complete the garden vista on the right as he painted us consulting the local maps. And we didn’t even get our hems dusty!

*Sir Thomas Lawrence, who else?