London (Update)

The weather has finally picked up. We've been pretty busy with our maintenance (which can probably now be defined as 'renovations'!), but in between we've had time for tourist outings. Loving our time here and are now leaving on the 10th May. There's pomp starting to fire up for the Coronation next weekend. Here's some pics....

Weather's nice, guess where.....

London Marathon. It's a huge event with 48,000 runners who mostly finish over a 4 hour period during the afternoon. It's quite something to see....

Video of marathon at the end of Westminster Bridge....

Canaletto in the National Gallery....

Which is the same view as I took in Venice, with the hotel from our first night the building just past the domed church.....

Pomp practice near Horse Guards at the back of St James Park....

Very noice - had the raspberry one...

Lunch in the Duck and Dog, a tiny historic pub in Fitzrovia, note the lovely tiling..... 

Oxford Street pomp now flying....

St James Square (near us) is a fantastic spot for lunch....

National Gallery - their little blurbs on each picture are great and add to the visit....

Seurat's 'The Bathers' - much bigger than you think....

Brushwork on kids head, he touched it up years later when he came across the combination of coloured dots which together make the colour pop.....

Vincent - haven't seen the crabs before.....

Set lunch just around the corner - South Indian - very yum....

At the front on the top of a double decker red bus - heading down Piccadilly toward Piccadilly Circus....

More pomp....

I liked this little fella in Leicester Square - they have statues of cinema figures all around....

We've seen three shows so far - the theatres are all so small and elaborate....

Piccadilly Arcade with minor-pomp, note curved glass shopfronts (1909)....

Looking up Regent Street Saint James's....

H's of P....

The Embankment on the south side of The Thames opposite the H's of P. It is now a huge memorial to Covid victims in the UK. The red hearts and provided and people write on them....

Inside the renovated Battersea Power Station, now a shopping centre in various turbine halls, plus apartments above....

Battersea Power Station from the front. They renovated the four iconic towers....

We completed our walk around Chelsea (that we didn't finish last week) - such an interesting area - lots of historic references including where famous people lived. Ian Fleming wrote Casino Royale in a flat on the left. Dylan Thomas and the fictional George Smiley drank at the pub in front (Henry VIII drank in an earlier version of it)...

Brompton Cemetery. Very atmospheric. Once a private facility in the country to service London - now surrounded by Chelsea. Beatrice Potter used to live nearby and named her characters after names on gravestones (eg. Peter Rabbett; Mr McGregor and Mr Nutkins)....

Vivien Westwood and Malcolm McLarens shop famous in the punk era (called Sex from 1974) - where the Sex Pistols met etc. Surprisingly far down the Kings Road near the Worlds End public housing estate (where Joe Strummer lived and wrote 'Londons burning and I live by the river')....

An old dairy in Chelsea - note cows heads and tiled murals....

Large parish church in Chelsea (about 1820). A very early gothic revival building, just before the Victorian Era made it far more popular  - where Dickens was married ...

Sarlat to London

Our last few days in Sarlat included a mix of touring and house tasks. The weather picked up and we saw people wearing shorts for the first time! Some fine meals were had. The trip to London went smoothly enough, with minor delays to the flight, train and tube! The arrival at the apartment was eventful, with unexpected changes to the access arrangements and some maintenance required. But it's in hand. We've been here for a couple of days and done a few excursions. It's colder than Sarlat and the weather is pretty dodgy (rain here and there) - but then it opens up to blue skies in the afternoons - hard to work out. London is great - loving being back in the 'centre of the universe'! Here are some pics.....

Beynac roofscape, with the light just right.....

Entree - essentially a little lamb pie - yum!....

Scene of entree and other delightful treats, in a tiny town called Lanquais west of Sarlat....

Chateau de Lanquais nearby, but didn't visit....

Countryside south of Faux, following nature guidebook looking for birds and orchids.....

Issigeac, a Bastide town (a 'new town' from the 1300's) with character.....

Faux, a little town where we started our circuit.....

Beaumont-en-Perigord, another Bastide town on the way back to Sarlat. Here you could have picked up a two storey, 12th century renovation project in the medieval town centre for 32,000 Euro!..... 

Not all Bastide towns have arcades, but some do. Note the church tower is fortified, to protect the citizens in times of siege....

Sarlat market on Saturday....

Our house with Marian's flower box planting.....

Our house from the street with the neighbours flowers in the foreground....

London at St James Park near the apartment, the flowers are full-on....

Wyndham Theatre, Leicester Square.

Pomp leading up to the Coronation - this is one of the market halls at Covent Garden at night.....

Extinction Rebellion (and other groups) demonstration outside the Houses of Parliament.....

The Physic Garden at Chelsea. They had their annual Spring Open Day. It's a very interesting historic garden (1672) shoehorned into Chelsea. We made it part of a broader walking tour of the area.....

Many light posts have charging ports - I wondered how all the electric cars were charged....

The Royal Hospital at Chelsea designed by Christopher Wren. It's a very interesting complex and is still fully utilised as a retirement facility for soldiers (it's original purpose when built in 1685)....

Bywater Street off the Kings Road in Chelsea - a surprisingly colourful display, including on the other side of the street....

Eton Gardens in Chelsea - private garden - very noice.....

'Yes son, you can build a house next door, just leave room for the carriages'.....

'I'd like a colour that's easy to maintain please' - spotted driving behind an Aston Martin outside Tesco's just south of Piccadilly Circus. I wonder what else is in the garage.....

Ramadan lighting above Coventry Street, between Piccadilly and Leicester Square......