London (Pt 1)

We've been in London now for almost a week and time has flown by. It's awesome - as usual - as was arriving to our place in great condition - unlike last year! It's all very pleasant indeed. The weather has been a bit wet and unseasonably cold up to yesterday, but has now improved. We've been doing our usual combination of walks, shows and museum visits - although haven't done too much of the latter yet. We went down to Wareham (Dorset) for a few days to see Marian's cousin too. We're aiming to do a bit of cycling now the weather has improved. We've also been busy on a few minor maintenance/management tasks for the apartment - nothing too drastic (happily). After being surprised at how busy it was on Saturday, I'm happy to report there aren't too many crowds. Here are some pics.....

Leaving Cotignac - thanks Nick and Jodie for a great stay in Provence!....

Upon arrival in London - such a great base to visit the city....

We headed straight out for a quick walk nearby after the flight - this is Horse Guards with a London Eye backdrop.....

From the bridge in St James Park toward Buckingham Palace...

There's now a florist under our building which attracts a surprising amount of photos (a bit odd). We are the two windows on the first floor of the white building (the living area in the earlier photo shows the windows). There's always plenty of people walking along the street between Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square....

The Royal Opera House has free concerts once a month and we saw an excellent ballet demonstration and a Q&A with a two male Principal Dancers (who were both Australian)...

We've been to a few shows. This was Tina (which we didn't get to see in Brisbane with the family because it was cancelled on the afternoon of the performance due to performer illness)....

The National Portrait Gallery has long been a favourite, but it's been closed for a few years. This is the new entrance from the end of Orange Street, near our place.....

Behind us is the Theatre Royal Haymarket, where we saw Waiting for Godot (with Ben Whinshaw - the English actor from TV/film - was Q in recent James Bond series)....

On my birthday we had tickets to Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club at lunchtime to see a fab gypsie jazz outfit.....

In the evening we went to Rules Restaurant in Covent Garden for a traditional English meal - it's the oldest  restaurant in London. I've got the Sunday roast and Marian's got a chicken and leek pie....

Covent Garden after dark (looking toward the Royal Opera House)....

Another view of Covent Garden (St Paul's church by Inigo Jones from 1631 on the right)....

This is the establishment you need should you require an umbrella, riding crop, swordstick or life preserver.....

We did a fascinating walk around inner north-east London through late Georgian estates (early 1800's), using a great guidebook from the architectural historian Dan Cruickshank....

This is the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden - the lunchtime concert was in the hall on the left....

Having been disappointed we couldn't get to see MacBeth with David Tennant (booked out or £250 tickets!), we discovered you could line up each morning for 2 of 15 front row seats for £25! Marian did the chore on a wet morning and we had an amazing view and experience. The theatre is around the corner from here and everyone had to wear headphones as part of the production - it was incredibly good.....

Marian facing stage bottom left.....

We were walking to our train carriage to head to Wareham to see Marian's cousin and who should scream out at us but our niece Margo - who was on the SAME train heading to the Isle of Wight. What are the odds!.....

Wareham is a very ancient and pretty market town in Dorset. They sent 59 men in 3 boats from this quayside in 1343 to assist Edward III's siege of Calais.....as you do.....

High Street had an eclectic array of buildings, somewhat disrupted by the traffic passing through the town....

Marian and her cousin Karen - heading back to London....

Apparently, in Dubai from 2026 they intend to operate these 'Uber' style aerial taxis from 4 'vertiports' around the city (on display outside Charing Cross Station).......