Australians all let us rejoice (London)

I hate daylight saving, no surprise there, but I had a win last night.  Daylight saving ended in England, so I scored an extra hour of sleep.  A little while back daylight saving commenced in Australia - but I wasn't home, so I didn't lose the hour. Therefore I win when I return home.  Do not burst my bubble and mention jetlag or date lines or such.

After the darkest and drizzliest of days yesterday today dawned with a pale blue sky smeared with cloud.  It was still chilly, but showed promise.  It is a special day, the Wallabies are playing the Pumas for a place in Rugby World Cup final.  But, it is Sunday and so, off to mass.  In our quest to visit as many Cathedrals as possible we walked to the tube and down under the ground to emerge somewhere near Westminster Cathedral.

Westminster Cathedral

A short walk from the tube was the Cathedral.  The directions in the Lonely Planet Guide are accurate as far as a street address, but in reality are wrong.  The entrance to the Cathedral is not on Francis Street; in fact you can gain access from Victoria Street and walk across the plaza.

Interesting architecture

We chose to follow the directions in the book and walked around the block to get to the entrance, just as the previous mass was coming out.  In comparison it is an interesting place, especially after spending yesterday at the Abbey.  The difference between the Catholics and Anglicans?  No charge for the entry to Westminster Cathedral, no tour guides, no audio-guides and no exclusion periods during services.

A very large spire with the sun in the wrong place

It is not gothic, so the dome structure is very different to that of the Abbey - and then it is different again.  It is unpainted brick.  In fact it looks like smoke fired brick, I thought perhaps it had been affected by fire during the second world war.  Good thinking, but no.  The painting has been left unfinished to allow future generations to complete the painting.

Like other Europeans Cathedrals we have visited, they don't have pews but favour individual seats. The floor is timber and needs attention.  We sat (what we thought) was close to the front, in the second third of the chairs, but the depth of the altar makes everyone seem remote. At least the sound system worked, unlike St Pat's in New York.

There are some special aspects to the Cathedral and it is well worth a visit.

Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park

Nanna Lizzie's coat of arms

Post mass we walked to Buckingham Palace just to re-acquaint ourselves with the fountain, the black and gold gates and the throngs of people.  It hasn't changed, as you would expect, since we were there in 2003 with the annoying exception of the presence of temporary barricades that seem to proliferate everywhere in London for no apparent reason.  There are no parades, no demonstrations, no visiting dignitaries that we can see yet these barricades are frequently left to hinder the foot traffic in areas where it is already a tight squeeze.  The barricades are not hooked up so as to form any meaningful barrier - they simply create another hazard to negotiate.  And what's more they are an eyesore for tourist areas, spoiling photo opportunities.

The welcome home station in the front yard

Anyway, we took photos for ourselves and other tourists who asked and watched the guards stomp purposelessly around their posts for a while but there was no formal changing of the guard happening on Sunday so we decided to make the most of the relatively sunny day and head for Hyde Park. Why? Why not?  We hadn't been there before.  I was expecting some massively old trees, but didn't see any.  There were squirrels, but not as many as New York. The scenery was pleasant and there were lots of dogs taking their owners for a walk as well as horse riders trotting along the paths (street lights in this area actually have pictures of horses as well as pedestrian traffic - very British).  There were plenty of flash bikes to view because a club was just wrapping up its Sunday morning competition.

It's like a Turner painting

A coffee or hot chocolate and toasted sandwich was all I was after, and a place to watch the bikes, if possible.  Not possible.  How hard is it to find a cafe in this country that is not part of a chain (Costas, Café Nero, Starbucks)?  Starbucks - someone should teach them how to make coffee. We could choose something plastic plastic wrapped and they'd make a coffee - nope.  Walk on.

Across the lake we spied the Lido.  A brief walk revealed it was still counter service, but they had a great range of pastries, muffins and scones plus tables and chairs available outside.  Time for a rest in the sun - yes, dear reader I said, in the sun.

Pretty as a picture

Random comment:

Poppies (the paper variety) are being worn on lapels.  We asked the question yesterday, thinking we had missed a date of significance. No, it is in preparation for Rememberance Day in November.  I get wearing the poppy, I don't get wearing them for a month before the day of rememberance.

The Victoria and Albert Museum

The Albert Memorial

This should be marked: unfinished business, for obvious reasons.  It was a difficult time of day. We had a few hours to spare, but not too many because the RWC semi-final was on this afternoon. And there were many choices.  As we were deciding which museum we would turn up at, we wandered past this very impressive statue/rotunda, I'm not sure what to call it.

There are a number of entrances to the V & A museum; we chose the quietest one quite by accident to discover once again that there is no entry fee - they simply ask politely for you to make a donation which we did. The lower level was sculpture - a Rodin exhibition, amongst others.

The other areas we walked through were to do with the history of Islam, Britain from 1500 - 1610, and some amazing religious paintings by Raphael.  In keeping with the museum being a showcase of the decorative arts, there were also exhibitions of clothing through the eras from the 1700's through to the late 20th century and a shoe exhibition that was at extra charge.

Wedding dress - Cait?

Wedding shoes

Wedding veil

The King's wedding outfit - Luke?

Sadly, it was Sunday and the museum, sensibly, provided things for children to do - in a museum like this there shouldn't be any little children, so distractions should not be necessary.  All it did was collect the screaming into one area. Memo to those who think that taking a three year old to a museum is going to bring them culture or intelligence - it won't. Get a baby sitter so we can ALL enjoy Sunday.

We will return to complete our tour, maybe not this time, but we will be back.

RWC

The time had come to head home, drop the pack and find a pub to watch the rugby.  Yes, we could have watched it at home, but a pub provides some atmosphere.  Off to the One Tun where we spent last Sunday - couldn't get in, too many people watching soccer.  Down the road to the Fitzrovia, again no room.  The Hope was ONLY showing soccer.  Three other pubs didn't even have TVs!  OMG! They expected their patrons to talk to each other.

I was happy to return home and watch on the small screen when Jayne remembered that pub that Dylan Thomas and George Orwell drank at, the Wheat Sheaf, the one that caused Fitzroy to be renamed Fitzrovia in honour of their behaviour.  It was small, it was quiet, it had the TV on the rugby channel and it had a table!  In and settled.

There were some other rugby supporters there, some drifted in, some lasted the distance, some didn't, most supported Argentina - we did not.  Great game, good outcome, enjoyable afternoon amd we drank at the same pub as Thomas and Orwell. It was this moment that inspired (too strong?) the title for today.

A quick dinner at a Thai restaurant and it was home to tap away on the keys.