Yesterday was a long day, heading off to London on the train. This was a very pleasant journey. The train took me to Charing Cross Station, which to my surprise let me out at the Strand, only two hundred metres from Trafalgar Square and the heart of London. Rather than go anywhere in particular I just started to wander around and find things. Which of course I did. I walked along Westminister, past all sorts of Gov't buildings, not having any idea of what most of them were for. Very quickly I came to the Houses of Parliament, which unfortunately were closed to public and will be until August. It seemed like a good idea to have lunch next them outside the Jewel House. It was very busy, all the time.
Once I had lunch headed towards the Thames just to see where I would be on the other side of the river and was outside Lambeth Palace. A long slow walk along the south bank of the Thames lead me up towards the London Eye. I thought about going for a ride, until I saw how long the line was. I continued walking around, beginning to get feel for the central part of London. I crossed back to the northern side of the river and made my way back to Admiralty Arch and then into St James. After enjoying the gardens for a while I made my way down to Buckingham Palace. The flag was up, so she was home. There was a whole lot of people all dressed up and on their way into the Palace for some sort of do.
Once I had taken the obligatory pictures of the palace I made my way back alongside the park and into the National Gallery, which is at Trafalgar Square. I then spent a very enjoyable couple of hours looking at paintings from the 1200's to the early 1900's. Some very famous artists where shown on the walls. Rembrant, Turner, Monet, Manet, Degas, Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo and many others. It was a bit crowded, but a very pleasant time. It was quite late in the day by this stage so I hopped back on the train to go back to Canterbury, which took nearly two hours. Jane and I finished of the day with a quiet dinner.
Today I spent in Canterbury and after a lot a walking around this morning I went to the St Augustine's Abbey ruins. There is something very sad about wandering around this place that was a thriving religious community for 900 years and was then wiped away with the stroke of pen. Then the remains were taken away over the next twenty years to be recycled into other buildings, such as castles along the coast and in Calais. It was quite a special time to be there where the cradle of catholic Christianity began in England. There were the graves of many famous names in the life of the church in England still in the grounds of the Abbey and of some of the Kings of Kent during the 600's, 700's and 800's as well as the graves of the King and Queen of Kent who welcomed Augustine into England in 697. There were ruins from the time when Augustine arrived right through until the time the monastary was dissolved in 1538. I spent well over two hours at the site. It was well into the later part of the afternoon by the time I finished at the Abbey.
On my way back to the room as I came through the Westgate, which is quite near to where we are staying, a truck got stuck. Waiting to get through the gate was a double decker bus. I have been waiting for an opportunity to get a picture a bus going through the gate and I have included one here. It is almost as of the maximum size for a double decker bus was designed to be able to go through this gate.
We are both heading off to London tomorrow.
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