London 15 August 2015

During the summer there are often open air art trails in London. This summer it's Cancer Research UK's - What's in your DNA - with sculptures inspired by the DNA double helix sprinkled around London. Besides the treasure trail to follow, it takes you to iconic locations around the city. The exhibition closes on 6 September so I thought I'd make a day of it. I caught the train and started off from Paddington station. Down through Hyde Park - who would believe that you are in the middle of one of the capitals of the world - it looks like the countryside.

That is until you get closer to the Serpentine - lots of people around there - some even swimming, water looks a bit dodgy to me. I like the swan sculpture though.

The Princess of Wales Memorial Walk - some other time I think.

Down past the garish Prince Albert Memorial and on to the Royal Albert Hall where the first helix is.

Another beautiful day! It eventually got up to about 30 degrees.

Onwards, down past the Natural History Museum - also a trip for another day.

 

The next helix was in the window on Christies's Auctioneers in Old Brompton Road. Not the best time of day to be taking a photo though - the best I could do is more about me than the helix...

 

 



Carrying on to South Kensington Station - you will see that a fair amount of walking is involved here.

And so it was time for refreshments.

Refreshed and on to helix no. 4 on Dovehouse Green in Kings Road.

 

Yay! Lots of buses on Kings Road and an Oyster card - good combination.  Helix no. 5 in Duke of York Square in Kings Road.

Hop and and hop off another bus at Victoria Station for helix no. 6

Outside the station another wishfully iconic building is taking shape. What do you think, will it be an interesting part of the London skyline? Or is too reminiscent of the Shard?

Strand Street and helix no. 7. Also indoors but the skies had clouded over so the picture is better. I like this one.

It's such fun exploring London but I probably should have checked what else was happening that day because as I headed towards Westminster, the roads were being blocked off by hoards of police and pedestrians were being channelled - VJ day - celebrating the end of the war with Japan!  I could only see the next helix from a distance. Once you're in one channel, it's virtually impossible to divert anywhere else.

So that was it with sculptures. There was no point even trying to get across the river.

I found a spot and watched the parade.

This is an innovation solution when you are a short professional photographer. Make yourself tall!

Looks like all the statesmen are also watching the parade. But I would rather join the pelican party - hehe

With more walking to do I headed up the Mall which had been closed to traffic and on to Trafalgar Square. There were apparently 2 more helixes in the square but there was so many people there I couldn't see them.

Eight hours later it was time to head home. My feet were sore and I had only seen half of the exhibition. Oh well, next time ...

Ramblers Walk - Dorney Lake and Thames path - 9.8.2015

Seeing I left all my walking friends behind on the mountain, I decided to join Ramblers here. It's an incredibly well established organisation with groups everywhere and who are some of the most welcoming people I've ever met. You belong to a group close to where you live but can walk with any of the other groups - just look up the walks on the website and pitch up.

This group is the South East Berkshire Group and the walk was around Dorney Lake and along the Thames. Dorney Lake is a purpose built lake owned by Eton College and was the venue of the rowing and kayaking events for the last Olympics and Paralympics. On the day we were walking there was a paratriathlon event for disabled athletes.

Lots of athletes but not a lot of spectators. They were amazing to watch. 

There is also a lot of birdlife around. Mum and teenage cygnet.

Once we'd walked around the lake we joined the Thames path and got to see how the other 10% live. It was a beautiful day so everything looked idyllic but I wonder what it's like in winter?

I do like the Thames path though, it's a National Trail and apparently 184 miles long from the Cotswolds to the Thames Barrier.

This beautiful Tudor mansion is a hotel called Dorney Court.

Interesting signposting!

Windsor 8 August 2015

Another beautiful sunny weekend - I'm taking full advantage. The place where I'm living now is tiny so I am making a point of getting out and about. This weekend was Windsor. About a 10 minute drive from home so really close by. It's right on the Thames where, by the way, I've never seen so many swans in one place!

I parked a bit out of town and walked in alongside the river. It's full of life and people doing water sport things. And some apparently living in houseboats. You'd need to live on this boat just to tend the plants.

I'm fortunate to be having such lovely weather, I'm sure it's a different place in winter.

But that's a while off, so in the meantime, ice cream ...

I first walked into Eton, but because it's school holidays, there weren't many people around, not like in Windsor. They are just across the bridge from each other - I never realised how close they were.

Windsor was choc-a-bloc with tourists! Deeply unpleasant. I'll definitely come back around October to have a look around the castle when there isn't a queue a long way down the road. I just walked around a bit.

And went for tea.

Feeling a lot better after that - though the scones weren't great - I walked round the front of the castle which wasn't quite as crowded.

This pub is right outside castle grounds - the Brits really know how to do pretty flowers! Where the purple flowers are hanging on the post is as far as you are allowed to carry a glass of beer.

Just a bit further in to the town centre is the slanty house!

Then back along the Thames to the car. I came across a full size replica of a Hawker Hurricane aircraft used in the battle of Britain.

Clue Quest

The people I work with are nerds - no no question about it. And I fit right in. So when they invited me along to a Sunday afternoon trip to London to play Clue Quest - I leapt at the chance. We met up and caught the express train from Slough station and 20 minutes later we were in London Paddington. After hopping about a bit on the underground in a little while we were at King's Cross where we were meeting up with some of the others.

King's Cross is more like a shopping mall than a train station and has this wonderful ceiling. It is also the home of Platform 9 3/4 - hello Harry Potter!





There was a really long queue to have your photo taken so I just snapped this pic from the sidelines. Harry Potter is a big thing here - most adults (perhaps it's just the adults I've met) are quite obsessed. Quite a few of them have kids who were in the movies - Pinewood Studios is just up the road.

After lunch we took a walk up Euston Road and checked out St Pancras - quite a spectacular building.

Once everyone had arrived - there were 10 of us. We walked up behind the station to the venue. It was a lovely hot, sunny day and there was lots to see along the way.

Time to play. Teams of 3 to 5 people are locked inside a suite of rooms and have to find their way out by means of solving puzzles and riddles, finding clues and unlocking all the myriad of locks around the place, all within 60 minutes. It works better if you work together as a team and it's a lot of fun. They do keep an eye on you and supply you with more clues if you are completely stymied. I would recommend it.  And here's a pic of the 2 teams.

After that we went to an Indian Restaurant called Dishoom - a fantastically good restaurance - for supper, By the time we had finished and made our way back via various tube lines to Paddington and home - it was after 10 in the evening. An excellent way of spending a Sunday.