Return to Palace Court

Tuesday, Kris and I took the train from Edenbridge to London Bridge, caught the Northern Line to Bank, whence we took the Central Line to Queensway and our old Bayswater neighborhood. We settled in a tiny bit and had a nice chat with Leslie Benfell before heading out for lunch at the Notting Hill Gate Pret. We dropped down into the Underground and traveled back to Bank where we caught the Docklands Lightrail (DLR) out to Pontoon Pier to see the Thames Barrier. We couldn't figure out how it could stop a flood tide, but it is impressive, nonetheless. (We need to do some barrier research.) We returned to the DLR Tower Gateway Station so Kris could see the poppies at the Tower and then caught a #15 bus to the West End for theatre tickets and some serious shopping. After a light Indian dinner from Tesco, we went with all the BYU-London-Centre people to Snowflake, a really fine gelato shop on Westbourne Grove.

 The 9:33 to London Bridge arriving in Edenbridge

 Back in the old neighborhood

 Getting close

 This is it

 Mrs. Shepherd's flat, now "the studio"

 Kris and Leslie in the studio

 The bathroom is up the half flight seen in the previous photo

 Looking back into the studio below

 Bayswater Road and Ossington Street in front of the Champion

 Near the Cafe Diana

 Looking from Pret to Jamie Oliver's new shop across the street

 Lunch at Pret was as good as ever

 A clever word play with "mince" in the Notting Hill Gate Station

 On the Central Line train

 Docklands Light Rail train at Pontoon Pier Station

 View through the station window of the very interesting

garden at Pontoon Pier -- Thames Barrier in the distance

 Thames Barrier at low tide

 The O2 arena and the Docklands in the distance

 The garden at Thames Barrier Park

 Another view of the same

 Towers at the Tower with ceramic poppies in foreground

All Hallows with the Walkie Talkie building in the background:

the curved glass on the front of this awful building reflects and

focuses the sun so that the seats of bicycles below have been
melted and eggs have been fried on the sidewalk

 St. Martin in the Fields and the National Gallery

 Leicester Square

 New Bond Street where all the shops make me feel like I

have sh@# on my shoes

 More New Bond Street

 Burlington Arcade

 Kris bought some of her favorite perfume here

 Fortnum and Mason

 The Cath Kidston flagship store on Piccadilly Street

 An old familiar face out our window

 Excellent gelato

Kris, Leslie's head, Stan Benfell, Jim Faulconer, and Janice 

Faulconer : Faulconers are the permanent directors

A fun, but tiring day. We will keep you posted on today's activities. 

That's all for now.

OXO

D.