London Wetland Center, Shepherd's Bush, and the Theatre

Yesterday, Tuesday 18 October, we bussed out to the Wildfowl Wetland Trust London Wetland Centre, a preserve created from a former drinking water reservoir in west London. It was a beautiful day and the whole experience was enjoyable. Back at Hammersmith the ladies headed to Boden and SKT and I went on to Shepherd's Bush to buy luggage, herbs, and harissa. That evening we attended a curious performance of Harold Pinter's No Man's Land with Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. I enjoyed it in spite of horribly uncomfortable seats.

 Campden Hill Tower between Tesco and McDonalds

 Our flat is the two floors just left above the tree with

greenery on the railing

 The Barnes area has historical Harrods associations, and the ornate

Hammersmith Bridge is painted in Harrods colors

 A photo from a display shows how the Barnes Reservoir looked

 This is the Wetland Centre that took its place

 Bird watchers

 Rolled turf coping and herringbone stonework was 

inspired by Iceland

 Out through the wetlands

 Birds flying along the river drop in to visit or stay for the winter

 Grazing cattle create a unique ecosystem in this section

 Hard to believe this was a huge cement reservoir just a few years ago

 A live wattle fence

  This is in the middle of a city of

millions of people

Timing airplanes directly overhead on approach to Heathrow while we
wait for the bus: one minute and fifteen seconds apart
(photo cred: SKT)

 This market is unique, without a single tourist, and serves as a

department store for locals

 Food and clothes...

...and housewares (we bought some of their blue and white

Willow Ware years ago)

 Notting Hill sunset

 Stewart and McKellen

 Wyndham's Theatre

Pinter's  No Man's Land

 Leicester Square

And Piccadilly Circus on the way to catch the 94 bus

Time is running short, but there will still be more. This is all for now.

OXO

D.

Greenwich, Thames Barrier, and Eltham Palace

Yesterday, Monday 17 October, we took the Tube and DLR to Greenwich where we boarded a boat to the Thames Barrier, an intriguing bit of engineering that so far has never been needed. Back in Greenwich we had fish and chips and then split up.

Kris and I took a bus from Greenwich to Eltham where we visited Eltham Palace, a most interesting house that belonged to a branch of the Courtauld (of Institute-Gallery fame) family. The grandfather invented rayon and made an unimaginable amount of money. The original palace was where Henry VIII was raised. The place fell into ruin after the English Reformation, and when the Courtaulds bought it only the great hall, in horrible condition, remained. They built a new house with a very traditional exterior that connected to the restored, great hall. The very modern interior is in the Art Deco style, which was the cutting edge of fashion in the 1930s. We headed back into Town to do a bit of shopping on Oxford Street before meeting Stephen and Ann for an Indian nosh at Durbar, a nice restaurant just off of Westbourne Grove.

 Wren's Royal Naval College, Greenwich

 Happy travelers?

 Chapel dome

 Docklands from the barrier boat

 The O2, né Millennium Dome, 2000, Richard Rogers, architect

Sailing down the river into an incoming tide

 The Thames Barrier

 Remarkable bit of engineering

 Happily, not often needed

 Gale force winds on the river: "I'm King of the World!"

 The Docklands, Greenwich view

 Greenwich High Street

 Fish and Chips for lunch

 Eltham Palace was an important royal palace 

from the14th to the 16th century 

 Stephen and Virginia Courtauld built an 

up-to-the-minute house in 1933 

 The Art-Deco style often incorporates elements of

luxury ocean liners

 Inlaid wood with depictions of places the owners loved to visit

 Porthole window

 Aluminum-leaf ceiling

 Stephen Courtauld's bedroom

 Virginia Courtauld's bathroom

 I loved the library

 Maginificent hammer-beam ceiling in the original (restored)

great hall from before the time of Columbus

 The palace was surrounded by a moat, part of which has

been converted to gardens

 One of the two wings of the new house

 It attaches to the great hall

 The garden entrance to the house designed with

all the historical elements of the Beaux-Arts styles

 Kris in the terrace garden

 The ancient bridge across the moat is still the entrance today

 The 286 bus back to Greenwich

 We changed from the Docklands Lightrail to the Jubilee 

Line at Canary Wharf

 Oxford Street seen from the back window of the 94 bus

on a rainy trip back to the flat after a tiny bit of shopping

 Sunset view from the flat

A good Indian nosh on Hereford Road just

off of Westbourne Grove

Another fun day with some first-time visits. More adventures in store today, but that's all for now.

 

OXO 

D.