WHEN THE TERKUILES CAME TO TOWN
With the arrival of June also came the first of
Dulcinea's direct
family to visit us in the UK. Big brother
Michael and Sue got off the plane and were so excited to be here that they immediately got on another one and
headed over to Ireland! A couple of days later they were back, and although their stay was only short, we managed to squeeze quite a bit in.
Located in
Richmond on the banks of the river
Thames, Hampton Court Palace is a
'must see' for any visitor to London.
The home of
Henry VIII is huge, set in beautiful gardens and comes with its own maze, built in
1690 the
oldest surviving hedge maze on the planet. It's superbly presented, with actors strolling the corridors and acting out important moments in English (and Henry's) history. You've gotta hand it to him,
inventing his own church so's he could get married whenever he had an itch that needed scratching was a stroke of
genius (Jerry Lee Lewis should have done it!). Of course, there was also the more macabre side of him, and although
only one of his
wives was
executed he did
behead over 72,000 people during his reign - and he wasn't considered particularly bloodthirsty!
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| Stunning chimneys |
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| The royal workbench |
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| .....awe inspiring... |
Sue and Michael's visit was perfectly timed, and that night it was great to have
Dulcinea's bro' and sister with us to celebrate her 21st birthday again - the venue was, of course,
Paolo's where mine host
Stefano regaled our Aussie guests with his
magic tricks.
Next morning found us walking past the
Tower Of London and heading to
Tower Bridge which, as everybody knows, is a
combined bascule and suspension bridge. Construction
commenced in 1886 and it took
432 men (only 10 died on the job!)
eight years to build it (prior to its construction, people crossed
under the river via the
Thames Tunnel!).
The really cool thing now is that the
50 metre high walkway has a glass floor, fantastic for vertigo sufferers.
We were fortunate enough to be there as the
bridge opened (generally only happens 2-3 times a day) and we watched a rather infamous barge -
the Gladys - sail through.
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| SB Gladys...go girl |
True Story: when
Bill Clinton visited London in
1997 his
motorcade was separated from his bodyguards' vehicles by the bridge opening to allow the SB Gladys to sail through (you can just picture it!). Frantic calls were made in an unsuccessful bid to lower the bridge, but
British law states that ships have right of way (the Bridge authorities had earlier tried to alert the US Embassy of their timing but nobody answered the phone!). And so the following day's headlines blared
"Gladys waits for nobody".
There are great views from the bridge that take in the
Shard (the
tallest building in Europe) and the
City Hall building - known as the
Armadillo.
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| The Armadillo and The Shard |
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| The Walkie-Talkie, the Cheese Grater and the Gerkhin...the Cucumber is under construction |
Time for a
river cruise and we sail up the Thames to
Parliament pier, an enlightening journey that is thoroughly recommended, passing by numerous historic landmarks.
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| Tate Modern - the most visited modern gallery in the world...4.7 million/year |
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| London Bridge and the Eye |
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| Cleopatra's Needle |
From there we do a self guided tour of the magnificent
Westminster Cathedral before walking up
Whitehall, past Downing Street and the
Royal Horseguards. On a beautifully sunny summer's day, there's not much better than walking around central London!
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| Very wise words |
For their last day, we head west with full intentions to pop in to see
Betty for a cuppa. Sadly, she wasn't in but we didn't let that stop us from touring around
Windsor Castle, the
oldest and
largest inhabited castle in the
world. And what a magnificent edifice it is, not only being the
Queen's "weekender" but also the spiritual home of the
Royal Order Of The Garter, the oldest order of
chivalry in the world.
But whilst its location towering over the river Thames is truly stunning,
William The Conqueror showed a distinct
lack of vision when he
commenced building it in 1070 by placing it directly below the future
flight path of Heathrow!
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| Not sure that kid should be out there |
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| Its very own royal ice cream....... |
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| Superior....of course...and it was delicious! |
Afterwards we walk over the footbridge and stroll down the main street of
Eton to have a look at the
world's most famous school, and managing a snigger at the school uniform (of course, it's the students who secretly snigger at us, seeing the spoon in their collective mouths isn't of the plastic variety preferred by the greater populace).
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| Eton High Street |
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| If I were a carpenter...I'd make the first floor higher than 5'6" |
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| This is the skool's casual attire!! |
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| They're a tourist attraction in their own right! |
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| A novel approach to cupcakes |
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| No Ford C-Max's in Eton |
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| There's more than one cool skool in Eton..... |
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| ....obviously a sub-branch of Hampton Court Palace! |
For our last evening, we all head down the road to
Villa Toscana, another delightful
local Italian bistro, for a final night of dining and celebration.
All too quickly it's over and Sue and Michael are boarding the
Eurostar at King's Cross for the rest of their vacation. It's been a great few days, we really loved having you with us Brother Michael and Sister Sue, come back again.
