At this stage our gracious host informed Madame that the distance to be covered was about 5 miles. "Crikey", she thought, quite loudly to herself and to most of Greater London.
(The other day, Dive re-calibrated his reckonings and stated that it was actually seven miles. He's really a master of everything, especially his timing. )
After some spectacular storming of London's splendid sights and photographing Madame at the Ritz, we put on some speed in the direction of the 300 years old Fortnum and Mason department store in Piccadilly and it's magnificent food hall where loose-leaf tea was requested, a gift for her Godmother in Paris.
Knowing how British tour guides can work up hunger, we reminded Dive that it was becoming close to Sushi time whereupon we were lead to Dive's favourite shop. I hope he will comment and remind me of the name and the street, and the wonderful park where we ate our delicious sushi.
With thoughts of Dive's immense fondness of the Royal Family and it's lifestyle ! we headed on to the P.H, or Buckingham Palace and were thrilled to make a photographic record of his pleasure at being so close to his Sovereign.
He showed us St. James Park, Westminster Abbey, The Houses of Parliament and Big Ben before arriving at South Bank.
And this is where the next excitement began.......
13 comments:
Ah, have just seen you have finally arrived home. Hope the trip home was good and you and Mme B are resting after your Grand Tour!
Eek! I must grovel once again at Mme's poor sore feet in abject apology for dragging her miles and miles.
The sushi was from Yoshino on Piccadilly, a favourite lunchtime haunt, and we ate it in Green Park, close to the Parasite House.
The silhouette in the bottom photo is of Boudicca, a Norfolk lass who lived just down the road from my own village and - as generally happens when you upset a Norfolk girl - went on a wonderfully therapeutic rampaging slaughter of Romans and then burned Colchester and London to the ground.
Women … huh!
Seven Miles! Holey Moley. I still can't believe it. Still Dive dear, it stood me in good stead for the trek that was ahead of me with Jilly and those hills in Menton, not to mention rambling all over a few chateaux in la belle France. The sushi was delicious BTW. Thank you so much for our fabulous day.
Hello, glad to find you online again at long last :-))) I hope to read of all your trip. I have not been online at all for a long time as my American friend is in hospital.........
Glad you enjoyed Nocturne this morning. Michael DUlin is a friend and my part time boss. I shamelessly plug his marvelous CD's often!
Nice photos,
Et belle promenade...
Ooooh I can't wait. I love the way you are writing this, M. Benaut. Six miles. I am so glad I was unable to join you in London. I could not have done it. Remind me, when I meet Dive in Norfolk, to fill his shoes with sand.
I laughed out loud at the sight of Dive walking in front of Buckingham Palace - and smiling his head off too! Oh wow. He'd pay good money to keep that out of publication. Dive enjoying the aura of the Monarch's patch. Incredible...
Fortnum & Mason ....sigh....I used to shop there a lot. Those were the days - another life I'm afraid. Every Christmas we would have our hamper from there, our christmas crackers (I still have the decorations on my tree each year) and of course the puds. It's the most lovely shop. I shall request that Dive wears my feet out there at least. I think I can manage that one. :)
I remember the sovereign photo from Small Glass Planet. Wasn't he mooning the queen?
If you look very carefully you can see a woman in one of those windows (I think she is wearing pearls and a crown) giving Dive the forks. Not sure - maybe it is just a reflection.
What fun photos! I very much look forward to seeing many more of your trip photos. Sounds like you had a marvelous time. I hope it's not too much of a shock to be home after such a long and wonderful trip. I'm sure the cats are thrilled to have you back though!
Petrea: Thank you so much for putting the record straight!
Hee hee.
And what a grand tour it was Jilly.
These last few days we have been catching up with sleep which somehow eluded us on the flight home.
30 sleepless hours at one stage !
Then there have been nearly 8000 photos to assemble, 700 of which were taken in your beautiful towns of Gorbio, Menton and Monaco. We are so indebted to you for the wonderful accommodation you provided and the time and kindness you gave us.
As you can see we are publishing our trip on the blog to enable all our friends to see it in as much detail as possible, and to thank all our dear friends for the kindness they have shown us.
At this stage we have not yet crossed the channel ! I haven't even got back to my office yet !
Thanks for the additional info. Dive. There's so much detail to remember. I guess that's why one takes so many shots.
Marie, I'm sorry to hear of your friend's illness. Let's hope he improves rapidly.
We have so many lovely memories of our stay in Montpellier and you will see my Montpellier post in about a week from now.
I know you will like it because you sat on the towel !!!
Virginia, it's great to hear that you are going to Paris in November, you will love it. We stayed in the 9th, at the hotel Chopin as it was so central. Sort of walking distance to everything. If you want to discuss anything, you can get me at m.benaut@gmail.com
We can compare notes.
Webradio, yes, 7 miles of promenading.
Demain nous traverserons la Manche !!
Lynn and Petrea, Madame has an original shot of mooning the Palace. (Ssssshh !)
You should ask her about it - it's really quite sort-of funny.
Jules Now you know why you were correct.
Dive, ignore what I just said.svp
Dear Katie,
It sure is a shock to be back, it's much more demanding the being a tourist in Paris.
So sorry we did not see you in Paris, however we did scan the Gare du Nord when we arrived.
It would have been terrific to have met you there.
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