Saturday 4 October 2008

Greater London, - an understatement - Part 1






The morning of 25 August saw us driving, again, excitedly from Tewkesbury to London for our eagerly anticipated meeting with fellow blogger, the outrageous, sweet, generous, urbane, wise, and diverse Dive from Small Glass Planet.
We hit the sack early after the evening police sirens subsided slightly while choosing to photograph some muggings and bag snatches in the colourful Victorian terraces below our fifth floor window.
Next morning at the "… er … The Imperial Hotel", as Dive so rightly calls it, there he was, large as life in the foyer, smiling from ear to ear as if I were a British mirror !!

Dive is the sort of bloke who is so endearing, witty and knowledgeable, I felt that I had always known him. The three of us hugged and laughed and joked and garbled on all at the same time as we made plans to storm around the entire sights of London in record time.
We hit the streets-a-running and we spun those cameras 'round,
as if to sink the Bismarck but that wasn't what we found.

We found the wonders of the (free) British Museum of human history and culture, right on our doorstep in Bloomsbury.

On the short walk to the Museum, naturally the cameras came out as Dive avoided being mugged by Madame in Russell Square, and when he met Frank at the mail box. Dive simply knows everyone in London ! (hint, - click and enlarge the photo).

There was a fair bit of confusion as to who was taller at one stage but the caryatid was probably standing on tip-toes!

We entered the Great Court, built in the 90's with it's excellent tessellated glass roof which covers an area "bigger than a football field" and from there Dive took us around to see the wonders of tomorrow's post.......

11 comments:

dive said...

Hee hee. you are way too kind, Monsieur!
That first smile in the hotel was pure delight at seeing you and that delight grew as the day went on.
You are both such wonderful, kind, generous and lovely people it did indeed feel as if we had been lifelong friends, even within a few minutes of meeting you both.
I do love that photo of Mme and myself with our heads stacked vertically. It seems on enlarging it that I have some kind of Roman guy stuck in my hair. Odd.
Thank you again for a wonderful visit. I dread to think what tomorrow's photo-fest holds in store!

Cheltenhamdailyphoto said...

Soooo glad you had a wonderful time in London. I knew you would, with Dive.

claude said...

Hello M.Benaut !
That's great ! Your blog take life again !
Thanks for your long messages. I will reply you this afternoon.
I visited Marie and Nathalie and I think Jilly too. That was great to see you both again after you left home.

M.Benaut said...

Salut Claude,

I have just seen the Blog of Guy at Château-du-Loir and read everything at "Le Petit Castéropode".

Quelle magnifique célébration nous tous avions !!!
Quand nous sommes revenus, nous avons été épuisés, mais néanmoins, très heureux avec nos vacances fabuleuses.

Nous étions très tristes d'être partis le pays que nous aimons tellement et tous nos amis merveilleux.

Madame et moi, aimerions voir vous tous les deux en Australie aussitôt que possible, et également tous nos amis français.

Vous verrez Château-du-Loir sur mon blog en environ une semaine et tous nos blogfriends peuvent voir un peu plus de votre hospitalité merveilleuse.

It is so sad to leave such wonderful friends behind. Thank you both so much for all your warmth and friendship. You can tell Philippe that he won't need to speak English when you come; we will just drink more vin rouge !!!! Merci Philippe.

Webradio said...

Bonjour à Vous !
Ah les Bobbies en Angleterre...

Nice text for a ballad...
See You later.

Cheltenhamdailyphoto said...

et les amis anglaise?... :0

Cheltenhamdailyphoto said...

s

M.Benaut said...

Particulièrement ma petite amie anglaise de favori ma chérie !!

M.Benaut said...

xxx

M.Benaut said...

Vous serez heureux de voir quelques "Bobbies" français également dans un couple des jours, Webradio !!

La police française a les armes automatiques massives. Peut-être il y a de plus grands criminels en France. Cependant, je n'en ai pas vu.

Jules said...

You are so lucky - a day in London with Dive - divine!!!!