U.K. 2013 
Day 17, Thurs.
September 19, 2013
London
We ate a nice breakfast and checked out of
The Diglis House Hotel in Worchester. It was a very nice and attractive
hotel. We enjoyed our three day stay in our lovely room and meals in
the dining room. A taxi was waiting for us and took us to the train
station for
our 10:05 train to London which took a little over two hours as it was a
local train. We arrived in the Paddington train station, ate a Burger
King hamburger and caught a taxi to take us to our apartment which was
located on the south bank. It was some distance from Paddington to our
apartment, and the traffic was pretty bad. We understand that people
have to pay a fee to drive into the city.
St. Paul’s was the first cathedral that we
visited on our ten-year quest. I wrote a long history of St. Paul’s for
that visit. Nothing has changed so please refer back to
England2003Day1.
Also see my model.
When we were here ten years ago, the interior of St. Paul’s was being
cleaned and was covered with scaffolding and white cleaning material,
and we could not see the beauty of it. We got audio guides this time.
There didn’t seem to be tour guides. It is very expensive to go into
St. Paul’s - $21.76 US dollars each. We spent some time there. Sorry
we have no photos but they are not allowed. We wanted to go somewhere
else but it was 4:00 and raining hard so we decided to go back and check
into our apartment.
Our apartment is across the river from the main part of London-- on the
South bank. We are on the 6th floor with a wonderful view. We can also
see the big tower on the Parliament building. We have an attractive
large living room, a small kitchen and a large bedroom. The building is
not too old and the furniture is sort of modern.
At 6:30 pm, we walked up the street to meet my friend Philip Charlton at
a place he suggested called George Inn. The George Inn is a 17th
century public house, and is London's last remaining galleried inn. In
the courtyard before the Inn, there were hundreds of upscale
professional 30 something people, hanging out drinking beer. On one
side of the courtyard was a large half timbered inn/pub. Above the Inn,
in the background, was the Shard, London’s newest skyscraper. What a
juxtaposition of images!!
I have corresponded with Phillip for several years. We first met when
he found cathedralquest.com several years ago and began corresponding
about paper models. Last year he sent me a gift of several small
models. His wife was in Greece this week. She usually writes something
on Philip’s email. He said he would be carrying a pink bag with
pink
string handles. We saw him shortly after we arrived. The place was
very noisy. We went into the pub, but we couldn’t hear each other. We
went back out and sat at one of picnic benches. There were gas heaters around. We decided to eat outside so we could talk. In correct pub
fashion, you go to the bar and place the order and give your table
number. We all got different kind of seafood dinner.
We had a delightful visit. He was very charming. Then he gave me the
pink bag which had several wrapped presents in it. He gave me six model
kits. At one time he manage
d a craft store and was a distributor of
paper models. He is also a friend of Alain du Bussac whom we visited in
Clermont Ferrand, France last year. I have an old photo of Philip and
Alain together. I was really overwhelmed by Philip’s presents.
Philip
lives about a half hour away, and took a train to come into the city.
After several hour together, he needed to get home, so we parted.
It is really fun to meet someone in person that you have written to for
a long time. Tomorrow we have another such experience as we meet my
friend Mike Stamper and his wife who are going to give us a tour of
London. Mike is also an avid
papermodeler and he, Philip and Alain
know each other. What a small world!
We walked back several blocks to our apartment. We have a wonderful view
of the night lights of London across the river. The London Eye (the big
ferris wheel) is very visible with its blue lights.
It was a very good day and we are happy to be in London for several
days.
