Hyde Park has beome the established venue for budding orators and a fair number of eccentrics.

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Still at the Cornishman http://www.cornishmaninn.com/ for my personal (and the main picture) these are the view from the INN

Doing Part II of reason you might want to give London another look items….dedicated to the lovely lady I met by the fuzzy coos.

Of course we’ll have JAMIE and probably Claire…..I love her but I lust after him….sorry Sam.

Oh and quotes are from DK’s Eyewitness:  London–one of my favorite guides as it is well organized and has maps of all the areas it does—easy ones with pictures of each building….http://www.traveldk.com/destinations/europe/england/london/#!

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Buckingham Palace “is the London residence of the Queen and her husband the Duke of Edinburgh.  Prince Edward also has an apartment here, as do Princess Anne and the Duke of York.  About 50 domestic staff have rooms in the palace.  There are more staff homes situated in the Royal Mews.”

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INDIA Wooden Hand Made Flute (262808916526)

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Westminster doesn’t have just an abbey, it also has a Cathedral

Westminster Cathedral

http://www.aviewoncities.com/london/westminstercathedral.htm

This beautifully different (for London) cathedral is England’s premiere church.  While most of London’s older churches (like the Abbey) started out as Catholic and after the reformation were changed to the Church of England.  Some have returned but most of the major ones have remained Church of England.  This cathedral on the other hand was built more recently and has always been Catholic.

Points of interest in the church include a chapel set aside as a shrine to English Catholic martyrs and includes several that fell as a result of Henry VIII”s decision to get a new wife—and included Sir Thomas More (who they made the movie A Man for All Seasons about), there is also the body (covered in ceremonial garb and including a face mask, of the last priest who died for his faith in England.  The body is in a glass coffin and is in full view, a reminder of a time when many churches had their deceased saints in view of the congregation.  Upstairs is a museum containing the church’s treasures and for a few dollars more you can take the elevator up to the spire for a great view of the city.

The Cathedral is in Westminster of course

Where you can also find

The Banqueting House

This elegant building is all that is left of Whitehall Palace–once owned by Cardinal Wolsey, who died on his way to trial imposed by yep that same 8th Henry.  This is where they set up the gallows for James I (he went thru one of the windows and up the gallows where he was executed.  The hall is lovely but the big draw here is the ceilings by Ruben 1622.

Westminster Pier

Starting point for excursions on the Thames.

Boadicea Statue

Here is the memorial to a Celtic Chieftain’s wife who after she was beaten and her daughters raped led her tribe against the Romans actually defeating a legion and burning London (they have found the charred remains in archeological digs under the city) before she was finally defeated.

House of Parliament

and Big Ben

This huge building is where the British government meets and there are tours available.  While a fire took down Westminster Palace here in the 1800’s there are still surviving portions that exist in the new palace which people insist on calling Parliament instead of its real name.

St. Margaret’s Church

Right next door to the much more famous Abbey, but you can visit here—and it’s not exactly new–there are pictures of Henry (yeah him again) VIII’s first wife Katherine of Argon and her first husband–Henry’s older brother Arthur who died before he could become king.

Westminster Abbey

If you haven’t see the abbey you have not seen London

Cabinet War Rooms

Now open to the public–this was Winston Churchhill’s WWII headquarters.

Horse Guards

Visit here to watch the guard change twice daily

Jewel Tower

One of the few remains of the Westminster Palace that burned in 1834.  It’s now a small museum in a building that once housed the Royal’s most treasured possessions.

“Half of this spacious palace  (Kensington) is used as lavish royal apartments, the other half, which includes the 18th century state rooms is open to the public.”

“Half of this spacious palace (Kensington Palace) is used as lavish royal apartments, the other half which includes the 18th-century state rooms is open to the public.”

One of my favorite Churches is this one

St. Bride (another name for St. Bridgit)

http://www.stbrides.com/

this is a very appropriate name as the church is credited for inspiring the current shape of our present wedding cakes (that’s Bride in the picture.  The church is elevate from the surrounding area an you have to climb some stairs to get up to it.  The church is lovely, but the big pay off here is the crypt which contains original Roman pavement, the ruins of 12th c dwellings that once set here and a row of grave stones which probably date back to the time when due to over crowding (burying bodies 3 deep, cutting bodies in part to fit them into space available and so on) resulted in the church yards being outlawed in favor of commercial sites for the burials like Highgate.  This crypt area was also the site of a holy well (long gone dry) whose water was use to bless newly crowned monarch.

Check out yesterday’s account of other things to see at Holborn as St. Brides is in the same district as The Temple Church

“In the southeast corner of Kensington Gardens of the Serpentine Gardens is the Serpentine Gallery, which house temporary exhibitions of contemporary paintings and sculpture.  The building is a former tea garden built in 1912, exhibits often spill out into the surround park.  Its tiny book shop has a remarkable of art books.”

South of the Thames is the huge Taft Modern

Situated in what was once the source of Electric for most of the city it is one of, if not the, largest art galleries in the world and has all manner of exhibits, pick your favorites, you’ll only ever see a small portion in one day.

South of the Thames is
Southwark

which has been a suburb since Roman times and includes such interesting places as:

The George Inn

London’s only surviving traditional galleried inn.

This is were plays were held before the theatres were built.

The inn still thrives and it’s a great place to go for a drink or a meal.

Borrough Market

There has been a market here since 1276.  It currently sells fresh fruits and veggies

London Bridge

Southwark Cathedral

Still contains some medieval elements

Clink Prison Museum

On site of the notorious prison

The Anchor

Century old and still a great riverside pub with great views and good food.

The Rose Window

The remains of this medieval  home of the Bishop of Winchester was found during clean up after bombings during WWII.  The window and a few sections of the wall remain along one of the regular through ways and was once a rich palace that hosted many of the rich and famous including our favorite Henry’s

“The Old Dairy at 36 Old Church St. (Chelsea) was built in 1796 when cows still grazed in the surrounding fields.  The tiling is original.”‘

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7″ TALL DISH STAND OF WOOD (262754348939)

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What Diana thinks about Sam and Cait:  http://ew.com/article/2016/03/01/outlander-diana-gabaldon-sam-heughan-caitriona-balfe/

You already know this but:  http://www.vox.com/2014/8/7/5980011/outlander-review-starz-diana-gabaldon-ron-moore

An Outlander Garden?  http://www.seasonsgardendesign.com/OutlanderGarden.html

 
 
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