Wednesday 28 June, returning home

I woke three times during the night. It was raining first thing. I was up at 7.50 for a shower. For breakfast I had Dorset Cereal again, with raspberries and coffee. Laura returned from her early morning run.

We finished packing and Laura left for work. We left as planned at 10am, to take the tube to Stratford and the DLR to London City airport. We had some cards to post but we missed the postbox at the entrance to the airport, while we were checking our luggage.  I bought a paper and a Prima in WH Smith's.

Our flight was on time - we flew with Helvetic, allied with Swiss. I had a red wine and a sandwich on the plane. We landed in Zurich and found it a bit cooler than when we left. On the flight I continued reading The Durrells of Corfu, which contains photos of the family.

In Zurich, we caught the S24 train to Thalwil, and then the bus. It was nice to be home again and catch up with the mail and The Great British Menu.

Tuesday 27 June, National Gallery

We were up at 7.30 for a shower. We had breakfast with Laura, who went to work later today. We had Dorset cereal, banana, boiled egg, croissants and coffee. Then we helped to put up Laura's curtains, which was tricky.

We all went to Trafalgar Square via Charing Cross tube station. The National Gallery is free to enter, and contains many famous paintings. We started in the Sainsbury Wing with the early Renaissance paintings by Piero della Francesca, Leonardo, Raphael,and the anonymous Wilton Diptych. Then Laura left to go into work.


We continued to the 18th and 19th Century works by Holbein, Turner (our favourite), Constable, Cezanne, Monet and the other Impressionists. I took pictures of many of my favourite works.


Afterwards we went for lunch at nearby Prezzo in Northumberland Avenue (a bit downmarket in Monopoly terms). I had a lovely chicken, bacon and avocado salad with a rose wine, and Richard had penne alle Norma with a craft beer. I also had a small limoncello to finish. We headed back to Laura's house in the rain.



Laura had a work event in the evening, so we went to try and find an Indian meal at Gunpowder, but it was full. So we walked round Spitalfields Market and got a table at The Real Greek. We shared plates of taramasalata, hummus, gigantes, chicken skewers, lamb and a bottle of Greek red wine.It was very nice and the service was excellent.

We returned home, and Laura came in later from Hurlingham tennis - Andy Murray cancelled.

Monday 26 June, Roman London

Laura had to work today. Richard and I spent the morning exploring the London Wall from Liverpool Street to Cannon Street, and beyond. There were delays on the underground. The Roman remains were marked by a series of blue plaques. At the Grange Hotel in Coopers Row we saw an extensive section of walls, partly Roman and the top part was Medieval.

We headed down to Tower Hill, passing the Merchant Navy Monument. Opposite the Tower of London was another section of Roman wall. There were many tourists viewing the Tower of London from north of the river.

Then we walked on to the Monument for the Great Fire of 1666. I had a coffee at Le Pain Quotidien while Richard climbed the 311 steps to the top of the column. Afterwards we walked along the Thames to Cannon Street and took the tube to Temple. We met Laura at 12.45 and went for lunch at Roka, a very nice Japanese restaurant. We had a selection of sharing dishes including sashimi, tempura and vegetables.


After lunch, we walked past Laura's Chambers at Brick Court and went down to the Temple Church which dates back to the Crusades. There was a male quartet practising singing for a concert.The church is one of the few round churches in London and was very beautiful. We then walked through the Inner Temple Gardens.


We found our way back to Holborn station and took the tube back to Laura's for a rest. Later we met up with Kathryn and Robbie at the Young Vic near Waterloo. We had a drink at the bar before seeing the play Life of Galileo from the translation of Brecht's play. Brendan Cowell played the leading role, which was performed in the round. It lasted nearly three hours.

Then we took an Uber back home, but the driver couldn't go through Rotherhithe tunnel and got a bit lost. A late evening.

Sunday 25 June, Canal walk and gardening

Today the festival of Eid began. I woke during the night, got up quite early and had a shower. Then we all went for a walk along the Regent's Canal and saw the locks. It joined up with the Hertford Canal, and we ended up at the Crate Brewery bar. We had beers and shared a pizza. We took an Uber back to Laura's.



We did some work in Laura's garden in the afternoon. First we visited a local garden centre where Laura got some new plants and garden tools. I deadheaded the foxgloves and some other white flowers, and Richard pulled up weeds from outside the front door. The three raised beds don't have much space for planting and the plants had all gone rather overgrown.




Laura went for a run, and we had tea in the garden of nice cheeses, ham, tomatoes and some red wine. We watched a recording of Have I Got News For You.It was quite loud outside in the evening.

Saturday 24 June, Royal Academy Summer Exhibition

A rather dull, muggy day. We slept in till 9am and I had a shower. We had a nice breakfast of Dorset cereal with fruit, I had a boiled egg and some toast, and coffee and orange juice.


Then Richard, Laura and I took the Central Line to Bond Street, a very noisy line, and then the Jubilee Line to Green Park. We walked to the Royal Academy in Piccadilly. Laura had a Friends' card so we didn't have to queue.




The various rooms of the annual Summer Exhibition were curated by different people, and we had already seen a TV program about the blind selection of the artworks. We looked at everything. As well as paintings, there were sculptures, photography, drawings and collages, some by well-known artists and others by members of the public. It was great fun to see all the diverse works of art, and see how many red dots they had, showing where someone had bought the artwork or a print copy.

We ended the viewing with a glass of champagne, before walking to Jermyn Street. We had a light lunch at 45 Jermyn Street. I had a bean stew, Richard had aubergine and Laura had yellow fin tuna. The others had a glass of wine but I had water! The we walked on to Paxton and Whitfield cheese shop where Laura bought three cheeses.

Then we took the underground to Stratford to visit the Westfield Shopping Centre. I went to Marks & Spencer for a few things and then to John Lewis with Laura. We headed home for a short rest.

In the evening Laura's neighbours David and Guy came for dinner. She served a three course meal of Thai soup, chicken with feta and pink peppercorns, and fresh mango and raspberries (prepared by me). We also had prosecco and Macia Batle white wine. It was an enjoyable evening.

Friday 23 June 2017, Setting off

After Friday morning at my art class, I left early to finish packing for five nights in London. We didn't have much time, and we took two cases to carry Laura's wine purchases from Expovina Primavera. Naturally we took the bus and train to the airport. It was 33 degrees and sweltering.



We arrived at the airport in good time and checked in our bags. Then we hurried along to Chalet Suisse for a quick beer. No trouble at security, and our Swiss flight was on time. Laura met us at London City airport and helped with the cases. We topped up our Oyster cards for the weekend on London Transport.


We took the underground to Mile End and walked the short distance to Laura's house. Since she has had extensive decorations done, it looks very nice, and we had our own guest room. We also saw her small garden with the raised beds full of plants.



We had dinner booked at Bonham's in New Bond Street. We went for the three course a la carte menu and I had gazpacho, turbot with broad beans and mushrooms, and posh strawberries and ice cream. We had a bottle of Montigny Premier Cru 2011, a chardonnay from Burgundy.



We got the tube back to Laura's house. Our bedroom was very quiet, but I felt hot.