31 Jul 2019. <GB> London, England — <SG> Singapore —

An early start today, as our flight for Singapore is due out at 9:25am! So a 4am wake-up call! The tube starts up at 5am, and we were planning to take the first train to Heathrow.

We were waiting outside the Earls Court tube station, when a cabbie puled up and informed us that the first train towards Heathrow wouldn't be coming through until about 6am. This would be cutting things a little fine, so we took him up on his offer of a lift to the airport. We had learned from our taxi experiences in Russia, and asked him for a cost estimate for the ride — £50, reasonable, but not cheap — but it got us out of the cold and to the airport in plenty of time!

We had plenty of time for breakfast before we went to use the self-service check-in kiosk — a very easy process. We did this, dropped our bags off, and went though security only to find that we had even more time on our hands than we expected. Apparently (we found out later) because a connecting flight was delayed, our flight was not going to be away on time.

Finally we were on our way at 11am, 90 minutes late. The flight was scheduled to be about 13 hours and if that was the case, allowing for the time difference, we wouldn't be landing in Singapore until 7am the next morning. Not much to do but watch movies, sleep and eat!

30 Jul 2019. <GB> London, England —

Today it was raining on and off, so we decided to take the advice of the taxi-driver who brought us to the hotel, and take a ferry ride on the Thames. You can get a day ticket that allows you on and off as often as you want, and which takes you on the river between the London Eye and the Millennium Dome — plenty of choice in that!

We hopped the tube from Earls Court to Waterloo, and then walked round to the London Eye Pier to pick up the River Thames boat services. After a short wait, the ferry arrived and we were off! We stayed with the ferry as it passed under the Millennium Bridge and Tower Bridge, finally getting off at Greenwich.

The view from the Queen's House

.. and back the other way (from an old drawing)

In Greenwich, we went straight to the Old Royal Naval College. This was originally built as a naval hospital, on the model of Les Invalides in Paris. The architect, Christopher Wren, had to divide the building so as allow a view to the river from the Queen's House — in fact, he divided it four ways to increase the symmetry! The buildings are now mainly occupied by the University of Greenwich, but the parts coloured tan in the map are accessible to the public — and are definitely worth visiting!

But our first priority was to get to the café for a warming cuppa! The café is interesting in its own right — the name tells it all — The Old Brewery! This used to be the brewery in the original hospital, and the current décor reflects this — there are huge kegs of beer on conspicuous display!

The Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich is one of the most spectacular and important baroque interiors in Europe. Its ceiling and wall decorations were conceived and executed by the British artist Sir James Thornhill between 1707 and 1726 at the pivotal moment when the United Kingdom was created and became a dominant power in Europe.

The Lower Hall's ceiling celebrates the 'Triumph of Peace and Liberty over Tyranny', and shows King William and Queen Mary (who came to the throne in 1688) surrounded by various mythological and allegorical figures.

During the recent restoraton, as many as 30 signatures from previous 'restorers' were studied at close quarters, including one indelicately placed on the bosom of Mary II.

The dome in the Vestibule

The Upper Hall is designed to represent a theatrical proscenium stage, and the rear (west) wall, completed in 1725, celebrates George I, the first Hanoverian monarch of Britain. This is a huge family portrait, with George's children painted as members of the Graeco-Roman pantheon!

As we were coming in, we had noticed nineteenth century carts in the street outside, and they were covering the pavement with earth. And outside they were setting up the film sets of a London market. It was hush-hush, but the staff hinted that they were shooting a Sherlock Holmes film there the next day. Well, that's not quite true. Some later research revealed that it is Enola Holmes, a mystery film based on the book series by Nancy Springer. It stars and is produced by the 15-year-old actress Millie Bobby Brown.

We had decided we had only time to visit the National Maritime Museum, or Queen's House, and we decided on the latter. Queen's House is a former royal residence designed by Inigo Jones and built between 1616 and 1635. It is the first example of Palladian architecture in Britain.

Inside, we found one of the three known 'Armada portraits' of Queen Elizabeth I. (The other two are at Woburn Abbey and at the National Portrait Gallery in London. We can now say that we have seen all three!) In spite of previous attributions, the experts now agree that each is by a different hand, and none can be safely attributed to any known artist — each is now assigned to 'an unknown English artist'.

There are a couple of terracotta busts modeled from life by John Michael Rysback — Francis Bacon (1755) and Sir Walter Raleigh (1757). It's nice to have faces to put to the names!

And there's one of Isaac Newton, by Louis-François Roubiliac, done about 1731 from Newton's death mask and a painting by Hogarth.

And here are Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson (earlier in his career) by Lemuel Francis Abbott (1798) and his inamorata, Emma, Lady Hamilton, as Cassandra, by George Romney (late C18-early C19).

And, of course, the designer of this house! Inigo Jones, by William Hogarth (1757-58) [based on a print after van Dyck].

But perhaps the best thing Suzie found in the Queen's House were the comfortable chairs in many of the rooms!

This painting, Greenwich and London from One Tree Hill, by Johannes Vorsterman, about 1680, shows the Queen's House, but Wren's Greenwich Hospital had yet to be built.

Anyhow, after quite a while in the Queen's House, the time came to decamp. We returned to the ferry, and let it take us to London Bridge City Pier, from which we made our way to the Borough Market, where we had a bite to eat before walking round by the Golden Hind, past the Globe Theatre, across the 'Wobbly Bridge' (the Millennium Bridge).

Then we hopped the tube to Knightsbridge, where we dropped into Harrods before we took the tube back to Earls Court and our hotel.

29 Jul 2019. <GB> Haworth to Leeds to London, England —

Today we got down to breakfast with all those who were still functional after yesterday's festivities. Sad farewells to all, and then we drove off into Leeds to surrender the car and take a taxi to the station for our train journey down to London. (We had booked our tickets online the previous day, and the people at the Ashmount Country House had kindly printed them out for us.)

Three hours after departure, the train pulled in to Kings Cross Station, and we took the easy option of taking a taxi to our hotel, the Oxford Hotel in Earl's Court (well on our way towards Heathrow in a couple of days).

We'd stayed in Earls Court previously, so it was familiar territory for us. We reacquainted ourselves with the Doctor Who Tardis (a real police box!) outside the Earls Court tube station. The Oxford Hotel, although comfortable, is definitely not a five-star operation — but perfectly suitable for the two nights we were staying! It was certainly a step or two up from the hostel where we had stayed in 2014!

And for dinner we decided to go down to Earls Court Road, and the Earls Court Tavern there!