Wednesday around London

We were planning to leave London on Thursday to travel to Dover in preparation for boarding our ship on Friday, so we decided to get some laundry done on Wednesday morning...

... we headed to a laundrette a few blocks from our hotel -- got the prices for wash and dry so we'd know how much cash to get, went to a cash machine to get pounds, and then returned to do our laundry. We just had one load to wash and dry, and were able to do it in £10. This facility also did dry cleaning, and I think they would do your laundry with pressing and folding too. It didn't take too long (a little over an hour), and we had clean clothes to pack for the rest of our journey.

We were meeting a former co-worker of mine for dinner at his club, and since we never know exactly how long it will take us to get anywhere in London, we decided to just go ahead and dress for dinner, and head out for our last sightseeing in London.

We caught a bus and got the front seat upstairs again (they should just reserve that seat for us!). We enjoy seeing things as we drive through the city.

This bicycle delivery guy had passed our bus, and we had passed him a few times. He was stopped, I guess at his delivery location -- it looked like he was carrying 1/2 gallons of milk in his front carrier area.

We got off the bus to visit the King's Life Guard to see the mounted guards...

Folks were going up (outside the white lines) to get their pictures taken with the horses. This one was a little fractious - he was evidently about *done* with standing! He was about 20 minutes in to his 1 hour shift (according to what we read, they change every hour on the hour).

This one was standing totally still. 

Then we walked back to Buckingham Palace since the foot guards were no longer in place when we had visited earlier (the guards change to active patrols around the grounds in the evening).

At this time of day, there were two guards... this was the one on the left...

... Carl getting ready to take a picture of the one on the right...

This was the one on the right.

According to information that Google AI provided me:

Shift Routine and Rules

Sentry rotations: Guards complete two hours on duty followed by four hours off, repeating this cycle throughout a total 24-to-48-hour overall tour of duty.
Movement on duty: Sentry guards do not stand completely frozen for the full two hours; every 10 minutes, they come to attention, slope arms, and march about 20 paces across their post before returning to stand at ease.
Overall presence: The palace guard coverage runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with nighttime duties shifting to active patrols around the grounds.

We left the Buckingham Palace area and caught a bus that would take us near the London Eye (ferris wheel). Unfortunately, the bus was not a double decker, and didn't have air conditioning, so it was rather hot and uncomfortable. We decided to get off once we had crossed the River Thames and walk along the river...

We had some beautiful views of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben.

Big Ben

London Eye

We were still pretty warm, and needed a place to sit down in relative cool, so we found the London Eye Lounge...

...where we got still water and non-alcoholic apple cider - both drinks really hit the spot!

We could see the mechanism that runs the wheel -- "Friction Rollers: Standard commercial truck tires (such as Continental HSR models) press directly against the outer steel rim of the wheel."

A couple of the pods. I think I read that each pod can hold up to 25 people. The wheel rotates once every 30 minutes.

We took the Golden Jubilee Pedestrian Bridge across the River Thames...

From the bridge, we had a view of the London Eye and Big Ben.

Another view of the London Eye and Big Ben.

We met Julian at his club (National Liberal Club). He gave us a tour and provided us information about the history of clubs in general, and this club specifically.

The library - Julian and me

Julian took a selfie with the three of us.

Julian told me that he understood that the ladies room up on the top floor was quite amazing, and encouraged me to go up... since he would never be able to go in (and since I was the only one in there), I took some pictures...

The lounge area with makeup tables

The washing-up area -- through the opening is access to the toilets. It was the most opulent restroom / loo / toilets I have ever visited!

One of the reception rooms

One of the rooms had a couple of portraits that we were intrigued with -- Julian took pictures of them and sent them to me afterwards, so I researched them...

This lady seemed to have a rather serious expression. There was no label to tell us who she was.

From Google Lens:

This image is a portrait of Jadwiga Branicka (née Potocka), a Polish noblewoman.

It was painted around 1862 by the renowned German artist Franz Xaver Winterhalter, who was famous for his portraits of European royalty and aristocracy.

The original oil-on-canvas painting measures approximately 79 cm by 63 cm and is part of the collection at the Palace Museum in Wilanów in Warsaw.

This specific image appears to be a reproduction of the painting, commonly available as a print or wall art.

This lady had a more playful expression.

From Google Lens:

This image shows a reproduction of Giovanni Boldini’s oil painting Portrait of Lady Colin Campbell.

Artist: Giovanni Boldini (1842–1931).

Original Subject: Gertrude Elizabeth Blood, Lady Colin Campbell, an Irish journalist and author.

Original Location: The painting is held at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Style: The painting is known for its dramatic brushwork, particularly in the rendering of the black satin evening dress, a style sometimes called "the master of swish".

One of the most dramatic features of the club is its magnificent spiral staircase...

Julian told us that, during the bombings during WWII, a bomb fell through the roof straight down the middle of these stairs, destroying them. They were reconstructed to look as much like the original as possible. 

I had read online that the club rents out space for weddings, and we could imagine it would be quite the picture for a bride to walk down these steps in her gown. Rooms in the club could also be used for reception activities.

We ate on the terrace - we could have eaten in the dining room, but it was a beautiful evening and we enjoyed being outside. The dinner was so good -- Carl had tuna and I had salmon and we both thoroughly enjoyed our meals! 

For desert, we got what Julian told us is a British standard, sticky toffee pudding with ice cream - yum!

Julian got a chocolate ganache (and other things that I don't remember what they were) -- he said his was also delicious!

We had a great time sharing stories and catching up. It was so nice for Julian to host us at his club!!

Tuesday around London - part 3

Earlier posts about Tuesday - part 1: https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2026/07/tuesday-around-london-part-1.html and part 2: https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2026/07/tuesday-around-london-part-2.html

We were heading to Knightsbridge...

... so we could visit Harrod's! (You might be able to make out the name down the corner of the building.)

We started in the basement where there were gift-type items. I found some tea towels on 75% off (£6 for two) and got them to have as a reminder of our trip to London. Then we decided to ride the escalator up the floors to see what we could see. 

It was difficult to see much of what was on each floor from the escalator. We noticed that 5th floor was indicated as have the "technology" area, so we decided to check that out. We saw a couple of scale models of cars...

75% replica of 1957 Ferrari Testa Rossa J -- £143,000 - at today's exchange rate, for the bargain price of $190,401.50!

It was very pretty...

... but very small inside...

Carl checked to see if he could climb in!

Ah, so much more reasonable, just £84,000, or $111,835. But, shipping is not included... 

...oh well, we don't think it would work well as a toad behind our RV anyway! Maybe it could replace our golf cart at Venture Out? Nah!

Then we got to the area with the big screen TVs and surround sound systems -- Carl had to sit down and try it out!

Since Carl sat down, a young man (salesman) came over to see if we needed assistance (we did not!). He told us about headphones in the next area along that were priced at several thousand pounds. Carl mentioned that he didn't think his 70+ year old ears could hear well enough to make it worthwhile. 

An art-deco light fixture in the area around the escalators

We were meeting friends Joe and Pat for dinner. They are former Bluebird motorhome owners with whom Dwayne and I had gone to the Bluebird Casper, WY eclipse rally in 2017, and with whom Carl and I had gone to the Bluebird Kerrville, TX eclipse rally in 2024. They are also on our eclipse cruise leaving out of Dover on Friday.

We took the tube to a location close to the place where they are staying -- it was near the Tower of London - which we had seen from the other side when we took the boat down to Greenwich.

There was also information about the wall around London at this location...

Roman wall near Tower of London

We had a great dinner with Joe and Pat at an Indian restaurant that they recommended. It was good getting to know them better -- we enjoyed our time so much, we didn't think to get any pictures!

When we left them, we headed out to catch a bus back to our hotel... 

Maybe if you click on this picture and zoom in, you can see all the buses heading the opposite way that we were going -- it appeared that there were only buses on the other side of the road, no other vehicular traffic.

A Rescue Unit passed us while we were on the bus (several other emergency vehicles had also passed -- whatever the issue was, it wasn't along the route where we eventually drove).

We also saw the "American Carwash" along the route -- I was thinking it would be an automatic drive-thru car wash, but the workers appeared to be doing at least a very thorough pre-wash outside the building. It wasn't clear as we were driving by whether there was a drive-thru part as well.

This bus let us off at the stop across from the fire station where we had caught a bus to church on Sunday morning. We're starting to learn our way around the area of town where we are staying -- at least how to get to and from the transit stops within a 5-6 block area!

Tuesday around London - part 2

After our visit to the British Library, (see Tuesday part 1 here:https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2026/07/tuesday-around-london-part-1.html ), we decided to walk toward the British Museum. They have free tickets that you can book for specific times online, but we didn't have any idea when we would end up getting there. The website said that they also allowed people to come in who did not have tickets, so we thought we'd give it a try.

On the way, we happened upon Cartwright Gardens - the name of this pretty crescent-shaped street, 

... along with a pretty little "pocket" park...

... with a statue of John Cartwright...

... some information about Cartwright Gardens.

Carl wanted to try coffee at a coffee shop (he has been getting coffee with the free breakfast at our hotel, but has not been satisfied with the coffee he has been getting -- there is a machine with a lot of options available on it, but he hasn't hit upon the combination that makes the kind of coffee he likes). He liked the coffee at lever&bloom coffee. Note the cute little milk "jug".

A building with pretty flowers along our walk

We stopped for lunch at a place (GBK - Gourmet Burger Kitchen) that advertised hamburgers at 50% off...

Interesting sign directing to restrooms

Our hamburgers were delicious! We wondered before ordering if there would be some "catch" on the 50% off, but there wasn't... the folks in the shop were very nice and we got the burgers at half price.

We then stopped at a pharmacy looking for some pain relief medicines that would not upset the stomach... as we were looking for the pain relief area...

... we found the "IBS &Bloating & Wind Relief" area!

Near the British Museum, we passed through Russell Square (another small park) and saw this sign about an "Insect Hotel"...

This is the insect hotel that was near the sign. It was interesting that there was a hole in the back that was intended to be used by birds -- I was wondering if the birds viewed it as a Bed 'n' Breakfast!

Outside the British Museum, we saw some iconic British Telephone booths that had this sign on them... "protected for future generations"...

... one of the phone booths outside the British Museum.

We got to the British Museum -- there were a LOT of people...

... there was a line (queue) for people who did not have tickets... the people there looked like they had been waiting for a while...

... on the other side was the line (queue) for people who did have tickets - I think the entry times on the free tickets that could be reserved online were every 10 minutes, so this line probably moved along pretty quickly as long as you didn't arrive way before your entry time.

We decided not to wait, we had other things we wanted to do. We headed to a nearby bus stop...

... saw a UPS truck (electric vehicle) nearby.

After we got onto the bus, it went by the front of the British Museum, so we got another picture of it from the outside.

While on the bus, we saw this interesting store on a corner where our bus was stopped for a light. Jas Smith & Sons - it appears they sell "sticks" and "umbrellas". In the windows, we saw fancy canes and umbrellas.

We realized that we were going by the front of Central Baptist Church where we had attended church on Sunday, so we got a picture of the front of their building.

Lots and lots of rental bikes all over London -- this was one stand of them. As we understood it, you can check out a bike with your phone, ride wherever you need to go, and then just leave it on the sidewalk. The bike riders must have nerves of steel the way they weave in and out of traffic.

We took a picture of this telephone booth (from the bus) as it actually still had the pay telephone in it. Don't know if it still works or not.

Carl took a timelapse video of part of our bus journey - this was heading southwest from Piccadilly Circus toward the area behind Buckingham Palace -- you can view it here: https://youtu.be/rQtAToWduHM 

Just a little more from Tuesday, but I'll put it into another post.