Sights of London

  Having visited our grandchildren Tori and Robyn - what we most missed in London - it was time this week to take a day trip to catch sights in London not seen for six months. I sanitised the handles of a Santander bike and pedalled through Hyde Park where I noticed Rotten Row was being levelled. Did you know the ancient horse track formerly sloped across its width? Another change I noticed was the new patterned front Westminster residential and commercial centre towering across from the Abbey on Victoria Street. Joy to attend evensong there with a choir of seven and a congregation just three times that number. Great to be back in London on a mid-September day trip from Haywards Heath made on quiet trains. I sanitised my Santander bike and headed for my online pre-booked visit to the National Gallery where I caught my first sight of Cezanne’s bathers for six months. I like the way the figures blend into their natural setting. My London experience was a more prosaic blending of mind...

Victoria station is major portal to the sights of London so many of which are free, at least to look at, like London Eye. Our fourth tour takes us to Portcullis House, opposite Big Ben, accessed by walking or taking a bus down Victoria Street to Westminster underground station beneath it. Accommodating MPs this building is named after the chained portcullis on Parliament letterheads. It’s prominent chimneys draw air through the building by natural convection. You can visit Portcullis House to attend public committees after a security check. The walk views Big Ben and the statue of Boadicea crossing Westminster Bridge to London Eye returning across a Golden Jubilee Bridge to view Joseph Bazalgette’s memorial, one of the famous Lion’s heads,  William Tyndale’s statue and  the RAF memorial returning from there to Victoria station. Big Ben From Westminster underground station under Portcullis House you can’t miss the UK’s most popular sight, Pugin’s 315 foot clock tow...