Singapore again

We had a long 13 hour flight from London to Singapore arriving at about 6 in the morning. Neither of us slept very well on the plane so it was a long first day in Singapore.
The weather is hotter and more humid than it was 2 months ago so it is a matter of staying either in the hotel area  or wandering around an adjoining shopping mall.
I did venture out yesterday to the Gardens by the Bay which is a huge park with two massive air conditioned domes.

 Pre-school children tried together. How sensible.

 Trimmed any leaf that didn't look quite right.

 The South African section.

Another dome had a massive artificial waterfall.

Most of this dome was about the problems of global warming and how it will impact the more tropical areas of the world as the clouds will become higher. This will produce less rain in the tropics. It was a great educational project.

We had a good look around Singapore when we were here in May so felt there wasn't such a need to be tourists again. It's just too humid to do many outside activities at this time of the year

Out to the airport tomorrow afternoon to catch a plane home.

It's been another wonderful trip but we will be pleased to be home and catch up with everyone. 

London 3

Saturday was our last full day in London. We got a cab to Hatton Garden which is a street full of jewellery shops where Pen was going to try to find a ring that she needed. I could see that it was going to take some time so I took my leave.

I walked along Oxford Street where there were many well known shops and heaps of people .

This is Selfridges in Oxford Street which is the famous multi storied department store. Not quite Harrods but still pretty good.

I had a great time walking through Hyde park which is massive. Lots of people peddling boats on the Serpentine lake and sitting under the shade trees. 

 I don't know what this structure is about.

This is the Princess Diana memorial which is really just a giant paddling pool in Hyde park. 

I managed to find the New Zealand war memorial which we had seen from the hop on hop off bus but couldn't remember where we saw it.

The Australian memorial is nearby and very cleverly designed. Probably hard to see but within each of the names of famous battles are thousands of names of towns in Australia where troops came from .

It was very pleasant walking down Constitution Hill toward Buckingham palace. 

There are always lots of people around the Victoria monument beside Buckingham palace.

You often find these barricades where crowds appear so the police can close off the streets when needed.

Sad to leave our hotel this morning which has been home for the last week. 

Today we packed up and caught the train out to Heathrow where we are spending our last night in London watching planes landing nearby. Might have to use my earplugs tonight.

Off to Singapore in the morning. Four nights there then home.

London 2

Pen had a rest day on Thursday so I took the tube to visit the Victoria and Albert museum but soon tired of rude statues of dead people and ceramics from China and Japan.

The science museum next door was far more interesting with displays of flight but no mention of Richard Pearse. There were plenty of modern planes on display as well as a Harrier jump jet.

Museums these days have many hands-on displays which are geared up for young people.
As a result they can be quite crowded and noisy.

They even had the actual Apollo 11 space capsule on display. That was the one that circled The moon without landing.  The tiles on the back were rather charred.

There were very good sections on the history of computers and steam engines and the way they advanced the industrial revolution.

The Natural History museum would have been interested but I ran out of time.

That night I went to see the stage show "The Book of Mormon" which was hilarious and very well performed. The Prince of Wales theatre was great.

On Friday Pen and I had a good look around Harrods then lunch in a wonderful old pub in Trafalgar square. 

Walking down Piccadilly we stumbled across Fortnum and Masons which I always thought of as a grocery store but it has many levels of clothing and  jewellery as well. It's been going since 1707.

Last night we met up with a Kiwi friend, Simon and a friend of his at a very smart restaurant in Sloane square.

London certainly is a wonderful city with so much history. Walking down a street or in a park you see what a multi cultural place it is and it is refreshing to hear English spoken occasionally.

London 1

We had a very nerve racking drive to the Marriott Marble Arch hotel where we handed the car in without any dents. The roads were very busy but we got there thanks to the GPS on my phone. Our St James Court hotel is very central being half way between Buck House and Westminster Abbey and very near St James tube station

The first day we went to the Silver Vaults in Chancery Lane. When we were in London two months ago they were closed as it was a Bank holiday. Luckily for me Pen couldn't find what she was looking for but I did manage to sneek a couple of photos which is highly illegal. I didn't think anyone was looking but I was wrong and got told off. 

I had a long walk past Downing street and happened to see a small changing of the guard near Horse guards parade. I don't know which regiment it was as they seem to have different ones each day.

There are always police with machine guns at popular places.

Called in to NZ House to look at the Inia Te Wiata totara carving that I remember seeing in 1973. He died before it was finished but I think a relative completed it years later.

Back in 1973 you could collect your mail, have a cheap feed in the cafeteria and read the week old newspapers from home. None of that is possible these days.

New Zealand house was built in 1963 in a prime location but it looks out of keeping with the surrounding buildings.

The parks around the centre of London are great to wander around. There are always lots of people sitting around picnicking, children playing and generally relaxing.

Next day we took a 1 hour boat ride down the Thames to Greenwich. It was great seeing London sights from a different perspective.

I walked the kilometre or 2 to the Royal Observatory up the hill. 

Standing with a foot on each side ot the meridian line.

The museum had a wonderful collection of early clocks which were so essential for accurate navigation.

The sailing ship the Cutty  Sark is another tourist attraction at Greenwich. It was built in 1869 to cart tea from China to Britain and was the fastest sailing ship of its time.

 This super yacht is moared in the Thames and is owned by a British billionaire Joe Lewis. It has its own launch which fits in the side of the "ship".

That afternoon I looked at an exhibition in the Queens Gallery at Buckingham palace of artifacts which the Prince of Wales was presented with when he had his 4 month long tour of India in 1875.