Day 25: And then there were two!

After what almost seems like a lifetime ago in Glasgow, when we hit the road together, the time has come today for our travel tragic buddies Enid and Martina to start the long journey home via Tokyo, and so that just left the two travel tragics, Liz and Chris with a day to spend in London. After packing up, checking out and a Scottish breakfast next door, we left the bags in storage and went in search of Buckingham Place, finding our way to Victoria Station and a short walk to the massive queue to collect our timed tickets. How exciting: we had done Kensington Palace and Windsor Castle on our  last visit to London and now to be able to see the Queen’s State Apartments created great expectations. Of course there was no photography inside, but we were treated to a look at an Irish Designed Coach used by Queen Victoria after Prince Albert died, and then we started on the tour in earnest. The green room, the throne room, the portrait gallery, the supper room, the grand ballroom, the music room and the sculpture gallery. We learned about the specific changes that Queen Victoria made, not only to the palace but to what it meant to be a monarch of the people. She was responsible for introducing garden parties and extended the palace so that there could be balls and such occasions, and was in fact responsible for the white facade of the current palace. It was very smooth, very interesting and I would thoroughly recommend it if you are visiting London. The other thing was that it was the best and most user friendly audio guide we have experienced , and we were welcomed by Chuckles himself on the audio, just like we were in Windsor all those years ago. (and no we did not sneak naughty photos: these are available on our good friend Google)

At the end of the tour we came out onto the palace verandah overlooking the gardens and there we had a lovely Rose and Pomegranate tea, served in a recyclable cup that composts. How cool. And after that short break it was a fabulous stroll along the garden pathway out of the palace towards Grosvenor Place. We really enjoyed a couple of short breaks and admired the plantings and snacked on some royal gelato, as you do. Chris thinks he may have caught a glimpse of the Wollemi pine that is planted in the garden. 

There was no time to spare and so we tried to find the bus stop, which had been moved due to construction and we caught a bus up in the direction of the “high street “, where we visited the Burlington Arcade and the Royal Arcade. This is definitely the upmarket end of town where, if you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it. Chris really likes arcades, and when we were in Paris we visited the arcades which were not far from our hotel. They are the Model for arcades such as the Royal in Melbourne. The Burlington and the Royal are very similar in style and I can just imagine the Victorian ladies in all of their finery promenading around. We also checked out the labels in Old Bond Street and its twin New Bond Street. Ouch so many huge labels.

 

Time was passing and so we hailed a cab and made one last visit to Primark before gathering our luggage and making our way to the Heathrow Express at Paddington station. While the Mecure Paddington was an aging hotel with such a small room, at this point when it came to the wander into the station, I was very grateful that we were right there. And with our Brit Rail pass we just sauntered onto the train and sat in the First and Business cabin where there were only 3 seats and a luggage rack almost all to ourselves! Yay!

The business of printing bag labels at Terminal 5 is not necessarily the easiest thing in the world, but we printed and went off in search of something for dinner. Wagamamma was a great option and we enjoyed Chicken Ramen and some edamame in a quite corner before mooching in the shops and then going down to the gate lounge. The plane was late boarding and late departing but we made it into Dublin not long after 10... and that was where the fun began. 

We were to stay at Trinity College at Dublin and Chris had received around the world for sixpence instructions from them about access so the cab driver was winding his way around the campus in the darkness looking for the student accommodation service. When we went to book in, Liz’s worst fears were realised. The university had completely ignored Chris’s request for a downstairs room and had put us on the second floor. It was too much for Liz... the tears flowed, as the arthritis, flaring because of the illness and all the walking was at almost unbearable anyway so the thought of negotiating stairs up so down two flights with bags and sore ankles and knees was unbearable. The only ground floor accommodation they had was not en-suite so that was not going to work either. So, at after 11.30pm we had to find somewhere else to stay. Sorted thanks to Google, but then none of the cab drivers could work out how to get to the part of the uni where we were, and the gates were to close at midnight, so we walked dragging our suitcases...a good kilometre or more up the road to the Holiday Inn express Dublin City. I have never been more grateful for a nice bed and an hotel with a lift. Fell into bed somewhere just after 1am, totally exhausted.