June 14 - Laura Heads Home, Power Sightseeing and a Delightful Dinner

Unfortunately, it's Laura's last day here, so we headed out for a nice breakfast instead of suffering through the hotel's Continental.  Having had breakfast along with two Lattes each we took a short walk around the neighbourhood.

The Ghandi memorial near the hotel.



















A line of restaurants nearby. Lots of choice.














Words of wisdom for the day.

After our walk we head off to Heathrow, get her luggage & bike off, and have lunch. A sad farewell but our doggie needs Laura.





Power Sightseeing:  With little time left, off I go, elbowing Japanese tourists out of the way, Karate chopping selfie sticks, jumping over "Exhibit Closed" barriers, with the camera shutter smoking, until I am straight-armed and tackled by a security guard ....

Actually, not true.  I am in a hurry but all I probably did was accidentally photo-bomb some other people's photos.

I take the Tube into town and get off at Hyde Park Corner.  F.R.E.D. points me towards Buckingham Palace and I get some photos. 

 The sun has come out after a cloudy morning.

The Wellington Arch











The front of Buckingham Palace










Some of the ornate gates in front of the front of the palace.

                                                      Queen Victoria memorial



F.R.E.D. is getting tired (low battery) but he is still able to point me towards Victora Tube Station. Next destinastion is the British Museum. Only an hour to closing so time to set the Power Sightseeing into high gear.

Yeah, good luck.  I'm overwhelmed with the size of the place and the antiquities there.  So, all I do is look at a few of the Egyptian artifacts and visit the Mechanical Clock display.


The courtyard in front of the museum









 The grand-daddy of all artifacts - the Rosetta Stone













Amenhotep I













                           The Goddess Sektmet

Ram sphinx of King Taharco














I love this guy's expression (gas?).  He's the King of Knidos.


See what I mean?  Overwhelming, and I've only scratched the surface.





Off to the Mechanical clock display.



Replica of the Carillon Clock at Strasbourg Cathedral (1589).  Sorry about the poor photo.
















Rolling ball clock.  The ball zig zags down the plate every 30 seconds; the plate tilts and the ball makes the trip in the other direction.  Interesting idea, lousy time keeper.






Automaton from 1585.  Three mechanisms:  one for the clock, one for music & drumming, and the other to propel the ship down the table to announce the banquet.









One hour and I looked at parts of 2 rooms.  There are at least sixty in the museum!

Finally, dinner, or the next chapter in the 'Small World Department.'  Some of you know our next door neighbours in Nanoose, Doug & Susan Pugh.  They have a daughter, Sarah, who lives and works in Capetown, South Africa, but travels occasionally for her work.  So what are the chances that she will be spending a week in London the same time I spend two days here and that she is staying at a hotel 4 blocks away from ours?  So, we go out for a great dinner and lots of chat. 


Back on the cycle tomorrow for a convoy out of London and off to Gillingham on the way to Dover the day after.