Josephine's Travels: 2005

Saturday, December 31, 2005

Today Dave, Kath and I covered both God and Mammon - Westminster Abbey and Harrods.

The Abbey seems more a sort of national mausoleum than a church - everyone of any note, or connection to royalty or politics, either legitimate or illegitimate seems to have been buried there which is all a little overwhelming in the confined space. The number of tombs and statues seems to crowd out the architecture a bit, and some of the amazing tombs, such as the combined Elizabeth I / Mary one, and the Mary Queen of Scots tomb, seem to deserve a larger space to be appreciated, but they are all surrounded by innumerable tombs of long-forgotten Dukes and Ladies.

The roof of the Lady Chapel was my particular favourite, as it is the most incredibly intricate and delicately carved cream confection commissioned by Henry VII to secure his immortal salvation - he died just as it was finished, so I hope for his sake it was successful. The Chapter House next door has been beautifully restored and has stunning stained glass windows - including one for Thomas Henley (!!!!!) - and fascinating death effigies of assorted kings and queens in lavish costumes. The spirit of the Lord must also have been working on some unknown visitor as Kathryn dropped her camera somewhere on our circuit of the Abbey, but after a minor meltdown of panic it transpired that it had been found and handed in - many mutterings of gratitude!!!!!

On to worship the god of consumption, we headed for Harrods, and decided to focus on just two areas - the food hall, and toys. Many of you will be familiar with the glorious displays of every imaginable vaariety of yummy stuff, so we wandered around duly ooh-ing and aah-ing at everything. The toy section was equally amazing with such delights at a mini-Hummer about the size of a real Mini, and little electronic dogs (and a pig) trotting around the floor, snuffling, and barking and even turning flips to the delight of large children like us. We couldn't decide whether to buy a half-size elephant, or a baby hippo, so proceeded to the baby department next door with such delights as a Baby Dior snow-suit for 150 pounds, or a teeny pair of pink party shoes for 90 pounds, or a size 0 Tommy Hilfiger jacket for 90 pounds. Obviously you would have no trouble buying a present at Harrods for the "person who has everything".

To top it off, there were two extreme examples of tackiness. The first is a scarily life-like model of Mahommed Al-Fayeed welcoming you to the store. But even more amazing is the twin bronze sculptures, positioned in the middle of the escalators, of Diana and Dodi flying through the air, with clothes artistically awry, entitled "Innocent Victims" - quite bizarre!!!!

New Year's Eve is tomorrow, and after a leisurely wander through the Portobello Road markets our activities will depend partly on whether the London Tube workers' strike impinges on our plans to go to view the fireworks on the Thames. So Happy New Year .....................

Friday, December 30, 2005

Business Class & Singapore Slings

Well at least I am starting on a classy note. Despite general derision, I always arrive at the airport early, and was rewarded by a very nice check-in lady who upgraded me to Business Class. This was rather fortunate as Economy Class was like the top of those Indian trains Peter likes travelling on - definitely seething humanity!!! I even had the one spare seat in Business Class - and on the whole plane I think - beside me to generally spread myself around on. In true common peasant style I ate and drank everything they offered me, starting with the Veuve Cliquot, but eventually had to admit defeat with the offer of after-dinner port. Ah well, common plebs like me appreciate such little luxuries. The daytime flight also gave an excellent sense of the vast emptiness of Australia as we crossed enormous areas of desolate landcape or dense tropical vegetation with minimal evidence of human habitation.

A five hour stopover in Singapore seemed too good a chance to waste sitting in the transit lounge, so after finding somewhere to store my big winter coat (a little superfluous in the tropical heat), and according to Kevin's instructions I found the MTR station just below the terminal, and zoomed into town on the train. The City Hall stop brings you up inside the glittery Raffles Shopping Centre strung with gazillions of lights in true Asian Christmas fashion. Across the road from this modern glitz is the stunningly renovated Raffles Hotel. The old facade has been kept, but all the interiors have been modernised, except for the wonderful old Long Bar with fans on the roof, peanut shells all over the floor, and elegant verandahs to sit on and watch the life of the town pass by - even the sudden tropical downpour added to the steamy ambience. Of COURSE I had to have a Singapore Sling, and the waiter took the obligatory photo, and as one glanced around the room it was clear that they do a very good trade with people like me who just have to visit Raffles for the iconic drink, which is actually rather underwhelming, and actually a local beer might have been a better choice. It is a rather lovely old room though, and it is fortunate not to have been converted into glass and chrome.

On to Frankfurt from Singapore, the travel gods were still watching over me as the Lufthansa flight was only half full,thus I was spared Kath's nightmare of the fat-lady-overflowing-the-seat, and of the 12 hour flight I managed to sleep soundly for 5 hours and nap for another 3, so I was relatively un-shell-shocked, making a quick changeover for London and Heathrow. Finally, 38 hours after leaving Gowing Drive I arrived at Kath and Dave's flat in Notting Hill. It is in a very nice part of London, and after a lovely reviving cup of tea I took off to scout the Kensington High St and the incredible number of antique shops in the area.

Kath and Dave are due home from work shortly, and jet lag will no doubt hit in an hour or so, and knock me unconscious as I curl up on their couch after a very full first "day" of my trip.