London, Thursday, April 7
Today Lorri & I decided to go up in the London Eye and then cruise the Lambeth area where my ancestors lived. They worked on the Thames and lived on Lambeth and Southwark from the early 1800's. Before that, they lived in Barnes, a little way upstream, from the Dark Ages or at least back to the late 1500's.
This is the Westminster Bridge. There was a bagpiper playing for tips, trying to save enough to get back to Scotland, I guess. You will see many more shots of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.
The London Eye is bigger than it looks. The "cars" hold quite a few people and move so slowly that it takes about a half-hour to complete a revolution.
When you get to the top and look down on Big Ben, you get a feel for how high up you are.
The structure of the Eye is quite out of character for London where even new buildings look old, but it is so popular and such a landmark, it will probably be there for a while.
This is the Eye & Lorri from the Lambeth side. We had great weather in London and everything was blooming, budding, flowering and doing the Spring thing.
Moving on into Lambeth we found the Church of St. John the Evangelist where my grandfather was probably baptized and where my great-grandfather definitely was on October 27, 1839. He also married Eliza Watts (the inspiration for my father's middle name and hence mine) there on 15 February, 1866. The original church was partially destroyed during WWII.
On down and around the corner we found the house at 24 Roupell Street where, according to his birth certificate, my grandfather was born on 21 March, 1867. The area now is quite nice and gentrified. According to the locals whom we met in the pub, The King's Arms, directly across the street, back then it wasn't quite so nice.
As watermen and lightermen, my ancestors would have plied the Thames and picked up passengers at places like these steps next to Blackfriars Bridge. They may have competed for Doggett's Coat and Badge but they never won it. The names of the winners are recorded but not the names of those who finished second, or third, and so on.
Our next stop after crossing over the Thames was Blackfriars Pub where we sat and enjoyed a pint with lunch and watched the crowds go by. We toured St. Paul's Cathedral (no photos inside) Christopher Wren's masterpiece of the late 1600's.
Then it was on down Fleet Street and The Strand past Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese and the Royal Courts of Justice where we saw a wigged barrister yakking on his cell phone. The older style phones in their red booths were everywhere as were the red double-deckers.
Back in the City of Westminster (London seems to be a city of cities) we met up with Greg and Kelly at The Harp, Britain's best pub, according to some. We fought the crowds to the upstairs where we found some cozy comfortable chairs and quaffed some local ales.
London was alive and enjoying the beautiful Spring weather. The pubs were overflowing with people out on the sidewalks. At Covent Gardens we saw a troop of musicians hamming up some lively classical tunes for tips.
Next stop was the Lamb & Flag, another of London's famous pubs and it was just as crowded as The Harp. However, they have a good system: fight your way to the bar, order your ale, pay and go find a place to drink it. It worked for us!
After a brief regrouping back at the Lime Tree, we went to the Ebury Wine Bar, which happens to be immediately next door, for dinner and libations.
I fear we may have slightly overdone the libations end of that equation but we were within easy crawling distance of our hotel so we didn't worry too much about it. There we are on the steps of Ebury Wine Bar and five seconds later on the steps of the Lime Tree Hotel!
Ireland, New Market and Dingle
Paris, Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday