A Brilliant Birthday

I may have become another year older this week, but I was given the chance to celebrate in some style!  Completely unbeknown to me, Lizzie had booked a wonderful evening in London; dinner, a show, and a hotel room.  Suffice to say, it was a magical weekend.

Destination Holborn, and the peaceful Lincoln's Inn Fields Club Quarters hotel.  Situated just off the busy Kingsway, the hotel is a stone's throw from the Strand and Covent Garden, but the bustle of Saturday afternoon London shopping may as well have been a world away - the hotel was a small piece of tranquility.

Taking it easy in the hotel

At the Club Quarters

Out into the evening air, we wandered along Long Acre and into the hubbub that is Leicester Square and Piccadilly.  Surely this is the centre of urban Britain, the pavements packed from shop to road, the constant traffic, car horns, ticket touts and loud music blaring from the shops.  I couldn't live in London, but it makes for a fascinating visit, an enormous ball of energy incomparable with any other city I have been to.

before the theatre, Lizzie had booked a table at Planet Hollywood - a chain that first came about with the financial backing of, amongst others, Syvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Bruce Willis.  The walls are covered in memorabilia, the scenes around the restaurant showing trailers of films past and present.  It is all very American, and a lot of fun, and who can resist a birthday cocktail or two?  What's more, birthday messages flash up on the screens and before long, everybody knows how old I am!



Birthday announcements in Planet Hollywood

Enjoying a cocktail

Her Majesty's Theatre lies just down the road from Planet Hollywood and Piccadilly Circus, in Haymarket.  The theatre has been home to Phantom of the Opera since it opened 26 years ago.  Regarded as one of Andrew Lloyd Webber's finest works, it is said that the whole score was written for love - in this case, for his then-wife Sarah Brightman.  The theatre is small, cosy, and very classy.  After much jostling and movement we are seated, the lights go down, and the curtain comes up.



The stage is set

Audience member with programme

An auction begins, the selling of the Paris Opera's old items and instruments.  In amongst the collection is a music box in the shape of a monkey, and a shattered chandelier.  "Some of you may recall the strange affair of the Phantom of the Opera; a mystery never fully explained," announces the auctioneer.  "We are told, ladies and gentlemen, that this is the very chandelier which figures in the famous disaster.  Our workshops have repaired it and wired parts of it for the new electric light.  Perhaps we can frighten away the ghosts of so many years ago with a little illumination..."

With that, the orchestra strikes up, the chandelier explodes into light and is raised to the ceiling, the stage comes to life through the haunting overture, the retelling of Gaston Leroux's classic tale begins.  The staging, the sets, the singing and the acting is all superb - it makes for a fabulous evening out.



Her Majesty's Theatre, Haymarket

Home the next day, and just look at how generous everybody has been!  Thank you everybody for your birthday cards and gifts.  And a special thanks to Lizzie for giving me a perfect weekend - it was brilliant.

Pressies!

A Day at the Palace

On a cool Autumn morning last week, Lizzie and I took the train from Guildford to the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, to the royal palace of Hampton Court.  The grand old building was built for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, a favourite of Henry VIII in around 1514.   When the Cardinal fell from favour, the King took the place over himself.  As you can see, he inherited quite a building!

The entrance courtyard at the palace

The beautiful facade from the formal gardens

Fearing that the sun would soon be blocked out by rain clouds, we made our first stop the extensive palace gardens.  Slightly faded in the cold Autumn air, these were still looking very formal and well-cared for.  The main attraction was, of course, the palace hedge maze, attracting many children and families.  We didn’t get too lost - in fact, we completed the course without one wrong move, in what must have been more luck than judgement.

One strange hedge-maze-dweller, he has probably been living in it for years

To the back of the palace, the gardens are even more formal.  There was perhaps a lack of colour (understandable given the season), but the topiary was perfect, the sculptures stood bright and white against the greying sky, everything with an air of regality that you expect from a royal palace.  What was better, we had most of the garden to ourselves- it was so quiet, that a plucky little fox strolled right past us!

The boating lake, reminiscent of Versailles

Formal gardens

A brave fox

Yet more formality in the gardens!

A royal swan

Inside, the palace is divided according to historical period, the most popular being Henry VIII’s apartments.  When Henry took the palace for himself, he added the Great Hall - the last medieval great hall built for the English monarchy - and royal tennis courts.  He also quadrupled the size of the kitchens, remodeling the palace so that it was large enough to cater his assembled court of over one thousand people.  The stained glass windows of the Great Hall adorn the image of the king himself, leaving no doubt as to who was in power here.  To me, the place does not feel all that removed from its sixteenth century origins.

Henry VIII's Great Hall

Stained glass window in the Great Hall

King Henry VIII in stained glass

The Tudor kitchens, remodeled to cater for thousands

A Tudor pie thief tries her luck

When the Tudor period came to an end, James I used Hampton Court as the place for a meeting with representatives of the English Puritans; this became known as the Hampton Court Conference, and ultimately led to the commissioning of the King James Bible.  Later, William of Orange and his wife, Queen Mary II, undertook a rebuilding project at the court.  It was originally intended to demolish the whole palace, making way for a new estate that would rival Versailles.  Fortunately, these plans were largely abandoned, with only William and Mary’s private chambers being added.  Each suite was equal in value, reflecting William and Mary’s unique status as joint sovereigns.  On our visit, Mary’s apartments were closed, but William’s apartments were quite comfortable and positively modern compared to Henry’s.

The weapons room in William III's apartment

William III's bed

The last monarchs to reside at Hampton Court were George I and Geroge II.  Under these two monarchs, several renovations took place and new suites were added.  The Georgian galleries reflect the new and wealthier taste of the age, although to me they lack the harshness of history that was experienced in the chambers of earlier times.  Following the reign of George II, no monarch ever resided at Hampton Court.  George III apparently refused to set foot in the palace, associating it with a humiliating scene when his grandfather had struck him following an innocent remark!  The Great Hall did receive some restoration work during the reign of Queen Victoria, and promptly became open to the public.  It was given statutory protection in 1952 by being grade 1 listed.  It is now managed by the independent charity, Historic Royal Palaces.

Georgian games room

A lovely Georgian study

One final note that I think needs mentioning: we entered the palace on a 2-for-1 ticket, in a brilliant scheme organised by Southwest Trains, who offer discount tickets to those who use the railway.