A bus trip

Today we employed the ‘Hop on-Hop off’ bus to take us around the city, and we hopped off at Trafalgar Square, St Pauls Cathedral and Tower Bridge. It was a great way of getting around until at the end of the day, rush hour, we waited for 40 minutes to hop-on at Westminster Abbey to head back to Marble Arch. That was long enough for me and we moved away from the bus stop to find another means of transport ... and of course that was the cue for the bus to appear. As it turned out it was fortuitous that we missed it because the driver of the #148 red double-decker bus let us ride for free. The conversation went something like this.

Phil: (In his best Aussie accent) We want to go the Lancaster Gate.

Driver: Primrose Hill? A very nice spot.

Me: Lancaster Gate

Driver: Lancaster Gate. That’s a great spot too.

Phil: (Holding open his wallet.) How much?

Driver: (Something in his best pommie accent.)

Me: Pardon?

Driver: Just say yes.

Me: Yes

Driver: OK then, hop on.

So we got a ride to Lancaster Gate for nothing because it was peak hour and the tickets were meant to be purchased before we got onto the bus and the driver was a kind-hearted bloke. You’ve got to love the English.

At Trafalgar Square we looked for St Martin in the Fields church. It was probably in the fields once upon a time but given its locality I had expected it to be tucked away in a side street. It was something of a surprise to see it right next to the National Gallery and across the square from Nelson’s Column.

We wandered inside the church to see where my ancestors, Henry Perryman and Elizabeth Clayton, were married in 1814. We then went down to the cafe, in the crypt under the church, for a coffee. It was interesting to see the memorials on the floor of the crypt, just as in Westminster Abbey and St Pauls Cathedral but probably for the not so rich or famous.

St Pauls was spectacular of course, and we climbed the stairs to the Whispering Gallery and higher to the outside gallery where we looked at the wonderful views over London and beyond while I recovered my breath. Afterwards, in a cafe opposite the Church Yard, we drank yet another coffee and drank in the view of the cathedral as well, and I was pinching myself that I was really there.