Coaching for Pizza: Last Full Day in London

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Last Full Day in London

My 198th and next to last day of the Grand Tour. The day started with great intentions and plans. Unfortunately it was not to be!

This is for you Bill Gardner, lifelong Rotarian

As I walked out of my hotel in Harrow, I was greeted by this sign welcoming today's Rotary International Club's meeting. Bill is my father-in-law and was an integral part of the Crescenta-Canada chapter of Rotary for mant years in Montrose, California.

I decided to go and play 9 holes of golf in England

I was REALLY fired up to play a short round on this very nice 9 hole course. It was highly recommended by the hotel and was only one Tube station away followed by a 15 minute walk.

I got out my black collared Elephants Catania polo shirt, a nice clean pair of Nike shorts and put on my Nike tennis shoes and headed out to the course at about 10:00 a.m. When I got there the course looked great and no one was playing on a Thursday morning.

When I got there the young man in charge asked me if I had soft spikes and I said no, just tennis shoes. He informed me that I could NOT play the course because I was not wearing "Proper Golf Attire"... no soft spikes!

He was nice about it so I asked him where I could go to play with the offending shoes and he said he could only think of one course anywhere near us and it was a 15 minute car ride away and not easy to find at that.

Playing golf in the United Kingdom stays on my Bucket List.

Back to 221B Baker Street

I decided to ease my pain by returning to the home of the greatest detective of all time, Sherlock Holmes. His hat fit me perfectly!

I think this Orphan's Fund would have gone directly to help

"The Baker Street Irregulars"

I feel VERY comfortable in his parlor.

Now THAT's a toilette, Sherlock.

I felt a little better after the Holmes' home tour about the aborted golf mission.

London has a great dragon for it's icon

Camarillo has Don Adolfo Camarillo on horseback and Thousand Oaks has it's oak tree. I like London's icon a WHOLE lot better!

Plaques like this one are the reason I don't take illegal pictures at sightseeing spots in the U.K.

The next planned stop was to Temple Church

This church is featured in Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code".

The church's was dedicated to the secret and mysterious Society of the Knights Templar.

I was greeted by a Church of England pastor dressed in a bright red cassock. He simply asked me if I was there for the Communion Service which was about to start in two minutes.

Of course I said "No" and he then announced that I could not come inside during the service, fair enough. I asked when he thought I could return to view the church and he said it would be open to visitors again on Saturday!

Rejection #2 for the day, so I went for a combination strool, bus and Tube tour of London.

I'm all for re-opening this tavern on name recognition issues alone!

The flowers are in bloom at this park near the River Thames

Big Ben is, well, BIG!

Can't the head of Formula 1 Racing just have some privacy at an S&M party?

Buckingham Palace

The fence and gate were impressive, but the Palace's external architecture was not.

Across the way from Buckingham Palace is this excellent entry gate to

Green Park

The Victoria Monument

A make shift "water slide" in Green Park to beat the heat

It was the hottest day of 2008 in London today with the temperatures reaching a scorching 28 degrees Centigrade which equals 82 degrees Fahrenheit!

The Tube now had signs posted and more frequent and sterner announcements over the public address system warning us to carry a bottle of liquids with us when we entered the Tube for health reasons in this continued heat wave.

The girl on her knees is sliding all the way to the bottom of the slide as I take this shot.