This beautiful Hindu temple is just 5 minutes walk from Alperton tube station. This week I visited the Shri Sanatan Hindu Mandir near Wembley because a student group from America that I guide are planning to visit it later this year. It is quite a surprising building to find in suburban London. As you...
The richness of the decoration on every wall of this room is unbelievable and worth every penny of the admittance fee. It reopened in 2019 after several years of renovation. During the day huge windows and rooftop oculi allow natural light to flood in and it is really looking great. The best thing about...
Greenwich is a wonderful place to visit. Weekends are especially fun because 1) Greenwich Market is in full swing then. The name is famous world-wide as the home of the Greenwich Meridian and origin of Greenwich Mean Time. The heart of old Greenwich is the 2) church of St Alphege which is where the...
I was lucky enough to be taken on a behind the scenes visit of the Grand Theatre, Bordeaux. The building dominates one of the main squares of the town. From below you can see these statues of the nine muses and of the goddesses, Juno, Minerva and Venus. The view of the Grand Theatre...
Last summer I visited a light show featuring Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artwork. The show is in a WWII submarine base in Bordeaux and it reopens on 3rd February 2023 The base has been an ugly blot on the landscape to the north of the town since the war. It was so well built it...
Following on from a previous blog, here are some more stories about memorials in Westminster Abbey. They are in the south choir aisle and their lives were intertwined and all are connected to the reign of Queen Anne. I take a walking tour in London which is about her and whether the eccentricities in...
This memorial to Roger Banister (1929-2018) was unveiled in 2021 in Westminster Abbey. He is best known as the first person to run a mile in less than 4 minutes on 6 May 1954 at Oxford’s Iffley Road track. One of his pacemakers was Christopher Chataway who became a broadcaster then an MP. The...
This is the view south toward Spain from the village of Vielle Aure in the French Pyrenees. I am often visiting friends here and in neighbouring St Lary. Its a great place to ski in winter and walk in summer. The Valley Aure happens to be one of the many minor routes taken by...
Stories and street art from Brixton Electric Avenue is in Brixton. It is quite a trek from where I live. I have researched and taken tours there but it is not one of my regular areas so I was happy to be taken on a walking tour to see Brixton’s street art by my...
There are hardly any overseas visitors in London so I am keeping myself up to date on our tourist sites by becoming a tourist myself. Hampton Court is famous for its combination of Tudor and Baroque buildings and gardens. The featured photo is a Victorian sunken gardens created when the palace was opened to...
This week my blog is about Bordeaux. I should be there now but with so few tourists this year, another guide looking for work is not what my colleagues there need. This photo is part of a fountain in the Place de la Bourse. The Place is the backdrop reflected by the Mirroir d’Eau,...
Every year I try to learn something new, this year because of Covid 19 I’ve been forced into embracing virtual reality. I am now on Instagram and this is my profile photo. I was in Bryggen, Bergen in Norway in February. I loved Bergen; the fantastic Kode art galleries, the architecture, the wooden buildings...
Continuing on from last week’s blog, my favourite example of contrapposto is a little alabaster statue in St André Cathedral, Bordeaux. She is called Notre Dame de la Nef. She dates from 1500s and is made of alabaster. This stone came from Nottinghamshire in England and was used as ballast for the ships travelling...
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