Last week I visited Strawberry Hill House in Twickenham. It has been extensively restored and only fully re-opened in 2013. It is open from Sunday to Wednesday so more of a destination for Retired Folk.
I went to Buckingham Palace yesterday to watch the centennial RAF flypast and thought I’d do something I’ve never done – watch the Royal Family making a balcony appearance.
Yesterday I walked a short stretch (4 miles) of the Thames Path for the first time. I took the tube to Canary Wharf and felt as if I’d landed in a N American city.
The Metro ran this advertorial on Tuesday about one of the studios in Barons Court that features here. A feature that goes unmentioned in the Metro is the outstanding views of a building site that it may enjoy until the middle of the next decade, when its light will be blocked by a new development.
There are a few things that can only be done at restricted times. One is visiting the Mansion House. I had hoped to advise you to turn up on any Tuesday afternoon for an hour long tour but these jaunts have now been cancelled until further notice.
The re-building of Dresden is almost complete but, as in any city, there is a continuum of regeneration. A bridge over the Elbe is closed to traffic for reconstruction and some bomb sites have not been rebuilt.
A good game is to name structures called after their architects. Let me get you started in Paris with Charles Garnier’s opera house and Gustave Eiffel’s tower and in Vicenza, the Basilica Palladiana by Andrea Palladio.