Took the Heathrow Express (20 L) to Paddington Station and a cab to Redburn Street No. 11 where we have rented a flat. The cab driver who hauled our suitcases down a short flight was mighty impressed. Well, it’s no small thing to live a few blocks away from Cheyne Street the former location of Henry VIII’s manor home with it’s sweeping lawn down to the banks of the Thames. Cheyne Street is lovely with rows of homes where lumanaries lived and died over centuries. Henry’s home was torn down long ago, but here long ago means two hundred years and the replacements are 300 or more years old!
We took a walk across the Albert Bridge built in 1874. Painted in white, pink, yellow and green it looks like a Victorian ice cream parlor posed against the beautiful blue sky. The Thames is muddy and broad. The picture is shot from the bridge looking up the river toward Big Ben and Parliament.
We walked around Chelsea, had a salad at a pub where I ordered a pint of “It’s A Boy” ale. It was just the ticket for an exhausted and dazed traveler. Chelsea sports a Starbucks and the European headquarters of Anthropologie. I believe my dear friend Molly Jasper helped to design and inaugurate this branch.
Sea gulls abound here–their chatter and calls at dawn and at dusk are amusing. They remind me to revel in my unrestrained emotion. I’m feeling very good and happy about my life today!
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