Battersea Power Station and Park

Monday, July 22nd: We spent yesterday afternoon at the former Battersea Power Station, now turned into a shopping mecca and tourist attraction.  We also walked a bit of the Thames Path (a new section for us) into Battersea Park and then swung back to a new Underground Station at the power station.  We started slowly after sleeping in and checking out a breakfast place in St. Pancras Train Station--we are meeting up with Leslie and Dennis there on Tuesday morning as they transit through from Windsor to France on the Eurostar Train.

The Battersea Power Station has become a new, popular attraction for both locals and tourists.  According to the internet, over 11 million people visited the station in 2023 [oops, editing was needed-I originally left out the "million"].  We arrived there by first taking the  subway under the river to the east side of the Vauxhall Bridge, then walking to St. George's Wharf and riding a river boat to the station pier.  The boat was operated by the Uber Boats but our oyster cards worked for paying the fare.

Vauxhall Bridge with the MI-6 Headquarters just beyond.

An Uber-Boat, which serves as the "river's Underground subway."

I will give you a bare description of the power station and then let the photos tell the rest of the story.  The station was a twin, coal fired plant with two turbine halls, the first one was built just before WWII in an Art Deco design and the second just after the war with a more stripped down design.  It shut down in the 1980's.  The plant provided a quarter of the city's power until the industry shifted away from coal-fired plants.  Sometime in the early 2000's, a Malaysian consortium funded the redevelopment.  One of the four smokestacks became an elevator shaft with a glass car, called Lift 109.

The Battersea Power Station from the Thames River.

Arriving at the station's pier.

With the four smokestacks, it is very recognizable.

It is a brick building (would that be unreinforced masonry?).

At the front of the building is a large sitting area with facilities for various sports and a Jumbotron (it was showing the Tour de France).   The multitude of deck chairs were fully occupied.

Turbine Hall A, the Art Deco side, with the old bridge crane overhead.

Art Deco features.  The walls in this space were covered in a handsome terrazzo tile.

There are several new levels occupied with high class shops and restaurants.  

Our first activity inside the station was to take the "smokestack" elevator ride - Lift 109.

A sculpture signifying steam turbine blades.

The first powerhouse was called "Old Brompton Road" station.  The building was spared by German bombers because they used the smoke from the stacks for navigating.  The fourth smokestack was finished in 1955.

A better photo of the turbine blade art.

View of the stack just before entering the elevator car.

The inside of the stack.

Panoramic view looking toward the high rises of London.  We were about the same altitude as the top of the London Eye.

Ditto - one can see the Shard, the Cellphone, part of the Gerkin.

Ditto - the Eye. and looking toward the Houses of Parliament.

The US Embassy is the 'bubbly' sided building.

The roof between the two turbine halls and two smokestacks.

The Chelsea Bridge and the well manicured grounds of the Royal Hospital.

Ditto.

The Control Room for the newer turbine hall which was turned into a cocktail bar.  We continued walking around both turbine halls before stopping for smoothies.  We exited the power house and walked south to the nearby Battersea Park.

The top of the converted smokestack showing the round, glass elevator.  BTW, we rode up in the elevator, remained at the top sampling the view for about 7 minutes, and then returned down. 

A study of verticality.  This photo was taken from the Battersea Park, which has several playing fields (cricket was being played), a number of lakes, an Old English Garden, a cafe, some other sites, and lots of paths along the river and through the park being used by joggers and walkers.  Many locals were enjoying the sunny afternoon, picnicking, playing with kids and dogs, or just basking.

Great Thistles or artichokes, in the Old British Garden.

Leek with bumblebee.

We rode home from the power station via the Underground, had a brief rest before going to The Dolphin, a neighborhood pub that specialized in Peruvian food.  The beer and food was great - not the typical pub fare.  We had spicy noodles with vegetables and pork adobo with rice.

The Dolphin.

London's V&A Museum

Sunday, July 21st:  We spent a great part of yesterday at the Victoria and Albert Museum (the V&A) in Kensington.  Its collections (and its building) are quite eclectic and reminded us of what you might find in one's attic - it is London's Attic.

I should say that I tend to get pretty wordy in the blog posts but we use it as our main record of what we did.  Without this detail, we would not remember later, in several months from now or in a year, what and where we went.  So, please excuse the length and you can focus on the photos.  They hopefully give a briefer overview of our 'adventure.'

We slept reasonably well (in a hot room) until about 3 am local, then I was wide awake.  I worked on the first blog posting starting at around 4 am.  We showered after that and then departed the hotel for breakfast at 7 am.  Most places (per Google) were not open until 8 am or later, but I found a place that did open earlier -- Fast Break, on the edge of the Holborn neighborhood.  It was excellent and we both enjoyed Eggs Royale (like Eggs Benedict but with smoked salmon instead of ham) with salad.  Three policemen, i.e., 'constables,' came in shortly after us, which was a good sign -- they often know the good places to eat.  By the time we left, most of the tables were taken.

We next walked a short distance to an Underground station (Holborn) for a ride to near the V&A Museum, but the subway line we needed to take was closed for the day.  So, we took another one that got us to the north side of Kensington Park and we walked the rest of the way to the museum, mostly across Kensington Park, seeing Kensington Palace, the Round Pond (with swans and geese), people exercising and dogs enjoying the fields.

Kensington Palace, home of William, Kate and the boys.  Not very impressive.

The Albert Memorial, erected by Queen Victoria after the death of her husband.  It is on the south side of the park.

There are four corners of sculptures representing four large parts of the English empire -- this one is labeled "America."  Note the bison, and a seated Native American.  I am not sure what the maidens signify.  The other corners represent  Europe, India, and Africa.

The Royal Albert Hall - the annual summer concerts known as 'The Proms' began this week.  We toured this venue many years ago on a prior trip to London.

Front entrance to the V&A Museum.

Just inside the vestibule hangs a huge Dale Chiluly glass sculpture.  Chiluly is from Tacoma, WA.

View of the garden in the center of the buildings.  Its current incarnation includes a wading pool and an outdoor cafe.

After taking an hour-long tour of the "Highlights of the Museum" we went to the garden for a raisin scone and carrot cake.

It started to rain which drove everyone inside, so this photo which shows one side the building that faces the garden.

After the snack, we went back inside to see/photograph some of the exhibits pointed out by the tour guide.  This is the Cast Room, where there are replicas of famous facades, sculptures, coffins, etc.  The towers are a replica of Tragan's Column and depicts in the spiral scenes of his campaigns to expand the Roman Empire.  The near section fits on top of the section with a pedestal (as the original in Rome does).  We enjoyed the ability to get close to the details.

Detail of some of the early scenes.

An unusual church chapel replica (note the carved vine around the column)

Replica of the Bronze Doors at the Florence Baptistery.

Detail of one panel for the door above, showing an effective use of perspective, giving a 3-dimensional look.

A 15th century wooden, spiral staircase.

Double Oak Doors with impressive iron work.

Bi-fold wood shutters with decorative metal work and hinges.

An heavy duty gate.  The museum had lots of cast iron and wrought iron artifacts.

A large set of metal screens.

A 15th century Persian rug all in silk, one of the oldest rugs they know about.  Four hundred knots in each square inch of the rug.  It is 17 feet by 35 feet in size.  

To stretch  our legs, we hiked back to our hotel across the city instead of taking the Underground - 4.1 miles.  The temperature was much cooler today compared to yesterday and was pretty comfortable walking.  We passed a variety of sites, most of which we had seen on previous visits.  The photos don't capture the hordes of people cramming the sidewalks and cafes -  the city is very busy.

All Souls Church at the end of Regent Street.  To the left and behind is the BBC Headquarters.

And one more interesting access cover -- guess where they get their water from, or at least, a noteworthy name for their water department.

After returning to our hotel to rest up and prepare for dinner out, we walked to The Seafood Bar, a restaurant in the Soho District that was suggested by Todd Abrams and his partner, Wenwen.  Todd is Betsy's cousin's son and has been visiting London for the last 7 weeks.  We had dinner with him and his parents in May, the night before traveling to New York City during our last adventure (you may be to see a record of this visit in the blog listing for May 24th).  In any case, we learned of Todd's visit to London, and followed through on joining him and Wenwen at a restaurant of their choice.  Todd had reserved a table at this restaurant and we enjoyed a terrific seafood dinner with the pair.  Three of us got to pick, crack, slop our way through generous platters of oysters, crabs, clams, mussels, and several varieties of prawns, while Betsy had a simpler array with fewer shells.  

We had a good, wide-ranging conversation.  Todd and Wenwen had just come from the Tate Modern so we talked about art and our visit to the V&A.  We shared tips on other things to see and do in London - on their next trip, since they fly back to the States on Tuesday.  We covered jobs (Wenwen is doing public policy for the UN with focus on human traffic and Todd is undergoing interviews), reading, and walking.  They really liked the hiking paths, or Wanderwegs, in Vienna.  We split up about 9:30, taking the Undergound home.

The "Fruits de Mer" dinner selection for one.

Todd and Wenwen.  

A New Adventure Begins

 Saturday, July 20:

A new adventure started two days ago.  Betsy and I boarded a direct flight from Portland to London's Heathrow Airport.  Because of the worldwide collapse of Microsoft systems (or however it is named), the incoming flight to Portland was delayed about 2 hours and our rescheduled departure was 1 1/2 hour later.  It was no matter to us, since we had extra time to get from our house to the airport and enjoy in the "executive" lounge.  The logistics of checking bags, passing through security, and boarding the plane was uneventful.

The flight was 9 hours long, but as comfortable as possible given the distance.  Because of a plane model change and a request from British Air to Betsy to move her seat (so a family could be together), we did not seat next to each other.  I was in row 7 and Betsy was in row 11.  Had we sat together, on of us would have been facing to the plane's rear.  We enjoyed the business class service, watching movies (Dune 2, Retribution and part of Despicable Me (first one from 2010) for me; American Fiction for Betsy), and trying to nap a bit.

After arriving at Heathrow, there was no gate open to park the airplane, so it was taken to the "auxiliary" parking area.  There were no buses available to shuttle us to the terminal for about 40 minutes, but after that passport control was quick -- didn't talk with an agent, simply scanned our passports and had a photo taken.  Like the passenger bus snafu, the wait for the luggage was extended.  All of this was attributed to the Microsoft crash.  But, the luggage eventually showed up and we walked to the train station for the Heathrow Express (pre-purchased tickets allowed for easy access for boarding the train).  The train ride lasted about 20 minutes, arriving at Paddington Station. There were stickers on the concourse of the station directing us to the Underground station for our last connection to King's Cross stop (a few blocks from our hotel).   We added money to our Oyster cards easily -- interestingly, the balances on the cards from our last visit to London was a negative 5 pounds.  After 4 stops on the Underground and crammed with lots of people going the same way, we arrived at our destination.  We then walked a few blocks to the Fairway Hotel (3 stars), our home for the next 5 nights.  We checked in, hauled our luggage up 2 flights of stairs and moved into a small room.  This was about 3 pm local; 5 am Portland time on Friday.

It was a hot Friday afternoon in London and lots of people were on the move, probably looking to escape the heat.  We showered and then went out for an early dinner in the Islington neighborhood.  We walked back along the back streets to Regents Canal and then between the St. Pancreas and King's Cross Train Stations.  The photos tell the story for this.  

Our restaurant in Islington, about 1.2 miles from our hotel.

The restaurant featured small plates which we shared - taco, plattos, and quesadillas.  Along with 2 mocktails and dessert, an excellent experience.

On the walk back to our hotel, I started photographing in earnest - continuing my study of "manhole" covers -- these are really access covers since they are only about a one foot in diameter.

Curious thing - does anyone know what a "slide out" is?

After a half mile, we reached the access to the Regent's Canal.  The "Islington Tunnel" is where the canal goes underground or under the modern buildings.

On the canal - now a prime tourist site.

But it appears the locals were enjoying it more than the tourists.  The mostly young people were watching a movie on the Jumbotron in the left edge of this photo.  The guys in the rafts had the best seats and probably were a bit cooler.

Just past the outdoor movie theater, we were drawn up to a large plaza and interesting architecture of the Coal Drops Yard.  The place was buzzing with folks.

Next door was an unusual set of condos called the "Gasholders."  This is one of three buildings that look like some sort of storage tank.  There is one more undeveloped structure that is Gasholder Park, overlooking the canal.

A lock and weir in the canal.

An overview -- the park is in front of the redbrick building (you might be able to see the iron framework), and the Gasholders (condos) have privacy screens that form the skin of the tanks but which can be folded back for views.

Facade of King's Cross Station.

Side view of St. Pancreas Station.

By nine pm local time, we were crashing, hardly able to keep our eyes open.  We crashed and slept until about 4 am. when I started working on this blog.  It is currently 5:40 am and the sky is brightly lit.