Our last photo in England. This the surprisingly functional and unattractive terminal 5 at Heathrow. 
We have to get off the Express at terminal 5 and wait for the train to our terminal. Utilitarian but very efficient.
Back at Paddington station again, about to get on the Heathrow Express that whisks us back from central London to the airport.
From the observatory you look back across Greenwich Park to the Queen's House, the University of Greenwich just beyond that, and across the River Thames to east London.
We sat out back because it was such a lovely day. This is a nice french (sorry, Gloria) restaurant in Greenwich. We listened as a very pretty young woman complained about how old she was as she lamented her 27th birthday. That's 1983 when I was already 34. I was older the day she was born than the day she worried her friends about her age.
Marian has one foot on each side of the Prime Meridian. One foot in the east, one foot in the west.
Sitting on the top of the hill is the Royal Observatory where the offiicial day begins. Home of the Prime Meridian, the dividing line beween west and east.
One of the remarkable features of the Queen's House is the Tulip Stairs, the first cantilevered structure ever built in England. I took this before I knew pictures weren't allowed in the house. But it is quite beautiful. Wow.
Aside from the portico sticking out its right side and the addition in the front of this building you have a fine example of 17th century Renaissance structure. Perfectly balanced, shorn of extraneous decoration. Built for a queen it was hardly ever used. We think about modern waste but English royalty could throw away resources at a rate that would put any modern wastral to shame.
Not all of the Underground is actually underground. This station is on the way to Greenwich.
It struck us how many maintenance workers are out in the park when we are there at 7 am. The grass is mown, no litter, no refuse. Lovely park and a wonderful way to start the day. It has been a little chilly in the morning, usually around 40.
Here is an emblematic sign in London. First of all, this is a parking garage in London that is underground. The congestion charge is $12 per day but if you park here the cost is included in car park charge.
Friday was our last morning in London. Here are more horses in the middle of London. They are waked down "Rotten Row", the dirt track that borders Hyde Park. I wonder where they are boarded in the middle of an international city?
The interior of the Polish-Mexican restaurant. Very intimate and friendly. Lovely, lovely, lovely.
Back to Mayfair for dinner. This time at a Polish-Mexican restaurant located in a refurbished pub. We stuck to the Polish side of the menu -- kielbasa and golabki. Excellent meal, better than at our two tony restaurants. Our blue-collar roots show, I'm afraid.
We wait for the train at the outdoor station. Very pleasant and civil, I must say. This is how public transport should be.
Herschel was an 18th/19th century musician with a strong interest in astronomy. When not playing is bassoon he discovered the planet Uranus, was the first to describe infrared radiation, and had a friend in the late 18th century who developed the theory that entities in space were so dense that their gravitational pull could suck up all the light around the entity. We later labeled these entities black holes.
This is the street Jane Austen's family lived on after their father died and family income ceased. As their fortunes declined, they moved further down the hill. The hill on the far side would not be considered prime real estate. It lies on the other side of the River Avon.
Here is an idea of where the elite lived. Like anywhere, the further up the hill you live, the more prestige is bestowed upon you. This is near the top, a square bounded by three-story row houses. Here the elite would have lived.
Bath is a jumble of narrow lanes and broader avenues. Here is lane between wider roads. But all made of limestone blocks. Kind of intimidating.
