Westminster & Wimbledon
London
13/04/2024 - 13/04/2024
20 °C
View
London Day Trip '24
on kmmk17's travel map.
With a free weekend coinciding with some nice weather, we decided to make a trip down to London to see some of the sights we hadn't yet seen.
Taking the train, we got off at Leicester Square station and walked down towards Trafalgar Square. It had been a while since I'd last been here and there were a lot fewer pigeons around than last time.
We then crossed to the Charing Cross roundabout where there was a plaque signifying this as the point of the final location of an Eleanor's Cross - the stone monuments placed on the overnight stops on the return route of Queen Eleanor's funeral procession.
The original monument was demolished in 1647, and a replica was constructed outside Charing Cross train station in 1865. Nevertheless this roundabout is still the location where all mileages in London are measured from - and therefore can be said to be the centre of the city.
We then walked down Whitehall, past horses at the entrance of Horse Guards Parade which the tourists were obsessed by.
We then continued, past the Cabinet Office and Downing Street eventually arriving at Parliament Square, before entering the Palace of Westminster for a tour around Parliament.
The entrance to the complex is through Westminster Hall - dating from 1097, it is one of the few parts from the original building that managed to be saved from the fire in 1834.
This hall is where many speeches by world leaders have been held, as well as where the state and ceremonial lying in states are held - including that of Queen Elizabeth in September 2022.
This hall leads on to St. Stephen's Hall and then the Central Lobby, which separates the two houses of parliament - the House of Lord and House of Commons.
We wandered around both of these, which are remarkably small and not big enough for all Lords and MPs to actually be there at the same time.
After finishing this tour, we grabbed some food at the station before taking the Underground south towards Wimbledon. After a brief walk from the nearby tube station, we arrived at the home of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships.
As we were early, after passing through the security at the gate, we went for a look around the Museum. Here there was some history on the club, as well as the trophies on display - engraved with the latest winners' names.
We then joined our tour - the previous one 15 minutes earlier than ours was full with 32 people. Ours was us two, and a family of four from Paris.
"Are you all fans of tennis?" asked the tour guide... "Errrr... not really" we responded.
We then went on a tour around the Wimbledon site - starting with No. 1 Court - the second biggest on the site, seating 12,345 people.
Outside of here was Henman Hill, where fans without tickets to the main courts will watch the matches on a big screen put up on the side of the court during championships.
We then walked past Court #18, where the longest ever match of tennis was played in 2010.
Just around the corner from here is the broadcast centre, where the old, and now replica interview area has been constructed where we posed for photos.
By now it was coming the end of the tour and our final place to visit was Centre Court - where the final matches are played.
Unfortunately it was undergoing some renovation, but the main parts of the court could still be seen despite the scaffolding.
After a long day wandering around these places it was now time to get some food. We headed to the bus stop where a German lady started talking to us about her entire life story. Meanwhile Andrea McLean went for a run past.
Once it finally arrived we jumped on the bus which took us into the centre of Wimbledon town - which was a complete dump compared to the Tennis area with it's big houses.
After dinner and having been out all day we then took the train back home - somewhat delayed due to inevitable train cancellations, but thankfully before it got dark!
Tips
Posted by kmmk17 17:03 Archived in United Kingdom Tagged horses square old tennis parliament