Mme et M Benaut à Londres. Pt.4

So here we are with the final day of Mme and MB's mad dash around London.

Aren't they just so irresistibly huggable?

We stop for coffee by the London Eye. A ride on the big wheel has been something both Mme and MB have been looking forward to for a long time.
If you want to see lots of photos of the structure itself and the wonderful views from the top, trawl the "London" link in my archives; today we are just here to enjoy the company of these two wonderful people.

All aboard!
Normally I'd advise turning up at ten to ride the Eye; it opens officially at ten-thirty but they start it up earlier and you can often get a whole gondola with only two or three people in at that time of day.

Having said that, they were putting around twenty-five to thirty people in each gondola and - as you can see - even that's not too crowded.

MB took more photos in here than the rest of the trip together. He'll have the entire city from the air when he downloads them all.
You've got to admit, he looks pretty dapper with a camera.

Of course, he'll also have quite a few photos of my fat, ugly mug. Hey ho.

Just coming out of the side of Mme's hair is The Parasite House with the park and lake in front of it. If you know where to look you can see the bridge over the lake where, a short time before we had stood and photographed the Eye.

MB checks out the Gherkin in the distance.

In case any of you (yes, I mean you, mum) are put off the Eye because you can't stand heights, this is what it is actually like inside the gondolas.
Plenty of room to sit and enjoy the view without having to look down.

I don't know what the guy at the back there just said to the blonde woman but it looks like he's going to suffer for the rest of the day because of it.

This is what we look like from the other gondolas.
Actually, on the way up and down the sides of the Eye you can see right up the skirts of the weemen above you.
Rule One: Wear trousers if you're going on the Eye, ladies.

So that just about wraps it up for our way too short fun day out in London with the lovely Benauts.
Here I am pointing out my office to MB … just above the trees behind Big Ben.

After we disembarked, Mme did a fast sprint around the Salvador Dali exhibition in County Hall and we took a cab back to their hotel for a cuppa and a look at their WONDERFUL wedding photos from "The Wirral Wedding" (coming soon to Mme and MB's blogs when they return home and well worth waiting for) and a gorgeous photo of Lynn with Mme.

I miss them so much. London's a pretty dull place now they've headed off to dash round the rest of Europe.
Do follow their exploits on the various blogs of the folk they're visiting (the links are on Lynn's blog).
I just look forward to making a return visit to Adelaide and enjoying their marvellous company once more.

Mme et M Benaut à Londres. Pt.3

For anyone tuning in to listen to the regular Thursday Racket, I'll be posting that later today, but first …
Woohoo! We're back in London with Mme and MB.

Well here we are at lunchtime, having left the British Museum and caught a taxi (via an internet café where Mme checked out some of your posts, especially Lynn's) to one of my favourite lunchtime haunts, Piccadilly Circus.

Yes, Phil; I know "Eros" isn't really Eros but is in fact a statue of the spirit of something or other, but it's still a romantic place for a photo of a romantic couple, so duh!

Anyhoo, we promenaded pleasantly along Piccadilly, grabbing a whole bunch of sushi from Yoshino to eat in Green Park. And here we are doing just that.

On our way, we took a look at the Royal Academy and Burlington Arcade and a few other places (Mme got sidetracked by the Cashmere Shop).
Then we stopped in at Fortnums to buy some tea and generally lark about. MB took loads of photos in there which I hope will see the light of day when they get home.

Another great shot which is on MB's camera but sadly not mine is of Mme posing with a very happy-looking doorman at the Ritz Club. We Brits do appreciate an antipodean cuddle. Hee hee.

And of course, as any fule kno, beside the Ritz is Green Park - where we stopped to devour our sushi, and where you'll find me doing just that at least one day every week - and between Green Park and St.James's Park lies The Parasite House.

Of course I wasn't really looking at the bottom of the girl behind Mme, who was herself photographing a handsome fellow decked out with breathtaking sartorial elegance. I can just hear the girl: "Okay, don't smile at the camera; make a face like you've just crapped yourself … Lovely!"
Sorry about that. One of the joys of digital cameras is that tiny things in the background that went unnoticed at the time can be enlarged and giggled at.

We visited the day after the Olympics hand-over party and the whole place was like a builders' yard, with workmen demolishing corporate hospitality suites and lugging stage gear into lorries.
In this photo you may just notice MB appears to have grown an extra head.

Just as tourists cannot come to London without photographing The Parasite House, an English Marxist and a proud South Australian cannot help but show our respects to the so-called "Royal" Family with a splendid Bottom Salute!

I love this photo so much I make no excuses for posting it again.
When Mme wasn't off chasing squirrels around the park (another plus for Australia - it is devoid of the annoying tree rats) and spotting exotic trees, we came to one of the most romantic spots in London, the bridge over St.James's Park lake.
This is the classic shot with The Parasite House in the background.

And this is the view the other way, with Horseguards' Parade above Mme's head, Downing Street behind the trees in the middle and the London Eye in the distance.
And yes, dear reader, that is just where we'll be heading in tomorrow's post.

But along our way (after yet more squirrel chasing, during which Mme was delighted to watch one of the little blighters burying a peanut for the winter about two feet in front of her) we just happened to pass Westminster Abbey.
Gosh, London is just full to the brim with romantic photo locations.
And bloody squirrels …

Where those people are standing just in front of the main door is where I met our lovely Robyn when she came to visit last year.
I do love the fact that all I have to do is stay still and blogpals come from all over the world to visit me. It sure saves on air fares!

Yay! The Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster … aka Big Ben (yes, fellow pedants, I KNOW Big Ben is just the name of the bell).
It went "BONGGGGGGGGGGGG!" four times while we were having coffee shortly after this.
Well, Mme and MB had coffee; I - being the pedantic Englishman - had iced tea, four o'clock being High Tea time.

Hokay … so we were supposed to be doing impersonations of Winnie, but …

… I think I'll leave the caption for this one to your own delightfully twisted imaginations.

Big Ben is actually quite big. This one's for la belle Marie who asked us to blow a kiss to BB for her.

Wet stuff! It's Old Father Thames himself, flowing under Westminster Bridge, while we walked over it to reach …
… well, a coffee shop for one thing.
But the other thing will get posted tomorrow, in the final installment of Mme et M Benaut à Londres.
Miss it and I'll come round and slap you.

Mme et M Benaut à Londres. Pt.2

Right!
While the lovely Mme and MB frolic in beautiful Paris with M.Eric, we shall continue our four day post of their London adventures.

First up, let's head across the city to the charming Bloomsbury area - home to Virginia Woolf and her chums - where we shall find street after street of elegant Regency mansions and …

… er … The Imperial Hotel.
In its defence, it was built on a bombed out area of Russell Square, but MB and myself (fellow Architects) did have to chuckle at the sheer 1960's Las Vegas awfulness of it.

Having said that, it is much nicer inside and the Benaut's room on the fifth floor boasted amazing views over central London, including - just across Russell Square - the magnificent roof of the British Museum, where we shall be heading in a little while.

I arrived a few minutes early and had barely settled in to the astonishingly comfortable leather sofa when into the foyer strolled our hero, the unmistakable figure of Monsieur B. himself!
Yaaaaay!
Hugs and grins all round.
The one thing you'll notice when you get to meet Mme and MB is a wonderful, warm-hearted openness that makes you feel you've been lifelong friends.

We headed up to their room for many more hugs with Mme (something I miss already … hee hee) and planned our day like overexcited children.

I must apologise for posting this shot (yeah, right) … Mme said "I think my eyes were closed on that one", but the piddly little screen on the back of my crappy camera made it look like they were open. It was only when I got home and launched Photoshop that I noticed both Mme and MB were snatching a brief nap.
I know I'm dull company, but sheesh! We'd only met five minutes ago and already they were asleep.

And so we wandered across the square to the magnificent British Museum, one of my favourite London hang-outs (hey, it's free and a truly awesome place to watch the girls go by).
The first thing anybody does when they walk into the central atrium is look up. I've posted many photos of the roof, so you all know how spiffy it is.
Of course, MB and I immediately got stuck into the technical side of the construction … Boys, huh … We grow old but we never grow up.

We didn't have much time so we whizzed around a few of the more spectacular rooms in the BM.
Everybody wants to see the Rosetta Stone and the Benauts are no exception.

I've seen it so many times I snuck around the back, where nobody bothers to go.
Through the glass you can see Mme and MB photographing the front.

And here they are again. The scrummage around the Stone makes it impossible to photograph properly unless you come here in winter.
Of course, being as tall as MB is an advantage.

Now THIS would look FABULOUS in Mme's beautiful garden!
We couldn't quite fit it in our pockets but it would have been great for the cats and koalas to play on.

Elgin and his thieving cronies made Lara Croft look like a rank amateur.
Tomb Raider? Pah!
Hell, let's steal the entire temple!

MB's an Architect. I can quite imagine a replica of this appearing as a quaint folly in their Adelaide garden one day.

Ah, one for Lynn … The "Cheltenham Ladies" caryatid, with The Adelaide Lady outshining it.

To my eternal guilt I am afraid I rather walked Mme's feet off. Doing London in an afternoon is a mad dash and we covered more miles than was strictly necessary.
I grovel abjectly at your feet in humble apology, Mme.

But at least we found a nice chair in the Elgin Marbles room so Mme could rest for a minute while MB and myself tore around the place, taking photos of anything and everything (note his "action photographer" pose. Hee hee).
When MB unloads his camera in Adelaide there will be many, many more photos of all this. I'm assuming you've all seen the marbles so I'm just photographing Mme and MB, but if you want to dig in my archives (the London label might be a good place to start) there are dozens of British Museum photos in there, though you may have to dig deep.

I was trying to get this lady scratching MB's head, but it came out that he's resting his cheek upon her rather lovely bosom.
And who can blame him?

While Mme checks out the café below us, MB does the Architect pose, with a beautiful neoclassical pediment, Ionic columns and that glorious modern roof.

Before we dashed off to our next destination we simply had to hunt through the hundreds of mummies to find these babies for Sascha and the tribe back in Adelaide.
Mummified cats! Cool!
You'll notice I am on my best behaviour and there are no pussy jokes … er .

One last shot of that fabulous roof and that equally fabulous MB.

Where are we heading tomorrow?
Tune in to find out.

Mme et M Benaut à Londres. Pt.1

This is just a quick teaser trailer for what's to come as I got home way past bedtime last night and am about to head back to work in Westminster. I'll post the full story over the coming days.

Mme. et M. Benaut in St.James's Park

There are very, very few people in this world with whom one cannot help but fall completely in love.
This is a photograph of two of them: the indescribably wonderful Mme. and M. Benaut, over from Adelaide on the London leg of their Grand European Tour.

We had such a fantastic time together for which I cannot thank them enough.
Mme. and MB are truly wonderful, warm, loving, generous people and such brilliant and stimulating company. I hated leaving them and must confess that on the train out of London I felt a deep aching sense of loss and just wanted to turn the train around and rush back to their hotel to spend more time with them.

They have already visited our Lynn in Tewkesbury (please see here, here and here) and as you read this, they will be speeding their way across the Channel to Paris and the welcoming arms of Eric, to whom I can only say "You are in for a wonderful time!"

Tune in tomorrow (and for the rest of the week) for lots of photos and fun!
And don't forget to follow our lovely couple as they travel around France, Italy and Germany.