Every so often Sue and I like to go out to lunch ... and yesterday we went to the carvery restaurant at Mark Masons' Hall, 86 St James's Street, St. James's, London.
We have been there several times before, and because I registered with
86 St James (the catering arm of Mark Masons' Hall) I get notification of special offers for lunch. Yesterday was one of the days when lunch was 30% off its usual price ... so Sue and I decided to book.
We had booked lunch for 1.30pm, and left home just before midday. The local 244 bus took us to Woolwich Arsenal Station, where we caught a South Eastern train to Cannon Street Station. (We had hoped to go directly to Charing Cross Station, but the train that we were due to catch was delayed, and then the service was going to be terminated at London Bridge Station. Cannon Street seemed like a better option ... and choosing to use it turned out to be the right decision to make.)
From Cannon Street Station we travelled by London Underground to St. James's Park Underground Station. At Westminster a group of musicians got on the train, and entertained us with some live music between stops!
On leaving St. James's Park Underground Station we walked up Queen Anne's Gate, ...
... crossed over Birdcage Walk, and into St. James's Park.
Our route took us across the bridge over the Serpentine ...
... from where we had excellent views of Westminster ...
... and Buckingham Palace in the distance.
We continued to walk through St. James's Park ...
... and then across The Mall.
We saw two female Metropolitan Police officers from the Mounted Branch on patrol in The Mall ... and they kindly stopped still long enough for me to take a photograph.
Sue and I then made our way up Marlborough Street ...
... and past St. James's Palace ... which was being guarded by members of the RAF Regiment.
From there it was but a very short walk to 86 St. James's Street. (Mark Masons' Hall is the building with the Union Flag flying at half-mast as a sign of respect to those who died in the recent terrorist attack in Manchester.)
We had reached 86 St. James's Street in plenty of time to have a drink in the Second Floor bar.
Just before 1.30pm we made our way down to the First Floor, where the carvery restaurant is situated.
The meal comprised three courses. The starters are a selection of
hors d'oeuvres from a trolley the waitresses wheel to your table, after which you go up to the carvery to select the main course you want to eat. Yesterday the choices were beef, pork, and salmon. As can be seen from the following photograph, I decided to have the slimmers lunch!
The desserts are also brought to your table on a trolley, and one can finish with either tea of coffee. The total cost of our meals (including drinks) was less than £50.00 ... and we both left feeling rather full!
We decided to walk back to Westminster to try to catch the Thames Clipper service that goes along the River Thames to Woolwich. We strolled down Pall Mall ...
... until we reached Waterloo Place.
We then turned right and made our way down towards The Mall. Along the way we passed a statue of King Edward VII (who was know as 'Edward the Caresser' because of the number of other men's wives that he enjoyed 'entertaining'!) ...
... and the column atop of which is a statue of the Duke of York. (He was the second eldest son of George III, and became a professional soldier. The famous nursery rhyme, 'The Grand Old Duke of York' was written to mock his lack of success in the 1799 military campaign in the Netherlands.)
We crossed The Mall close to the Royal Artillery Memorial ...
... and then paid our respects at the National Police Memorial.
From there our route took us past Horse Guards Parade (which has been prepared for the Queen's Birthday Parade AKA Trooping the Colour), ...
... the Guards Monument, ...
... and the statue of Clive of India.
After turning up Great George Street ...
... we soon reached Parliament Square.
We continued on towards Westminster Bridge ...
... from where we had an excellent view of our destination, Westminster Pier.
Sue and I walked down the steps to the Pier, only to discover that the first Thames Clipper to Woolwich was not going to run for another hour and a half. Despite the fact that we were both feeling tired and rather hot, we decided to take the Underground from Westminster Station back to Cannon Street Station, where we were able to catch the 4.07pm train to Woolwich Arsenal Station.
On reaching Woolwich we took one look at the massive queues at the bus stop ... and walked across the road to the taxi rank. Some ten minutes later we were home, still feeling very full, rather tired, and in great need of a cold drink and a hot shower!
