5/28 Could have planned this one better!

We joined English Heritage when we first arrived in England, also The National Trust.  Both of these organizations buy and preserve, often restore, many of England's treasures - castles, great houses, gardens and the like, sometimes arranging that the owners and their families can continue to live there in perpetuity.  By joining, we support saving these treasures, but more selfishly and certainly more the reason we joined (have to admit!), we get in free!!

Chiswick House is one of these treasures and right in Hammersmith.  We decided to tour it today along with a visit to another area not far from here - Barnes - which had been described to us by another nice couple we met in another nice pub as a village within the bounds of London.  If we went, they said, we would feel like we were in a village out in the country somewhere.  We also thought we might visit the Fuller Brewery which isn't far from Chiswick but you need to sign up for that and we couldn't get a response from them, making our tour start later in the day than we had hoped.  No matter- both Fuller and Chiswick are a short ride on the same bus that we can catch at the end of our street and can be done anytime.  And so that will be! -  because after taking the bus and getting to the house, we found out that Chiswick is closed Thursday, Friday and Saturday!  Could have checked before we left but we didn't because most of the houses are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays!!   Oh, well, the trip was semi-successful for two reasons - the grounds are lovely and always open and there was a bathroom at the Cafe which was open!

It was a beautiful day so we enjoyed walking through the park and watching the dogs romp and play.  You know, that's one of the joys of England.  Actually, two - there are bathrooms (toilets, as they refer to them) everywhere (thank God!) and you can take your dogs just about anywhere.  In the parks, you are simply asked to keep your dogs "under control" and since dogs go everywhere here, most are very well trained and socialized to mind their owner and their own business.  Many are off lead even on the sidewalks and in the pubs.  There was one particular dog at Chiswick who just ran and ran and ran to the point he had us laughing.  He eventually got near us because his owner was walking toward us and we got to ask her about him.  His name is Gus and he is a working Cocker and runs about two hours a day!  Other than that, she says he is a very quiet dog, even on days he doesn't get to run and spends a good deal of time in her lap!  There were probably about 8-10 dogs there running after balls and Frisbees and swimming in the lake.  All well behaved and paying no attention to each other or the people in the park.

Well, so the plan was on to Barnes and on to Barnes it was.  We couldn't get there from Chiswick by bus but we could by train and John had researched the travel website and found that there was a train station near Chiswick that we could take to Barnes, only two stops down the line.  Everything around here that has to do with transportation is well marked and so we found our way to the station and had only a 15 minute wait for the next train.  There was some discussion between us about which stop to take - the first one, Barnes Bridge, or the second one, Barnes.  We took the second one.  Wrong!  After about a 15 minute walk into Barnes, we found Barnes Bridge right in the middle of town.

Our pub friends were right about Barnes - it is a village within the city and especially village-like with its village green and pond.

 Not all children are angels, but this little girl playing with the ducks plainly believes she is.  She has wings to prove it!

The two pubs we briefly visited were charming and not too updated.  None of the furniture matched.  My favorite kind of pub. 

The interior design shop we stopped in was very upscale and much more fasionable from my American point of view than most interiors that I have seen.  (I subscribe to a real estate firm's postings of English properties for sale and to rent just to see the pictures of the interiors; have for years)  Judging by the real estate postings in the windows in Barnes, this is an expensive place to live and reports are that the likes of Hugh Grant and others reside here.  No sightings, though.  Probably a good thing...

There were many shops here that did remind me of village life - a butcher, a baker, no candle stick maker, a shoe shop, small hardware and clothing to wear.  We stopped in one of the shops that specialized in bread and roasted chickens.  Dinner!  So with chicken in hand, we found a bus to take us back to Hammersmith Station and instead of walking home from there as we normally do, we took another bus to the head of our street.  Other than the brief train trip, we had been walking for hours and my feet were talking to me.  We got home early for us - 5:00.  Usually we don't get in until about 7.  Hardly knew what to do with ourselves.

Another interesting tidbit about London life - the Oyster card - your ticket to all available transportation except a taxi!  Don't ask me why they call it an Oyster card.  It's the size of a credit card and is issued to you in a plastic folder.  The card slips into one side of the folder and the other side is for your use.  The folder opens and closes like an oyster shell and that's the only thing I can figure.  Anyway, you can "top up" the card with any amount of money and when you enter the Underground system or a bus or a train, you slide the card over a yellow disk about 4" in diameter.  It reads where you are and how much money you have on the card.  If you're running low, it tells you and you top up right there at the station.  When you leave the tube or the train, you slide it again and it deducts the amount of your travel based on where you've been.  The only thing I haven't figured out is why you don't do that when you leave a bus.  Maybe the bus is just a flat rate no matter how far you take it, that must be it.  Anyway, it's wonderfully convenient and we had Ginger and Bill get theirs with about £10 on each for their 3 days in London.  You buy them at the tube stations and you can get back any money you don't use.  So when you are in London, get your Oyster card.  Ellen and Phillip keep two on hand for guests and we have been using those since we have been here.  Nice gesture on their part!