London, England

It's been 25 years since I visited London. Why so long?  Back then I was traversing Europe on my bike visiting corporate headquarters. London was a big stop with over 70 companies to visit. I was being sponsored and filing stories for Bloomberg Business News. First, Bloomberg put me up in a hotel for several weeks located a stone's throw from the famous Tower Bridge and then, I was put up in an apartment for a month in fashionable Chelsea. During the course of tracking down the various headquarters I really got to see London and on weekends I endlessly wandered the streets. So, it was kind of "been there--done that". Anyway, the picture you see above is England's famous Parliament building along with a covered-up Big Ben--there's major renovation work going on and will be taking several years.  Twenty-five years ago I received a pretty cool tour of the building thanks to Lord Holme, an executive with RTZ Corporation (now called Rio Tinto--the world's largest mining company back then as well as now) and I've pasted that story below from www.corporatetrivia.com.

The RTZ Corporation PLC

London has loads of squares (Hanover Square, Berkeley Square) and circuses (Piccadiliy Circus, Oxford Circus, Finsbury Circus) which seem to be favorite spots for companies to congregate. The squares always seem to have a small fenced in park in the middle and ditto for circuses except the later seems to be circular (as in a circus arena) and sometimes has a monument instead of a park in the middle. A St. James Square address is probably one of the most prestigious addresses a company in London can have. The RTZ Corporation, an international mining concern has one. Also in St James Square are two other companies I'll be visiting later: Grand Metropolitan and Polygram. 

What's the lure of St. James Square? Location, location and history. Several blocks away lies Buckingham Palace, the 600-something room home where Queen Elizabeth hangs her hat--oops I mean crown. Closer still is St. James Palace where Prince Charles (the queen's son and heir apparent to the throne) manages to make do with a smaller pad (it looks to have ONLY 100 rooms). Across the street from Prince Charles lives the 95-year old Queen Mother (mother of Queen Elizabeth) in her own palatial palace. Anyway, the development of St. James Square and it's beautiful town houses came about in the mid-17th century for the obvious reasons: the desire of the aristocracy to be near the Court of King Charles ll at St. James Palace.

With 1994 revenues of 3.9 billion pounds, profit 612 million pounds, RTZ is the world's biggest mining company. Yet, there's no name outside the six-story town house identifying the place. Entering is like walking into a fancy hotel lobby. The receptionist, sitting behind a big desk, looks more like a concierge. The floor is marble and the walls oak paneled. Oil paintings of London in the 1700's hang on the walls. A glass display case containing rocks and minerals (malachite, quartz and baryte to name a few) is off to the side. Another glass case contains a book I've seen before, "De Re Metallica" by Georguis Agricola (1494-1555). Western Mining Corporation in Melbourne, Australia also had a copy of this book on display in their lobby. It was the first systematic treatise on mining and metallurgy.

Hey this is great, my bike gets an invitation to be brought inside and stored in a side room. Wheeling the bike through the lobby produces double-takes from waiting Japanese businessmen.

I'm directed to an upper floor via an elevator but, one can't use the elevator unless the receptionist accesses it with a swipe card. Stepping off the elevator I'm introduced to someone who says, "hi, I'm sorry I haven't much time because I have to get to Parliament. If you don't mind why don't we talk in the car on the way over". He then hands me his card. It reads, "Lord Holme of Cheltenham CBE, Director External Affairs & Human Resources, The RTZ Corporation PLC". 

Soon we're in the back seat of a company car with the driver weaving his way through heavy London traffic to Parliament several miles away. Knowing zilch about titles I ask Lord Holme how he got his. Seems there're are two ways of becoming a Lord. The queen bestows the honor for services to the country (which is for life) or, it's inherited-being passed on from generation to generation. The 58-year Holme obtained his the first way. Unfortunately though, when he dies his title goes with him.

Arriving at Parliament, Lord Holme invites me inside for a quick tour. It's pretty neat being quickly ushered through all the security checkpoints with Lord Holme saying, "he's with me". Passing the cloak room he points to the half-dozen wheel chairs and says, "I'm a youngster compared to some of these". It's true. I see dozens of old men (all of them Lords) just hanging around like it's their private club. The building is unbelievably beautiful with wood paneling mixed with wood carvings everywhere. You definitely get a feel of history and tradition here. Though I'm very impressed with what I see I'm somewhat disappointed to find being a Lord isn't exactly the same as being a US Senator. While they're only 100 US senators, there're over 1,200 Lords. 

Though the driver's taking me solo back to RTZ offices, Lord Holme made arrangements for me to see the boardroom and Chairman Sir Derek Birkin's office. About 220 employees work in the 100,000 square foot building, which was rebuilt in 1960. Nothing special about the boardroom. Birkin's middle office has a view of the park in St. James Square and contains a double-sided partners desk, a fresh flower arrangement, no computer and neither rocks nor minerals.

RTZ stands for Rio Tinto Zinc, the name of a mine.

I've seen guys doing this in other cities during my travels and still don't know how it's done.  How the heck does he hold him up with one hand? Don't forget you can click on each image and it'll enlarge.

Twenty-five years ago I wrote about losing weight during my time in England because the country lacked any decent bakery/pastry shops. Well that's not true anymore thanks in part to Maitre Choux (maitrechoux.com). The goodies here are on par with anything found in Paris. However, the prices are sky high--with an eclair costing $7 EACH! Then again, I have to declare the two eclairs eaten were two of the best I've ever had.  Check out their website.

England was once the world's super power thanks to its military superiority.  Statues of military heroes are everywhere and it's fun reading the plaques. You can see three in the above photo.

 Here's Buckingham Palace with flowers.

 Here's a closer view of Buckingham Palace.

See this white building? To the left of it is the vehicle entrance to St. James Palace and Clarence House compound. Prince Charles resides in Clarence House and his sister, Princess Ann resides in St. James Palace. It's about a five minute walk to see their mom, Queen Elizabeth in Buckingham Palace.  Two police officers brandishing machine guns guard the entrance. I spend a few minutes talking to the officers and learn a Russian bought the white building for more than $100 million. There's no name, plaque on the front plus, the white building comes with no underground parking or parking lot--only street parking.

The red brick building directly in front is St. James Palace. The Tudor-style structure was built between 1531-1536. It's where Princess Anne, the queen's daughter lives. The vehicle entrance shown in the previous photo is to the right. The police officers tell me James Dyson, the billionaire inventor of Dyson vacuums, owns the top floor of the white building on the right.

It's 8 PM and I'm walking near the Horse Guards Parade grounds--this is where horses in all those ceremonial parades you see on television with Queen Elizabeth train. To the very right of this photo--off to the side I spot three police officers with machine guns. I assume it's the backyard to an embassy. Wrong, it turns out to be the backyard of #10 Downing Street--home to England's Prime Minister.

This is the front part and main entrance to #10 Downing Street.

This is the upper platform area of St. Pancras International railway station. I'm taking Eurostar to Brussels, Belgium. The Channel Tunnel is the longest undersea tunnel in the world. Twenty-two miles of the 31 mile long tunnel are under water. Check-in is similar to at an airport-with you or your belongings going through metal detectors.

They make it very complicated to take your bike on the same train as you. There's only room for two bikes on a train (why?). I originally wanted to take the train to Lille, France but you have to bring your bike to the station 24 hours ahead of time and they don't guarantee it'll be on the same train as you. Evidently, they aren't interested in the niche market for transporting touring cyclists. Taking the Eurostar isn't cheap if you book it the day before. Cost was $70 for my bike and $282 for one-way train ticket.
What's frustrating is that the train from London to Brussels STOPS in Lille, France--yet they won't let me off there with the bike!