Our boat was named by the previous owners, Mike & Katherine Hurd. We understand they chose the name because Albert has a floating cottage fit-out, is furnished with Victoriana, and Mike liked the Stanley Holloway story of Albert and the lion. Yesterday, April 19th, we spent some time in London attending a Van Morrison concert in the Royal Albert Hall. Van is giving a series of concerts where the whole of his great album, Astral Weeks, is performed with a string-augmented band similar to the group on his legendary live album from the 1970s “Too Late to Stop Now”. I won’t report on the concert, except to say it really lived up to our expectations, and even though we3 were travelling north the next day, we stayed until the last note was played. Because the weather was warm and sunny, before the concert we spent some time in the Royal Parks and visited the Albert Memorial. The memorial looks splendid after its £11.5m refurbishment. The gold coating of the statue looked particularly bright in the late evening sunshine. It appears that on the first Sunday of the month, the Royal Parks arrange special tours inside the railings where the frieze along the base of the monument is explained in full. So for Albert aficionados, the Prince Consort that is, here are some images.
Albert memorial, Hyde Park, London
We also had another Albert moment earlier in the day when we walked along Victoria to see the building where our eldest daughter works. Next door is a pub that is called the Albert. I suppose there must be several in London, but few can compare to the Victorian splendour of this one. The elaborate decoration is thrown into stark relief by the simple modern lines of Windsor House next door.
Albert pub, Victoria, London
