Trains, Tunnels and Sunflowers

An early start (for a Sunday). We drove in a London direction to Stanmore, the start point of the Jubilee Line on the London Underground. Here we joined a specially run train to travel in to Charing Cross station. Now the London nerds amongst you will know the Jubilee Line doesn't stop at Charing Cross, well not any more anyway. It did stop there until 1999 when the Jubilee Line extension opened, taking the line from Green Park to Westminster and then south of the river and out to Docklands. Today we had the unique opportunity to ride a train on the old section of the line and to get off at the now unused Charing Cross Jubilee Line platforms. We actually went beyond the platforms as well into the overrun tunnels that take you as far as Somerset House (underground of course). These are left over from original plans for the line (then called the Fleet Line) to carry on to Fenchurch Street. 

After playing on the trains, we did a tour around the old platforms and other bits of behind the scenes at Charing Cross. Whilst not used by the public, the Jubilee platforms and escalators have been put to good use as part of the sets for multiple tv and film shoots. The escalator blipped famously used in the James Bond movie "Skyfall".

After a morning of underground trains, we headed for the Southbank to see the Van Gogh Experience. This is a multi-media presentation of Van Gogh's life and painting, many of the paintings projected on a giant scale so you walked through them (rather than staring at a small square on a wall) . It was a very different and interesting way to experience his art (see the extra).

Two very different experiences making a fun day out.