The British Library, St Pancras and Regents Park

We had booked tickets for the Henry VIII exhibition at the British Library and on a beautiful Saturday morning, we took the train to Euston. The Library is almost next door and we had plenty of time for a coffee in their cafe before entering the exhibition called "Henry VIII Man and Monarch". The audio tour, narrated by David Starkey, was impressive, as was the display of numerous original documents. I particularly liked the scorecard from the Westminster Tournament challenge of 1511, some original sheet music, the actual Act of Supremacy 1534, the Bishop's Book of 1537 setting out the new religion and the more conservative King's Book of 1543 where Henry went back to his catholic roots, and his will, with which Edward Seymour creates controversy as he is appointed Protector of the new boy King Edward VI.

Next door to the British Library is St Pancras. This was the station that was the starting point of the journeys my brother John and I took to see our grandmother in Rotherham in the 1950's. As boys travelling on our own , we were put in the care of the guard until Nanan met us at Rotherham. Whether we had to change at Sheffield, I cannot remember. The station then was dark and dirty, completely different to the modern high-tech restoration of the building it is today.

The ironwork of the original train shed, designed by William Henry Barlow, has been retained. It was the largest enclosed space in the world when it opened in 1868. We really liked the ghostly image of the Midland Grand Hotel through the glass of the roof.

The original brickwork has also been refurbished. Here the old Booking Office now overlooks the Eurostar trains. Underneath are a variety of shops and cafes in what was the undercroft or basement. This was originally used for storage of barrels of beer from Burton-upon-Trent and the layout of the 800 cast iron columns (that support the platform above) was based upon the length of a barrel.

The weather was still very pleasant as we left St Pancras, so we made for Regent's Park. We found the lake and waterfall that we had never seen before. The end to an excellent day.