London - Day Two

On Monday Ali & I headed into London again while our menfolk returned to work.  The day was another warm one but with frequent periods of overcast cloud and the occasional sprinkle. We started off with a cruise down the Thames, starting from Westminster, past the Tower of London, under the Tower bridge and docking at Greenwich. 

We posed for the obligatory photo at the Meridian marker before looking though the observatory museum (lots of navigational aids including the first portable accurate timepieces). 

We then re-boarded the boat and journeyed back up the Thames where we were rewarded with the unusual sight of the Tower bridge opening to let the HMS Richmond be towed out. 

We finished off the afternoon with a good old fashioned English high tea (with scones, clotted cream, victoria sponge, strawberry tart and of course, cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off). A quick visit to Fortnum & Mason and Harrods saw us through to Pimms O'clock (imbibed in the Little Venice area).

London - Day One

On Sunday Ali took us into London via the train. Our intro to the tube was uncomfortable due to the heat as once again the daily temp was around the 30 degree mark and the tube is not cooled in any way (they make health announcements and have signs up advising you to take water with you and not to ride the tube if you are unwell) - it's really quite revolting - and that's not even talking about the huge amounts of people around!

Ali took us on a short walking tour of several of the iconic London sights including Piccadilly Circus, Nelson's Column, Buckingham Palace, Westminster & the Bell Tower and the Thames. it happened to be the day of the London 10km fun run, so while there was no traffic (the roads were closed!) there were an awful lot of people as we arrived in town as people were finishing. 

Dr M left us then to go and meet up with an old friend of his own, so Ali and I went to Regents Park for a picnic under a weeping willow tree.

Following our lunch we headed to the Charles Dickens museum - which is housed in one of his former residences (where he wrote his most successful novel "Oliver Twist"). The museum contained items belonging to Dickens, rooms done up in the style of the period, and original issues of his novels (as his novels were written as serials then published in a book afterwards - the book is the first edition but the collected completed serials are referred to as issues and this is what CD collectors would be looking for). I touched his desk. Loved it, loved it, loved it.

We then entered the British Museum where I inspected the Rosetta Stone and a few other ancient Eygptian artifacts (before being thrown out by the security guard as it was closing time). I did a few more required touristy things like riding on a double decker bus and popping into a phone box on the way to St Paul's Cathedral. We walked accross the millenium bridge (locally known as the wibbly wobbly bridge) and sat in a pub with another jug of pimms and lemonade while we watched the sun set on the skyline of London.  Please be advised that navigating the stairs on the double decker bus after drinking more than your share of a jug of pimms is not for amateurs.