Day 9 A day in London

 A day in London

We set out very early to walk to the train station at Great Chesterford, so we could make the most of the day out in London. Susan warned us that it would be very expensive on the train if we travelled at peak times, and she wasn't wrong! It ended up costing 52 pounds each for return tickets combined with all day hop on hop off for the Underground trains within London itself.

We had our masks on (as the signage requested) but probably only 10% others did!

Liverpool station is enormous!

Barb was very taken with the array of flowers

There isn't much seating in the station, but they do have phone charging points (as do some trains)

There were lots of police outside Liverpool Station. Mostly directing lost tourists.
Many of the police inside were armed as a matter of course.

We got the day off to the right start
with really good coffee at The Black Sheep cafe

London was humming with traffic. The traffic didn't let up all day.
(But far, far less than before the congestion charge was intriduced)

We wandered off down the streets in the direction of the river.

Near the Tower hill we saw this lovely building.
(Trinity House - HQ of the lighthouse authority)

Here's what we were looking for .... the Tower of London

John investigated how much the tickets for a tour would be .... too much!
And the queues were already horrendous!
That globular thing in the background is City Hall - which
is not where the city council resides.  Of course.

We decided to just admire from the outside and do a river cruise instead.

John and Barb both used to work on the City Cat ferries in Brisbane. We love the boats

It was not busy at this hour, but we still got a full commentary of the sights by the crew

The bottom section of the bridge can lift up for boats that are too tall to go under

View of the Tower of London ... traitor's gate entry via the river

De-commissioned HMS Belfast...which you can tour around. The Shard in the background

London Bridge .... not the falling down one

The millennium walking bridge or the "wibbly wobbly" bridge as locals call it

It was a superb way to see the city (and rest weary legs)

Shakespeare's Globe theatre (at least a replica) where you can see his plays in the round.
Built through the efforts of US actor Sam Wanamaker, father of actress Zoe.

The London eye .... did that on a previous London visit. Great views!

Westminster Palace (Houses of Parliament) and the Tower of Big Ben (newly cleaned)

John with his old mate Sir Winston Churchill
(We last met during the 1959 election. You remember that, of course)

Barb outside Houses of Parliament

The outside of St Margaret's chapel has been cleaned up too
(That's the one on the left)

Westminster Abbey in all her glory

We decided to walk up Birdcage walk beside St James park towards the palace

The gardens in St James park are magnificent

Buckingham Palace is in sight
Er ... that's the Victoria Memorial, outside the palace

Buckingham Palace

We crossed the road for a closer look at the Palace

The Guards on guard at the palace

Buckingham Palace

After walking around the palace we walked down the mall towards Trafalgar

Trafalgar square was remarkably devoid of pigeons since they banned the selling of pigeon food

Being this close to the National Gallery, there was no way Barb was going to pass up the opportunity to see some of the exhibitions inside. She was last here back in 2000 on her first visit to London with her sister, Pamela. Of course we made a beeline to Barb's favourite artistic period ... the Impressionist era. Every country we visit she is drawn to the art galleries ... so it is safe to say she was in her happy place here.

A late work by Vincent Van Gogh

Believe it or not .... an early Picasso

It's often a surprise to see the scale of the actual painting when you've only seen it in books

Monet's water lilies

After visiting the museum and not feeling up to too much more walking, we walked down to Picadilly Circus to find the Underground Station there.

Picadilly Circus was busy with buses

Thank God for the Underground. Didn't fancy the long walk to St Paul's Cathedral
Eros is hiding behind the Underground sign

Side view of St Paul's Cathedral

Front view of St Paul's Cathedral

A Paternoster Square near St Paul's

This monument is a recent addition

We had intended to go back on the boat and go up the river in the direction of Greenwich. But the timing would not allow us to get off and explore, so we'll save that for another day. Barb's knees are killing after walking around all day, so we head back to Liverpool Station and get the train back home to Susan's place. A great day out!