Day 50 Back in London

Touristing in London

Barb is indeed a committed tourist. When she does over a city, she makes a pretty thorough job of it, but .... London is big. Really big. Even Barb can't do it all in a day. We have three whole days here to give it a red hot crack!

First job of the day is to purchase an Oyster Card for local travel on the trains and tube (like a GoCard) Everything is done by machines these days and we always struggle with the technology.

John wrestles the ticket machine at Kings Cross station into submission

First stop is Harrods in Knightsbridge.
Whaddya mean it doesn't open till ten? Lazy tykes!

Never mind .... Barb is easily distracted by pink and pretty things nearby

Pretty and adorable in pink

Flowers and flower boxes .... yay!

Off we go to find coffee .... we'll come back to Harrods when they've surfaced

Good humour is restored at Pret a Manger with a coffee and patisserie

We head off on foot down Brompton Road to see what we can see

Some very pricey apartments here we imagine

A rather modern statue

The Victoria & Albert Museum isn't open yet either. On and on....

The Natural History Museum

The wisteria is magnificent on this frontage

Memories of John's youth .... visiting museums in London

John outside the gates to Kensington Gardens

Ooh! The Prince Albert memorial is quite spectacular

As is the Queen Victoria one in front of Kensinton Palace

Kensington Gardens beehives

The rose gardens are magnificent in bloom

A view of the bridge over the Serpentine (in Hyde Park)

Some silly sods were actually swimming here along with the swans

We loved strolling through the gardens watching all the off-leash dogs galloping freely

The Princess Diana memorial fountain was not active and we didn't get to see
the new statue of her either, as Kensington Palace is closed until Wednesday.

Notting Hill is close by .... may as well have a look

John pops into a shop to buy a map

Beautiful

Barb feels that the Churchill Arms has just about
the right amount of decoration for her liking

With even a few flags thrown in for the jubilee

The street in this area seem pretty up-market.
Lets face it...anywhere in London is pricey.

Just loving all the old buildings .... this is the Aubrey Hotel

We were making our way back towards Harrods
and spotted this lovely Jubilee display

Here we are at Harrods for lunch. It's gone 10am
so yes, they got up and even let this riff raff in ....

John was a little less enthusiastic about a Harrods
lunch than Barb .... especially when he got the Bill!

Barb was un-deterred. She shopped happily in Harrods

The nice man on the door at Harrods was amused at long-suffering
John followed by a happy Barb weighed down with bags of goodies

We had a very good day out in town, but were glad to get home on the Tube to put our feet up. There's a lot of walking in London whichever way you go. Tell me about it!