Five Days in London

What sore feet we have after five days in London.  We arrived at the apartment late mornng after a two hour trip from Lichfield then the underground to Kennington.  The apartment owner had been nice enough to let us in early, and Lauren and Lee were already there.  It was a lovely apartment converted within an old school building.  Our apartment was an old school room with very high ceilings so that the bedrooms had been built as mezzanine.  Our bedroom was quite interesting as it had a glass railing to the loungeroom below. Out for lunch, a trip to stock up at the Tesco supermarket and we were off to explore London.

Our apartment entrance - ours was the boys, next door was the infants.

Loungeroom from our bedroom

Our afternoon was spent getting our bearings and pretty much doing the Monopoly Board. We also stumbled upon M and M world.  Jim and I as first time visitors worked out that the London pass would be good value for us, and picked these up from the collection point.  It was peak hour by the time we were ready to head home.  We were at Westminster Bridge so decided to walk.  It was actually only half an hour walk, so Jim and I repeated that the next three nights.

Abbey Road M and M style

We were very lucky with the weather as London decided to have something of an indian summer, and even though some mornings were a little foggy or misty, by the afternoon the sun was out.

Tuesday we got the bus to Westminister and spent quite a few hours at Westminster Abbey.  We were quite surprised to find it is really a tarted up grave yard with an over abundance of statues and memorials.  We also visited the Jewel tower and Churchill's Secret War Rooms.  The next morning, with Lauren and Lee, we got a boat to Grenwich.  They stayed there for the day and we got a return boat, getting off at the Tower of London.  Here we spent the whole afternoon.  It was very interesting and much bigger than we expected. We started of with a 1 hour guided tour with a Beefeater who had a very loud voice and gave an excellent tour before wandering around for another 2 1/2 hours, seeing places where Sir Walter Raleigh was held, Anne Bolelyn and other Queens executed along with numerous others.  The poms were a bloodthirsty lot.  We also saw heaps of armour, weapons, crowns and jewels.

London morning fog

Westminster Abbey older section

- no problem for me with door heights

Our final day with the pass we saw Tower Bridge, HMS Belfast, the London Bridge experience, then on to St Paul's cathedral.  Tower Bridge was just OK, they could have done more and the Belfast was of interest to some.  The L.B. Experience was something different but more for younger people but was informative.  At St Pauls we were able to go up high into the balconies in the dome, but one of us had had enough by the first one.  It was very high and narrow but we were able to hear the orchestra and choir practicing which was a treat. We walked back from here, which was quite a long walk and our feet were certainly feeling it by the time we arrived home.  Yesterday was our final day in London and with Lauren and Lee we headed in for a look (only) at Harrods, a walk through Hyde Park then shopping along Oxford Street.

Tower Bridge

Tower of London

Some of the armour inside

 Place where Anne Boleyn and some other notables lost their heads

St. Paul's from the Millenium Bridge

Some interesting observations.  We were captivated with the London cabs and how many there were on the streets.  We were also amazed at how frequently the Police use their sirens.  It didn't matter where we were, in the apartment or in the centre of London, there always seemed to be a police car racing past with lights and siren.