The city beckons - part one



London. Noise. People. Cars. Buses. Everywhere! The busy-ness of this pulsating city attacks your senses on every level. But it is exciting.



Max with the Tower Bridge and the River Thames



I pinch Max on the arm. Oww, what's that for, he asks. Can you believe it, I say, we're in London!

And we have only two full days to see as much as we can.



We are lucky to secure an apartment in Bermondsey close to Tower Bridge (at a hugely discounted rate through bookings.com). It faces a busy street but we are close to major attractions and the Thames Clipper river taxis.



St John's Chapel in the White Tower, 
Tower of London

May Sat 21 we visit the Tower of London - it's just a 10 minute walk across the bridge. Our two hour visit starts with a tour led by a Yeoman Warder (Beefeater). He is not only interesting but lively and fun. We get to see the Crown Jewels, which have been housed at the tower since the 17th century. The heavily jeweled state crowns and ornate sceptres are impressive. We also have a close encounter with one of the Tower's ravens. Six ravens are kept at the tower as legend says that the day the ravens leave the Kingdom and Tower will fall. Although mostly wild, these large birds have their wings clipped to make them stay and are attended to by Ravenmasters.



Buckingham Palace



We catch the Clipper to the Embankment pier, where we walk to the Parliament buildings and see Big Ben. The queue to Westminister Abbey is long and we decide instead to find our way to Buckingham Palace. We are among hundreds who file past the gates and then linger to take photos from all angles. The flag is flying but the Queen is too busy to have afternoon tea with us.



Deckchairs in the park with
Big Ben looking on...

We walk back along the Mall where many processions have gone before us. We see lots of deck chairs in the park beside us, placed in twos and threes, tempting us to rest our tired legs. When suddenly the 'deck chair warden' comes our way, we decide that at L1.50 per hour each, we are not so tired after all and high tail it out of there.



We have to queue for a boat and wait at least half an hour for it to arrive. The warm weather has brought everyone out and they're all waiting for a boat! Once aboard the Clipper, we decide to sit back and enjoy our cruise down the river and stay on as far as it will go and back again to the Tower pier. We are 'quite at our leisure' sipping on brandy and coke in little plastic cups and nibbling on salty chips.

We finally cross the Tower Bridge back to our apartment where, after a light meal, I prompty fall asleep on the couch. It's been quite a day!