River Cruise

Bridge at Westminster Pier where our boat left from


Our cruise boat at the pier. London Eye and London Aquarium in the background.

Happy that there are life jackets on the boat and that I'm in a prime position to grab one.

War Memorial

Blackfriars Bridge

Ministry of Defense Building. It has a nuclear shelter and underground tunnels that lead to Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament.
A famous bridge...here are some hints:
1. It's made of self-cleaning stone, so every time it rains, the bridge gets washed

2...it's the subject of a children's song....it's.....

St. Paul's Cathedral - blocked by another building
Royal Festival Hall

Guns of the HMS Belfast. I can't remember the exact distance they can fire, but it's huge.
HMS Belfast.
The Gherkin buiilding that features on the opening shots of the Apprentice (my current favourite TV show)

Houses of Parliament and "Big Ben" (spot the misnomer)

Houses of Parliament.

Walking from St James park toward St Stephens Tower

St Stephen's Tower [couldn't get a picture of Big Ben ;)] British residents are the only ones allowed to go up the tower. Unfortunately, Sharaya didn't qualify. Might give a go the next time Dave and I are in London.

View from the Thames

Close up


Protest across from the Houses of Parliament. Something to do with Sri Lanka. This picture is mild compared to the protest that took place on Monday . All the streets around the square were blocked by protesters and there were loads of police.

Escape to London, Buckingham Palace and St James Park

Waterfront at Ayr - the town where Dave's grandmother grew up. It was pretty close to Glasgow Prestwick which is the airport we flew from to London.

Ayr

Ayr

More Ayr

Our ride from the airport. Yes, we were in the back of a rental van, like pieces of furniture.

In the back of the van....

Buckingham Palace.

Guards outside Buckingham Palace.

Palace gates.

The commoners outside the palace gate
Me - one of the aforementioned commoners


Queen Victoria Memorial

Across the road from the Palace. View of the Memorial Gardens.

Entrance to St. James Park
Police in the park

Weekend so far...

The weekend's been good so far. Dave had bought tickets to "The King and I" at the Whitehall Theatre, unbeknownst to me, and we went to see it Friday night. Dave definitely earned hubby points! I was impressed at how good the production was, especially considering it wasn't a professional group putting it on. There were quite a few songs in the stage version that didn't appear in the film, but I hear that's often the case. And of course, Yul Brynner wasn't there, but the guy who played the king did him proud.

Yesterday Elspeth, Dave and I tackled the spare room and got a chance to christen the Dulux Paint Pod we bought a few months ago. It's not quite as simple as in the demo film, but to be honest I didn't really expect it to be. It's still a lot faster (and cleaner!) than painting with a traditional roller and tray. The ceiling got painted, a new light fixture put up, and a first coat of paint on the walls. Once all the painting is done, we can lay the carpet and get a new rod for the curtains. Then it's just a matter of moving everything back into the spare room and voila!

I've finally downloaded my pictures from London onto the laptop, as well as the pictures that Sharaya kindly donated! They'll be going up soon, so stay tuned.