Had our first trip into London. Jean stayed home with Alex (who was delighted to be able to play with his friend Olivia! So we went by ourselves on the train from a station quaintly called Martins Heron! Took about an hour to get to Waterloo Station from where we walked to the London Eye - queue of thousands so we walked on by! Walked along beside the Thames - huge number of people sightseeing, all nationalities! We came to Westminster Bridge, having taken photos across the river of the Houses of Parliament with Westminster Abbey in the background. Walked across the bridge, past the H of P - large barriers on the footpath around it, obviously to stop vehicles from getting too close, a good security measure. Opposite Parliament was a sort of tent city with placards against the Iraq war and disconcertingly, inside the gates, was a policeman with a sub-machine gun - most un-British!!
Walked on to Westminster Abbey - looking very clean and smart. Had a wonderful audio tour of the Abbey - took about 3 hours. What a wonderful building and it's hard to believe the workmanship and its age. So many famous people either buried or commemorated there, although it was disappointing not to be able to find Richard III - all the other monarchs seemed to be there! Even Oliver Cromwell is commemorated. Particularly liked Poets' Corner with so many of them immortalised in stone. Ended up having our lunch in the little cafe in the Abbey and, on the way out, saw lots more memorials, particularly the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier which is very poignant. Really something to remember for a long time.
After leaving the Abbey we walked along the Embankment, up to St Paul's Cathedral which is magnificent in a different way to Westminster. On the way to St Paul's we stopped at the wonderfully named church St Andrew's by the Wardrobe! How cute is that? We then walked across the Millennium Bridge but were hampered a bit by a huge contingent of Spanish tourists who kept stopping in front of us. Just across the bridge is the new(ish) Globe Theatre but we couldn't go in because there was a performance in progress.
Carried on along the Embankment to London Bridge and just before the bridge stopped for a look at the replica Golden Hinde, then decided to call it a day and wend our way back to Waterloo Station. At the National Theatre there was a huge number of policemen on pushbikes, although we couldn't see why they were there. Outside the theatre there is a huge green lounge suite (looks as if it's made from grass, but it isn't) and people were sitting on it, and also on deckchairs!
A little way along from the theatre was a wonderful, colourful array of graffiti - quite impressive even if it really is vandaism!
Just before we reached Waterloo we spotted an imposing statue of Nelson Mandela which had been put there before he was released, in 1985 by Oliver Tambo, President of the African National Congress.
Caught the train and sat back to rest our weary legs!! Must say we were very impressed by the train (but not by the cost!) - it was clean, quick, quiet and comfortable and had a loo!
And so, as they say, to bed!
