I arrived in London at St. Pancras Station on Friday, 13 June (2014) and was met by Alex. We hopped on the Tube and got off at the Canary Wharf Station where we had lunch outdoors before Alex went back to work, taking my luggage into the office with him. I took the tube to Greenwich, where I wandered around the Old Royal Naval College, the Royal Museums, and Greenwich Park. I walked into the Royal Observatory and decided not to pay to go in, instead just wandering around the park, which strongly reminded me of the park in the Mary Poppins books. I ended up by Cutty Sark, just a few minutes too late to go in, but was able to enjoy the view of it from outside.
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| canary wharf tube station |
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| view in greenwich park from near the observatory |
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| cutty sark |
I went back to Canary Wharf and walked around a bit before meeting Alex as he got off work. We took a Thames ferry then a taxi to get to his and Jen's place. Alex and I went to dinner at their local Olive Garden - NOT the same as Olive Garden in the U.S. - before Jen got home.
Saturday, Jen had booked a marvelous day including touring the Houses of Parliament, Mexican lunch on the Thames, and climbing to the top of the dome at St. Paul's Cathedral. We ended our day watching England vs Italy World Cup Soccer (football, since I wasn't in the U.S.).
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| big ben - view as we waited to enter for our tour |
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| a bit windy on a bridge over the thames |
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| alex at the top of the dome of st paul's cathedral |
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| from the waterloo bridge (jen's favorite) |
Sunday, Alex and I joined Felicia and family for dim-sum lunch and then wandered through a department store candy section.
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| cousins! felicia, me, alex |
My final full day in England, I got on the tube and went wherever my fancy took me - I strolled through the Victoria and Albert Museum, visited Harrod's department store, viewed the Museum of London, walked by Temple Bar, inspected St. Bride's Church, explored the Temple (notable in Dickens' works), perused Somerset House including a display from their Saturday Club and an exhibit called the Museum of Water, descended below All Hallow's Church, crossed the Tower Bridge, and concluded my ramble with a lovely cup of tea on the ground floor of The Shard before having drinks with Alex and Jen on the 52nd floor.
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| victoria and albert museum |
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| lord mayor's carriage in the museum of london |
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| fountain place (in the temple) |
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| museum of water (somerset house) |
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| the tower bridge |
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quite possibly the most expensive cup of tea i've ever had with a wee eton mess
(at lang on the ground floor of the shard) |
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| view from gong - 52nd floor of the shard |
I stayed up late that night to watch the USA vs Ghana in the World Cup, getting up in time to be on the tube by 8 to head to the airport and fly home.
