London Bridges

We walked bridges several times, crossing the Thames River. I liked the way the bridge structures were painted to show off their decorative designs. Speaking of structures, there was a large one going up, a short distance behind our hotel which was right on the river. I complained that one could not get a good picture of the skyline without getting a construction crane poking up in your viewfinder. Jon got several good pictures though.

June 1 - The next day it was not as rainy but still windy. We did the Hop On- Hop Off Bus tour. Traffic was really congested and slow. We got off at St. Paul’s Cathedral. About this time I decided that there was no doubt my kidneys were working fine. Seems like we were looking for a rest room every time we were out walking around. And we did a lot of walking. After St Paul’s we walked to Harrods, which was pretty amazing. Then we stopped at  Burberry’s so Jon would look for a top coat he had been wanting and he found a nice one there. While the clerk was helping Jon try on coats, I sat on a sofa and was served a nice hot cup of cranberry tea. Jon also bought me a lovely scarf there. A sales clerk gave me lessons on how to tie it (at my request). We walked by Buckingham Palace and took pictures on the way back to the hotel.

There was a Wagamama restaurant not too far from the hotel. We ate there twice, sitting outside each time as it was too noisy inside. They did have a few heaters outside under roof and blankets to wrap yourself in or sit on.  I wore my new scarf, which was nice and warm, when we ate there that evening. I wore my raincoat most of the time when we were outside, not so much because of rain but to cut the wind.

Yesterday, (June 2) we slept in and decided not to tax ourselves and try to see everything on our last day. We selected the Tower of London and the Tate Museum as priorities. However, by the time we returned to the hotel from the Tower, the Tate was closing, so we opted for a movie, took a taxi to the movie house. It was a really tiny movie house in a pub. We saw Money Monster, which was pretty good. We took the subway part way back and walked the rest of the way. It was still light out at 9:15. We packed suitcases the rest of the evening, throwing out anything not absolutely necessary to make room for our purchases.

                                         

We got an early start this morning (June 3) to navigate the monorail, changing lines once and getting to the airport in plenty of time. After checking our bags, visiting customs, going through security, finding our departure gate, we went to the Delta Lounge and got breakfast there. That’s where I am sitting to write this. Soon we will be headed back to JFK.

This is a very quick synopsis of all we did in London. Jon took lots of pictures on his phone. His pictures are a much better chronicle of London than this blog. One thing we did learn at Wagamama is that this whole week is a school holiday which probably accounts for the traffic congestion being so bad. Jon says it was nowhere near this bad the last time he was here. The crowds of people made it harder to get around, sometimes even to walk. We took lesser streets sometimes because of this.