We travelled to London in mid-March. Arriving to Stansted at eleven in the morning, we took a bus to Stratford; that's London, not Stratford Upon Avon. It turned out that there's a massive shopping centre there called Westgate. Having time to kill until we could check into our hotel, we stayed there for a while and lunched on Marks and Spencer sandwiches.
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| Found a churros van. Churros, but not as we know them! |
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| While we're on the subject of the shopping centre, I found an inclusive toilet. |
From Stratford, we took the Docklands Light Railway to Greenwich. It takes you through the heart of the docklands, which is an area of modern skyscrapers. Pretty amazing.
Greenwich
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| A sculpture by Henry Moore |
It was a nice place to stay; not in London itself. There were places where we could eat and I really enjoyed running in the park, even though the ups are very steep.
On the Friday we went to Hampton Court.
It really is a very impressive palace, although we missed the Great Hall and the kitchens; the chapel was definitely closed.
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| the other side is quite different |
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The chapel we didn't see
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| These are the "ghosts" of King George's ladies |
We were lucky with the English weather all week.
Saturday: the South Bank
A quick train ride to London Bridge took us to the south bank of the Thames and the crazily busy Borough Market. It was fun last time I went there. This time it was so crowded it wasn't nice at all. I'd been out running in Greenwich beforehand, not many people about. On the Thames path, both sides of the river, all the time, there were runners weaving through the crowds. Lots and lots of people! We visited the lovely Southwark Cathedral to the sound of organ music; an organist was practising.
Sunday, the City
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| Tower Bridge |
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| Skyscraper |
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| The Shard, seen from the platform at London Bridge |
One of the things I wanted to find was the Queenhithe Mosaic. We had to follow the GPS and even so, it wasn't easy; it was on the other side of the Anglo-Saxon dock.
The other place I wanted to find was the church of St Batholomew the Great. My only photo is of the gate.
It doesn't look like much
It's a high building with graceful Romanesque arches. It was Sunday and there was a service. The seating is strange, because what remains of an enormous medieval abbey church is the choir. Impressive, but we went back on Tuesday to see it properly.
Tuesday was our free day in London. We re-visited St Bartholomew and ate our sandwiches in St James' Park. The daffodils were lovely in London.
It really is a very impressive palace, although we missed the Great Hall and the kitchens; the chapel was definitely closed.
It doesn't look like much
It's a high building with graceful Romanesque arches. It was Sunday and there was a service. The seating is strange, because what remains of an enormous medieval abbey church is the choir. Impressive, but we went back on Tuesday to see it properly.
