Out and About in London

Exploring London is wonderful. Mastering the tube map a breeze although the bus routes a little more challenging. But the Oyster card system is fantastic. You charge it up and tap it on a little scanner as you enter the tube station or bus and tap out at the end of your train journey. You don’t have to tap out of the bus. Of course the city is divided into zones and the system works out the cheapest fare for the journey you have made then debits the amount from your card balance.

In the first few days we just explored: Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Circus, Westminster, the Houses of Parliament, The London Eye (closed for maintenance), Trafalgar Square, St James Park. We just wandered by enjoying the fact that we could.

Kensington Palace Ready, settie, go!

The beautiful Lady Diana Memorial Fountain and Laurie on the edge!

On each day we would walk. One of our early walks was in Kensington Gardens. What an oasis. And so many people using them. Kensington Palace is certainly not at its best as it is in the middle of a major refurbishment. These gardens meld into Hyde Park and it was a wonderful surprise to stumble on the Lady Diana Memorial Fountain. This is more an ingenious waterfall thana fountain. The water appears to flow in opposite directions in a circle tumbling over various textures of marble. It is beautiful.

The water birds on the lake are incredible. On the way back we admired the magnificent Albert Memorial which is opposite the the Royal Albert Hall in Kensington High Street.

On another day an attempted walk to Holland Park didn’t quite work as it should have and we ended up totally in the wrong place and miles from home! We caught a bus home. Back home I realised just how dumb this was as Holland Park is effectively at the end of Earls Court Rd!!

After joining the National Trust in Australia which would give us free entry to Nat. Trust properties in UK I thought it would be good to visit one in London only to discover there is not a lot of choice - and certainly none of the iconic places we had hoped for. Never though, we decided lunch at the historic George Inn at Southark not far from London Bridge would be a good idea. What a place. It has been a working Inn for more than 300 years. The food was excellent and it was obvious THE place to go as it was full of locals. An excursion to Tower Bridge after lunch ended us - quite by accident - at a discreetly located marina next to the Thames where multi-million pound cruisers were moored.

The historic George Inn City Quay

Tower Bridge, the Tower of London & the River Thames