London Pictures I took more than 250 pictures, a few good, many bad. I'm going to attach a very small selection
Ooh yes. Share more, Lyn. Was that 2nd one taken near your hotel ... it looks like Knightsbridge! When you said your were a couple of blocks from Hyde Park that could've meant anything ... but Knightsbridge ain't exactly slummin' it It's practically the Queen's back yard ... and Harrods is the local convenience store (conveniently run by an <ahem> immigrant ) I see you also captured St Pauls, the so-called Erotic Gherkin (Dill), Blackfriars bridge and some highly desirable (from a real estate point of view ) chimney pots ... Notting Hill?
OK--we did all the touristy things we could fit into 9 days. BTW, our hotel was two blocks north of the Marble Arch (northeast corner of Hyde Park.) Day 1: Didn't do much except walk around a little, and eat Fish and Chips at a pub--The Old English Gentleman. Day 2: We walked down the east side of Hyde Park (Park Lane), along the south side (Kensington Road), to Exhibition Road and visited the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Science Museum, had lunch at some little carryout with tables on the sidewalk, walked back through the Park using the bridge over the Serpentine Lake, had dinner at a Spaghetti House and a pint at the Old English Gentleman. Day 3: Rode the Tube to Liverpool Street Station. Walked around taking pictures (e.g., the Gherkin). Took the Tube to Monument Station, had lunch at the Leadenhall Market (I think). Walked to St. Paul's Cathedral and then along the Thames to Big Ben and Parliament. Took the Tube back to the Bond Street Station, ate dinner at a KFC. Walked back to the hotel. Day 4: Took the Tube to Victoria Station and from there got a train to Canterbury and Dover. Took a tour of the Canterbury Cathdral, had lunch in Canterbury, hopped back on the train to Dover, rode a cab up to the fort, got a tour of the WWII tunnels, saw something of Henry II's castle (keep) before walking in the rain back to town and the RR station. We had dinner in our hotel, being exhausted, and drank more wine than we are used to . Day 5 (Wednesday We bought a tour bus ticket, good for 24 hours (and we would be thankful for that as it turns out.) We rode the bus until it got to the London Eye where we got off and bought a ride on the Eye. Our bubble on the wheel was on the descent, near the end, and my camera was turned off and put away when the formation of jets passed over the city trailing smoke the color of the British flag. London had won the Olympics for 2012 . We walked across the Westminster Bridge, climbed onto a little boat for a short cruise that was included with the tour bus ticket. It was a one way only trip to the Tower of London area. We took a break over a glass of beer in a nearby pub, then caught the tour bus back to the Marble Arch stop. Not wanting to dine in the hotel again, we took the tube to the Green Park Station, walked around until we found a tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurant and had steaks. I don't remember the name of the place and it doesn't matter because it wasn't particularly good . Day 6 Thursday : Our original plan was to visit the Tower of London. We were not early risers while in London but were a little earlier this morning. There's a 'Pret a Manger' place across from the Marble Arch where we'd been getting a danish and coffee most mornings and we did the same this morning. We decided to make the most of the rather expensive tour bus tickets by riding it down to the Tower of London. We got on the bus around 9 am. I think this is around when the bombs were going off in the Tube, but we didn't know about it. When the bus got to Trafalgar Square it pulled over and one of the crew told all of us to get off, that something 'serious' had happened and the tour buses were closing down for the day. We happened to be next to the National Gallery so we went inside and spent the rest of the morning and all afternoon there, even ate lunch in their cafeteria. The place slowly filled up with other tourists. We delayed leaving because it was raining outside. When the rain stopped we walked up to the British Museum. It was around 4 pm, I think, and the place was closing. That's when we found out, after talking to a young woman looking for her friends, about the bombs. We walked back to the Marble Arch and the hotel. A great many people were on the streets, walking. I don't remember what we did for supper. I do remember watching the news the rest of the evening. This is getting WAY too long. Friday (Day 7) We took the train out to Colchester and spent the day, the evening we went to the British Museum exhibit about the Mummy. Saturday (Day 8) we did the Tower of London. Sunday (Day 9) We walked through Hyde Park again and down to the Natural History Museum, then back through the Park. We had dinner at the Old English Gentleman--I had the Curried Chicken and it was very good. Monday we flew back to the States. I really did get a lot of good pictures and more will follow, but not tonight, I'm afraid. Tomorrow is the plan . On second thought, I'll pick one and attach it to this
I uploaded more pictures to the gallery. I've never been to the gallery before and am a little confused about how to use it . I started by just uploading 5 pictures taken around and from the London Eye. Then, I played with the category function and set up Travel where I uploaded 9 more pictures of other things. Advice about this would be welcome. I have pictures from Eqypt if anyone's interested . Believe it or not, I've actually been playing with my Sim families, too, in the middle of all this, but there have been no interesting life events, just day to day stuff. Wynter Sparrow, though, painted a portrait of the ghost of his Grandad, a picture of which I intended to attach here but can't find it at the moment .
