Today has been a real all round tour! Not quite planes, trains and automobiles but it was feet, tubes and trains!
They started by wandering down New Bond Street! The jewellery district.....all the shops have very expensive window displays with a very large, scary man standing just inside the door or on the street! He is usually 6 foot plus and is in a sharp suit and has an earpiece! They are so bored they listen to the radio all the time!
We did wonder about trying to walk in....but felt we would probably not get our feet over the threshold!
At the bottom of the street we came to The Burlington Arcade. This is one of the narrow, covered arcades filled with very expensive goods which would be lost on us! Most are quite small and sella diverse range of goods! Jewellery (some of its not even NEW!!!!) shirts, pens, leather goods, more old jewellery, watches and even dressing gowns! They too often have. Guard on the door and the young girls inside are ALL on their phones! It amazes us that the rates these shops must pay - how do they make money with no one in them and the assistants playing on the phone while the door stops prevent people from even entering!
After this it was of to Fortnum and Mason's! Tis is what Harrods should be like! They don't believe in packing the shelves high and lots of garish items everywhere! They follow the minimalist model....and they have their items laid out serenely for you to look at! All the items are laid out on a selection of old tables, F&M baskets and posh stands! They have a number of different cafes and eateries and they all look like you would need to be a 'lady that lunches' to fit in!
Anyway, now it was off to the river again via Trafalgar Square! I got some photos taken on a post again and the lion was too busy for me to get up! It was then down to the river. They walked along the north bank until they got to the Millennium Bridge and they crossed once again! From their it was on down the south bank from where they stopped the other day! Hays Galleria is very nice and was thrilled with people but they couldn't find somewhere to have lunch to suit them both! So off they went again! Past the Golden Hind, the HMS Belfast and then past Boris' office block next to Tower Bridge! You are surrounded by a vast array of new high rises here - the London Mayors Offices, new tower blocks and of course The Shard! You could see it from everywhere! A stunning building which rises majestically into the sky unlike any of the others!
Beyond Tower Bridge they found more modern developments. This whole area has been rejuvenated in such a spectacular way that the 'old' Clink Jail from the 1800's is now one of the 'in' areas! They had lunch and then made it back to Tower Bridge and crossed over! It was hoaching with people with every second person taking either large family group photos or obviously bad 'selfies'!!
So, once they crossed they were going to go on a self guided Harry Potter tour when she said.....'Aren't we going to the O2?'
So...it was BACK across Tower Bridge so they cold go BACK to Hay's Galleria to get the tube station! So, we were off on the tube again! It amazes me how deep under ground these trains rattle about! They went down two very long escalators and they were tempted to slide down the slope between the escalators! However, a few rather large obstructions carefully placed at regular intervals put that thought right out of their minds! You could do it once....but it would include a free ride in an ambulance too!
So...off to the O2! Would it be better than the Olympic Park? Would you see more? Wold you get access?
Well...the answer was yes to them all! However, you could not get in to see the arena! That was what they wanted to see! However, it is an impressive venue and the sheer size of it really needs to be seen to be believed! The dome is 365m in diameter - 1m for every day of the year! There are 12 VAST pylons supporting the canvas style dome - one for every month of the year! You can now even walk OVER the dome! It looked quite a steep climb and would have been good fun! They ventured in and they walked round the outer perimeter of the inside of the dome. The vast array of food outlets takes your breath away. You can imagine on a concert night that the 24000 spectators would be milling round these places looking for somewhere to eat! But for now it was quite quiet and the restaurants were all very quiet! The busy days when concerts are on must make up for days like today!
From the dome they continued round to the Emirates cable car. The cable car rose from ground level to soar high above The Thames - three vast columns rose high into the sky and supported a narrow cable carrying a large number of hanging boxes that glided through the sky to the other side of the river. The approach was very quiet....but when you arrived there the queue was quite long! In groups you were taken up to the station and you entered the car. A private car would have cost £86 - and on our way there we thought we might be lucky to be there when it was quiet and get a car all to ourselves! No such luck! We were in with 6 other people! A group of three people Linda had feverishly hoped would be in a different car and a cole with a young child - who continually noted at her mother to take photos of EVERYTHING or continually asked....what's that.....what's that.....what's that??
The mother was obviously a bit of a photographer and she proceeded to jump about the car taking photos which meant it was impossible for him to get any decent photos or to let me out to get a photo taken!
As the car crossed the river you got great views of so many different things! Canary Wharf and all it's tower blocks! The Shard.....despite being at least 3 or 4 miles away still stretched high in to the sky dwarfing towers far closer! We got great views of the dome, London City Airport, Olympic Park and ......a beach....yes.....a man made beach! Oh.....and a rubbish recycling dump and a series of barges having tonnes of sand being unloaded to be used in one of the countless building sites that are all round the city! Everywhere you look new building are springing up or others are being gutted and renovated!
The journey was great and was over in matter of minutes! Now it was off to the next railway station to take the DLR back to central London! The overland train took us past The Dome (although it was across the river), Canary Wharf and Tower Hamlets!
So, once off the train it was back to walking! From the Tower of London it was back up The Strand and Fleet Street and on to Covent Garden and China Town and Soho! This was the real Soho....and some of the shops seemed very odd! So odd that they did not have any window displays at all and some even seems to offer the chance to see ladies dancing!! Linda just tutted and they seemed to speed up for a while!!
Eventually after having walked over 10 miles again they were back t the hotel. It was almost 6 a d they booked a table a the restaurant across from the hotel for their dinner at 8!!
Sergio's is an Italian restaurant that is always busy! The walls. A d it's Facebook page, are adorned with. Photos of the celebrity's that regularly visit to have lunch or dinner! The fat it is so close to the. BBC must help it draw these people in! They had an excellent meal and threatened to take me to see if I could get my photo taken to be displays beside the others! That would have been fun!
Anyway, last day tomorrow and then my hols are over! It has been oh so short.....I really want to become a full time travelling bear! Anyone want to give me a job as a travel correspondent? Let me know!
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