DAY 82 - 93: London

I arrived in a stinking hot London on the 28th of July, after a long Virgin Atlantic flight, sick as a dog and oh so jetlagged! The first 2 days in London I spent with Mandie's friend Roshni, who took me in on short notice after my plans had to change very quickly. So thankful. I did not do much those two days, went for a short walk and went out 2x for dinner with Roshni. Roshni lives in the area south of the Thames, near Tower Bridge and the Shard.

On the 30th of July I moved to the Leyton Rooms in Stratford (this is Stratford NE London, NOT upon Avon), down the street from my first house sit. My first impressions of the area were a bit uncomfortable.... it is definitely an immigrant/refugee area and not what I was expecting. No friendly English faces with a nice "good morning".... Instead staring male faces, not a woman in sight and not a hint of being friendly at all. One even tried to scam me into giving him money! I really think some people should stop whining and take a real good look at themselves and their behaviour!

I started my first house sit on the 31st of July in a Victorian row house with two lovely cats, Freddy and Olive. The house was small, very tidy and with everything I might have needed. The owners are a young English couple. The location did work really well. There was a bus stop around the corner, that takes you to the Stratford Tube station and from there it was easy to get to anywhere in London. 

Since I have been to London twice before and I had a full 10 days to explore, I took things a lot slower, spent a lot of time walking in the parks and along the Thames. I also managed to spend a day in Godalming with friends Bernadine and James.

ST Paul's Cathedral

The building where Roshni lives

Freddy (black) and Olive (stripy)

At Stratford station

One of the London tbe stations

London bus in front of St Paul's

St Paul's from a different angle

The Tower of London

Shakespear's Globe Theatre

Tower Bridge

Nicknamed the Walkie Talkie

The Shard

The changing London skyline :(

Small cruise ship on the Thames

Somehow I managed to not get a photo of the Gherkin. This is more like its dumpy cousin.

Lots of flowers in London this time of the year.

No idea who this strapping man was...

The London Eye - Pretty but too often you take a picture of a pretty old building only to notice later that the darn Ferris wheel sticks out behind it.

Even Charlie Chaplin was out in the lovely weather

Yup, the "continentals" have to be reminded...

Street art

Wonder how much they paid this dude. Bet he did not tell his friends what he was doing...

Still in use in England... not that you often see people using them.

Typical British mailbox

And the epic London busses

Levitation... see below how it works - in case you were wondering!

The levitator took a break!

I went in search of the first McDonalds I had ever bought a burger at. It was in October 1997, it was a cheese burger and cost 50p. This time I could afford a bit more!!

I have a thing about old buildings, the architecture, the history and the building materials.

Westminster Abby... look at that queue! The second time "I came, I saw, I left." Life is too short. I did see the inside in 1993. In 2004 I also skipped due too the queue.

Someone liked stripes. Makes you dizzy.

And another one!

The Guild Hall - Built on top of a Roman amphitheatre

St James's Park

Feeding pigeons in St James's Park

St James's Park

Buckingham Park

A guard at Buckingham Palace

Ice cream kiosk in Kensington Park!

Proof that it was an ice cream kiosk!

The Diana Memorial in Hyde Park - it was 32-33 degrees while I was in London. Everyone was trying to cool off.

Had to do it!

There is a lake in Hyde Park where I found this structure. No idea what it is other than it is a bunch of floating 44 gallon drums. Went for a walk in Oosterhout in Holland a month later and found a reference to this specific "piece of art". It is called the London Mastaba and consists of 7,506 barrels in the colours of red, mauve and blue. The artist is a Bulgarian called Christo. So, now I know...

The Royal Albert Hall where the Last Night of the Proms is held annually.

Part of the Prince Albert Memorial

Still part of the Prince Albert Memorial. It is huge!

Kensington Palace. Queen Victoria grew up here, I believe Diana lived here and both William and Harry now live here. They live in the back and the front is open to the public. The bit one can get into is really not that impressive...

There is currently a display of Diana's famous dresses. She was tall....

And then you go a bit further and then there is this dress that was worn by a young queen Victoria. It is short and very small. After all those very long Diana dresses...

Painting of a young Queen Victoria

Man am I glad we have come so far..

The sunken garden at Kensington Palace

From the edge of the sunken garden towards the palace.

So you can walk around the sunken garden in the shade.

Looking out onto the front garden of Kensington Palace.

In the garden of Kensington Palace

Bernadine in Godalming

Ice cream with Bernie

Out for lunch in Godalming

Bernadine and James

Private Boys' School in Godalming, used in the Harry Potter movies

Back in London I went on a Roman Walking Tour. There are lots of Roman relics if you know where to look for them.

Part of a roman ruin next to the Museum of London.

My Roman Walking Tour guide Claudia and the only other co-walker. He was actually a Londoner who got interested in the roman history in London and wanted to learn more.