| I can't beleive it's already time to leave London, at least for
now. In the morning I'm going to start heading south with a
short stop in Paris.
I will be returning to London at the begining
of August for my flight home, so I will have a chance to see
more of London and the UK then. By then the weather should be
nicer, although I can't complain about the first two days I was
here. Over twenty degrees on both days, unlike today which was
in the teens and raining most of the day.
Today's weather really didn't affect me that much. I spent most
of the morning tracking down hotels in Paris. I didn't actually
book anything because there are more than half a dozen
good options, so I'll shop around when I get there.
I was almost 2pm when I finally got out of the hotel. I would have
been out sooner if I hadn't wasted an hour trying to add too
many maps to my GPS device.
The late start and the rain really didn't affect my site
seeing. Actually, I think the rest and the cooler weather did
me some good. I walked over 17 kilometers today and I feel great.
My walk today covered some similar territory to the past
couple days, but it was at a much more relaxed pace.
I started my walk down Belgrave Rd east of Victoria station
to check out some more
hotels and B&B listed in the travel books. I now have more
options when I come back in late July. Once I got down to the
Thames I headed north to Victoria St for a walk by Scotland Yard
and St James station. That's reminds me. I learnt yesterday that
the several places in the game Monopoly are names after places
here in London. I also learnt that London, is actually a mega city
made up of several smaller cities kind of like Vancouver. So,
it's more correct to refer to London as the greater London area.
The actual city of London is in the heart of the greater London area.
It dates back 2 thousand years spans a total of 1 square mile.
It's mainly a financial
and business area, with a total population of only about 7000
and only one (1) fire hall!
From St James station I headed over to Westminster Abbey and
the Houses of Parliament. I wanted to tour the Abbey, but they
have short visitor times on Saturday.
From there I headed up Whitehall
towards Trafalgar Square. I took in several sites along Whitehall
and Haymarket street up to Piccadilly Circus. What made the walk
interesting was that many of the streets up to Piccadilly Circus
where closed to vehicular traffic today, because of activity
by that 40ft mechanical elephant I meantioned yesterday.
My walk included a side trip down to the Thames to get a closer
look at Cleopatra's Needle, the Battle of Britain Memorial, and
the Victoria Embankment Gardens.
While I was at the Battle of Britain Memorial I ran into some
more people from Canada, three young guys from Ontario. They
are here visiting as well and are heading to Scotland tomorow
in a rental car. Yesterday
I met a girl from Vancouver who was working at the London Eye.
She's here on a work visa for a year.
I headed back to my hotel via The Mall just north of St James Park.
That took me once again over to Buckingham Palace before return
to the Victoria area. I found a great restaurant just north of
Victoria station on my way home. It was the best meal
I had here so far.
It was still raining by the time I go back to the hotel after
dinner, but that's ok because overall I didn't get any wetter
than I did just swetting in the last couple days. I sure am glad
I brought along my umbrella. I bought that thing over 10 years ago,
maybe 15, and it sure paid for itself today.
Well, I think that's about it for today. Tomorow I'll be up
early for the 8am breakfast here at the hotel, then I'll head of
to the train station to catch the Eurostar to Paris.
Here's a few pictures from today:
Yesterday on the bus tour we learned that all the green spaces
in greater London are filled with trees like this one. These
trees absorb the pollution through their leaves then shed it
out their bark.
Your guess is as good as mine. Perhaps an airconditioner?
Coin operated!
I didn't figure out what this building was.
Scotland yard. Apparently, during the opening ceremonies
for this build
thieves managed to steal several hundred thousand pounds nearby
because all the police where busy attending the opening ceremonies.
Jewel Tower - the only survivor of the original Palace of
Westminster.
Part of Westminster Abbey.
Cenotaph on Whitehall.
Admiralty Arch at the East End of The Mall along St James Park.
Buckingham Palace at the West End of The Mall along St James Park.
St James Park.
The 40ft mechanical elephant.
Interesting mode of transportation.
No. 10 Downing Street. Note the machine gun held by the guy
in the middle! They had the
same thing over at Buckingham Palace.
Cleopatra's Needle.
A portion of the Victoria Embankment Gardens.
A portion of the Battle of Britain Memorial.
West end of St James Park near Buckingham Palace.
Buckingham Palace.
If you are a Google Earth user, you may be interesting in
checking out where I've been over the last 3 days. Just click
on each of the following links and open them in Google Earth
or save them to you computer and open them from there. If you don't
know what Google Earth is, check out
my Google Earth page.
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