England

Who said London has poor weather?
Today was glorious blue skies and pleasantly warm as we tackled a few significant points of interest.
We left the apartment just after 8am to walk to St. Paul’s Cathedral for our first tour of the day. The architecture of the building is amazing and the audio tour was very informative. A real highlight (especially for Loss) was to hear the pipe organ being played while we were there.
After seeing all the main features of the building, we then climbed right to the top of the dome for some great views across London. The narrow, winding staircase is definitively not for the claustrophobics!
After this, we caught the tube to Queensway station then walked down through Kensington gardens to Kensington Palace. In the grounds is a memorial tribute to Princess Diana who lived there from the time of her wedding until her death 16 years later.
As it happens to be a holiday weekend (and the weather was so nice - testified by the number of English out sunning themselves) we were only able to secure tickets for a tour of the palace itself at 4.30pm. This gave us a few hours to see some other things in the interim, so we walked /tubed back to Whitehall, and then toured the Churchill war rooms - the bunkers underneath Whitehall where Churchill and his war cabinet planned and executed WW2. The whole place is preserved exactly as it was in 1945 and gives a sense of the fortitude and conviction of Churchill and his nation of the time.
As we were leaving Whitehall (hoping to go to number 10 Downing Street), we happened upon a changing of the guard.
Alas, Downing Street is no longer accessible to the public - totally protected by police and steel fences - quite different to my last visit in 1974 when you could stand right by the door.
We spent a little time down on the banks of the Thames (amid throngs of people, a large protest outside Whitehall and many shirtless British men who were finding the 19 degree temperatures way too warm to stay fully clothed), with some photo ops of the London Eye and Big Ben while we were there.
It was then time to return to Kensington Palace for our 4.30pm tour. We walked then tubed to Paddington station first (mainly for the benefit of the grandchildren who love Paddington bear) - then another 20 minute walk saw us back at Kensington where we enjoyed a tour of the palace - not the section where Diana lived - but rather where Queen Victoria was born, lived and worked.
After another walk / tube and walk, then a shopping diversion for some groceries - we returned ‘home’ at 7pm after clocking up 23,000 steps today.
A great day all round, rounded off with Loss preparing another amazing meal in the kitchenette.Les mer