Another day in London

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We made an early start as Larni & Lynne needed to get away early and we had decided to go to London to pick up our visas from the Chinese Embassy. They followed us until just outside of Walthamstow where they had to divert to go to Illford for their final school visit before flying to Paris this evening. Much waving as we enjoyed having them for their few days with us. It felt like a bit of Australia had come to us and we had so many laughs while they were with us.


We picked up our passports with the relevant visas, no queues to this part of the building and a much shorter one going in than when we applied. Always the way!

From here we made our way to Monument Station where we joined a group for a free tour run by New Europe Tours. This is where a young university graduate takes people on tours and is paid by the tips given. Dave, our guide born in Australia, was very good, giving us some stories which made dry historical facts interesting and relevant. We walked for about 2 ½ hours and covered the Thames, London and Millennium Bridges, The Church of the Templar Knights (Templars as in ‘Da Vinci Code), St Paul’s Cathedral, Royal Courts of Justice, Bank of England and finally a church, St Clement Danes, which is now a memorial to the pilots who were killed in the Battle of Britain.

Next we walked to the Borough Markets near London Bridge where it has been for 350 years making it London’s oldest food market. We sampled some food here and took some photos but it is now very much a tourist attraction with stalls and prices to match,

Wanting to see more of London in the limited time we had left and thinking of our aching legs, we caught a double-decker bus to Kings Cross station from where we caught the tube back to Blackhorse Station where the car was parked.

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Photos

Cordwainer statue
Our guide hammed it up by the cordwainer statue. This is someone who makes shoes and stands in Watling Street where the shoemakers used to live.

St Paul's
The second largest church in the world.

Templar Church
Featured in the movie "Da Vinci Code". The area around this is known as "The Temple" as is home to the legal profession.

Comments

[Larni]

Hi there We got a little lost after we diverted from you guys so asked a few people and found the school. great visit, Aussie girl is the Deputy Head Teacher. Road to Heathrow was remarkably good, just took nearly an hour to return the hire car and discuss the little "scratch" on the wheel that we didnt do. Keep writing! L