The Last of Our Time In London

---

So what do you do when you know your time is running out in London? We had plenty of things to do on the boat, but we also knew we were going to Chatham Marina where work could continue on the boat, so…. You guessed it, we continued to spend time walking around London and even got to some new places we hadn’t been before.

Those of you that have followed our blog know that we are a sucker for a market. We heard about the Petticoat Lane market full of inexpensive clothes to buy, the flower market on Columbia Street and the markets down in the Brick Lane & Limehouse area so we of course had to go. The big day for the market is Sunday so we headed out and did plenty of walking, people watching and even were able to grab an inexpensive Indian meal for lunch. A real bonus was a bouquet of 20 long stem roses for ₤5 ($8.40).

We visited the British Museum again a couple of times – this time checking out the Chinese and Korean sections. We also made it to the London Museum which we were able to tie into a one hour guided tour of the Roman section which was well worthwhile.

We took more walks along the Thames just enjoying the scenery and of course taking a few more photos of the standards – the Shard, the HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge. We decided to take some photos of the statute and buildings that we walk by regularly and have become second nature to us to show you some of the details. We made it into another church we hadn’t been to before, Christ Church and are still always amazed by the detailed carvings that we see.

We continued to attend the Monday morning cruisers get together where we share ideas with each other of things to see and do. It is also a great time to get questions answered as well as provides us time to socialize with our friends that we have made this winter.

We decided we had better get to the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace before we left so picked a nice day to do that. We found out later that it was a school holiday in Europe so it was packed, but still very enjoyable to see the pomp and circumstance of this one hour event. When we arrived the “red” guard were on duty and by the end of the ceremony the “blue” guard had the job of guarding the Palace. It is quite the spectacle with the very smartly uniformed guards, the horse guard, the sounds of music from the band and the precision of the whole ceremony.

Alistair (a friend here) introduced Bob to Brick Lane and the Indian restaurants there while Janice was in the US so we had to get back there as we do enjoy an Indian meal now and again. It is a good thing we didn’t discover it earlier in our stay in London or we may have had to go out more often!

We found our stay in London for the winter to be a wonderful decision. We got to see so much, listen to great music, learn lots of history, travel around the country a little from here and best of all got some great new friends out of it as well – that is hard to beat!

---

Photos

The Flower Market
was so packed you could only go in one direction but the prices were great and the flowers beautiful

Plenty of Inexpensive Clothes
are available in the Petticoat Lane market. Not many designed for boats however!

At this Market
any nationality of food was being offered - what a great aroma and colors

Always Good to Know Which Way To Look
These are all over town - they are ready for the tourist here!

The Christ Church in Spitafield
Foundation stone laid in 1715 and the first service was in 1729. Architect was Hawksmoor, pupil of Wren.

The Interior of the Christ Church
with its detailed ceiling and wood carvings

Anyone Need a Hat?
This is the place to get one. Bob did resist the urge to buy one!

An International Food Market
with great aromas and color inviting you to buy and sample their wares

The Traditional Game of Chess
being paid in the street. Not sure what was up with one players "hat"

Buy Your Expresso from the Trunk (Boot)
of this car -a unique idea.

Artist at Work
trying to sell his art at this street market

Fresh Fruit for Sale
Some healthy offers among the fried foods was a nice change to see

Pick Up a Barclay Bike
here, ride to where you need to go and drop it off at a different Barclay bike rack - these seem to be well used

The Variation of Bricks
in these buildings make an interesting design

England Uses Box Cars as Well
These are used to make up a shopping area

The End of Market Day
These streets are full in the morning & a cleaning is needed by night

The Historic City Wall
as seen through the windows at the London Museum

At The End of the Work Day
the pubs are full of people having a pint before heading home.

The Victoria Monument
just outside Buckingham Palace