Reflections and heading home

Day 21  London to Cincinnati   Monday, Oct 1, 2017

I didn't take any pictures on this day, so I stole this "parting photo" from the Internet.

We had a nice visit with Wynn before we departed. Each morning I would use his coffee machine to make one cup at a time for us. He had little pastries to eat too.

We took the Underground back to Victoria Station to take the train to Gatwick Airport. We arrived at Gatwick in plenty of time, and went into an airport shop to spend all our leftover pounds sterling. We bought mostly candy, chips, and snacks to eat on the plane flights home. Whatever money was left over, although it wasn't much, I told the cashier to just keep the change.

Flights were great. We did have to wait a long time in Toronto for the connecting flight, but it all was fine.

Super vacation! But also good to be home.

JANET'S REFLECTIONS

Being the concubine for Ken during this marvelous journey that included automobiles, shuttles, planes, trains and ships, I had the most amazing trip of a lifetime! It could never be said that this lifestyle is anything but delicious and luxurious. Trust me, as a teacher, I would never have been able to have this incredible adventure.

There is nothing that could have made this trip more enjoyable. Each day’s adventures started early and lasted all day long, into the evening and often late at night. Ken planned every day so that there would be only minutes to spare for an extra pint (or two) to wash down pub delicacies. Ken knows no strangers and he politely introduced me each time as his girlfriend or partner, so they would never discover that I was really from an escort service!

As time moves on - days and months, with time for reflection and reminiscing, let me share with you the parts that were my favorites. On the ship, it was the excitement of violent waves flashing out over the porthole of our cabin, and the pleasure of gathering with all those our age for sing-alongs with Randon. Countless Long Island Ice Teas, (who knew there was no tea in this drink?), shots of various spirits, wines, beers, the variety of meals, especially in the Asian restaurant and the Irish pub, were enjoyed each day. They always provided delightful cuisine and service.

The uniqueness of traveling by ship is waking up each day and looking out the porthole to catch the first glimpse of a new country. Norway caught me by surprise at how the climate was so warm; Ken shared in his blog that the gulf stream gives it a warm and balmy climate. I have since considered that if I didn’t have loved ones in this country, I would escape and reside there, if for no other reason than to not be humiliated by the 45th president. Iceland, not particularly beautiful, provided fascinating a geothermal collage of landscape. It fed the gray matter to see what I had read about long ago in geology textbooks. The Shetland Islands provided their unique ponies having long ago been isolated from the rest of the world -- intriguing and beautiful.

Each tour guide had stories that made the scenery come alive in history and culture. If we had traveled and seen these sights on our own, so much would have been lost. Hearing history from their own voices, based on knowledge and hand-me-down tales from their families, was special; all the stories are rather blended together now, but I will go back and read the blog for specifics as my mind grows dimmer.

England was certainly a highlight. Staying in a home of friends gave richness to the visit. Such gracious friends picked places that provided highlighted experiences for a first-time visitor (me) and expand the experience for Ken, who had enjoyed previous visits. While driving to historical sights and visiting authentic old pubs, we enjoyed the countryside with their single-lane roads that were used as two-lane roads, and it helped us gain the sense of terror that they experience daily in their commuting. They are brave souls to drive! 

After leaving David’s and Hilary’s home and going into London, the stay in an Airbnb provided opportunity to be in a different setting and experience the “NY Times Square” of London. We were right in the center of constant creativity, talent, and excitement of the city.

I can’t thank Ken enough for the gainful employment and the chance to escort him on this great adventure. I love you my true soul mate. AnF yours. For those who are reading this to the end, let me say, these last eight years have been the most wonderful, having the love of my life, Ken, close by and sharing in our life's ups and downs.

 

Two museums - the British and London

Day 20   London  Sunday, Sept 30, 2017

I took hardly any photos today. This one was outside the pub where we had lunch near the Museum of London. We started the day at the British Museum, and it was an incredible tour. We had a personal tour, with only one other person, by a museum docent who hopes one day to be the British Museum director! She was excellent, and we learned so much, even though we saw only 0.0002% of the museum's artifacts. Best tour ever!

Our British Museum tour began at 10 am, and we walked to it. We were delighted to see that there would be just one other person on our tour, so could hear everything the guide said. She was excellent. She focused on explaining just a "few" of the artifacts in detail vs trying to show us as many items as possible.

The museum was founded in 1753 when Sir Hans Sloane, a physician and scientist, bequeathed his vast collections to the state. In 1823, King George IV gave to the museum the King's Library, assembled by George III. Parliament gave the museum the right to a copy of every book published in the country, thereby ensuring that the museum's library would expand indefinitely.

There are now about 13 million items in the British Museum!  Our guide spoke extensively about the disputed items that Britain "stole" from other countries, several of which are openly contested to this day. Chief among these is probably the most famous piece in the museum, the Rosetta Stone, which Egypt still is wanting back. She said they gave Egypt a very expensive replica of it!

Here are some of the items we learned about:

Warren Cup, which is a Greek cup from 15 BC and acquired in 1928. It is engraved with homosexual activity between two men, and was therefore hidden from the public until the 1980s.

Aigina Treasure Pendant, a piece of Greek jewelry from about 3000 BC.

Lewis Chessmen, walrus ivory chess pieces found on the Scottish Isle of Lewis in 1831. They were made in Norway in about 1150. Each piece is intricately carved and represents medieval aristocracy of kings, queens, knights, bishops, rooks, and faceless pawns. Janet and I bought a souvenir of one the queen pieces.

Rosetta Stone, carved in 200 BC to commemorate pharaoh Ptolemy V. Discovered by Napoleon in 1799, but transferred to British after his defeat. Since the tablet was inscribed in three different scripts, Greek, hieroglyphics, and demotic (everyday script), it allowed scholars to decipher hieroglyphics, which had disappeared following the 4th century AD.

Mummies - We learned a lot about how they were done and all the artifacts put inside the caskets to be used in the person's afterlife. Assyrian stone relief - our guide explained the action depicted in a  lion hunt relief across several walls, dating from 625 BC. Lion hunting was the sport of kings, and one Assyrian king claimed to have killed 450 lions.

Too much to remember! But we were captivated by the history and culture derived from the treasures we saw that morning. We bought several items, including heavy books, so we walked back to our flat to drop them off before taking the subway to the next museum.

You can see on the wall to the left in the photo above that it was the site of one of the original city gates - the Aldersgate, demolished in 1761. We stopped into this pub, Lord Raglan, for lunch. It was just south of the Museum of London, and just north of St. Paul's Cathedral. It was pretty quiet inside, on our Sunday afternoon.

The Museum of London covers the city from prehistoric to modern times. It is overlooking the remains of the Roman city wall and on the edge of the oldest part of London. It is primarily concerned with the social history of London and its inhabitants. We participated in a short tour, but much of what she discussed we had already learned on our previous tours.

There was more in-depth information on what it was like to live during the various eras from the middle ages to the current time. The exhibit on the Great Fire was interesting, and the Victorian slums.

They had some hands-on sections on the Great Fire, and here's Janet modeling what her 2nd graders would have done on a field trip.

 Janet's foot got sore, so she sat down with Paddington Bear while I finished touring "recent" London, the 20th century stuff. I enjoyed it all, particularly the items and events I personally remember during my lifetime.

My final Sunday picture was where we ate dinner, at this pub very near to our flat. We both ordered their Sunday roast specials - tons of food at a special price, with their roasts as the main entree. 

That night we went to the massive Odeon Cinema in Leicester Square to watch Victoria and Abdul, which we liked (other than the 30 minutes of ads and previews! And the $18 ticket price per person!).

Finally, we packed our bags to be all ready to depart the next morning. What an incredible few days we had in this exciting and historic town. 

Westminster Abbey and Kensington Gardens

Day 19  London   Saturday, Sept 29, 2017

Janet poses at the Princess Diana Memorial Garden at Kensington Palace. We'd heard about this from Hilary. We visited Westminster Abbey, had an interesting lunch at the Sanctuary House pub, and then strolled around Kensington Gardens.

Without a scheduled tour time, we took it easy in the morning. We had our usual coffee using Wynn's pod machine. When we finally took off at about 10:45, it was a beautiful sunny day as you can see here down our street at Trafalgar Square.

 Street artists and performers everywhere. That's the National Gallery in the background.

In front of the Gallery's columns there was some wild performance going on (see the crowds over there?). But we needed to get going to Westminster.

 The Admiral Horatio Nelson Column, with the admiral's statue on the top.

 You can see that in this case, they made the lion statues to face the correct direction! Huge crowds over there in Trafalgar Square.

We walked to Westminster Abbey, through St. James Park. This was a cute house and garden we passed by.

 Another pretty view in St. James Park.

We finally reached the Abbey and got in a 45-minute line.

St. Margaret's Church, next to the Abbey, whose bells played a lengthy noontime concert while we stood in line. Winston Churchill was married there.

We loved our tour of the Abbey, using audio guides (no photos allowed). It has been the coronation church since 1066, and had 16 royal weddings. It's the burial place for numerous kings and queens, and other famous British scientists, musicians, writers, and politicians.

The original church was consecrated in 1065 by Edward the Confessor, who died a few days later and was buried there. Archeologists have found the remains of Edward's church below the abbey, and it was almost as large as the current one. King Henry III wanted to honor Saint Edward so in 1245 he began work on his shrine, and enlarging in general, in the Gothic style. When it was partially done, in 1272 (with the shrine to Edward that exists today), Henry died and work didn't continue until 1376. The abbey has since been added onto and refurbished many times over the centuries.

It did survive, mostly, the blitz of WWII. But not until 1960 was the interior finally cleaned up to reveal the true color of the stonework. Its main ceiling is 102 feet tall, tallest in England. 

 It's in the shape of a cross, and tourists enter at the top in the north transept. We started our tour down the north aisle, which is called Musicians' Aisle. I didn't know that at first, but suddenly noticed the tomb of Ralph Vaughn Williams (and got all excited), and then Edward Elgar, Benjamin Britton, Adrian Boult, and Henry Purcell (the Abbey's organist from 1679 to 1695).

Also in that area was the tomb and a statue of William Wilberforce, who championed the anti-slavery issue for 20 years, which Britain finally abolished in 1807. Not too far from us in Ohio is the town of Wilberforce, named for him, and also Wilberforce Univ, the first college to be owned and operated by African Americans.

Near the western main door was the tomb of the unknown soldier, buried in 1920, with an attractive red silk poppy border. We walked up the nave and passed the tombs and monuments to scientists Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Michael Faraday. Also, African explorer David Livingstone's tomb ("Dr. Livingstone, I presume").

The choir was impressive, as this photo shows. The Sanctuary and high alter are beyond, which is where the coronations take place. There have been 39 monarchs crowned there, starting with Henry III and Elizabeth, in 1953 the most recent. Prior to Elizabeth's, they set up temporary seats to increase capacity from 2000 to 8000. Her Coronation Chair, used in every coronation since 1297, is on display near the west door, and is considered one of the Abbey's most famous artifacts. Only Bloody Mary didn't use it because she didn't want to sit in the same chair as her protestant half-brother Edward VI!

We continued up the church, past the St. Edward the Confessor shrine/chapel. It was not open to the public, as it was too sensitive since it has been in place for about 800 years and is considered the "spiritual heart" of the Abbey. Also in that chapel were the tombs of Henrys II and III, Edwards I and III, Richard II, and their queens.

As Janet and I continued up the North Ambulatory, we gazed briefly at many of the elaborate tombs and monuments in the various chapels. There are over 600 tombs and monuments in the Abbey, and occasionally we would recognize a person. There was the Florence Nightingale Chapel, dedicated to the nurses and midwives killed during WWII.

We then visited Henry VII's Lady Chapel (see floor plan), which is considered one of the Abbey's glories. As shown in this Internet photo, Henry and his wife Elizabeth of York are buried there with fancy gold effigies done by a famous Italian sculptor. This was the royal union in 1486 that united the Tudors with the Yorks and ended the War of the Roses. Also buried in this east end of the Abbey are Queen Eliz, Bloody Mary, Mary Queen of Scots, Charles II, William III and Queen Mary II, Queen Anne, and the two boys murdered by Richard III (Edward V and his cousin).

Back in the South Transept was Poets' Corner, where we saw monuments or graves for Shakespeare, Keats, Shelley, Byron, Dickens, Handel, Lord Tennyson, Lewis Carroll, Dylan Thomas, Oscar Wilde, and many others.

We departed the main church to the cloisters, and they too were filled with monuments and graves. Here is a monument to Capt James Cook and his world travels circumnavigating the globe.

I just had to take this photo of Clementi's tombstone since we all played numerous piano pieces by him back when we took piano lessons. I hadn't realized that he was "the father of the pianoforte."

It was then time for lunch, and we headed off toward a subway station. On the way, we passed by a classic pub.

The Sanctuary House was a beaut. So glad we found it and happened to be ready to eat and drink.

This photo shows that they've been serving since 1845, and it's called a Fuller's Ale and Pie House. You can see this written just below the counter in the center of the photo.

You can see how pretty the scenery is in the foreground and background.

A cool story was that we were seated behind this couple, so we got to talking since he was dressed in his uniform. He had been a Naval destroyer captain! He fought in the Falklands War. He was in his full dress because they were headed to a wedding that afternoon. We enjoyed our chat, and then wanted their photo.

We tried the sampler pie/ale plate as well as one of the full meat pies. Everything was great! The only problem was, the service was so slow, and we ate so much and talked with our new friends for so long, that we spent far too much time there. We had planned to go visit Kensington Palace, Albert Hall, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. However, it was late afternoon, and we would have to choose only one thing to visit.

We walked from the subway station to the Kensington Palace grounds, and across Kensington Gardens. This photo is Queen Victoria's statue with the palace in the background. It has been major residence for the royal family since the 17th century, when King Wm III and Queen Mary II first lived there. Princess Victoria lived here too, but as soon as she became queen in 1837, she became the first monarch to move into the new Buckingham Palace. But Kensington has remained as the home of others in the royal families, and today it's where Prince William and Kate live, Prince Harry, and various cousins of the queen.

Two pictures I took of the Kensington Garden lake with its swans, as we walked across the park toward Royal Albert Hall.

Before we left the park, we unexpectedly came across The Albert Memorial, which was pretty darned impressive.

My close-up came out pretty good. Victoria had this made a decade after Albert died in 1861.

Directly across the boulevard from the statue was Royal Albert Hall, opened at about the same time as the statue was completed. Check out the engravings along the upper rim. Lots of famous artists have performed there, and of course, now they now how many holes it takes to fill it.

We took the subway back home, and later had a great pub dinner here at The Round Table, only 75 meters from our flat. Unfortunately, there was a table near us with six loud Americans, and we did NOT like that noise.

Highlights of London up close

Day 18  London   Friday, Sept 28, 2017

Buckingham Palace, just before the changing of the guards. THOUSANDS of people were crowded in to watch it. Oh my! On this all-day tour, we also visited St. Paul's Cathedral, The Tower, Thames River cruise, and the London Eye.

We had to subway it to the Victoria train station, and then walk a few blocks to the bus station by 8:15 am to begin our tour. When we departed, we scurried across town to St. Paul's, passing many of the sights we had seen the afternoon before on our walking tour. We got to the cathedral a bit early, and it was raining, so we had to hang out a bit before we got in. This is the photo of St. Paul's I'd taken the day before, when it was sunny. On both visits, Janet and I wanted to buy bird feed for tuppence from the old bird lady, but she was not there. We sang the song anyway.

This is the Queen Anne statue in front of St. Paul's, and notice the statue at the lower left; that's an American Indian! The four "attendant ladies" sub-statues are Britannia, Ireland, the American Colonies, and France. So, England's American Colonies were appropriately represented by a Native American! How about that?

Of course, the architect was Sir Christopher Wren. It's the world's 2nd largest cathedral (to St. Peter's in Rome), and the dome is 365 feet tall. It has dominated London's skyline for over 300 yrs. It is a working church with hourly prayer and daily services.

The church before the present one (the 4th St Paul's, referred to as Old St Paul's), was also huge. It was begun by the Normans after the 1087 fire, and was added to many times over the years until it was a major cathedral. It burned down in 1666.

Our guide explained how St. Paul's survived the Blitz, although struck by bombs twice. They now know that the German bombers deliberately avoided it because it helped them visually navigate since it was so tall and recognizable from a distance. 

Funerals held there include the Duke of Wellington (who has the largest monument inside), Lord Nelson, Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, and George Mallory (Mt. Everest fame). Christopher Wren's grave is there too, but quite small. Charles and Diana were married there. The peace services marking the end of the First and Second World Wars occurred there.

It was, of course, magnificent to see inside. No photos allowed. We loved getting to hear the boys choir singing for a private service in the crypt chapel.

On our walk back to the bus, we passed this public garden with a church tower. It is Christ Church Greyfriars, established in the 13th century. After the Great Fire, who else but Wren designed the new church, but it was destroyed during the Blitz, except for what you see here. They left it as was and made it a garden.

Our bus then scurried back across town to Buckingham Palace. It was amazing how many people were there to watch the changing of the guard. Our guide had us observe the marching band and guards as they were marching toward the palace, because that way we could get front-row "seats". Thus, we did not watch the actual changing taking place in front of the palace. By the way, that's Queen Victoria on her throne on the monument.

 Here's a close-up of how jammed the sidewalks were. The street is open because that's where the guards would be marching, to the gate on the far right of this photo.

Our guide took us to where the guard band was "warming up" but playing songs for the fans. It truly reminded me of Brian's UCLA marching band playing songs at the tailgate parties. This was quite a distance from the palace, but at least here we could have unobstructed views of the upcoming pomp and circumstance.

A few yards away was where the guards were getting ready to march to the palace.

 And here they come! I next took a great video, but we can't put it here.

 There go the guards. From here, they had to march about 500 meters to get inside the palace gates.

Off they went. At this point, we still had some time, so Janet and I decided to see if there was any way we could glimpse the actual guard changing up with the throngs of tourists.

 We could not get close enough to the rails to see a darned thing. My picture above was from holding my camera as high as I could and just snapping. I never knew what what the guard changing looked like until I saw this photo.

 Here's why we couldn't see anything. That guy in the blue jacket also was holding his camera high for a photo, but he was doing it two-handed; I had room only to raise one arm.

Before our bus departed, I enjoyed this view through St. James Park, which is between Buckingham Palace and the gov't buildings near 10 Downing Street.

Our bus then scurried back across London again, to reach the Tower of London.

I took this out the bus window as we were crossing Tower Bridge. Our bus had crossed South London, below the Thames, so that we could cross the bridge.

Again, out the bus window, I got this shot of where the bridge meets halfway. Tower Bridge is a draw bridge, but rarely has to stop traffic and raise up for boats. But it does! It was built 1886 to 1894. Pedestrians can climb to the permanent crossing high up, meant for when the bridge is open, but most do it just for fun.

When we departed the bus at the Tower, we were given an hour free for lunch. Janet and I bought fish and chips from a vendor and ate outside where the birds were begging tourists to share. We had time, so we crossed the boulevard and had a pint at the Trinity House pub.

Eventually it was time to tour the Tower. Our guide showed us things inside for about 30 minutes, and then we were on our own for another hour or so. It is officially Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London. It was founded towards the end of 1066 once Wm the Conqueror became king.

The White Tower, which gives the entire castle its name, was built by The Conqueror in 1078 and was a resented symbol of oppression, inflicted upon London by the new ruling elite. The castle was used as a prison from 1100 until 1952, although that was not its primary purpose. A grand palace early in its history, it served as a royal residence.

 I took this photo of a rendering of what the Tower looked like a few centuries ago when the moat was still being used and boats still delivered prisoners at Traitors' Gate at the front. As a whole, the Tower is a complex of several buildings set within two concentric rings of defensive walls. It houses the Crown Jewels, which Janet and I saw. There still are apartments used by the guards and Yeoman Warders.

 We are about to walk under Bloody Tower, which was a torture chamber for much of its history.

 Here is an ancient Roman wall, but it's not part of the original Roman city wall, which I thought it was until I asked someone.

 Our tour guide explained how this was where Anne Boleyn lost her head. King Henry made out as if he was sorry for her, and wanted to make things as "comfortable" for her as he could as the deed was done.  So, he had made a cushion for her to rest her chin on. That building behind is where they keep the Crown Jewels.

 In front of the Crown Jewels building is a guard, and they go through a formal changing-of-the-guard ceremony there every so often. They did it just as we approached, so I took a video of it. Once inside, it was a definitive "regal" presentation of the jewels. Janet and I walked pretty fast through it; they would have meant more, we figured, to a subject of the Crown. It was interesting that even though they are on official display, they are still used and worn at times. They just remove it from its case, and then return it when the wearer is done with it.

This was quite a decorated cannon! The sign said it was originally from 1607, but brought to England from Malta in 1820. The Duke of Wellington then ordered that it be all decorated up, and that all was done in 1827. You can see the heralds and vines, and that is an engraving of St. Michael overthrowing satan near its front.

 These tracks, and the ruin in the foreground, actually ARE where the original Roman City Wall was. So they built the Tower around where the city wall was - pretty funny.

This is Traitors' Gate, where you would arrive (by small boat) if you were heading into the prison.

 Janet and I toured Beauchamp Tower, which was the main prison tower.  You could see that many had inscribed their names or messages on the walls. We then toured Wakefield Tower, which is now a torture museum.   In the 1500s and 1600s, during a period of extreme political and religious upheaval, torture was used here. They know of 48 prisoners who were physically tortured and interrogated to give up the names of their conspirators.

The photo above shows the rack, and we all know how that works. My photo of the "scavenger's daughter" did not come out, but it uses the opposite method - it compressed or contorted the victims instead of stretching them. The replica we saw held the body tight in a kneeling-down position which would become incredibly painful very quickly, and lead to the lungs filling with blood.

We also watched a little film about the notorious murders of the princes in 1483. The incident is one of the most infamous events associated with the Tower of London. Shakespeare also made this famous in his play about the wicked uncle, King Richard III.  Shortly after the death of Edward IV, his son became king but he was only 12, so he needed a guardian. His uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, was declared his Lord Protector.

Protector my foot! The evil uncle confined Edward and his 9-yr-old brother to the Tower and they were never seen again. The Duke of Gloucester proclaimed himself King Richard III. Everyone "knows" the uncle had them murdered! They even found what they believe were their bones in 1674, when they were renovating in the White Tower.

When we were done at the Tower, and had some coffee to warm up out of the rain, we walked to our river boat for our cruise.

 I took this photo as we were embarking on our boat. You can see the Tower on the left, and pedestrians, and the low river level at this moment.

The writing on the wall there says "Entry to the Traitors' Gate." It's now walled over, but that had been a scary spot!

I will post many photos I took during our cruise. We first went a little ways east, and then we turned around and went upriver several miles until we reached the old Battersea Power Station, and then turned around again and finished at the London Eye.

It was raining as we cruised under the Tower Bridge headed east.

A fancy sailing ship at St. Katherine's Dock.

 I just had to take that photo!

 The Dixie Queen paddleboat.

 HMS Belfast, a cruiser active during WWII and the D-Day landings.

Behind that river wall is a replica of Sir Francis Drake's Golden Hind. I wish we'd been able to see it up close.

 The Millennium Bridge, for pedestrians only. Directly north (the other direction from this photo) is St. Paul's Cathedral.

Blackfriars Bridge.

 This shows the London Eye, and Parliament and Big Ben in the back, and the Golden Jubilee Bridge. If you go right on the bridge, it leads right up to Trafalgar Square and where we were staying.

 The old County Hall, now housing many shops, museums, and attractions.

A "floating" restaurant.

 The Vauxhall Bridge, with fancy new apartments (condos?) along the shore.

Look at that modern architecture!

Parliament on the return down river.

 Look at the intricate designs on this Parliament tower.

Big Ben, which wasn't chiming at this time because it was undergoing restoration work.

 The river cruise ended at the Eye, but we had tickets via the tour that allowed us to bypass the line and we went right to the front to board this capsule.

 In this photo, we had just gotten going.

There were only about 10 people in the large capsule, so we had plenty of room to move around and take photos in any direction at any time. That's the Charing Cross Underground station in the background. 

 You can see St. Paul's off in the distance on the far right.

 We were at the apex when I took this photo.

 That's Westminster Cathedral, which we would be seeing the next day. You also can see on Big Ben that it's 4:46.

Looking upriver. Lots of boats.

 The Royal Air Force Memorial directly across from the Eye.

After we departed the Eye, we asked where there was a nearby pub. We were directed to this one. It was modern, rather than having the traditional look, but the beer was just as good. We had to laugh at this name.

We originally thought we would take a bus back to our flat, but when we couldn't find the bus, we decided to walk. Janet's foot was doing okay. So, we walked along the river until we passed under the Golden Jubilee Bridge, and then decided to cross it.

 On the way to ascend the bridge, we passed the Nelson Mandela bust, honoring his life.

 This passenger bridge was built adjacent to the existing old Hungerford rail bridge.

Once on the north side of the river, we walked east along it and through the Victoria Embankment Gardens. We passed by this Cleopatra's Needle monument that the tour guide on the cruise boat had pointed out. It's an actual ancient obelisk brought from Egypt (although it has nothing to do with Cleopatra). But what our guide had laughingly told us was that the workers erecting the lion statues on either side made them to face the wrong direction!

Those two lions are supposed to be protecting the obelisk from "attackers", but instead, they will never see the attackers approaching!

Janet and I used our subway map as best we could to walk north and find our way back to our flat. We eventually made it. After resting, we went out to find dinner, and settled on a small Thai restaurant because every pub was bursting at the seams, with patrons spilling WAY out on the sidewalks. The Thai food and service were excellent!

After dinner we strolled through Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus, and WOW, were we amazed at how "happening" it all was. The "Times Square" of London. And to think our Airbnb flat was only a couple hundred meters from it.

 Neon lights everywhere, street performers, big restaurants (and a Burger King!), casinos, the Odeon Cinema, bars and clubs.

 This was Swiss Court, right in the middle of Leicester Square, with all the Swiss canton emblems. The plaque in the middle notes that this was erected in 1991 on the 700th anniversary of the Swiss Confederation. Above the Swiss flag in the center is engraved "1291-1991".

Piccadilly Circus was just as flashy, but I didn't take any pictures. On the walk back we happened to be in China Town.

Janet and I thought this cat was cool on a wall in their China Town. Maybe it was an omen that we would soon be the proud owners of a pet cat with this same coloring. Bad cat!

We were tired and went back to rest for a little while before turning in. We were going to have another big day on Saturday, and I also needed to upload and edit all my photos from the day.