London: Last Look!!

Our last couple of days in London we spent with friends and were able to squeeze in to a short stay a visit to the Tate Britain and a walk along the Thames to find another of the Obelisks that have been removed from Luxor (we think there were originally four obelisks in Luxor – one remains: there is one in L’Arc de Triomphe in Paris, one on the Thames in London and perhaps the fourth is in Barcelona (only we’re not sure of this!). In the process we walked through a small park alongside the Parliament Buildings where we found a Rodin nestled away: six merchants who thought they were on their way to be executed. From the park we made our way to Waterstones (we knew it was in Trafalgar Square from a previous visit) and from there to the Mall, just in time to see a parade of the Horse Guards heading towards Buckingham Palace. A stroll through St James Park took us eventually to Buckingham Palace and on to the New Zealand and Australia ANZAC Memorials near to Green Park. It was a very English experience to see the large numbers of people lying back in deck chairs in the parks, enjoying the late spring sunshine and warmth. (It’s not predicted to last long!) More walking and we finally made it home: 6.00pm and the sun is still high in the sky. (Days are getting longer and longer now: the birds are waking with the first vestiges of daylight around 4.30am and settling again at dusk around 9.00pm). The next day (and our last full ‘touring’ day in England) we caught the metro and then the DLR to Docklands from where we walked through a tunnel under the Thames to the Maritime Museum and the Observatory at Greenwich. The views from the hill on which the observatory stands were quite picturesque: quite a change from what would have been dreary decayed and ruined warehouses around the Isle of Dogs post WW2. Of course, like all other tourists we straddled the Greenwich Mean Line (each of us firmly wedged into two hemispheres at the same time).