Tuesday, 20 August 2013

A sunny afternoon in London

My boyfriend and I decided to take advantage of the very un - English, warm, sunny weather we've been having here recently and go exploring London.

We started off at the Southbank.  It's one of my favourite places in London.  I think the mixture of highbrow sophistication (the National Theatre, the BFI cinema & the Royal Festival Hall) coupled with the street culture of the skate park & the food market gives it a unique atmosphere.

Once we'd had our fill of people watching, we boarded the river boat at the London Eye pier and off we went...





Naturally I had to take a picture of the Tower Bridge, even though I know it very well...



We disembarked at the O2 (North Greenwich Pier)


I must admit, I find the whole Greenwich peninsular a little soulless. It's just full of generic restaurants which you could find anywhere in London.  I wanted to show my boyfriend The Pilot pub which is a very old pub in the only Georgian terrace left in the area but they'd closed in order to catch up on their glass washing!!  Okaay...  We ended up in a branch of Wagamama's which was fine but completely indistinguishable from every other branch of Wagamama's I've ever been to.

After we'd finished our food we caught the cable car over the river.  

The views were fantastic




We could see the Thames Barrier




The sun actually started setting on western side of the cable car



The journey ended on the north side of the river, near the Excel Centre



I loved the birds living on the base of the cable car pylons...



... and the illustrations of local history

 



The nerd in me was fascinated by the planes coming in to land at London City Airport.  Those planes were close!



See those beige strips in the middle right of the picture?  Those are the runways for City Airport.  Yup, they're on the river.



After a brief wander around the Excel Centre, (not much to see there) we dropped in on my brother who lives near Canary Wharf. This is the view from his kitchen window.  Seriously.


After supper with him, it was getting late so we caught the tube home, tired and happy.  A great day.

4 comments:

Coulda shoulda woulda said...

what?? I didn't even know there was such a thing! looks amazing...funny i am on a staycation myself during this weather. would be silly to leave when London is finally decent. I might do this myself now :)

PEN PHOTO PASSPORT said...

Good for you! Planning to 'staycate' next year. I wanna take the open-top bus tour and explore East London also. You took the cable car ride!! I'm jealous! Hahaha. Glad you had a lovely time x

Beautiful Things - Cathy said...

Hi Coulda shoulda woulda. It's certainly worth taking both the river boat and the cable car. You can use your Oyster card on them too which makes them a little cheaper. x

Beautiful Things - Cathy said...

Hi Chinwags and Tittle-Tattles. Yes, I think it's fun staycating in your own city. The East End is fascinating to explore with all it's history. x

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