The Thames River


   

Coincidentally, "The Thames" happens to be the name of the paint color that I chose for our kitchen, a soft but pretty green that I like very much. Not too different from Westminster Bridge green as seen below.

The London Eye and the Aquarium

Our first view of the river was after emerging from the underground. We walked along a river sidewalk through a beautiful park where city workers were having lunch, sitting on the grass and on benches. It was a lovely sunny day! There is always so much to look at in a large city and London did not disappoint. People speaking many foreign languages, interesting statues and architecture as well as groomed gardens and birds begging a free lunch. There were buskers playing music as well as dancers and mimes. Some with silver paint on their skin and their clothing stood so still they looked like statues until someone threw in a coin and they started moving. One man had a little monkey trained to do tricks. Some were very talented musicians and I wish we had had time to listen longer....Street vendors sold  hot roasted nuts, fish and chips, foot long hot dogs, popcorn and cotton candy, all cooked on location. Despite all the food and people, London was very clean, almost litter free. Impressive!






Pigeons in a city park

London Eye showing the car below ours along with Golden Jubilee Bridge

   The London Eye had quite a lineup but we got our tickets and things moved along quite quickly. You have to board while it is moving which was not difficult. Our car was not overcrowded so we were able to move about and trade places with other riders.



Looking downriver from the London Eye



Birdseye view of the Aquarium



Upriver view from the London Eye. The building on the left housed the London Aquarium

 

Jerry by Westminster Bridge and the Parliament buildings

After our ride on the London Eye, we found a place for some lunch and a rest. From that side of the river we had a great view of Big Ben along with Westminster bridge and the parliament buildings. Because the Aquarium was right beside the Eye we headed inside!

Love to watch tropical fish swim! Their colors amaze me!




Sharks are even more fun to watch. There was viewing  from a glass tunnel inside the shark tank and also from above.



Shark Tank



Jerry went aboard one navy ship for a tour but most of it was under maintenance and closed to tourists. Too bad. Time for ice cream then! They put little round chocolate stick treats into their ice cream. And raspberry sauce for me, chocolate for Jerry. I should have taken a photo. Delicious!

London Bridge

Another day, we walked past the tower of London but did not go inside as we had done the tour in 1977 and it was warm and sunny outside! But when we arrived at London Bridge we decided to see the guts so to speak. Tourists can go inside and view the gears which make the bridge raise along with a fantastic view from the upper level.



Gears to run London Bridge

Not that I understand how these large gears work, but likely Jerry and the boys do. Interesting to see how clean and oiled they were kept though, not dirty as I would have imagined.  It was also much quieter than I would have thought.












The bridges along the Thames were all painted pretty colors. Bright pink posts or burgundy and gold, green with red, bright blue. Very detailed including white bolts on a burgundy support or gold medallions. Some bridges had crests painted in great detail. The view below shows what it was like to be"on the river" It was very busy at times like rush hour traffic.

Going under Blackfriars Bridge.

 

The buildings seen from the water were so interesting. Old warehouses, modern condominiums, heritage stone and glittering glass. One thing they all had in common was plants and flowers. Container gardening taken to a new high!The Captain Kidd building had flowers on small balconies.

As you can see, these condos had large trees growing on their balconies. I wish I could have had a tour.

Cher owned the penthouse suite at one time. Why is no one sitting on those chairs?

The large building at left is Charing Cross Train Station. We walked past it but did not go inside. We did however walk across the bridge where there were 2 buskers playing music. I loved that!!

The O2 Millennium Dome seen from our cruise

The London barrier prevents tides from flooding the riverbank. Our tour went as far as the barrier, circled it and then headed back up river.

One evening we walked all the way down to the river from the flat. It was warm and sunny so there were lots of gardens to see along the way. There were houseboats moored in a group. How intriguing! To live in London on a boat! A little boy came along and went inside one. He lived there!! And in case you didn't notice they had plants growing on their decks!! This one is quite conservative but some were painted funky colors.

 One day trip we made was by train to Hampton Court Palace to see the home of King Henry the 8th. The walk from the station gave us a wonderful view of the river. It made me wish we had bicycles to ride along the pathway all the way back to London.

The Thames at Hampton Court



Trip to London Sept 2010 Part 2: The Gardens




Yellow Rose at Holland House

 

The yellow rose is a symbol of friendship. It was the obvious choice to begin this post.

Trip to London UK Sept 2010 Part1:The Flat In London

Geraniums at the neighbour's flat


 

This trip just happened to "drop into our lap" so to speak. Jerry has a friend who decided to let us use their flat in Earl's Court, London UK for 2 weeks so we grabbed the chance and booked a trip for September 2010. It was a little past the prime time for gardens but lovely just the same. I should add that the same friend also gave us airmiles!!  Amazing when you think about it! Jerry had done him some favors before this, but it was still an unexpected delight!



Earl's Court Road, and just around the corner to the flat!



We didn't have that much lead time to plan things but it was fun to imagine where we might be staying, sight unseen and what the neighbourhood would be like. It turned out to be wonderful! The flat was in an area of London called Earl's Court, near Kensington. It was a 7 minute walk from Earl's Court tube station and the route passed by Marks and Spenser Simply Foods. That store was awesome! The foods were always fresh and delicious. I still miss their "peaches and cream tarts" and also their produce section. It is 2 months since the trip and I still find myself thinking about what to buy at M&S when it is time to cook.

Just around the corner from Earl's Court Road, we found number 44.Redcliffe Square.  It is the third porch from the right in the picture below.

Our steps were to the right of the bicycle.



Old and impressive St Luke's Anglican church was directly across the street along with some interesting trees which had been pruned back hard in the spring. I assume this was done to allow a better view of the beautiful stonework on the building. The view out the front window was of this church and also jets taking off from Heathrow making jet trails across the blue sky above St Luke's.



Front door to the flat


The flat itself was on the first floor of a block long row house. There was a basement below us and 3 floors above accessed by stairs. We had the prime location with only a few stairs to climb to the front door.














Living room ceiling





The ceilings were 12 feet high with beautiful plaster crown moldings and 3D circles of flowers. They were so beautiful that I found myself staring up at them often.

There was also a marble bathroom and a modern kitchen with granite counters. The gas stove was fun and fast to cook on. The window over the sink looked out at a brick wall but as you can see, they had an interesting trellis to look at, as well as a mirror behind it.

The master bedroom had very tall built in armoires on either side of the bed. There was a leather headboard in a color that made me think of, and crave, dark chocolate every day!!  The duvet was so nice I was wondering where they bought it. I later found it in a large Peter Jones department store.

 I loved the view out the master bedroom window, the inner courtyard gardens of the block of flats!! Lovely lush green vines and butterfly bush still in bloom. Heavenly smell! The basement flat beneath us had a dear little courtyard garden(above) that I wanted to visit. Sigh....only got to take it all in from the window above.



This is the street that the flat was on, Redcliffe Square. The architecture was beautiful.

Our stairs were just past the red geraniums. The porches were lovely!



Number 44

St Luke's church was an interesting place. They had parishioners from more than 25 different countries. When I was out walking, 2 people on the sidewalk invited me to an international lunch. I went "home" and got Jerry and we had a great time! Very interesting food from 4 countries in Africa, Japan, Russia and many European selections.



Inside St Luke's








Our front window and porch looked directly to the church.



Nursery school children

 The church had a nursery school in the basement. Each day we watched the little children playing outside in their school uniforms

Most days we watched jets taking off from Heathrow airport leave jet trails across the deep blue sky above St .Luke's church.

When we walked just past the church, there was another long row of townhouses. Such lovely buildings! And such pretty balcony gardens! I could not stop wanting to walk further to see more homes and gardens! It was so tidy and pretty everywhere I looked! Hydrangeas in a pot can overwinter in London! Imagine it!  If you look closely below, you may notice it is the same balcony.






One day we walked to the Brompton Road library. What a treat! As many of you know, I LOVE libraries and reading! I was delighted to find out I could get a city of London library card, which I still have, and sign out books!
It was a small building but bright and pleasant feeling. There was a nice Internet section where I checked my emails some days. The room on the left was the children's section.
Below you can see desk number 7 where I used the Internet.

Don't you love the high windows looking out at trees! So unexpected in a huge city!