Taking the Tube

SUNSHINE!!!! Lo and behold. The plan today was to get our Travelcard for

London transportation but we didn't have a clue what else to do. London can be a bit overwhelming with so much to see. Since the weather will be nice today and tomorrow, we checked into taking a London Bike Tour. Booked ourselves in for tomorrow at 10:15am. Not sure the weather is going to hold after that. With that done, we headed out on foot across the Tower bridge.

Walked up to the London Bridge Railway Station to get both our travelcards and tix for Kent on Monday. Good thing we got here early - lines were already forming. In order to get a 7 day travelcard you must have a picture ID. This they Xerox and then in their very hi tech way, they cut out your picture and laminate it on to the card.

With all that business behind us we walked across the London Bridge up to the Monument for the fire of 1666 designed by Christopher Wren, who also designed St. Pauls Cathedral, our next stop. Walked up to the Cathedral and paid for admission which included the audio video tour. This was well worth the price of admission. Learned about the architecture as well as history.

Walked up the 500 some odd stairs to the top of the dome. On the way you stop at the Whispering Dome - where you whisper at one end and you are heard across to the other end. The climb up wasn't too bad - nothing beats the Scott Memorial in Edinburgh for close, steep stairs. Took some pix and it was back down the long winding stairs.

Had a small salad lunch at a nice French restaurant before crossing

the Millennium Bridge to the Tate Museum of Modern Art. We weren't in the mood for schlepping around a museum so we pressed on to Shakespeare's Globe Theater. This is the original theater where most of his plays were performed. Due to a performance this afternoon we were unable to get a tour and we were told to come back in the morning. We took some outside pix. Maybe we'll come back later next week.

Took the Thames footpath back to St. Katherine's Docks. Karrie called and wanted to know when to meet for dinner. Karrie and Matt are friends who are also neighbors. We made plans to meet at the docks at 6pm. Got back to our apt at around 4:30 and rested some. K&M showed up around 5:30 and came up for a cocktail before dinner. We chatted about our European adventures and then went out for some grub.

Matt picked a very nice French restaurant on the marina. This must be our French day. We had a lovely long and leisurely dinner. Got some ideas of some day tours to do next week.  It was great seeing faces from home. We parted company and wished them safe travels on their way home. 

Now back at the shack looking at the great skyline we are resting comfortably planning for tomorrow's bike adventure. The first order of business is to figure out how to get to Waterloo Station to meet the tour. I think we are going to take the bus. I prefer buses over underground. All those years growing up in NY - too many subway disasters.

I know this post title says "Taking the Tube", but we never did take the tube today. We walked everywhere.

Next time .... London by Bike