London on a July Sunday Pt.2

Having come across the bridge onto the South Bank we see the Globe Theatre. It is a faithful reconstruction of the open-air playhouse, first built in 1599, where Shakespeare worked and for which he wrote many of his greatest plays

photograph from website as obviously one is not allowed in during performances

The foyer area is modern and quite a contrast

walking back to the bridge - seen here behind the Silver Birch

Where we wonder if she has changed her mind!!

But no, all is well - just waiting for a film crew 

The invisible man

The old and the new

Lots more to come on this day yet

St. Paul's Cathedral next

Back to the 2012 Olympic Site & More

Had occasion to revisit the new Westfield Mall at the Olympic site this week and once we had enjoyed our coffee we decided to visit the viewing tube for the whole site leaving our shopping until after lunch

Just one stop on the Docklands light railway

a driverless computerised train

alighting at Pudding Mill Lane where we make our way over to the viewing area

The main stadium

and a structure to support a revolving restaurant

A massive building site which ever direction one looks

the covered over viewing tube

with lots of local history depicted on the walls plus pictures of the end results

Here we see the projected Olympic park

and the stadium lit up at night

the outdoor running track which Alan says is for practice

Back to the Mall  where we are looking out of the window onto the bridge that spans the railway lines while we have lunch

an unusual jewellery display in a window

There are lots of outside shops as well as the indoor mall

which I have shown in recent posts

Yes I did - afternoon tea - lemon & orange cup cake

Alan managed to spend some of his recent birthday money on a very smart jacket & trousers

My only purchases (bought by hubby of course) were from Hotel Chocolate

6 packs of Caramel Cheesecake chocs

I limit myself to one each evening so they will last well into the new year

On a completely different tack

My dear husband Alan went to visit a friend this morning who had broken his arm right up into his shoulder when riding on a Sedgeway.

I think he must have been trying to compete as I arrived home from a walk to be greeted with "you're just back in time, there's blood everywhere"

He had been drilling through a wall to connect a cable when he stood up and cut his forehead in 2 places against something that should have been moved first - he then fell back against the drill and cut his hand in 2 places while along the way managed to open up a Basal Cell Carcinoma on his leg that he is waiting for surgery for. He was bleeding in 5 places! Quite a clean up job.

Why do these macho men dive straight into a task without checking safety issues first?

More of London in my next post

Happy Thanksgiving USA

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American blogging buddies

I bought this Thanksgiving table runner about 17 years ago when driving through the mountains travelling from

 Gatlinburg in Tennessee to North Carolina

and have often thought to use it as a greeting

Have a great day

London on a July Sunday Pt.1

It is hard to imagine that I am posting on July - the time just flies by and I am not the only one saying that

Here we have just parked on the Embankment and it is always good to start our day with coffee at one of the restaurants at

Somerset House (where all records are kept)

Here we are looking at Tom's that looks out over the river

It's quite early for a Sunday so not many people around yet

We are today going in the opposite direction to my April postings

we are walking in an easterly direction along the north side of the river to begin with

If you like walking then come with us - it is going to be a long day

Looking back

Waterloo Bridge

walking under the bridge

Lots of refurbishment on Blackfriars Bridge

Then we come to the Millenium bridge

when this was first built it swayed so much that some people became dizzy so it had to be stabilised

Southwark Bridge

To the left of the bridge are the steps up to St. Paul's but we will be leaving that until later

instead we are now going to cross the bridge onto the South Bank

This new 'not yet finished' building called The Shard can be seen from home. Will eventually be the tallest building in Europe

stabilisers on the bridge

Many apartments along the riverside

Looking up the river towards Tower Bridge

and now down on to the South Bank for the next post

Alan likes people watching