Wednesday, Thursday and Friday

We've been doing what we promised ourselves - bumbling around London without exhausting ourselves. Wednesday we caught the bus to the green properties on the Monopoly board. Then we separated. Lyn went shopping in search of narrow-fit, flat-heeled, black, suede boots. Forgoing the fascination of this quest, I took the tube to the Imperial War Museum. We agreed to meet at Marble Arch at 1.30 (there was also a plan B and plan C).

The IWM was OK but our AWM in Canberra does it all better. Incredibly Lyn and I rendezvoused successfully and wandered home, still without boots.  After a nap we went to see 'The Play About a Bank Robbery'. This was pretty funny.

Thursday, we shopped and checked out the National Portrait Gallery, which Lyn liked because she, "likes looking at people". We navigated across town to the Museum of London which was excellent in every way. It was innovative,  interactive and ... interesting. It helps to be telling the story of a city which has some claim to be capital of planet Earth. We finished the day by going to see 'Mama Mia'. It was great fun. Lyn said, "Now that's a SHOW!" Not even a plot carefully constructed around ABBA's discography could find a place for 'Waterloo' - so it was the encore.

Which brings us to today.

We walked to Tavistock Square and caught a bus to Aldwych.

But the driver went past our stop so we walked back from Somerset House towards our stop and stumbled upon the controversial statue of 'Bomber' Harris. Harris had been studiously ignored until recently by those who give official recognition to wartime heroes. This is because the RAF's Bomber Command spent the latter half of WWII incinerating Germans - a task which seemed like a good idea at the time. 

With 'Bomber' Harris

The RAF church is a nice place and Lyn lit candles for all.

We got off the next bus at St Paul's Cathedral where I noticed the monument to the firefighters who'd given their lives during the Blitz, the same blitz which made incinerating Germans an acceptable idea. Then we crossed the Thames via the Millennium Bridge.

We realised this was a chance to look at the Tate Modern where Josh had worked. It definitely wasn't Lyn's thing but I did see a painting (2 below) by Mondrian which I swear I remember from the NSW School Certicate Art exam of 1971.

These bobbies have an awesome beat.

Lyn here is enthusing over modern art.

We walked along the Queen's Walk and spied HMS Belfast ahead. Before visiting we had a bite to eat and Lyn found a wonderful steampunk sculpture. On HMS Belfast, a WWII light cruiser, I clambered about while Lyn avoided confined spaces, (almost every space on a warship).

We wondered what this lady was scavenging on the Thames bank exposed by the low tide. (Yes, she is wearing a fur coat.)

Eventually we reached Tower Bridge where I did the tour. This was because I wanted to see the Thames from up top and look down through the glass floor. Lyn found shopping to do instead. 

We took a silly tourist photo of the Shard. Then we caught a boat back to Westminster and, as the weather began to close in, took more tourist photos, because that is what we are...

We thought of Taylor when we noticed this busker playing the contents of his kitchen. 

This horse guard was well-equipped to defend Whitehall against French lancers or cossacks, however, more modern threats would have faced a large number of policemen toting submachine guns. Security was very evident. We walked up to Trafalgar Square where Nelson continues to remind the world what Britain does to her enemies. 

We walked on past Leicester Square to Neal Street where Lyn again failed to find boots. Our route took us past the British Museum so Lyn asked to look at it briefly. It is not possible to do anything 'briefly' in the BM. Even visiting the shops there is a honey trap. We left considerably poorer and with Lyn full of questions about the ethics of plundering the cultural resources of the planet to create such an extraordinary place. No easy answers...

The day ended, like most of our days in London, at Waitrose, where we bought food and Chianti. While I wrote this interminable blog Lyn packed for tomorrow. 

We will return. London is the capital of planet Earth and Lyn likes the buses.